Commerce Layer Python API Docs | dltHub

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

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Commerce Layer is a headless e-commerce platform providing an API-first commerce engine for global brands. The REST API base URL is https://yourdomain.commercelayer.io/api and all requests require a Bearer token.

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 Commerce Layer data in under 10 minutes.


What data can I load from Commerce Layer?

Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Commerce Layer:

ResourceEndpointMethodData selectorDescription
orders/api/ordersGETdataRetrieve a list of orders
skus/api/skusGETdataRetrieve a list of SKUs
shipments/api/shipmentsGETdataRetrieve a list of shipments
exports/api/exportsGETdataRetrieve a list of exports
stock_items/api/stock_itemsGETdataRetrieve a list of stock items

How do I authenticate with the Commerce Layer API?

All API requests require an Authorization header with a Bearer token; the token is obtained via a POST request to https://auth.commercelayer.io/oauth/token. Additionally, requests must specify 'Accept: application/vnd.api+json' and, for POST/PUT/PATCH, 'Content-Type: application/vnd.api+json'.

1. Get your credentials

To obtain API credentials for Commerce Layer: 1. Log in to your Commerce Layer admin dashboard. 2. In the left navigation sidebar, locate the Developers dropdown menu. 3. Click on API credentials. 4. Click the + New button in the top right corner. 5. Select the appropriate credential type (Integration, Sales channel, or Webapp) based on your requirements. 6. Provide a name, configure permissions/roles if prompted, and click Create. 7. Copy and save your Client ID, Client Secret, and organization slug (from your base endpoint), as they will be required for API authentication.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

[sources.commerce_layer_source] client_id = "your_client_id_here" client_secret = "your_client_secret_here" organization_slug = "your_org_slug_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.


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 Commerce Layer 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 commerce_layer_pipeline.py

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

Pipeline commerce_layer_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset commerce_layer_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/commerce_layer.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 oauth/token (for authentication) and api/orders (as an example of a core resource endpoint) from the Commerce Layer 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 commerce_layer_source(client_credentials=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://yourdomain.commercelayer.io/api", "auth": {"type": "bearer", "token": client_credentials}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "skus", "endpoint": {"path": "api/skus", "data_selector": "data"}}, {"name": "shipments", "endpoint": {"path": "api/shipments", "data_selector": "data"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="commerce_layer_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="commerce_layer_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(commerce_layer_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("commerce_layer_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.skus.df() print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

SELECT * FROM commerce_layer_data.skus LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("commerce_layer_pipeline").dataset() data.skus.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 Commerce Layer 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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