Access Webflow Data from MySQL in PHP
You can use the CData SQL Gateway and ODBC Driver for Webflow to access Webflow data from MySQL clients, without needing to perform an ETL or cache data. Follow the steps below to connect to Webflow data in real time through PHP's standard MySQL interfaces, mysqli and PDO_MySQL.
Connect to Webflow Data
If you have not already done so, provide values for the required connection properties in the data source name (DSN). You can use the built-in Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to configure the DSN. This is also the last step of the driver installation. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure a DSN.
Authentication
Webflow uses OAuth 2.0 authentication to ensure secure access to sites, CMS collections, e-commerce data, and other resources. This authentication method allows you to securely connect to your Webflow workspace and manage resources with proper authorization.
OAuth 2.0 Setup and Configuration
Step 1: Create a Webflow OAuth Application
To set up OAuth authentication:
- Visit the Webflow Developer Portal
- Navigate to "Apps & Integrations" in your Webflow account
- Click "Register an App" to create a new OAuth application
- Configure the application name, description, and redirect URI (CallbackURL)
- Copy the Client ID and Client Secret for use in your connection
Required Connection Properties
- AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth (required)
- OAuthClientId: Client ID from your Webflow OAuth application (required)
- OAuthClientSecret: Client secret from your Webflow OAuth application (required)
- CallbackURL: Redirect URI specified in your OAuth application (required)
- InitiateOAuth: Set to GETANDREFRESH for automatic token management (recommended)
Required OAuth Scopes
The Webflow API Profile requires the following OAuth scopes:
- sites:read - Read access to site information and configuration
- pages:read - Read access to site pages
- cms:read - Read access to CMS collections and items
- forms:read - Read access to forms and form submissions
- assets:read - Read access to media assets and folders
- ecommerce:read - Read access to products, orders, and inventory
- authorized_user:read - Read access to the authorized user
Configure the SQL Gateway
See the SQL Gateway Overview to set up connectivity to Webflow data as a virtual MySQL database. You will configure a MySQL remoting service that listens for MySQL requests from clients. The service can be configured in the SQL Gateway UI.

Connect in PHP
The following examples show how to use object-oriented interfaces to connect and execute queries. Initialize the connection object with the following parameters to connect to the virtual MySQL database:
- Host: Specify the remote host location where the service is running. In this case "localhost" is used for the remote host setting since the service is running on the local machine.
- Username: Specify the username for a user you authorized on the SQL Gateway's Users tab.
- Password: Specify the password for the authorized user account.
- Database Name: Specify the system DSN as the database name.
- Port: Specify the port the service is running on; port 3306 in this example.
mysqli
<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "user", "password", "CData API Sys","3306");
?>
PDO
<?php
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=CData API Sys;port=3306', 'user', 'password');
?>
Query in PHP
With the connection established, you can then access tables. The following steps walk through the example:
- Query the table; for example, Sites. The results will be stored as an associative array in the $result object.
- Iterate over each row and column, printing the values to display in the PHP page.
- Close the connection.
mysqli
$result = $mysqli->query("SELECT , FROM Sites WHERE Id = 'your_site_id'");
while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
foreach ($row as $k=>$v) {
echo "$k : $v";
echo "<br>";
}
}
$mysqli->close();
PDO
$result = $pdo->query("SELECT , FROM Sites WHERE Id = 'your_site_id'");
while($row = $result->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC)) {
foreach ($row as $k=>$v) {
echo "$k : $v";
echo "<br>";
}
}
$result = null;
$pdo = null;