> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.lightdash.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Live data sources > Connect your tools and analyze their live data directly [Beta](https://docs.lightdash.com/support/feature-badges.md#beta) > [!NOTE] > > [Contact Lightdash support](mailto:support@lightdash.com) to enable live data sources for your organization. > > On a self-hosted Enterprise instance, [enable them with a feature flag](https://docs.lightdash.com/self-host/enterprise-features#live-data-sources). Live data sources let you analyze the live data in your tools, with or without a warehouse. Sign in to a tool and you get a ready-made set of dimensions and metrics to explore, chart and ask AI agents about. Each query goes to the tool's API when it runs, so results are as current as the tool and its data isn't loaded into your warehouse. Speed, history and rate limits depend on each tool. A project can use live data sources on their own, with no warehouse connected. ## Connect your tools Project admins [add a source](https://docs.lightdash.com/integrations/live-data-sources/set-up-and-manage.md#connect-a-live-data-source) by signing in to the tool or entering an API key. There's no sync to schedule or dbt model to write. Each integration page lists its dimensions, metrics, supported features and limits. > [card] [PostHog](https://docs.lightdash.com/integrations/live-data-sources/posthog.md) > > Product events, persons and sessions through HogQL > [card] [Google Analytics 4](https://docs.lightdash.com/integrations/live-data-sources/google-analytics.md) > > Users, sessions, events and revenue for a property > [card] [Google Search Console](https://docs.lightdash.com/integrations/live-data-sources/google-search-console.md) > > Search clicks, impressions, click-through rate and position > [card] [Meta Ads](https://docs.lightdash.com/integrations/live-data-sources/meta-ads.md) > > Facebook and Instagram ad performance for an ad account > [card] [Google Ads](https://docs.lightdash.com/integrations/live-data-sources/google-ads.md) > > Campaign and ad group cost, clicks and conversions > [card] [YouTube Analytics](https://docs.lightdash.com/integrations/live-data-sources/youtube-analytics.md) > > Channel views, watch time and subscribers > [card] [LinkedIn Ads](https://docs.lightdash.com/integrations/live-data-sources/linkedin-ads.md) > > Campaign spend, clicks, leads and conversions To ask for another tool, click **Request** next to it in the **Add a live data source** dialog. If it isn't listed, contact [Lightdash support](mailto:support@lightdash.com). ## Integration levels An integration's level describes how much its API can do when Lightdash queries it live. The higher the level, the more questions work. Each integration page states its level and the features it supports. | Level | What the API does | What you can ask | | - | - | - | | 5 | Runs SQL | The widest range of metrics and breakdowns | | 4 | Runs its own query language, including totals | Totals and breakdowns that query language supports | | 3 | Runs reports from a fixed menu of dimensions and metrics | Any combination the menu allows | | 2 | Filters records, without totals | Small, filtered sets of records | | 1 | Lists records, without filtering | Very little works live | ## Access and security A source uses one shared connection, so everyone who can query it sees the same data. | Topic | How it works | | - | - | | Who can manage sources | Project admins add, edit, sign in again and delete sources | | Who can query | People with the Interactive viewer role or above. Viewers can open saved charts and dashboards | | Whose access queries use | The account that signed in, or the API key, within the dimensions and metrics in use | | Access requested | Read-only. Each integration page lists what it needs | | Credentials | Sign-in tokens and API keys are stored encrypted and never shown again | | What AI agents see | Source names, the dimensions and metrics in use with their labels, descriptions and AI hints, and the rows their queries return | | Usage | Each source shows data read, API calls and median latency | [User attributes](https://docs.lightdash.com/workspace-admin/user-attributes.md) don't apply to live data sources, so you can't limit rows or columns per person. To limit who can query a source, connect it in a separate project that only those people can access. To keep sensitive data, such as properties that hold email addresses, away from people and agents, [turn off **In use**](https://docs.lightdash.com/integrations/live-data-sources/set-up-and-manage.md#dimensions-and-metrics) for that dimension or metric. ## Limits ### Rate limits Each source caps queries at once, calls per minute and calls per hour, and everyone who queries it shares those caps. Each person's first open of a chart makes its own call, so a popular dashboard can reach them. Scheduled deliveries send results to people without each of them querying the source. A query waits up to 15 seconds for a free slot. Over a cap, it fails with a message saying when to retry. Calls also count toward your API quota with the tool. ### Date ranges and rows A query with no filter on the source's date dimension reads a default range, such as the last 28 days. Each integration also caps the rows a query returns and how long it waits for an answer. ### Unavailable features These aren't available on any live data source: * View underlying data * SQL runner and compiled SQL * Embedded dashboards and charts * Funnels, retention and user paths * Pivot tables and charts grouped by a dimension * Data apps Other features, such as table calculations and custom metrics, vary by integration. A query that uses an unsupported feature fails with a message saying what to remove, even when the control for it still appears. ## Caching [Results caching](https://docs.lightdash.com/semantic-layer/caching.md) doesn't apply to live data sources, so its project setting, duration and sharing between people have no effect. Integrations have their own processing delays, listed on each integration page. * **Repeat queries.** If you run the same query again within 60 seconds, you get your earlier result. It doesn't call the integration or count toward its rate limits. This reuse is per person, so the same query from someone else calls the integration. * **Scheduled deliveries.** Deliveries fetch new results unless **Use cached results when available** is on. * **Clearing the cache.** Clearing cached results for a project, chart, dashboard or explore, on demand or on a schedule, also clears live data source results. ## Choose a data source | Use | When you want to | | - | - | | [A live data source](https://docs.lightdash.com/integrations/live-data-sources/set-up-and-manage.md#connect-a-live-data-source) | Answer questions about one tool's own data, without building a pipeline | | [Your warehouse](https://docs.lightdash.com/get-started/build-your-semantic-layer.md) | Join a tool's data with other data, model it, or keep history the tool doesn't | | [External sources](https://docs.lightdash.com/explore/external-sources.md) | Upload a CSV or connect a Google Sheet and query it next to your warehouse data | You can't join a live data source to other tables in Explore. 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