Interactive Brokers Session Management

Interactive Brokers sessions have timeouts and require active maintenance. These endpoints initialize, validate, refresh, and manage session state so your integration stays connected.

Authentication

All requests require the Interactive Brokers bearer token, obtained from the Bearer Token API:

Authorization: Bearer <BEARER_TOKEN>

1. Initialize Session

POST https://api.ibkr.com/v1/api/iserver/auth/ssodh/init

Start a new session to establish connection and receive session tokens.

IBKR Documentation

2. Validate Session

GET https://api.ibkr.com/v1/api/sso/validate

Confirm session validity before executing trades.

IBKR Documentation

Status Codes: 200 session is valid, 401 session expired or invalid.

3. Authentication Status

GET https://api.ibkr.com/v1/api/iserver/auth/status

Check if you're authenticated, connected, and competitive (no other sessions).

IBKR Documentation

Response Fields:

Field	Meaning
`authenticated`	User is authenticated
`connected`	API connection established
`competing`	Another session exists (conflicts)

4. Tickle (Keep-Alive)

GET https://api.ibkr.com/v1/api/tickle

Send a keep-alive signal to maintain the session.

IBKR Documentation

Keep-Alive Interval: Call every 60 seconds to maintain an active session. If no tickle is received for an extended period, the session times out.

5. Suppress Messages

POST https://api.ibkr.com/v1/api/iserver/questions/suppress

Suppress IBKR confirmation dialogs for specific order types, to avoid confirmation prompts during programmatic trading.

IBKR Documentation

Common Message IDs:

ID	Description
`o163`	Order confirmation dialogs
`o354`	Risk management warnings
`o382`	Commission warnings
`p6`	General confirmations

Session Maintenance Flow

1. Get Bearer Token
   └─> /user/bearer-token

2. Initialize Session
   └─> POST /v1/api/iserver/auth/ssodh/init

3. Verify Connected
   └─> GET /v1/api/iserver/auth/status

4. Suppress Messages
   └─> POST /v1/api/iserver/questions/suppress

5. Keep Alive (every 60 seconds)
   └─> GET /v1/api/tickle

6. Before Trading
   └─> GET /v1/api/sso/validate
   └─> GET /v1/api/iserver/auth/status

7. Place Orders / Check Status
   └─> POST /v1/api/iserver/account/{acctId}/orders/whatif
   └─> POST /v1/api/iserver/account/{acctId}/orders
   └─> GET /v1/api/iserver/account/order/status/{orderId}

Example

Usage Example

A SessionManager that initializes the session, keeps it alive on an interval, and exposes validation helpers:

javascript

const IBKR_BASE_PATH = "https://api.ibkr.com";

class SessionManager {
  constructor(bearerToken) {
    this.bearerToken = bearerToken;
    this.sessionId = null;
    this.keepAliveInterval = null;
  }

  async initializeSession() {
    const response = await fetch(
      `${IBKR_BASE_PATH}/v1/api/iserver/auth/ssodh/init`,
      {
        method: "POST",
        headers: {
          Authorization: `Bearer ${this.bearerToken}`,
          "Content-Type": "application/json",
          "User-Agent": "Your Application/1.0",
        },
        body: JSON.stringify({
          publish: true,
          compete: true,
        }),
      },
    );

    const data = await response.json();
    this.sessionId = data.sessionId;
    return data;
  }

  async validateSession() {
    const response = await fetch(`${IBKR_BASE_PATH}/v1/api/sso/validate`, {
      headers: {
        Authorization: `Bearer ${this.bearerToken}`,
        "User-Agent": "Your Application/1.0",
      },
    });

    return response.status === 200;
  }

  async tickleSession() {
    await fetch(`${IBKR_BASE_PATH}/v1/api/tickle`, {
      headers: {
        Authorization: `Bearer ${this.bearerToken}`,
        "User-Agent": "Your Application/1.0",
      },
    });
  }

  startKeepAlive() {
    this.keepAliveInterval = setInterval(
      () => this.tickleSession(),
      60 * 1000, // Every 60 seconds
    );
  }

  stopKeepAlive() {
    if (this.keepAliveInterval) {
      clearInterval(this.keepAliveInterval);
    }
  }
}

For a full working script that also handles authentication and trading, see the Complete Flow Example.

Best Practices

1. Validate Before Trading - Always check validateSession() before placing orders 2. Keep Alive - Call tickle every 60 seconds to prevent session timeout 3. Monitor Status - Regularly check auth status for competing sessions 4. Suppress Early - Suppress messages during session initialization 5. Handle Errors - Implement retry logic for failed session calls 6. Session Cleanup - Stop the keep-alive timer when done

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Session expired	Request a new bearer token and reinitialize
Competing session	Another login exists; stop the other session
Validation fails	Tickle the session and retry
Messages not suppressed	Ensure message IDs are correct

Interactive Brokers Session Management

Authentication

1. Initialize Session

2. Validate Session

3. Authentication Status

4. Tickle (Keep-Alive)

5. Suppress Messages

Session Maintenance Flow

Usage Example

Best Practices

Troubleshooting

Request

Response

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