Load xeno-canto data to DuckDB

Xeno-canto is a repository of bird sounds from around the world that provides a RESTful JSON-based API for accessing recording metadata and data. Everything needed to build a working xeno-canto → 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 xeno-canto 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 xeno-canto 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 xeno-canto 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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xeno-canto API at a glance

These values come from the xeno-canto API reference — the authoritative source if anything here looks out of date.

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How do I authenticate with the xeno-canto API?

Access requires an API key, which must be passed as a 'key' query parameter in the URL. Users can obtain this key from their account page on the Xeno-canto website.

1. Get your credentials

To obtain an API key for the Xeno-canto REST API: 1. Navigate to the official website at https://xeno-canto.org. 2. Register for an account if you do not already have one. 3. Ensure your email address is verified. 4. Once logged in, navigate to your account dashboard at https://xeno-canto.org/account to retrieve your assigned API key. An API key is required for all requests made to the Xeno-canto API v3.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

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[sources.xeno_canto_source]
XENO_CANTO_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 xeno-canto data can I load into DuckDB?

These are the xeno-canto endpoints dlt can load into DuckDB:

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How do I load only new xeno-canto records?

xeno-canto exposes page on api/3/recordings, 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": "recordings", "endpoint": {
    "path": "api/3/recordings",
    "data_selector": "recordings",
    "incremental": {"cursor_path": "page", "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 xeno-canto pipeline look like?

A standard dlt REST API pipeline — the same code you would write by hand, loading recordings and explore from the xeno-canto API into DuckDB:

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

@dlt.source
def xeno_canto_source(api_key=dlt.secrets.value):
    config: RESTAPIConfig = {
        "client": {
            "base_url": "https://xeno-canto.org/api/3/",
            "auth": {"type": "api_key", "api_key": api_key, "name": "key"},
        },
        "resources": [
            {"name": "recordings", "endpoint": {"path": "api/3/recordings", "data_selector": "recordings"}},
            {"name": "recordings_v2", "endpoint": {"path": "api/2/recordings", "data_selector": "recordings"}}
        ],
    }
    yield from rest_api_resources(config)


def load_xeno_canto_to_duckdb() -> None:
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="xeno_canto_pipeline",
        destination="duckdb",
        dataset_name="xeno_canto_data",
    )
    load_info = pipeline.run(xeno_canto_source())
    print(load_info)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    load_xeno_canto_to_duckdb()

Run it with python xeno_canto_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 xeno-canto 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("xeno_canto_pipeline").dataset()
df = data.recordings.df()
print(df.head())

SQL:

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SELECT * FROM xeno_canto_data.recordings LIMIT 10;

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

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How do I deploy the xeno-canto 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 xeno-canto 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 xeno-canto 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