Azure REST API Python API Docs | dltHub

Build a Azure REST API-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI harness support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.

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Azure REST API provides a programmatic interface for managing Azure services and resources across the Microsoft cloud platform. The REST API base URL is https://management.azure.com and all requests typically require a 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 add "dlt[hub]" and start loading Azure REST API data in under 10 minutes.


What data can I load from Azure REST API?

Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Azure REST API:

ResourceEndpointMethodData selectorDescription
resources/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/resourcesGETvalueLists all resources in a resource group.
changes/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/.../providers/Microsoft.Resources/changesGETvalueLists change resources for a specific target.
resource_graph/providers/Microsoft.ResourceGraph/resourcesPOSTdataExecutes Azure Resource Graph queries.
subscriptions/subscriptionsGETvalueLists all subscriptions for the authenticated user.
resource_groups/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroupsGETvalueLists all resource groups in a subscription.

How do I authenticate with the Azure REST API API?

Azure REST APIs generally require an Authorization header using a Bearer token, which is obtained via Microsoft Entra ID (OAuth 2.0). The header format is 'Authorization: Bearer '.

1. Get your credentials

To obtain credentials for the Azure REST API, you must register a Service Principal (an application identity) in Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) via the Azure Portal. 1. In the Azure Portal, navigate to App registrations and create a new registration. 2. Once registered, generate a Client Secret under the "Certificates & secrets" section. 3. Assign the necessary Azure RBAC roles (e.g., Reader, Contributor) to this Service Principal at the desired scope (subscription or resource group level). 4. Collect the Application (client) ID, Directory (tenant) ID, and the Client Secret value. Use these credentials to authenticate via OAuth 2.0 to obtain an access token (Bearer token) from the Microsoft identity platform /token endpoint for the resource https://management.azure.com/.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

[sources.azure_rest_api_source] management_token = "your_bearer_token_here" # If using a custom authentication flow requiring client credentials: # client_id = "your_client_id" # client_secret = "your_client_secret" # tenant_id = "your_tenant_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 init uv add "dlt[hub]"

1. Install the dlt AI harness:

uv run dlthub 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:

uv run dlthub ai toolkit install rest-api-pipeline

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 Azure REST API 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:

uv run python azure_rest_api_pipeline.py

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

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

Inspect your pipeline and data:

uv run dlthub 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 subscriptions and resourceGroups from the Azure REST API 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 azure_rest_api_source(access_token=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://management.azure.com", "auth": {"type": "bearer", "token": access_token}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "resources", "endpoint": {"path": "subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/resources", "data_selector": "value"}}, {"name": "resource_graph", "endpoint": {"path": "providers/Microsoft.ResourceGraph/resources?api-version=2021-03-01", "data_selector": "data"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="azure_rest_api_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="azure_rest_api_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(azure_rest_api_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("azure_rest_api_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.resources.df() print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

SELECT * FROM azure_rest_api_data.resources LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("azure_rest_api_pipeline").dataset() data.resources.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 Azure REST API 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.


Next steps

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

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

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