Linking Shutterstock as a source
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Contents
This source is currently in alpha. The interface and available tables may change.
The Shutterstock connector syncs image categories, video categories, images updated, and more into the PostHog data warehouse, so you can analyze them alongside your product data.
Prerequisites
Credentials that can read the data you want to sync. PostHog only reads data, so read access is enough.
Adding a data source
- In PostHog, go to the Sources tab of the data pipeline section.
- Click + New source and click Link next to this source.
- Enter your credentials (see Configuration below) and click Next.
- Select the tables you want to sync, choose a sync method and frequency, then click Import.
Once the syncs are complete, you can start querying this data in PostHog.
Pull your Shutterstock media catalog and account data.
Authenticate with your app's consumer key and secret (from your Shutterstock apps page) to sync the catalog feeds: categories and recently updated images and videos.
To also sync account-level tables, use an OAuth access token instead. Collections need the collections.view scope, license history needs licenses.view, and subscriptions need purchases.view. Note that Shutterstock invalidates OAuth tokens when the account password changes, so you may need to reconnect after a password change.
You'll be asked for:
- Authentication type: choose between Consumer key and secret and OAuth access token.
Sync modes
Each table can be synced in one of several modes, depending on what the source supports:
- Webhook (when available) – the source pushes changes to PostHog in real time. Fastest freshness, lowest ongoing cost, and the only mode that reliably captures updates and deletes.
- Incremental – only new or updated rows are synced on each run, using a cursor field (such as an
updated_attimestamp). Cheaper than a full refresh, but deletes aren't captured. - Append only – new rows are appended using a cursor field; existing rows are never updated. Ideal for immutable, append-only tables like event logs.
- Full refresh – the whole table is reloaded on every sync. Use it when a table has no reliable cursor or when you need deletions reflected.
See sync methods for a full explanation of how each mode works and how to choose between them.
Some Shutterstock tables sync incrementally, so later runs only fetch new or updated rows. The rest are full refresh.
Configuration
| Option | Type | Required |
|---|---|---|
Authentication type | select | Yes |
Supported tables
| Table | Description | Sync method | Incremental field | Primary key |
|---|---|---|---|---|
image_categories | Categories that Shutterstock images can belong to. | Full refresh | — | — |
video_categories | Categories that Shutterstock videos can belong to. | Full refresh | — | — |
images_updated | Images that were recently added, deleted, or edited in the Shutterstock catalog. | Incremental, Full refresh | updated_time | — |
videos_updated | Videos that were recently added, deleted, or edited in the Shutterstock catalog. | Incremental, Full refresh | updated_time | — |
image_collections | The account's image collections (lightboxes). | Full refresh | — | — |
video_collections | The account's video collections (clipboxes). | Full refresh | — | — |
image_licenses | The account's image license history: one row per image download event. | Incremental, Full refresh | download_time | — |
video_licenses | The account's video license history: one row per video download event. | Incremental, Full refresh | download_time | — |
subscriptions | The account's Shutterstock subscriptions and their download allotments. | Full refresh | — | — |
Troubleshooting
- If the connection fails with an authorization error, the consumer secret is wrong, expired, or has been revoked. Create a new one, then reconnect the source.
- If a table syncs no rows, the credential may not have access to that data. Check its permissions, then reconnect the source.
If your sync is failing or data looks wrong, see the Data warehouse troubleshooting guide. If that doesn't help, contact support – we're happy to help.