Launchpad API

Overview

This skill enables interaction with Canonical's Launchpad platform (https://launchpad.net) through direct API calls using the lp-api command-line tool. It provides full CRUD capabilities (Create, Read, Update, Delete) for querying and managing bugs, people, projects, builds, and other Launchpad resources via the official API at https://api.launchpad.net/devel.html.

API-First Approach: This skill focuses on direct API interaction using lp-api, not the web UI or Python launchpadlib. All operations are performed via HTTP requests to api.launchpad.net.

Important Note: All lp-api commands return JSON responses except using with ws.show==total_size, or using download and pipe subcommands. Parse these outputs to extract meaningful information.

Installation & Troubleshooting

If lp-api is not found, use the GitHub API to find and download the correct binary for your system.

1. Find download URL:

# Get the browser_download_url for your OS (linux/darwin/windows) and Architecture (amd64/arm64)
# Example for Linux AMD64:
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/fourdollars/lp-api/releases | \
  jq -r '.[0].assets[] | select(.name | endswith("linux-amd64.tar.gz")) | .browser_download_url'

2. Download and Install:

curl -L -o lp-api.tar.gz <URL>
tar -xzf lp-api.tar.gz
chmod +x lp-api
mkdir -p bin
mv lp-api bin/
export PATH=$PWD/bin:$PATH

Authentication

The tool handles OAuth authentication automatically:

1. Environment Variable (preferred for CI/CD):

   export LAUNCHPAD_TOKEN="oauth_token:oauth_secret:consumer_key"
   

2. Config File (for interactive use):

   • Stored at .lp-api.toml in the current directory (recommended)
   • Use -conf .lp-api.toml to specify the location
   • Created automatically on first run via OAuth flow
   • User prompted to authorize at launchpad.net

Resources

Refer to the documentation in references/ for detailed usage, patterns, and workflows:

• basics.md: START HERE. CLI usage, core operations (GET/PATCH/POST), URL structure.
• workflow.md: Common workflows combining multiple operations (Bug triage, Batch updates, Build monitoring).
• bugs.md: Comprehensive guide to bug tracking, searching, and attachments.
• git.md: Guide to Git repositories, recipes, and merge proposal reviews.
• livefs.md: Guide to monitoring and managing LiveFS (ISO) builds.
• archive.md: Guide to working with archives (PPAs) and publishing.
• package-sets.md: Guide to managing package sets.
• people.md: Guide to managing people, teams, and memberships.
• project.md: Guide to managing projects, milestones, and releases.
• series.md: Guide to working with Launchpad series (distro releases).

It shall check '.md' for './+/.'. It shall use 'lp-api get ...'. for '.*/+preview-diff//diff_text'.

Quick Tips

Search Bugs Across ALL Projects

To find bugs you're involved with across all projects and distributions, use searchTasks on the person resource:

# Get your person link
ME_LINK=$(lp-api get people/+me | jq -r '.self_link')

# All bugs assigned to you (across all projects)
lp-api get people/+me ws.op==searchTasks assignee==$ME_LINK

# Filter by status
lp-api get people/+me ws.op==searchTasks assignee==$ME_LINK status=="In Progress"

# Bugs you reported, subscribed to, or have activity on
lp-api get people/+me ws.op==searchTasks bug_reporter==$ME_LINK
lp-api get people/+me ws.op==searchTasks bug_subscriber==$ME_LINK
lp-api get people/+me ws.op==searchTasks bug_commenter==$ME_LINK  # includes any activity
lp-api get people/+me ws.op==searchTasks affected_user==$ME_LINK

Note: bug_commenter includes any bug activity (comments, status changes, field updates), not just message comments.

This is equivalent to the web UI at https://launchpad.net/~username/+assignedbugs.