Samsara

Samsara is a connected operations platform for physical operations, unifying fleet, equipment, and industrial IoT telematics along with safety, compliance, and dispatch data. The Nexla connector uses the Samsara REST API to read operational records such as vehicles, drivers, routes, and telematics stats, and to create or update records like drivers, users, tags, and vehicle inspection reports.

Power end-to-end data operations for your Samsara API with Nexla. Our bi-directional Samsara connector is purpose-built for Samsara, making it simple to ingest data, sync it across systems, and deliver it anywhere — all with no coding required. Nexla turns API-sourced data into ready-to-use, reusable data products and makes it easy to send data to Samsara or any other destination. With comprehensive monitoring, lineage tracking, and access controls, Nexla keeps your Samsara workflows fast, secure, and fully governed.

Features

Type: API

SourceDestination

• Seamless API Integration: Connect to any endpoint as source or destination without coding, with automatic data product creation
• Visual Composition & Chaining: Build complex integrations using visual templates, chain API calls, and compose workflows with data validation and filtering
• API Proxy: Expose curated slices of your data securely with a secure and customizable API proxy that validates and transforms data on the fly
• Request optimization with intelligent batching, retry, and caching to minimize API calls and costs

Prerequisites

Before creating a Samsara credential in Nexla, you need a Samsara API token. Samsara authenticates API requests using the Bearer token scheme, so the token is sent in the Authorization header on every request.

To create an API token, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the Samsara dashboard with an account that has administrative access.

2. Open the Settings page by clicking the gear icon in the left-side navigation bar.

3. Scroll to the API Tokens section and click Add an API Token.

4. Give the token a descriptive name (for example, "Nexla Integration"). Samsara recommends using a unique token per integration.

5. Optionally restrict the token using Tag Access and Granular Scopes to limit which tags and data types the token can reach. Grant only the scopes required for the endpoints you intend to use in Nexla.

6. Save the token, then copy it immediately and store it securely. Samsara does not display the plaintext token again after you leave the page. If the token is lost or compromised, regenerate it; regenerating invalidates the previous token.

For more detail, see the Samsara API Authentication documentation and Get Started with the Samsara API.

Authenticate

Credentials required

Field	Required	Secret	Description
API Token	Yes	Yes	Your Samsara API token. Generate one in the Samsara dashboard under Settings > API Tokens.

Create a credential in Nexla

1. After selecting the data source/destination type, click the Add Credential tile to open the Add New Credential overlay.

2. Enter a name for the credential in the Credential Name field and a short, meaningful description in the Credential Description field.

3. Enter your Samsara API token in the API Token field. This token is sent as a Bearer token in the Authorization header on every request to the Samsara API and must be kept confidential.

   If your API token is compromised, regenerate it in the Samsara dashboard under Settings > API Tokens. Regenerating a token immediately invalidates the previous value.

   For detailed information about Samsara authentication, scopes, and available endpoints, see the Samsara API Reference.

4. Click the Save button at the bottom of the overlay. The newly added credential will now appear in a tile on the Authenticate screen during data source/destination creation.

Use as a data source

To create a new data flow, navigate to the Integrate section, and click the New Data Flow button. Select the Samsara connector tile, then select the credential that will be used to connect to Samsara, and click Next; or, create a new Samsara credential for use in this flow.

Endpoint templates

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure data sources to ingest data from common Samsara endpoints. Select the endpoint from which this source will fetch data from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Available endpoint templates are listed in the expandable boxes below.

[Rest API] List Addresses

List all addresses in the organization.

[Rest API] List Contacts

List all contacts in the organization.

[Rest API] List Drivers

List all drivers in the organization.

[Rest API] List Vehicles

List all vehicles in the organization.

[Rest API] List Equipment

List all units of equipment.

[Rest API] List Routes

Fetch all dispatch routes.

[Rest API] List Tags

List all tags in the organization.

[Rest API] List Users

List all dashboard users.

[Rest API] List Gateways

List all gateway devices.

[Rest API] List Industrial Assets

List all industrial assets.

[Rest API] List Safety Events

List all safety events.

[Rest API] List Documents

Fetch all compliance documents.

[Rest API] List Document Types

Fetch all document types.

[Rest API] List DVIRs

Get all vehicle inspection reports (DVIRs).

[Rest API] List Defects

Get all vehicle defects.

[Rest API] List HOS Logs

Get hours-of-service logs.

[Rest API] List HOS Daily Logs

Get driver HOS daily logs.

[Rest API] List HOS Clocks

Get hours-of-service clocks.

[Rest API] List Carrier Proposed Assignments

Retrieve carrier-proposed load assignments.

[Rest API] List Driver Vehicle Assignments

Get all vehicles assigned to a set of drivers.

[Rest API] List Vehicle Driver Assignments

Get all drivers assigned to a set of vehicles.

[Rest API] Vehicle Locations Snapshot

Get the most recent GPS location for all vehicles.

[Rest API] Vehicle Locations History

Get historical GPS locations for vehicles.

[Rest API] Vehicle Stats Snapshot

Get the most recent telematics stats for all vehicles.

[Rest API] Vehicle Stats History

Get historical telematics stats for vehicles.

[Rest API] Equipment Locations Snapshot

Get most recent locations for all equipment.

[Rest API] Equipment Stats Snapshot

Get most recent stats for all equipment.

[Rest API] List Industrial Data Inputs

List all industrial data inputs.

[Rest API] Industrial Data Points Snapshot

List most recent data points for data inputs.

[Rest API] List User Roles

List all user roles.

Once the selected endpoint template has been configured, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu to retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched. Sample data will be displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right, allowing you to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.

Manual configuration

Samsara data sources can also be manually configured to ingest data from any valid Samsara API endpoint, including endpoints not covered by the pre-built templates, chained API calls, or custom request parameters. Select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen, and follow the instructions in Connect to Any API to configure the API method, endpoint URL, date/time and lookup macros, path to data, metadata, and request headers.

Once all of the relevant settings have been configured, click the Create button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the new Samsara data source. Nexla will now begin ingesting data from the configured endpoint and will organize any data that it finds into one or more Nexsets.

Use as a destination

Click the + icon on the Nexset that will be sent to the Samsara destination, and select the Send to Destination option from the menu. Select the Samsara connector from the list of available destination connectors, then select the credential that will be used to connect to Samsara, and click Next; or, create a new Samsara credential for use in this flow.

Endpoint templates

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure destinations to send data to common Samsara endpoints. Select the endpoint to which data will be sent from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Then, click on the template in the list below to expand it, and follow the instructions to configure additional endpoint settings.

[Rest API] Create Driver

Create a new driver.

[Rest API] Update Driver

Update an existing driver.

[Rest API] Update Vehicle

Update an existing vehicle.

[Rest API] Create User

Create a new dashboard user.

[Rest API] Update User

Update an existing dashboard user.

[Rest API] Create Tag

Create a new tag.

[Rest API] Update Tag

Update an existing tag.

[Rest API] Create Contact

Create a new contact.

[Rest API] Create Document

Create a new compliance document.

[Rest API] Create DVIR

Create a mechanic DVIR (vehicle inspection report).

Manual configuration

Samsara destinations can also be manually configured to send data to any valid Samsara API endpoint. Select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen, and follow the instructions in Connect to Any API to configure the API method, data format, endpoint URL, request headers, attribute exclusions, record batching, and response webhooks.

Samsara APIs expect JSON in the request body for create and update operations. For update operations, include the ID of the record to be updated in the endpoint path.

Save & activate

Once all endpoint settings have been configured, click the Done button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the destination. To send the data to the configured Samsara endpoint, open the destination resource menu, and select Activate.

The Nexset data will not be sent to the Samsara endpoint until the destination is activated. Destinations can be activated immediately or at a later time, providing full control over data movement.