Configure the Stack Internal community Source

ADMIN PRIVILEGES REQUIRED

Overview

The Stack Internal community source brings knowledge from your Stack Internal community site into the Stack Internal platform. Once connected, Stack Internal can use your community content as part of its knowledge layer, so users can discover relevant answers, questions, and articles through Stack Internal experiences such as chat.

What the source does

The source syncs supported content from your Stack Internal community site into Stack Internal and keeps that content up to date over time.

The source supports:

• Questions, Answers, and Articles from Stack Internal community
• Updates and edits to previously ingested supported content
• Duplicate detection so the same content is not repeatedly added

The source does not ingest comments.

How Stack Internal uses community content

After the source is connected and content has synced, Stack Internal can search across your community content alongside other connected knowledge sources. This lets users ask questions in Stack Internal and receive relevant knowledge from community content without needing to manually search each source.

Each synced item is stored as its own knowledge item. For example, questions, answers, and articles are handled as distinct content types, which helps Stack Internal retrieve the most relevant information for a user's query.

Setup requirements

Before connecting SIC, make sure you have:

• Administrator access to the Stack Internal platform
• Administrator access to the Stack Internal community site you want to connect

For long-running integrations, Stack Overflow recommends using a service application rather than a user-owned API application. Service applications are created by administrators, are owned by the community user, and are not tied to the lifecycle of an individual admin account.

Information you'll need to provide

During setup, Stack Internal will ask for:

• Community URL: The base URL of your Stack Internal community site.
• API key: The key for the API service application.

The API key is shown only once when the application is created. If it was not saved, you will need to delete and re-create the key.

Set up the source

1. In Stack Internal, open the Control Center.
2. Go to Data management, then Sources.
3. Find Stack Internal community in the list of available sources.
4. Select Connect.
5. Review what the source can access, then continue.
6. Open your Stack Internal community API settings and create or locate the API v3 service application for Stack Internal. See detailed instructions below.
7. Copy the API key.
8. Return to Stack Internal and enter the community URL, API key.
9. Select Test connection.
10. After the test succeeds, select Connect.

Once connected, the source begins syncing supported content into Stack Internal.

Create an API v3 service application

In your Stack Internal community site:

1. Open Admin Settings.
2. Go to API under Integrations and apps.
3. Select Create new service application.
4. Enter a recognizable name, such as "Stack Internal platform source".
5. Create the API application.
6. Copy and securely store the generated secret.

Keeping the source healthy

The source is designed to handle temporary API failures gracefully. If Stack Internal community throttles requests, the source will retry with backoff. If a sync run cannot be completed, Stack Internal records the failure so it can be diagnosed.

The source may show Needs attention when the issue requires administrator action, such as:

• The API credentials are no longer valid.
• The source no longer has sufficient permission to read the configured content.
• Rate limits continue after retry attempts are exhausted.
• The Stack Internal community API is unavailable or returning persistent errors.

If the source needs attention, review the API application, permissions, and community URL. Then test the connection again.

Disabling the source

Administrators can opt out of community ingestion after setup.

When the source is disabled:

• Stack Internal stops future ingestion.
• New content is no longer synced.
• Previously ingested content may remain available in Stack Internal.

If your organization needs previously ingested content removed, contact support.

Notes on API Limits

Stack Internal community API has rate limits. If your community site has a large amount of content, the initial sync may take longer or may need to run across multiple sync cycles. If your organization expects high API usage across several integrations, review your API limits and consider whether a Premium API plan is appropriate.

If you have any questions or need help, open a ticket on our help center or email us at support@stackoverflow.com.