Device42 Python API Docs | dltHub

Build a Device42-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI harness support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.

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Device42 is a comprehensive IT infrastructure management and CMDB platform providing RESTful APIs for data entry, editing, and retrieval. The REST API base URL is https://api.device42.com/ and supports both Basic and Bearer token 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 add "dlt[hub]" and start loading Device42 data in under 10 minutes.


What data can I load from Device42?

Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Device42:

ResourceEndpointMethodData selectorDescription
devices/api/1.0/devices/GETGet a list of devices
switch_ports/api/1.0/switchports/GETswitchportsGet a list of switch ports
buildings/api/1.0/buildings/GETGet a list of buildings
rooms/api/1.0/rooms/GETGet a list of rooms
client_connections/api/1.0/client_connections/GETclient_connectionsGet a list of service client connections

How do I authenticate with the Device42 API?

The API supports Basic authentication and token-based authentication. For token-based auth, send a POST request to /tauth/1.0/token/ using Basic credentials to retrieve a token, then use it as a Bearer token in the Authorization header.

1. Get your credentials

Device42 supports two primary authentication methods: User Authentication (Basic Auth) and Token Authentication (Bearer token). For production deployments, Token Authentication is recommended. To use this, you must generate a Client Key and Client Secret. Access these by logging into your Device42 appliance dashboard, navigating to the user profile or API management section (as detailed in your specific appliance version documentation at api.device42.com), and requesting/generating API credentials. For simpler or legacy setups, you can also use your Device42 administrator username and password directly via Basic Authentication.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

[sources.device42_source] base_url = "https://your-device42-appliance-url" client_key = "your_client_key_here" client_secret = "your_client_secret_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 Device42 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 device42_pipeline.py

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

Pipeline device42_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset device42_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/device42.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 /api/1.0/devices/ and /api/1.0/rooms/ from the Device42 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 device42_source(client_key_client_secret=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://api.device42.com/", "auth": {"type": "bearer", "token": client_key_client_secret}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "devices", "endpoint": {"path": "api/1.0/devices/"}}, {"name": "rooms", "endpoint": {"path": "api/1.0/rooms/"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="device42_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="device42_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(device42_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("device42_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.devices.df() print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

SELECT * FROM device42_data.devices LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("device42_pipeline").dataset() data.devices.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 Device42 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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