Chatpdf Python API Docs | dltHub

ChatPDF is a service that lets users upload PDF documents and interact with them via AI‑powered chat. The REST API base URL is https://api.chatpdf.com/v1 and All requests require a Bearer token passed 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 Chatpdf data in under 10 minutes.

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What data can I load from Chatpdf?

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

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How do I authenticate with the Chatpdf API?

Authentication uses a Bearer token; include the header Authorization: Bearer <your_api_key> with every request.

1. Get your credentials

1. Visit https://www.chatpdf.com and log in to your account.
2. Open the user dashboard or profile menu.
3. Navigate to the "API Keys" or "Integrations" section.
4. Click "Create New API Key" and give it a descriptive name.
5. Copy the generated key; it will be used as the Bearer token in API requests.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

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[sources.chatpdf_source]
api_key = "your_chatpdf_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 Chatpdf 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 chatpdf_pipeline.py

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

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Pipeline chatpdf_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds
1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset chatpdf_data
The duckdb destination used duckdb:/chatpdf.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 chatpdf_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 sources and chats from the Chatpdf 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 chatpdf_source(api_key=dlt.secrets.value):
    config: RESTAPIConfig = {
        "client": {
            "base_url": "https://api.chatpdf.com/v1",
            "auth": {
                "type": "bearer",
                "token": api_key,
            },
        },
        "resources": [
            {"name": "sources", "endpoint": {"path": "sources/add-url", "data_selector": "sourceId"}},
            {"name": "chats", "endpoint": {"path": "chats/message"}}
        ],
    }
    yield from rest_api_resources(config)


def get_data() -> None:
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="chatpdf_pipeline",
        destination="duckdb",
        dataset_name="chatpdf_data",
    )
    load_info = pipeline.run(chatpdf_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("chatpdf_pipeline").dataset()
sessions_df = data.sources.df()
print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

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SELECT * FROM chatpdf_data.sources LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

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import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("chatpdf_pipeline").dataset()
data.sources.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 Chatpdf 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 failures

• Cause: Missing or invalid Bearer token.
• Response: HTTP 401 Unauthorized.
• Fix: Ensure the Authorization: Bearer <your_api_key> header is present and the key is correct.

Rate limiting

• Cause: Exceeding the allowed request rate.
• Response: HTTP 429 Too Many Requests.
• Fix: Implement exponential back‑off and respect Retry-After header if provided.

Request size and token limits

• Cause: PDFs larger than 32 MB or 2,000 pages, or messages exceeding ~2,500 OpenAI tokens.
• Excerpt: "PDFs are limited to 2,000 pages or 32 MB per file." and "If the total number of OpenAI tokens in the these messages exceed 2,500, older messages are ignored...".
• Fix: Split large documents or truncate message history to stay within limits.

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