Load USPTO Patent File Wrapper data to DuckDB

The USPTO Patent File Wrapper API provides access to bibliographic data, assignment history, and prosecution documents for U.S. patent applications. Everything needed to build a working USPTO Patent File Wrapper → DuckDB pipeline is on this page: the API's base URL, authentication, endpoints, pagination and incremental field — plus a prompt that hands the whole job to your coding agent.

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Build your USPTO Patent File Wrapper to DuckDB pipeline

Paste this prompt into Claude, Codex, or Cursor. The agent does the rest.

PromptCopy prompt
Run uvx dlthub-init@latest to build a pipeline from USPTO Patent File Wrapper to DuckDB and run it on dltHub

That scaffolds a dltHub workspace and installs the dltHub AI harness — the project rules, the secrets-management skill, and the dlt MCP server your agent needs to work safely. From there it reads the USPTO Patent File Wrapper API, proposes the endpoints to load, then writes, runs and validates the pipeline while you review rather than type. Credentials are inspected through MCP tools, so your agent never reads secrets.toml itself. How the LLM-native workflow works →

Prefer to write it yourself? Every fact the agent uses is below.

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USPTO Patent File Wrapper API at a glance

These values come from the USPTO Patent File Wrapper API reference — the authoritative source if anything here looks out of date.

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How do I authenticate with the USPTO Patent File Wrapper API?

Authentication requires an API key, which must be passed in the HTTP header named 'X-API-KEY'. You can obtain this key after creating a USPTO.gov account and verifying your identity via the Open Data Portal.

1. Get your credentials

1. Navigate to the USPTO Open Data Portal (ODP) and create a USPTO.gov account. 2. Complete identity verification through ID.me as a one-time requirement. 3. Sign in to the 'Manage API Key' page (https://data.uspto.gov/apikey) with your verified USPTO.gov account. 4. Follow the on-screen instructions to generate your API key, which will be displayed on your personal dashboard. Note: As of June 18, 2026, you must sign in with a valid USPTO.gov account with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) enabled to access the portal.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

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[sources.uspto_patent_file_wrapper_source]
uspto_api_key = "your_api_key_here"

dlt reads this file automatically at runtime. With the harness, the setup-secrets skill prompts you for the values and never handles the raw credential in chat. For production, see setting up credentials with dlt.

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What USPTO Patent File Wrapper data can I load into DuckDB?

These are the USPTO Patent File Wrapper endpoints dlt can load into DuckDB:

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How do I load only new USPTO Patent File Wrapper records?

USPTO Patent File Wrapper exposes offset on api/v1/patent/applications/search, so dlt can request only the records that changed since the last run. Set it as the cursor_path and dlt tracks the high-water mark for you between runs.

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{"name": "search", "endpoint": {
    "path": "api/v1/patent/applications/search",
    "incremental": {"cursor_path": "offset", "initial_value": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z"},
}}

On the first run dlt loads everything from initial_value; on every run after that it requests only what changed and appends with write_disposition="merge" if you set a primary key. See incremental loading.

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What does the generated USPTO Patent File Wrapper pipeline look like?

A standard dlt REST API pipeline — the same code you would write by hand, loading search and documents from the USPTO Patent File Wrapper API into DuckDB:

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import dlt
from dlt.sources.rest_api import RESTAPIConfig, rest_api_resources

@dlt.source
def uspto_patent_file_wrapper_source(api_key=dlt.secrets.value):
    config: RESTAPIConfig = {
        "client": {
            "base_url": "https://api.uspto.gov",
            "auth": {"type": "api_key", "api_key": api_key, "name": "X-API-KEY", "location": "header"},
        },
        "resources": [
            {"name": "search", "endpoint": {"path": "api/v1/patent/applications/search"}},
            {"name": "documents", "endpoint": {"path": "api/v1/patent/applications/{applicationNumberText}/documents"}}
        ],
    }
    yield from rest_api_resources(config)


def load_uspto_patent_file_wrapper_to_duckdb() -> None:
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="uspto_patent_file_wrapper_pipeline",
        destination="duckdb",
        dataset_name="uspto_patent_file_wrapper_data",
    )
    load_info = pipeline.run(uspto_patent_file_wrapper_source())
    print(load_info)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    load_uspto_patent_file_wrapper_to_duckdb()

Run it with python uspto_patent_file_wrapper_pipeline.py. The agent iterates on this until it loads cleanly — you review and approve, rather than write it from scratch.

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How do I query USPTO Patent File Wrapper data in DuckDB?

dlt creates one table per resource. Query the loaded data with Python or SQL — or ask your agent to, through the MCP server's execute_sql_query tool.

Python (pandas DataFrame):

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import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("uspto_patent_file_wrapper_pipeline").dataset()
df = data.search.df()
print(df.head())

SQL:

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SELECT * FROM uspto_patent_file_wrapper_data.search LIMIT 10;

See querying your data with dataset and exploring it in marimo notebooks.

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How do I deploy the USPTO Patent File Wrapper to DuckDB pipeline in production?

The pipeline runs locally, which is ideal for prototyping and one-off analysis. When you need it on a schedule, monitored on every load, and shared with your team, deploy the same dlt code on the dltHub platform — no infrastructure to maintain. The prompt above already ends with "run it on dltHub", so your agent can take it there directly.

• Deploy & schedule — run the pipeline as a managed job with automatic retries.
• Monitor — observable job queues, alerting, and load metrics for every run.
• Transform — promote raw USPTO Patent File Wrapper loads into governed, documented models.
• Visualize & share — explore data in notebooks and publish live dashboards instead of static screenshots.

Book a demo →

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What other destinations can I load USPTO Patent File Wrapper data to?

dlt loads into any of these — only the destination argument changes:

Set dlt.pipeline(destination="snowflake") and add credentials in .dlt/secrets.toml. On the dltHub platform the same pipeline runs against a managed Iceberg lakehouse. See the full destinations list.

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Next steps

• Ready for production? Book a demo of the dltHub platform →
• dlt LLM-native workflow docs
• REST API source reference
• Join the dlt community on Slack