Dropbox

Connect & Ingest data from Dropbox

Dropbox is a cloud storage and file hosting service. The Sling Dropbox connector extracts data from the Dropbox API v2, supporting files and folders listing, shared links, shared folders, received files, file requests, and account information.

CLI Pro Required: APIs require a CLI Pro token or Platform Plan.

Setup

The following credentials and inputs are accepted:

Secrets:

• client_id (required) -> Your Dropbox app key

• client_secret (required) -> Your Dropbox app secret

• refresh_token (required) -> A long-lived OAuth2 refresh token

Getting Your Credentials

1. Go to the Dropbox App Console

2. Click Create app

3. Choose Scoped access and Full Dropbox access type

4. Name your app and click Create app

5. Under the Permissions tab, enable these scopes:

   • account_info.read

   • files.metadata.read

   • sharing.read

   • file_requests.read

6. Click Submit to save permissions

7. Under the Settings tab, note the App key (client_id) and App secret (client_secret)

8. Generate a refresh token using the OAuth2 authorization flow:

# Step 1: Open this URL in your browser and authorize the app
# Replace <APP_KEY> with your App key
https://www.dropbox.com/oauth2/authorize?client_id=<APP_KEY>&response_type=code&token_access_type=offline

# Step 2: Exchange the authorization code for a refresh token
curl -X POST https://api.dropboxapi.com/oauth2/token \
  -d code=<AUTH_CODE> \
  -d grant_type=authorization_code \
  -d client_id=<APP_KEY> \
  -d client_secret=<APP_SECRET>

The response will contain a refresh_token — save this value for your connection configuration.

Using sling conns

sling conns set DROPBOX type=api spec=dropbox secrets='{ client_id: your_app_key, client_secret: your_app_secret, refresh_token: your_refresh_token }'

Environment Variable

See here to learn more about the .env.sling file.

export DROPBOX='{ type: api, spec: dropbox, secrets: { client_id: "your_app_key", client_secret: "your_app_secret", refresh_token: "your_refresh_token" } }'

Sling Env File YAML

See here to learn more about the sling env.yaml file.

connections:
  DROPBOX:
    type: api
    spec: dropbox
    secrets:
      client_id: "your_app_key"
      client_secret: "your_app_secret"
      refresh_token: "your_refresh_token"

Replication

Here's an example replication configuration to sync Dropbox data to a PostgreSQL database:

source: DROPBOX
target: MY_POSTGRES

defaults:
  mode: full-refresh
  object: dropbox.{stream_name}

streams:
  current_account:
  files:
  shared_links:
  shared_folders:
  received_files:
  file_requests:

Sync all endpoints:

source: DROPBOX
target: MY_POSTGRES

defaults:
  mode: full-refresh
  object: dropbox.{stream_name}

streams:
  '*':

Endpoints

Account

Endpoint	Description	Incremental
current_account	Current user account information	No

Files & Folders

Endpoint	Description	Incremental
files	All files and folders (recursive)	No

Sharing

Endpoint	Description	Incremental
shared_links	All shared links	No
shared_folders	Shared folders the user has access to	No
received_files	Files shared with the current user	No

File Requests

Endpoint	Description	Incremental
file_requests	File requests created by the user	No

To discover available endpoints:

sling conns discover DROPBOX

Rate Limiting

The Dropbox API enforces rate limits on a per-app and per-user basis. The connector automatically:

• Limits to 5 requests/second (conservative)

• Retries with exponential backoff on 429 (rate limit) responses

• Retries on 5xx server errors with exponential backoff

Notes

• All Dropbox API v2 endpoints use POST requests internally, even for read operations. The connector handles this automatically.

• The files endpoint lists all files and folders recursively from the root of the Dropbox account, including mounted folders.

• The shared_folders and received_files endpoints may return empty results if the account has no shared content.

If you are facing issues connecting, please reach out to us at [email protected], on discord or open a Github Issue here.