Recommendation API

Article
05/08/2023

Note

Usage of this API is restricted to approved partners, subject to limitations via API agreement. All API requests are represented in protocol 2.0.0. Therefore, all API requests require the header X-Restli-Protocol-Version: 2.0.0

With the Recommendation API, you can replicate the full LinkedIn experience around recommendation of LinkedIn members.

Create Recommendation

Create a recommendation by issuing a POST that specifies the recommendee, recommendeeEntity (position), and relationship between the recommender and the recommendee. You can only send recommendations on behalf of the authenticated user.

POST https://api.linkedin.com/v2/recommendation

Request Body Fields

Field Name	Format	Description
message	String	A message that recommender sends to recommendee.
recommendationText	String	Content of the recommendation.
recommendee	Urn	The recommendee represented in personUrn.
recommendeeEntity	optional Urn	The recommendee's entity. For example: urn:li:position:(urn:li:person:, )
recommenderEntity	optional Urn	The recommender's entity. For example: urn:li:position:(urn:li:person:, )
relationship	optional String	Relationship between recommender and recommendee. Can be the following enum values: RECOMMENDER_MANAGED_RECOMMENDEE - Relation where the recommender managed the recipient. RECOMMENDER_REPORTED_TO_RECOMMENDEE - Relation where the recommendee is more senior that the recipient. RECOMMENDER_SENIOR_THAN_RECOMMENDEE - Relation where the recipient is more senior that the recommendee. RECOMMENDEE_SENIOR_THAN_RECOMMENDER - Relation where the recommendee is more senior that the recipient. WORKED_IN_SAME_GROUP - Relation where both recipient and recommendee worked in the same company. WORKED_IN_DIFFERENT_GROUPS - Relation where both recipient and recommendee worked in different groups. WORKED_IN_DIFFERENT_COMPANIES - Relation where both recipient and recommendee worked in different companies. RECOMMENDEE_IS_CLIENT_OF_RECOMMENDER - Relation where recommendee is a client of the recipient. RECOMMENDER_IS_CLIENT_OF_RECOMMENDEE - Relation where the recipient is a client of the recommendee. RECOMMENDER_TAUGHT_RECOMMENDEE - Relation where the recipient taught the recommendee. RECOMMENDER_ADVISED_RECOMMENDEE - Relation where the recipient advised the recommendee. RECOMMENDER_STUDIED_WITH_RECOMMENDEE - Relation where the recipient studied with the recommendee.
subject	String	Subject of the message that recommender sends to recommendee.

sample request body

{
  "recommendeeEntity": "urn:li:position:(urn:li:person:123ABC,123456)",
  "visibilityForRecommender": "EVERYONE",
  "relationship": "RECOMMENDEE_SENIOR_THAN_RECOMMENDER",
  "recommendee": "urn:li:person:123ABC",
  "subject": "Recommendation!"
  "recommendationText": "Bob Smith is an amazing leader. He is the best!",
  "message": "Giving you a recommendation!"
}

sample response header

X-RestLi-Id: urn:li:recommendation:(urn:li:person:123ABC,123456)

Retrieve Recommendations

Once a recommendation has been created, you can retrieve that recommendation.

GET https://api.linkedin.com/v2/recommendations/urn:li:recommendation:(urn:li:person:123ABC,123456)

Above is the API request represented in pretty print. With X-Restli-Protocol-Version: 2.0.0, you will need to do the following:

GET https://api.linkedin.com/v2/recommendation/urn%3Ali%3Arecommendation%3A%28urn%3Ali%3Aperson%3A123ABC%2C123456%29

sample request body

{
    "created": 1229538193168,
    "id": 123456,
    "lastModified": 1269858649984,
    "recommendationText": "Bob Smith is an amazing leader. He is the best!",
    "recommendee": "urn:li:person:123ABC",
    "recommendeeEntity": "urn:li:position:(urn:li:person:123ABC,123456)",
    "recommender": "urn:li:person:456DEF",
    "relationship": "RECOMMENDEE_SENIOR_THAN_RECOMMENDER",
    "status": "VISIBLE",
    "visibilityForRecommender": "EVERYONE"
}

For more information, refer to the Recommendation schema.

Alternatively, you can lookup multiple recommendations by doing the following:

GET https://api.linkedin.com/v2/recommendation?ids=List(urn:li:recommendation:(urn:li:person:123ABC,123456),urn:li:recommendation:(urn:li:person:123ABC,456789))

Above is the API request represented in pretty print. With X-Restli-Protocol-Version: 2.0.0, you will need to do the following:

GET https://api.linkedin.com/v2/recommendation?ids=List(urn%3Ali%3Arecommendation%3A%28urn%3Ali%3Aperson%3A123ABC%2C123456%29,urn%3Ali%3Arecommendation%3A%28urn%3Ali%3Aperson%3A123ABC%2C456789%29)

Retrieve Recommendations by Recipient

You can look up the recommendations the authenticated member has received by requesting the following API:

GET https://api.linkedin.com/v2/recommendation?q=recipient&statusFilters=List(VISIBLE)

Query Parameters

Field	Description	Required	Format
statusFilters	Status of the recommendation. Can be the following enum values: PENDING VISIBLE HIDDEN WITHDRAWN REPLACED CLOSED	Yes	List of string

sample response

{
  "elements": [
    {
      "recommendeeEntity": "urn:li:position:(urn:li:person:123ABC,123456)",
      "status": "VISIBLE",
      "visibilityForRecommender": "EVERYONE",
      "relationship": "RECOMMENDEE_SENIOR_THAN_RECOMMENDER",
      "created": 1229538193168,
      "lastModified": 1269858649984,
      "recommendee": "urn:li:person:123ABC",
      "recommendationText": "Bob Smith is an amazing leader. He is the best!",
      "recommender": "urn:li:person:456DEF",
      "id": 123456
    },
    {
      "recommendeeEntity": "urn:li:position:(urn:li:person:123ABC,234567)",
      "status": "VISIBLE",
      "visibilityForRecommender": "EVERYONE",
      "relationship": "WORKED_IN_SAME_GROUP",
      "created": 1229538193168,
      "lastModified": 1269858649984,
      "recommendee": "urn:li:person:123ABC",
      "recommendationText": "Bob Smith is an amazing colleague!",
      "recommender": "urn:li:person:999GGG",
      "id": 234567
    },
    ...
  ],
  "paging": {
    "count": 10,
    "links": [

    ],
    "start": 0
  }
}

Retrieve Recommendations by Recommender

You can look up the recommendations the authenticated member has given by requesting the following API:

GET https://api.linkedin.com/v2/recommendation?q=recommender&statusFilters=List(VISIBLE)

Query Parameters

Field	Description	Required	Format
statusFilters	Status of the recommendation. Can be the following enum values: PENDING VISIBLE HIDDEN WITHDRAWN REPLACED CLOSED	Yes	List of string

sample response

{
  "elements": [
    {
      "recommendeeEntity": "urn:li:position:(urn:li:person:456DEF,123456)",
      "status": "VISIBLE",
      "visibilityForRecommender": "EVERYONE",
      "relationship": "RECOMMENDEE_SENIOR_THAN_RECOMMENDER",
      "created": 1229538193168,
      "lastModified": 1269858649984,
      "recommendee": "urn:li:person:456DEF",
      "recommendationText": "John is great to work with!",
      "recommender": "urn:li:person:123ABC",
      "id": 123456
    },
    {
      "recommendeeEntity": "urn:li:position:(urn:li:person:999GGG,234567)",
      "status": "VISIBLE",
      "visibilityForRecommender": "EVERYONE",
      "relationship": "WORKED_IN_SAME_GROUP",
      "created": 1229538193168,
      "lastModified": 1269858649984,
      "recommendee": "urn:li:person:999GGG",
      "recommendationText": "Alicia is awesome!",
      "recommender": "urn:li:person:123ABC",
      "id": 234567
    },
    ...
  ],
  "paging": {
    "count": 10,
    "links": [

    ],
    "start": 0
  }
}

Retrieve Recommendations by Descendant

You can find a recommendation and the previous recommendations it replaced with the following API:

GET https://api.linkedin.com/v2/recommendation?q=descendant&recUrn=urn:li:recommendation:(urn:li:person:123ABC,123456)

Above is the API request represented in pretty print. With X-Restli-Protocol-Version: 2.0.0, you will need to do the following:

GET https://api.linkedin.com/v2/recommendation?q=descendant&recUrn=urn%3Ali%3Arecommendation%3A%28urn%3Ali%3Aperson%3A123ABC%2C123456%29

Query Parameters

Field	Description	Required	Format
recUrn	The current recommendationUrn input to find the previous recommendations it replaced.	Yes	Urn

Update Recommendations

You can update an recommendation status, visibilityForRecommender and recommendeeEntity. Only recommendee can change status or recommendeeEntity, and only recommender can change visibilityForRecommender.

The only exception is when recommender withdraws the recommendation, which will change the status to WITHDRAWN.

Only one of status and visibilityForRecommender may be updated in one request. State machine of status:

PENDING -> VISIBLE
PENDING -> HIDDEN
PENDING -> WITHDRAWN
PENDING -> REPLACED
PENDING -> CLOSED
VISIBLE -> HIDDEN
VISIBLE -> WITHDRAWN
VISIBLE -> REPLACED
VISIBLE -> CLOSED
HIDDEN -> VISIBLE
HIDDEN -> WITHDRAWN
HIDDEN -> REPLACED
CLOSED -> PENDING

See below for an example:

POST https://api.linkedin.com/v2/recommendation/urn:li:recommendation:(urn:li:person:123ABC,123456)

You can construct the recommendationUrn by taking the recommender personUrn and the recommendationID.

Example: urn:li:recommendation:({**recommender personUrn**},{**recommendationID**})

Above is the API request represented in pretty print. With X-Restli-Protocol-Version: 2.0.0, you will need to do the following:

POST https://api.linkedin.com/v2/recommendation/urn%3Ali%3Arecommendation%3A%28urn%3Ali%3Aperson%3A123ABC%2C123456%29

sample response

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "status": "VISIBLE"
        }
    }
}

Recommendation API

Create Recommendation

Request Body Fields

sample request body

sample response header

Retrieve Recommendations

sample request body

Retrieve Recommendations by Recipient

Query Parameters

sample response

Retrieve Recommendations by Recommender

Query Parameters

sample response

Retrieve Recommendations by Descendant

Query Parameters

Update Recommendations

sample response

Feedback

Feedback

Additional resources