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From what I can tell, there's currently no way to write to StackExchange sites using the API. Are there any plans to support this? This would mean some implementation headaches, such as providing a way to log a user in through the API and then call API methods on behalf of that user (to post/edit questions/answers/comments).

The simplest system for authenticating users through the API would, in my opinion, be something à la bit.ly. If you're not familiar with it, they basically provide each user with their own private, unique, secret API key which they can give to an app and the app will then be able to perform actions on behalf of that user, using that API key. The user can reset his key at any time, if an app goes berserk.

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    I totally agree that write access needs to be put into the API, but I would prefer seeing OAuth as the authentication method.
    – King Isaac
    Commented May 25, 2010 at 20:37
  • Writing Questions, Answers, and Comments is now supported by API version 2.2.
    – Brock Adams
    Commented Dec 2, 2014 at 22:23

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It's explained here

Version 1 is read only. Coming up with a solid API is hard enough without adding writing and authentication to the mix. For the initial release, it’s a read-only API. We’ll take on the much more challenging problem of writing (and authentication) in v2.

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  • This is the correct answer.
    – Kevin Montrose
    Commented May 25, 2010 at 20:56

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