Salesforce is no longer just a CRM. It is a full engagement platform where users collaborate, post updates, share files, automate processes, and integrate external systems in real time. At the center of this experience lies Salesforce Connect API.

The Connect API powers Salesforce’s social, collaboration, and engagement features. If you are building modern Salesforce integrations, community apps, or custom user experiences, understanding the Connect API is essential.

This guide explains what Connect API is, how it works, real-world use cases, and best practices to help you build scalable and secure Salesforce solutions.

The Salesforce Connect API is a REST-based API that allows developers to interact with Chatter, feeds, comments, likes, mentions, files, and user interactions programmatically.

In simple terms, Connect API lets external systems and custom apps:

• Read Salesforce feed data

• Post updates to records or users

• Comment, like, and mention users

• Upload and retrieve files

• Build social and collaboration features

It is the backbone of Salesforce’s social layer.

Traditional Salesforce APIs focus on data objects like Leads, Accounts, and Opportunities. Connect API focuses on user engagement and collaboration.

Key advantages:

• Enables real-time collaboration

• Improves user adoption

• Powers Experience Cloud communities

• Allows custom social workflows

• Integrates Salesforce with modern apps

If your app touches users rather than just data, Connect API is the right tool.

You can programmatically post messages to:

• User feeds

• Record feeds

• Group feeds

Use cases:

• Notify sales reps of deal changes

• Post alerts when integrations run

• Trigger engagement from external systems

Connect API allows you to fetch:

• Feed posts

• Comments

• Likes

• Mentions

Use cases:

• Activity dashboards

• Analytics and reporting

• Monitoring engagement across teams

You can add, update, or delete:

• Comments

• Likes

• Reactions

This enables fully interactive user experiences beyond the Salesforce UI.

Connect API supports:

• User mentions

• Topic mentions

• Automatic notifications

This is critical for collaboration-driven workflows.

You can:

• Upload files to feeds

• Retrieve file metadata

• Attach files to posts

Use cases include document sharing, automation outputs, and reporting.

The Connect API is accessed via REST endpoints under:

/services/data/vXX.X/connect/

It uses:

• OAuth 2.0 authentication

• JSON payloads

• Standard HTTP methods

It follows Salesforce’s standard API versioning and security model.

Here’s a simple example of posting to a record feed using Connect API.

Endpoint

POST /services/data/v59.0/connect/feeds/record/{recordId}/feed-elements

Payload

{ "body": { "messageSegments": [ { "type": "Text", "text": "New integration deployed successfully 🚀" } ] } }

This post will appear instantly in the record’s Chatter feed.

Post deal updates automatically when key fields change.

Notify teams when sync jobs succeed or fail.

Power Experience Cloud posts, comments, and discussions.

Build custom dashboards showing real-time engagement.

Post AI summaries, recommendations, or insights into Salesforce feeds.

Connect API replaces and extends the older Chatter REST API with richer functionality.

Always follow these practices:

• Use OAuth 2.0 with connected apps

• Apply least-privilege access

• Validate user context

• Avoid hardcoded tokens

• Monitor API usage limits

Never expose Connect API endpoints without proper authentication.

• Batch feed reads where possible

• Cache frequently accessed feed data

• Avoid excessive polling

• Use async processing for heavy operations

• Monitor API call consumption

Connect API shares limits with other Salesforce APIs.

Use Connect API when:

• You need to post or read Chatter data

• User engagement is critical

• You are building Experience Cloud apps

• Your integration involves collaboration

Do not use it for bulk data operations or transactional updates.

Salesforce Connect API is not just an API. It is a gateway to Salesforce’s engagement layer.

If your integration involves users, conversations, notifications, or collaboration, Connect API is the correct and future-proof choice.

Modern Salesforce apps are no longer silent. They communicate. Connect API makes that possible.