Apple app store Python API Docs | dltHub

Build a Apple app store-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI Workbench support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.

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App Store Connect API is a REST API that enables automation of actions in App Store Connect. The REST API base URL is https://api.appstoreconnect.apple.com/v1 and All requests require a JWT Bearer token in the Authorization header..

dlt is an open-source Python library that handles authentication, pagination, and schema evolution automatically. dlthub provides AI context files that enable code assistants to generate production-ready pipelines. Install with uv pip install "dlt[workspace]" and start loading Apple app store data in under 10 minutes.


What data can I load from Apple app store?

Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Apple app store:

ResourceEndpointMethodData selectorDescription
apps/appsGETdataRetrieve a list of apps in the account.
users/usersGETdataRetrieve user accounts.
device_types/deviceTypesGETdataList supported device types.
beta_testers/betaTestersGETdataGet testers for TestFlight.
builds/buildsGETdataList builds for apps.

How do I authenticate with the Apple app store API?

Pass the JWT as a Bearer token in an 'Authorization: Bearer ' header with each request.

1. Get your credentials

  1. Sign in to App Store Connect as the Account Holder.
  2. Navigate to Users and Access → Keys.
  3. Click “Generate API Key”, provide a name, and select the desired role.
  4. Download the private key (.p8 file) and note the Key ID and Issuer ID displayed.
  5. Use the private key, Key ID, and Issuer ID to create a signed JWT for API calls.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

[sources.apple_app_store_source] private_key = "your_private_key_contents" key_id = "YOUR_KEY_ID" issuer_id = "YOUR_ISSUER_ID"

dlt reads this automatically at runtime — never hardcode tokens in your pipeline script. For production environments, see setting up credentials with dlt for environment variable and vault-based options.


How do I set up and run the pipeline?

Set up a virtual environment and install dlt:

uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate uv pip install "dlt[workspace]"

1. Install the dlt AI Workbench:

dlt ai init --agent <your-agent> # <agent>: claude | cursor | codex

This installs project rules, a secrets management skill, appropriate ignore files, and configures the dlt MCP server for your agent. Learn more →

2. Install the rest-api-pipeline toolkit:

dlt ai toolkit rest-api-pipeline install

This loads the skills and context about dlt the agent uses to build the pipeline iteratively, efficiently, and safely. The agent uses MCP tools to inspect credentials — it never needs to read your secrets.toml directly. Learn more →

3. Start LLM-assisted coding:

Use /find-source to load data from the Apple app store API into DuckDB.

The rest-api-pipeline toolkit takes over from here — it reads relevant API documentation, presents you with options for which endpoints to load, and follows a structured workflow to scaffold, debug, and validate the pipeline step by step.

4. Run the pipeline:

python apple_app_store_pipeline.py

If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:

Pipeline apple_app_store_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset apple_app_store_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/apple_app_store.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs

Inspect your pipeline and data:

dlt pipeline apple_app_store_pipeline show

This opens the Pipeline Dashboard where you can verify pipeline state, load metrics, schema (tables, columns, types), and query the loaded data directly.


Python pipeline example

This example loads apps and beta_testers from the Apple app store API into DuckDB. It mirrors the endpoint and data selector configuration from the table above:

import dlt from dlt.sources.rest_api import RESTAPIConfig, rest_api_resources @dlt.source def apple_app_store_source(private_key=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://api.appstoreconnect.apple.com/v1", "auth": { "type": "bearer", "token": private_key, }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "apps", "endpoint": {"path": "apps", "data_selector": "data"}}, {"name": "beta_testers", "endpoint": {"path": "betaTesters", "data_selector": "data"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="apple_app_store_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="apple_app_store_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(apple_app_store_source()) print(load_info)

To add more endpoints, append entries from the resource table to the "resources" list using the same name, path, and data_selector pattern.


How do I query the loaded data?

Once the pipeline runs, dlt creates one table per resource. You can query with Python or SQL.

Python (pandas DataFrame):

import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("apple_app_store_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.apps.df() print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

SELECT * FROM apple_app_store_data.apps LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("apple_app_store_pipeline").dataset() data.apps.df().head()

See how to explore your data in marimo Notebooks and how to query your data in Python with dataset.


What destinations can I load Apple app store data to?

dlt supports loading into any of these destinations — only the destination parameter changes:

DestinationExample value
DuckDB (local, default)"duckdb"
PostgreSQL"postgres"
BigQuery"bigquery"
Snowflake"snowflake"
Redshift"redshift"
Databricks"databricks"
Filesystem (S3, GCS, Azure)"filesystem"

Change the destination in dlt.pipeline(destination="snowflake") and add credentials in .dlt/secrets.toml. See the full destinations list.


Troubleshooting

Authentication Errors

  • 401 Unauthorized – The JWT is missing, malformed, or expired. Verify that the token is correctly signed with ES256 and that the iss, aud, and exp fields are valid.
  • 403 Forbidden – The API key does not have permission for the requested resource. Ensure the key’s role includes access to the endpoint.

Rate Limiting

  • 429 Too Many Requests – The API enforces a per‑account request limit. Back‑off for at least 30 seconds before retrying.

Pagination

  • Responses include a links object with next URLs. Continue fetching subsequent pages until the next link is absent.
  • The limit query parameter can be used to adjust page size (max 200).

Ensure that the API key is valid to avoid 401 Unauthorized errors. Also, verify endpoint paths and parameters to avoid 404 Not Found errors.


Next steps

Continue your data engineering journey with the other toolkits of the dltHub AI Workbench:

  • data-exploration — Build custom notebooks, charts, and dashboards for deeper analysis with marimo notebooks.
  • dlthub-runtime — Deploy, schedule, and monitor your pipeline in production.
dlt ai toolkit data-exploration install dlt ai toolkit dlthub-runtime install

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