Data World Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Data World-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI Workbench support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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data.world is a platform that provides REST APIs for accessing and managing datasets, projects, files and other data assets. The REST API base URL is https://api.data.world/v0 and All requests require a Bearer token for authentication..
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 Data World data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Data World?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Data World:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| datasets | /datasets/{owner}/{id} | GET | Retrieve metadata for a specific dataset | |
| projects | /projects/{owner}/{id} | GET | Retrieve metadata for a specific project | |
| file_download | /file_download/{owner}/{dataset}/{file} | GET | Download a file from a dataset | |
| users | /users/{username} | GET | Get profile information for a user | |
| licenses | /licenses | GET | licenses | List all available licenses |
How do I authenticate with the Data World API?
Include an HTTP header Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN> with each request.
1. Get your credentials
- Sign in to data.world.
- Click your profile avatar in the upper‑right corner.
- Choose Settings from the dropdown.
- In the left navigation, select Advanced.
- Under API Tokens, locate the token listed or generate a new one.
- Copy the token and treat it like a password.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.data_world_source] api_token = "your_api_token_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 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 Data World 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 data_world_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline data_world_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset data_world_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/data_world.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs
Inspect your pipeline and data:
dlt pipeline data_world_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 datasets and file_download from the Data World 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_world_source(api_token=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://api.data.world/v0", "auth": { "type": "bearer", "token": api_token, }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "datasets", "endpoint": {"path": "datasets/{owner}/{id}"}}, {"name": "file_download", "endpoint": {"path": "file_download/{owner}/{dataset}/{file}"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="data_world_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="data_world_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(data_world_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_world_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.datasets.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM data_world_data.datasets LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("data_world_pipeline").dataset() data.datasets.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 World 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.
Troubleshooting
Authentication errors
If the token is missing, expired, or malformed the API returns a 401 Unauthorized response. Ensure the Authorization: Bearer <TOKEN> header is present and the token is valid.
Rate limiting
The API enforces a rate limit. When the limit is exceeded a 429 Too Many Requests response is returned along with a Retry-After header indicating when to retry.
Pagination
List endpoints return paginated results using page and pageSize query parameters. Continue requesting pages until the response contains no further nextPage token.
Ensure that the API key is valid to avoid 401 Unauthorized errors. Also, verify endpoint paths and parameters to avoid 404 Not Found errors.
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
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