Data Lineage API Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Data Lineage API-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI harness support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
Last updated:
The Data Lineage API tracks data movement and dependencies across Google Cloud systems. The REST API base URL is https://datalineage.googleapis.com/v1/ 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 Data Lineage API data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Data Lineage API?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Data Lineage API:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| lineage_links | /v1/{parent} | POST | links | Retrieve a list of links connected to a specific asset. |
| lineage_processes | /v1/{parent} | POST | processLinks | Retrieve information about LineageProcesses associated with specific links. |
| lineage_streaming | /v1/{parent} | POST | Retrieves a streaming response of lineage links. | |
| operations | /v1/{name} | GET | Gets the latest state of a long-running operation. | |
| operations_list | /v1/{name}/operations | GET | operations | Lists operations that match the specified filter in the request. |
How do I authenticate with the Data Lineage API API?
Authentication requires an OAuth2 access token provided in the Authorization header as 'Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>'.
1. Get your credentials
- In the Google Cloud Console, select or create your project. 2. Navigate to APIs & Services > Library, search for 'Data Lineage API', and enable it. 3. Go to IAM & Admin > Service Accounts, create a new service account, and assign it appropriate roles (e.g., Data Lineage Viewer or Data Lineage Editor). 4. Select the new service account, navigate to the Keys tab, click Add Key > Create new key, and select JSON to download the service account credentials file. 5. To generate an access token for REST calls, you can use the gcloud CLI: run 'gcloud auth activate-service-account --key-file=PATH_TO_KEY.json' followed by 'gcloud auth print-access-token'.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.data_lineage_api_source] api_key = "your_access_token_here" # OR, if using a service account file: credentials_path = "/path/to/your/service_account_key.json"
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 Data Lineage 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 data_lineage_api_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline data_lineage_api_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset data_lineage_api_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/data_lineage_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 searchLineageStreaming and searchLinks from the Data Lineage 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 data_lineage_api_source(access_token=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://datalineage.googleapis.com/v1/", "auth": {"type": "bearer", "token": access_token}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "lineage_processes", "endpoint": {"path": "v1/{parent}:batchSearchLinkProcesses", "data_selector": "processLinks"}}, {"name": "operations_list", "endpoint": {"path": "v1/{name}/operations", "data_selector": "operations"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="data_lineage_api_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="data_lineage_api_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(data_lineage_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("data_lineage_api_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.lineage_processes.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM data_lineage_api_data.lineage_processes LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("data_lineage_api_pipeline").dataset() data.lineage_processes.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 Data Lineage API 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 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
Was this page helpful?
Community Hub
Need more dlt context for Data Lineage API?
Request dlt skills, commands, AGENT.md files, and AI-native context.