Facebook SDK Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Facebook SDK-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI harness support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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The Facebook Graph API is the primary HTTP-based interface for programmatically querying, reading, and writing to the Facebook social graph. The REST API base URL is https://graph.facebook.com and most requests require an access token for authorization.
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 Facebook SDK data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Facebook SDK?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Facebook SDK:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| me_accounts | me/accounts | GET | data | Get accounts for the current user |
| page_feed | {page-id}/feed | GET | data | Returns posts published by the page and posts tagged in |
| page_posts | {page-id}/posts | GET | data | Returns posts published by the page |
| page_photos | {page-id}/photos | GET | data | Returns photos uploaded by the page |
| page_videos | {page-id}/videos | GET | data | Returns videos uploaded by the page |
How do I authenticate with the Facebook SDK API?
Most requests require an access token passed as a query parameter or header; secure server-side requests may also include an appsecret_proof parameter calculated using the app secret.
1. Get your credentials
- Sign into the Meta for Developers dashboard. 2. Navigate to your app or create a new one. 3. Use the Graph API Explorer tool found in the Tools menu. 4. Select your app in the 'Meta App' dropdown. 5. In the 'User or Page' dropdown, select 'User Token'. 6. Under the 'Permissions' section, select the necessary scopes (e.g., ads_read, ads_management). 7. Click 'Generate Access Token' and copy the token displayed. Note that for production or server-side automation, you should exchange this for a long-lived access token or use a System User access token as described in the official Meta Marketing API documentation.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.facebook_sdk_source] access_token = "your_access_token_here" account_id = "your_account_id_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 Facebook SDK 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 facebook_sdk_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline facebook_sdk_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset facebook_sdk_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/facebook_sdk.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 /campaigns and /insights from the Facebook SDK 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 facebook_sdk_source(access_token=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://graph.facebook.com", "auth": {"type": "api_key", "api_key": access_token, "name": "Authorization", "location": "header"}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "page_posts", "endpoint": {"path": "{page-id}/posts", "data_selector": "data"}}, {"name": "page_photos", "endpoint": {"path": "{page-id}/photos", "data_selector": "data"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="facebook_sdk_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="facebook_sdk_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(facebook_sdk_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("facebook_sdk_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.page_posts.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM facebook_sdk_data.page_posts LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("facebook_sdk_pipeline").dataset() data.page_posts.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 Facebook SDK 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
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