About Absorb LMS
Absorb LMS is a cloud learning management system for employee training, compliance, and certification programs. Connecting Absorb LMS to Serval lets workflows query LMS data — users, courses, enrollments, departments, and related records — through the Absorb Integration API without exposing API credentials to workflow authors. This integration is read-only: it exposes 36 GET endpoints from the Integration API v2 spec. Write operations (creating users, enrolling learners, updating courses) are not available through Serval.The Absorb LMS integration is in beta. Behavior and endpoint coverage may change as we expand the integration.
What the Absorb LMS integration enables
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| User data | List and retrieve LMS users, authenticated admin profile, user management settings, certificates, and competencies |
| Courses | Read online courses, instructor-led courses, curricula, course sessions, and session details |
| Enrollments | List and retrieve course enrollments for users and courses, including the authenticated admin’s own enrollments |
| Organization | Read departments, groups, categories, roles, and custom field definitions |
| Learning structure | Read prerequisites, learning paths, and enrollment keys |
| Workflow automation | Call any supported GET endpoint from Serval workflows via the Absorb LMS API request action |
Prerequisites
Before connecting Absorb LMS to Serval, you will need:- Admin access to your Absorb LMS portal (required to view Portal Settings and retrieve the private API key).
- The Integration API add-on enabled on your Absorb portal. Absorb provisions a private API key tied to your portal when Integration API access is active. If you do not see a Rest API Private Key in Portal Settings, contact your Absorb account team.
- Admin username and password for an Absorb administrator whose role grants access to the data you plan to read. The admin’s permissions in the LMS determine which API endpoints return data.
Retrieve your Absorb LMS credentials
Confirm Integration API access
Sign in to your Absorb LMS portal. If the Integration API add-on is enabled, you can retrieve a private API key from Portal Settings. If the key field is missing, work with your Absorb account team to enable Integration API access before continuing.
Copy the Rest API Private Key
In the Absorb admin interface:
- Click the menu icon and select Admin.
- Click the account icon and select Portal Settings.
- Scroll to Rest API Private Key and copy the value.
Identify your Integration API host
Absorb serves the Integration API from regional gateway hosts separate from your learner-facing portal URL. Use the host that matches your organization’s region:
Paste only the hostname — no
| Region | API host |
|---|---|
| United States | rest.myabsorb.com |
| Canada | rest.myabsorb.ca |
| Europe | rest.myabsorb.eu |
| Australia | rest.myabsorb.com.au |
| United Kingdom | rest.myabsorb.co.uk |
| Sandbox | rest.sandbox.myabsorb.com |
https:// prefix and no path.Connect Absorb LMS to Serval
Fill in the connection form
Paste the values you captured above:
Click Save.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| API Host | Your regional Integration API gateway (e.g. rest.myabsorb.com, rest.myabsorb.eu, rest.myabsorb.ca, rest.myabsorb.com.au, or rest.sandbox.myabsorb.com). |
| Private API Key | The Rest API Private Key from Absorb Portal Settings. Sent as the x-api-key header on every request. |
| Admin Username | Absorb admin username used to obtain API tokens via /authenticate. |
| Admin Password | Password for the admin account. Stored encrypted; used only by the Serval proxy to mint short-lived bearer tokens. |
Verify the connection
Open the connected Absorb LMS integration and run health checks:
- <001> Test Connection — fetches the authenticated admin profile via
/my-details. - <002> List Users, <003> List Online Courses, <004> List My Enrollments, <005> List Departments, <006> List Categories — confirm read access to common LMS resources.
How authentication works
Every time a Serval workflow calls the Absorb Integration API, the Serval proxy:- Decrypts your stored private API key, admin username, and admin password. None of these values leave the proxy — workflow code only sees an opaque integration ID.
- Calls
POST https://{apiHost}/authenticatewith a JSON body containing your admin username and password, plus headersx-api-key,x-api-version: 2, andContent-Type: application/json. - Receives a short-lived bearer token from Absorb and caches it until five minutes before expiry, then refreshes automatically.
- Attaches these headers to the outbound API request:
x-api-key: <private API key>Authorization: Bearer <token>x-api-version: 2
- Forwards the request to your configured API host and streams the response back to the workflow.
Using Absorb LMS in workflows
Once connected, call Absorb from workflows with the Absorb LMS API request action. Pass thepath, method, and optional query — Serval resolves the API host from the connection and injects authentication automatically.
List endpoints support offset-based pagination with _offset and _limit query parameters, plus optional _sort, _filter, and modifiedSince on many resources:
Rotating credentials
- In Absorb, rotate the Rest API Private Key or update the admin password as needed through Portal Settings or your admin user management.
- In Serval, open the Absorb LMS integration’s configuration form.
- Paste the new values. Leaving a password field blank preserves the previously stored value, so you must paste a new password explicitly for it to take effect.
- Save and re-run Test Connection.
Troubleshooting
External resources
- Absorb Integration API v2 documentation — endpoint reference and authentication details.
- Getting Started with the Absorb Integration API — Absorb Help Center guide for token generation and portal setup.