What is Looker Extension?

A standard Looker dashboard is great for viewing data, but what if you want to act on it directly from the interface? That's the problem Looker Extensions are designed to solve. They let you build full-featured, interactive web applications that live right inside your Looker environment, transforming it from a reporting tool into an operational hub. This article breaks down what Looker Extensions are, why they're so powerful, and what you need to know before going down the path of building one.

What is a Looker Extension, Exactly?

Think of a Looker Extension like an app you install on your smartphone. Your phone has built-in features (like calling and texting), but apps unlock entirely new capabilities. Similarly, Looker provides powerful native dashboards, but Extensions add custom functionality, unique workflows, and interactive experiences tailored to your specific business needs.

At its core, a Looker Extension is a custom JavaScript web application built using the Looker Extension Framework. This framework provides a secure sandbox for your app to run within Looker, giving it direct access to Looker's APIs. This means your custom application can:

• Access and visualize authenticated data from your Looker instance.
• Trigger actions in other software (like Salesforce, HubSpot, or a custom database).
• Present data in entirely new, custom-designed interfaces.

The key takeaway is that an Extension isn't just an embedded dashboard. It’s a full-stack application that leverages Looker's data platform as its backend, but offers a completely custom front-end experience. It turns Looker from a one-way street (viewing data) into a two-way street (viewing and acting on data).

Beyond the Dashboard: Why Would You Use a Looker Extension?

You might be wondering, "Why not just use another tool for that?" The value comes from centralizing workflows and closing the gap between insight and action. Instead of spotting a trend in a report, then switching tabs to three different SaaS apps to do something about it, you can do it all in one place.

Create Entirely Custom Data Applications

Sometimes, a standard bar chart or a table isn't the right way to experience your data. An Extension lets you break free from the constraints of the standard Looker interface. For instance, a marketing agency could build an Extension that lets a client input their monthly ad spend goals. The Extension could then pull live performance data from Looker, model different budget allocation scenarios in real-time, and show projected outcomes in a highly visual, interactive interface. This is far beyond what a static dashboard could ever do.

Enable Data "Write-Back" Capabilities

By default, Looker is a "read-only" tool, you analyze data but don't change the source. Extensions break down this wall. Because they can communicate with external APIs, you can build "write-back" functionality. For example:

• A sales manager reviews a pipeline report Extension. They see a deal that's been in the "Negotiation" stage for too long and, with a single click inside the Extension, can update the deal status in Salesforce and assign a follow-up task to the account executive.
• A customer support lead analyzes a ticket volume Extension. They identify a user who repeatedly submits tickets for the same issue. With a button in the Extension, they can add a "VIP Support" tag to that user's profile in their CRM.

This actionability is the number one superpower of Extensions. It saves hours of context-switching and manual work.

Streamline and Simplify Complex Workflows

Many business processes involve pulling data from one system, making a decision, and then manually inputting something into another system. Extensions can orchestrate this entire workflow within one screen. A supply chain manager could use an inventory management Extension that flags low-stock items. The Extension could then present them with a pre-filled purchase order form that, upon submission, sends an order directly to a supplier's ordering system. This is a single, streamlined process where insight and execution happen together.

Real-World Examples of Looker Extensions

To make this more concrete, here are a few practical applications of Looker Extensions that illustrate their value across different teams.

For Marketing Teams: The Campaign Action Hub

The Problem: A marketing manager checks Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and LinkedIn Ads performance separately. They identify a few underperforming campaigns, jot down their names, then go into each ad platform one-by-one to pause a total of 15 different ad sets.

The Extension Solution: A unified "Campaign Performance Hub" Extension connects to all ad platforms via Looker's data models. It displays performance in a single view with color-coded ROI metrics. The manager can simply check a box next to each underperforming campaign - regardless of the source platform - and click a single "Pause Selected Campaigns" button. The Extension then makes API calls to Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn in the background to pause them instantly.

For Sales Operations: The Commission Calculator

The Problem: At the end of every quarter, a sales ops manager spends two days exporting deal data from Salesforce, cleaning it up in Excel, manually applying complex commission rules for each sales rep, and creating pivot tables to build a final P&L report.

The Extension Solution: A "Commission Reporting" Extension is built that pulls live deal data from Looker. It contains inputs where the sales ops manager can set commission tiers and accelerators for that quarter. The Extension automatically calculates commissions for every sales rep based on the live data and displays the results in a summary table. Reps can even log in to view a simplified version and track their progress toward OTE (on-target earnings).

For Product Teams: The Funnel Feedback Loop

The Problem: A product manager analyzes a user onboarding funnel report and notices a huge drop-off at a specific step. They take a screenshot of the chart, post it in Slack to discuss with engineers, and create a ticket in Jira outlining the problem.

The Extension Solution: An interactive "Funnel Analytics" Extension visualizes the user journey. When the product manager clicks on a high-drop-off step, a side panel in the Extension opens. It shows relevant session recordings from a tool like FullStory and includes a button labeled "Create Jira Ticket." Clicking this button pre-populates a Jira ticket with the funnel step name, the drop-off percentage, a link to the Looker view, and assigns it to the appropriate engineering squad.

The Catch: What Does it Take to Build an Extension?

While extremely powerful, building a Looker Extension is not a simple task for the average business user. It’s important to understand that this is a software development project, not a dashboard configuration task. Creating one requires a specific and technical skillset.

You'll typically need a developer or development team with experience in:

• Modern Web Development: Strong proficiency in JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and typically a front-end framework like React or Vue is essential.
• The Looker Extension Framework & APIs: Your developer will need to learn how to interact with Looker's dedicated SDKs and APIs to authenticate users and query data securely.
• LookML: While the front-end is built in JavaScript, the underlying data that powers the Extension is defined in Looker's modeling language, LookML. Your developer will need to understand it to effectively pull the right information.
• DevOps and Deployment: The final application needs to be hosted somewhere and deployed correctly to your Looker instance.

Extensions are best suited for situations where you have well-defined, high-value workflows that you need to optimize and have the dedicated developer resources to design, build, and maintain a custom application.

Final Thoughts

Looker Extensions bridge the divide between analyzing data and taking action on it. By allowing you to build custom applications directly within the platform, they can streamline essential workflows, create stickier data products, and ultimately save your team countless hours of busywork. They are a powerful tool for organizations that are ready to go beyond simple reporting and embed data deeply into their daily operations.

This level of required development highlights a broader challenge in the data world: turning insight into action shouldn't always require a team of engineers. While creating custom apps is a heavy lift, simply getting answers from your data in real-time shouldn't be. Here at Graphed , we handle the technical complexity for you. We connect to all your data sources — like Shopify, Google Analytics, and Facebook Ads — and let you build live, interactive dashboards just by describing what you want to see in plain English. There’s no complex setup and no coding required, giving your whole team the power to get answers in seconds, not weeks.