How to Integrate Retool with LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com)

Lynda.com was officially retired as a standalone platform in 2019. All Lynda.com course content was migrated to LinkedIn Learning, and all Lynda.com enterprise accounts were converted to LinkedIn Learning Enterprise accounts. If your organization previously had a Lynda.com integration or access tokens, those are no longer valid — you must use the LinkedIn Learning API instead. To access the LinkedIn Learning API for enterprise learner data, your organization needs a LinkedIn Learning Enterprise license (also called LinkedIn Learning for Organizations). Individual LinkedIn Premium subscriptions do not include API access. Contact your LinkedIn Learning Customer Success Manager (CSM) or LinkedIn account team to: 1. Confirm your organization has an Enterprise plan with API access enabled 2. Request API credentials (Client ID and Client Secret) for the LinkedIn Learning Content and Reporting API 3. Obtain your organization's account identifier or organizational unit ID LinkedIn Learning uses two separate APIs: the Content API (for accessing course catalogs) and the Reporting API (for learner activity and completion data). Both use the same OAuth 2.0 client credentials for authentication but have different base URLs. Note that access to individual-level learner data through the API requires explicit consent from your employees under GDPR and similar regulations. Consult your legal team before building dashboards that display identifiable employee training data.

LinkedIn Learning's Enterprise API uses OAuth 2.0 client credentials flow — you exchange your client ID and secret for an access token without requiring a user login. This is appropriate for server-to-server integrations like Retool where the queries run under the organization's credentials rather than individual user credentials. To generate the access token, make a POST request to the LinkedIn token endpoint: URL: https://www.linkedin.com/oauth/v2/accessToken Method: POST Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded Body: - grant_type: client_credentials - client_id: YOUR_CLIENT_ID - client_secret: YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET The response includes an access_token and expires_in (usually 3600 seconds — 1 hour). For Retool, you need a long-lived token. LinkedIn Learning provides longer-lived tokens for enterprise API integrations — check with your CSM whether you have a refresh token or a service token with extended validity. For testing: use Postman or curl to generate an initial token, copy it, and store it in Retool Settings → Configuration Variables as LINKEDIN_LEARNING_TOKEN marked as secret. For production: build a Retool Workflow that refreshes the access token automatically before expiry by calling the token endpoint with the refresh_token grant type.

1// Token refresh request body (URL-encoded)
2// Post to: https://www.linkedin.com/oauth/v2/accessToken
3// Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
4grant_type=refresh_token
5&refresh_token=YOUR_REFRESH_TOKEN
6&client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID
7&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET

In Retool, navigate to the Resources tab and click Add Resource. Select REST API. Name: LinkedIn Learning API Base URL: https://api.linkedin.com (the LinkedIn Learning Reporting API uses the main LinkedIn API domain) Headers: - Key: Authorization | Value: Bearer {{ retoolContext.configVars.LINKEDIN_LEARNING_TOKEN }} - Key: LinkedIn-Version | Value: 202401 (use the current LinkedIn API version date) - Key: Content-Type | Value: application/json - Key: X-Restli-Protocol-Version | Value: 2.0.0 Note: LinkedIn Learning's Reporting API endpoints are under /v2/ paths, while the newer Learning API uses different path prefixes. You may need a second resource for different endpoint groups — create a second REST API resource named 'LinkedIn Learning Reporting API' if the endpoint base paths differ significantly. Click Create Resource. Test with a GET to /v2/learningAssets?q=localeAndType&assetType=COURSE&fields=urn,title&start=0&count=5 — this fetches a sample of LinkedIn Learning courses from the catalog. If it returns course records, the connection is working. Store your LinkedIn Learning organization identifier (usually in URN format) in a Configuration Variable as LINKEDIN_LEARNING_ORG_URN for use in learner activity queries.

Create a query named getLearnerActivity. The LinkedIn Learning Reporting API for enterprise accounts provides learner activity through the /v2/learningClassifications endpoint and learner-specific activity through enterprise-specific paths. For organization-wide learner reports: GET /v2/organizationalEntityLearnerActivities with parameters: - q: criteria - organizationalEntityURN: {{ retoolContext.configVars.LINKEDIN_LEARNING_ORG_URN }} - startedAt: {{ new Date(dateRange.start).getTime() }} (Unix milliseconds) - endedAt: {{ new Date(dateRange.end).getTime() }} - fields: engagedLearner,completedAt,percentageCompleted,assetDetails The response includes learner activity records with URN-encoded learner identifiers, course URNs, completion percentages, and completion timestamps. Create a transformer that maps the URN-encoded data to human-readable fields. The learner URN must be decoded or matched against your HR system's employee data to display names rather than URN codes. For the Retool dashboard to show employee names, build a second query that fetches employee data from your HRIS (Workday, BambooHR, or a database table) and join on email or employee ID. This combined view — LinkedIn Learning completion + employee profile — is what makes the Retool dashboard more valuable than LinkedIn Learning's native reports.

1// Transformer for LinkedIn Learning activity data
2const activities = data.elements || [];
3return activities.map(a => {
4  const learner = a.engagedLearner || {};
5  const asset = a.assetDetails || {};
6  const pct = a.percentageCompleted || 0;
7  return {
8    learner_urn: learner.learnerUrn || '',
9    learner_email: learner.email || '',
10    course_urn: asset.assetUrn || '',
11    course_title: asset.title?.value || '(Unknown Course)',
12    completed: pct >= 100,
13    percent_complete: pct,
14    percent_label: `${Math.round(pct)}%`,
15    completed_at: a.completedAt ? new Date(a.completedAt).toLocaleDateString() : '—',
16    last_activity: a.lastActivityAt ? new Date(a.lastActivityAt).toLocaleDateString() : '—'
17  };
18});

With learner activity data available, build a compliance tracking view. Compliance tracking requires knowing which courses are mandatory for which employee groups — this data typically lives in your HR system or a Retool Database table you maintain. Create a Retool Database table (or use an existing database Resource) with columns: employee_id, employee_email, department, required_course_urn, due_date. Populate this with your organization's mandatory training assignments. Create a JavaScript query named getComplianceStatus that joins the LinkedIn Learning activity data with the required training table: - Fetch all required training assignments from your database - Fetch LinkedIn Learning completion records for each required course - For each employee-course pair, compute: status (completed, in_progress, not_started, overdue) - Overdue = not completed AND due_date < today Display the joined data in a Table with color-coded status rows. Add filter dropdowns for department and training category. Add Stat components: Overall Compliance Rate (completed / total assignments), Overdue Count, Completions This Month. For complex multi-system compliance reports combining LinkedIn Learning with your HRIS and a compliance database, RapidDev's team can help architect the data join logic and scheduled report generation.

1// Join training requirements with LinkedIn Learning completion data
2const requirements = getTrainingRequirements.data || [];
3const completions = getLearnerActivity.data || [];
4
5// Build a lookup of completions by email+course
6const completionMap = {};
7completions.forEach(c => {
8  const key = `${c.learner_email}|${c.course_urn}`;
9  completionMap[key] = c;
10});
11
12const today = new Date();
13return requirements.map(req => {
14  const key = `${req.employee_email}|${req.required_course_urn}`;
15  const completion = completionMap[key];
16  const dueDate = req.due_date ? new Date(req.due_date) : null;
17  const isCompleted = completion && completion.completed;
18  const isOverdue = !isCompleted && dueDate && dueDate < today;
19  return {
20    employee_email: req.employee_email,
21    department: req.department,
22    course_urn: req.required_course_urn,
23    due_date: req.due_date || '—',
24    percent_complete: completion ? completion.percent_complete : 0,
25    status: isCompleted ? 'Completed' : isOverdue ? 'Overdue' : completion ? 'In Progress' : 'Not Started',
26    completed_at: completion?.completed_at || '—'
27  };
28});