Accessing Interactive Brokers via API
July 5, 2026
2 min read
Interactive Brokers programmatic access to trading and account data via the Client Portal API (REST). Here’s what I learned about getting started.
Web API
The Client Portal API is the modern REST-based approach, officially supported by Interactive Brokers.
Setup Steps
Download the API gateway .
To run it, we also need to install Java environment.
brew install --cask temurin
After installation, the java command should be available:
java --version
openjdk 26.0.1 2026-04-21
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Temurin-26.0.1+8 (build 26.0.1+8)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Temurin-26.0.1+8 (build 26.0.1+8, mixed mode, sharing)
Unzip the clientportal.gw.zip downloaded earlier. Also need to modify the root/conf.yaml file so it uses 5001 instead of 5000 to avoid conflict for the listenPort field.
Finally, open a terminal under the unzipped clientportal.gw folder:
bin/run.sh root/conf.yaml
running
runtime path : root:dist/ibgroup.web.core.iblink.router.clientportal.gw.jar:build/lib/runtime/*
config file : root/conf.yaml
...
Java Version: 26.0.1
****************************************************
version: a27ed42161ad96c53e715ca5c5e3e3fa4cff5262 Mon, 24 Apr 2023 15:41:53 -0400
****************************************************
This is the Client Portal Gateway
for any issues, please contact [email protected]
and include a copy of your logs
****************************************************
https://www.interactivebrokers.com/api/doc.html
****************************************************
Open https://localhost:5001 to login
Follow the instruction to open https://localhost:5001 to login use the IBKR credentials.
Next Steps
With the gateway running and authenticated, we can now make REST requests to https://localhost:5001 to automate trading, fetch account data, and manage orders.
The API documentation
has comprehensive endpoint references for building out your integration by just pointing it in our favorite AI tools.