The Google Analytics Data API (version 1) is the programming interface through which software reads report data from Google Analytics properties. It returns the same data as the Google Analytics web interface; it does not work with the legacy Universal Analytics properties. Typical uses are custom dashboards, automated reports and moving analytics data into other business applications.
A program sends a POST request, for example to the runReport method, with a JSON body that names date ranges, dimensions (attributes such as country or page) and metrics (counts such as active users). The response holds column headers and data rows. Other methods build pivot reports, run several reports in one call, list the available dimensions and metrics, and return realtime reports of the last 30 minutes; audience exports are also available, and funnel reports are in early preview. Client libraries exist for Java, Python, Node.js, PHP, C#, Go and Ruby, and requests are authorized with OAuth 2.0 or tied to a project by an API key.
Every request needs a Google Cloud project and uses quota tokens, with daily and hourly limits for each Analytics property.