Defastra Python API Docs | dltHub

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

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Defastra API uses HTTPS and POST method; authentication requires API keys; base URL is https://api.defastra.com. The REST API base URL is https://api.defastra.com and All requests require an X‑API‑KEY header (API key) and use HTTPS..

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 Defastra data in under 10 minutes.


What data can I load from Defastra?

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

ResourceEndpointMethodData selectorDescription
deep_email_check/deep_email_checkPOSTdeep_email_checkDeep email risk/enrichment response object.
deep_phone_check/deep_phone_checkPOSTdeep_phone_checkDeep phone risk/enrichment response object.
perform_manual_fraud_check/perform_manual_fraud_checkPOSTperform_manual_fraud_checkManual fraud check endpoint.
observer_lookup/observerPOST(response keyed by endpoint name)Observer‑related API usage; request_id can be used to retrieve results.
wallet_status/wallet_statusPOSTwalletWallet balance returned in the top‑level response.

How do I authenticate with the Defastra API?

Defastra uses an API key passed in the X‑API‑KEY header. Requests must use HTTPS and Content‑Type application/x-www-form-urlencoded; responses are JSON and always include a top‑level boolean status.

1. Get your credentials

  1. Sign in to your Defastra account or create one at the Defastra dashboard.
  2. Open the API management page: https://dashboard.defastra.com/api
  3. Create or copy an API key (you can create named keys and multiple keys). API access is enabled on signup and can be deactivated from the API management page.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

[sources.defastra_source] api_key = "your_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.


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 Defastra 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 defastra_pipeline.py

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

Pipeline defastra_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset defastra_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/defastra.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs

Inspect your pipeline and data:

dlt pipeline defastra_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 deep_phone_check and deep_email_check from the Defastra 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 defastra_source(api_key=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://api.defastra.com", "auth": { "type": "api_key", "api_key": api_key, }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "deep_phone_check", "endpoint": {"path": "deep_phone_check", "data_selector": "deep_phone_check"}}, {"name": "deep_email_check", "endpoint": {"path": "deep_email_check", "data_selector": "deep_email_check"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="defastra_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="defastra_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(defastra_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("defastra_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.deep_phone_check.df() print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

SELECT * FROM defastra_data.deep_phone_check LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("defastra_pipeline").dataset() data.deep_phone_check.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 Defastra 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 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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