Herd Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Herd-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI Workbench support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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Herd REST API documentation is available at https://finraos.github.io/herd/docs/latest/rest/index.html. It includes details on creating and managing resources. Herd Pro offers advanced features for enhanced development environments. The REST API base URL is https://<your-herd-host>/herd-app/rest and Authentication method not documented in the publicly available API reference..
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 Herd data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Herd?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Herd:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| build_info | buildInfo | GET | Returns build information of the Herd service | |
| attribute_value_lists | attributeValueLists | GET | Retrieves attribute value lists | |
| business_object_data | businessObjectData/namespaces/{namespace}/businessObjectDefinitionNames/{businessObjectDefinitionName} | GET | Provides business object data for a given namespace and definition | |
| business_object_formats | businessObjectFormats/namespaces/{namespace}/businessObjectDefinitionNames/{businessObjectDefinitionName} | GET | Lists formats for a business object definition | |
| configuration_entries | configurationEntries | GET | Returns configuration entries | |
| current_user | currentUser | GET | Information about the currently authenticated user | |
| data_providers | dataProviders | GET | Lists available data providers | |
| jobs | jobs | GET | Retrieves job definitions | |
| namespaces | namespaces | GET | Lists all namespaces | |
| storage_platforms | storagePlatforms | GET | Provides storage platform definitions | |
| storage_units_download_credential | storageUnits/download/credential/namespaces/{namespace}/... | GET | Generates a download credential for storage units |
How do I authenticate with the Herd API?
The API does not publish a specific authentication header; callers may need to use the hosting application's session cookie or an OAuth token obtained from the provider's login flow.
1. Get your credentials
There is no publicly documented process for obtaining API credentials. Contact the Herd platform maintainers or consult internal documentation to learn how to acquire any required tokens or session cookies.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.herd_api_source]
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 Herd 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 herd_api_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline herd_api_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset herd_api_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/herd_api.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs
Inspect your pipeline and data:
dlt pipeline herd_api_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 buildInfo and jobs from the Herd 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 herd_api_source(=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://<your-herd-host>/herd-app/rest", "auth": { "type": "", "": , }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "build_info", "endpoint": {"path": "buildInfo"}}, {"name": "jobs", "endpoint": {"path": "jobs"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="herd_api_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="herd_api_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(herd_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("herd_api_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.build_info.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM herd_api_data.build_info LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("herd_api_pipeline").dataset() data.build_info.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 Herd 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 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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