Contabo Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Contabo-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI Workbench support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
Last updated:
The Contabo API allows management of cloud resources via HTTP requests. Detailed documentation and examples are available to help users get started quickly. The API supports deploying, managing, and automating cloud resources efficiently. For more details, visit the official Contabo API page. The REST API base URL is https://api.contabo.com/v1 and All requests require a Bearer access token (OAuth2) 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 Contabo data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Contabo?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Contabo:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| compute_instances | /v1/compute/instances | GET | data | List compute instances (paginated) |
| compute_instance | /v1/compute/instances/{instanceId} | GET | data | Get details for a specific instance |
| compute_instances_audits | /v1/compute/instances/audits | GET | data | Instance audit history (paginated) |
| compute_snapshots | /v1/compute/instances/{instanceId}/snapshots | GET | data | List snapshots for an instance (paginated) |
| compute_images | /v1/compute/images | GET | data | List available images (paginated) |
| object_storages | /v1/object-storages | GET | data | List object storages (paginated) |
| data_centers | /v1/data-centers | GET | data | List data centers (paginated) |
| private_networks | /v1/private-networks | GET | data | List private networks (paginated) |
| users | /v1/users | GET | data | List users (paginated) |
| roles | /v1/roles | GET | data | List roles (paginated) |
| tags | /v1/tags | GET | data | List tags (paginated) |
| secrets | /v1/secrets | GET | data | List secrets |
| vips | /v1/vips | GET | data | List VIPs |
| object_storage_get | /v1/object-storages/{objectStorageId} | GET | data | Get object storage details |
| images_get | /v1/compute/images/{imageId} | GET | data | Get image details |
| dns_zones | /v1/dns/zones | GET | data | List DNS zones |
| dns_zone_records | /v1/dns/zones/{zoneName}/records | GET | data | List records for a DNS zone |
How do I authenticate with the Contabo API?
Contabo uses OAuth2; obtain an access_token from the token endpoint and include it as Authorization: Bearer <access_token> on all API calls.
1. Get your credentials
- Log in to the Contabo Customer Control Panel. 2) Navigate to User Management and create an API user or locate existing Client ID and Client Secret. 3) Record the API username and API password for that user. 4) POST to https://auth.contabo.com/auth/realms/contabo/protocol/openid-connect/token with grant_type=password, client_id, client_secret, username and password to receive an access_token. 5) Use the token in the Authorization: Bearer header for all subsequent API requests.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.contabo_source] client_id = "your_client_id" client_secret = "your_client_secret" api_user = "your_api_user" api_password = "your_api_password"
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 Contabo 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 contabo_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline contabo_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset contabo_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/contabo.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs
Inspect your pipeline and data:
dlt pipeline contabo_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 compute_instances and compute_snapshots from the Contabo 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 contabo_source(access_token=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://api.contabo.com/v1", "auth": { "type": "bearer", "token": access_token, }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "compute_instances", "endpoint": {"path": "v1/compute/instances", "data_selector": "data"}}, {"name": "compute_snapshots", "endpoint": {"path": "v1/compute/instances/{instanceId}/snapshots", "data_selector": "data"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="contabo_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="contabo_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(contabo_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("contabo_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.compute_instances.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM contabo_data.compute_instances LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("contabo_pipeline").dataset() data.compute_instances.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 Contabo data to?
dlt supports loading into any of these destinations — only the destination parameter changes:
| Destination | Example 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 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
Was this page helpful?
Community Hub
Need more dlt context for Contabo?
Request dlt skills, commands, AGENT.md files, and AI-native context.