Links

Create links

Make links in the dashboard or through the API, with data and campaigns.

A link has a short path on your link host, an in-app route for your app, and optional data, campaign fields and per-platform destinations. You can create links in the dashboard, with the REST API, or from the app.

In the dashboard#

Open Links, then Create link. The essentials:

Field	What it does
Short path	The last part of the URL (`/summer`). 1 to 64 letters, digits, `-` and `_`. Leave it out and a 7-character path is generated. A path of a deleted link stays reserved for 90 days
Deep link path	The route your app opens, for example `/product/123`, or `/` for the start screen
Data	Custom JSON delivered to your app (at most 4 KB, keys up to 64 characters)
Campaign and UTM	A campaign gives the link its UTM defaults; override single fields on the link
Destinations	Per platform (`ios`, `android`, `web`, `desktop`, `fallback`): where visitors without your app go. Missing ones use the project defaults
Expiry	When the link stops working
Pass query parameters to the app	Off by default. When on, parameters added to the short URL (`?ref=story`) are stored with the click and reach your app, also after an install

Use the Link Tester to see, before you share a link, where each kind of client (iOS, Android, desktop, in-app browsers, link-preview bots) would be sent, and what a disabled, expired or app-missing state looks like.

With the API#

Bash

curl -X POST https://api.becklinks.com/v1/links \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SECRET_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "path": "summer",
    "deep_link_path": "/product/123",
    "data": {"sku": "123"},
    "campaign": "summer_sale",
    "allow_param_passthrough": true
  }'

The answer is the link with its full URL. Send an Idempotency-Key so a retry does not create a second link. Up to 1,000 links can be created at once with POST /v1/links/bulk. See the Links reference.

From the app#

BeckLink.instance.createLink(LinkOptions(...)) creates a share or referral link on the project's link host, with a generated path and the project's default destinations (a publishable key is public, so it cannot choose where a link leads).

One pattern for many items#

If your app has thousands of items (products, challenges, profiles), do not create a link for each. Define a URL template such as /c/{id} instead.

Verify it works#

Open the link on a phone with the app, on a phone without it, and on a desktop. Check the Performance tab of the link a minute later: clicks, installs and the top operating systems and countries appear.