Issues & support
Set up Basecamp
Connect Basecamp to make your projects searchable — message-board posts, to-dos and written documents each become a document with their comment threads, tied to the project and the people on it. Read-only.
Before you start
- Basecamp issues no application-only key — its API always answers as a person — so the credential here is a refresh token you mint once from your own Basecamp integration, and the source renews access from it on every sync.
- Register the integration at launchpad.37signals.com/integrations. Any redirect URL will do; it exists only to mint the token. Keep the Client ID and secret it gives you.
- Do the one-time authorisation Basecamp's own developer documentation describes, with an account that can see the projects you want read. It hands back a refresh token — that is what you paste.
- Documents → Basecamp: paste the Client ID (integration), Client secret and Refresh token from your integration.
- Optionally set Account ID — the number in your Basecamp URL — if that authorisation reaches more than one account, and list project names under "Only these projects" (both Advanced).
- Choose the access groups that may read what it brings in, press Test, then Sync.
About the tokens
Basecamp keeps a refresh token stable, so a source set up this way keeps working without anyone revisiting it — it exchanges the token for short-lived access on every sync, and stores a replacement silently if Basecamp ever issues one. An Access token can be pasted instead to prove the connection quickly, but it expires in about two weeks and the source stops syncing when it does. Use the refresh token for anything you intend to leave running.
What comes in
- Message-board posts, to-dos (grouped lists included, open and completed) and written documents (one folder level deep) each become a document with its comment thread, tied to the project and its author or assignees.
- Each project also becomes a concept card carrying its own description.
| Account ID | Optional (Advanced) — the number in your Basecamp URL. Blank uses the first Basecamp 4 account the connected sign-in can see. |
|---|---|
| Only these projects | Optional project names or ids, one per line (Advanced). Blank syncs every project the connected account can see. |
Access
Each project mirrors its own people list — only the people Basecamp lists on that project see its documents here, re-checked on every sync. An administrator can also turn this off and use one fixed list of access groups for every project, from the source's Permissions tab. A project whose roster can't be read keeps the source's access groups. Access stays allow-only either way.
Messages, to-dos and documents are each capped at 500 per project; document folders nested more than one level deep are not synced. Once past a cap, existing documents stay searchable rather than disappearing.
Last updated 20 Sep 2026