Canny Python API Docs | dltHub

Canny is a feedback management platform that provides a REST API for reading and writing board, category, post, user, and company data. The REST API base URL is https://canny.io/api/v1 and All requests must include your secret API key, either as the POST parameter apiKey or in the x-api-key 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 Canny data in under 10 minutes.

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What data can I load from Canny?

Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Canny:

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How do I authenticate with the Canny API?

Authentication is performed by sending your secret API key. Include it as a POST parameter called apiKey or set the HTTP header x-api-key with the key value.

1. Get your credentials

1. Log in to your Canny account.
2. Navigate to Settings → API Keys (or Company Settings → API).
3. Click Create new secret key or copy the existing secret key displayed.
4. Save the key securely; it will be used as the value for apiKey or the x-api-key header.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

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[sources.canny_source]
api_key = "your_canny_api_key_here"

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.

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How do I set up and run the pipeline?

Set up a virtual environment and install dlt:

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

1. Install the dlt AI Workbench:

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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:

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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 Canny 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:

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python canny_pipeline.py

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

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

Inspect your pipeline and data:

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dlt pipeline canny_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.

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Python pipeline example

This example loads boards and posts from the Canny API into DuckDB. It mirrors the endpoint and data selector configuration from the table above:

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

@dlt.source
def canny_source(api_key=dlt.secrets.value):
    config: RESTAPIConfig = {
        "client": {
            "base_url": "https://canny.io/api/v1",
            "auth": {
                "type": "api_key",
                "api_key": api_key,
            },
        },
        "resources": [
            {"name": "boards", "endpoint": {"path": "boards", "data_selector": "boards"}},
            {"name": "posts", "endpoint": {"path": "posts", "data_selector": "posts"}}
        ],
    }
    yield from rest_api_resources(config)


def get_data() -> None:
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="canny_pipeline",
        destination="duckdb",
        dataset_name="canny_data",
    )
    load_info = pipeline.run(canny_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.

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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):

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import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("canny_pipeline").dataset()
sessions_df = data.posts.df()
print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

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SELECT * FROM canny_data.posts LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

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import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("canny_pipeline").dataset()
data.posts.df().head()

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

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What destinations can I load Canny data to?

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

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

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Troubleshooting

Authentication errors

If the API key is missing or invalid, the API returns a 401 response with an error field, e.g. { "error": "Invalid API key" }. Verify that the apiKey parameter or x-api-key header contains the correct secret.

Rate limiting

Canny may return a 429 status with a message indicating you have exceeded the allowed number of requests. Implement exponential back‑off and respect any Retry-After header.

Pagination quirks

Endpoints use either a cursor or a skip parameter. The response includes hasMore/hasNextPage and a cursor value for the next page. Ensure you pass the returned cursor (or increment skip) to retrieve subsequent pages.

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

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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.

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dlt ai toolkit data-exploration install
dlt ai toolkit dlthub-runtime install

• How to deploy a pipeline
• How to explore your data in marimo Notebooks
• How to query your data in Python with dataset
• Join the dlt community on Slack