Hootsuite Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Hootsuite-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI harness support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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Hootsuite provides a REST API that allows developers to programmatically interact with their platform features such as analytics, scheduling, and user management. The REST API base URL is https://platform.hootsuite.com and all requests require a Bearer token obtained via OAuth 2.0 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 Hootsuite data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Hootsuite?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Hootsuite:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| social_profiles | /v1/socialProfiles | GET | data | Retrieve all social profiles accessible to the user. |
| profile_metrics | /v1/analytics/social/profiles/{profileId}/metrics | GET | data | Retrieve daily metrics for a specific social profile. |
| post_metrics | /v1/analytics/social/posts/{postId}/metrics | GET | data | Retrieve metrics for specific social posts. |
| organizations | /v1/organizations | GET | data | Retrieve a list of organizations the user belongs to. |
| organization_members | /v1/organizations/{organizationId}/members | GET | data | List members of a specific organization. |
How do I authenticate with the Hootsuite API?
The Hootsuite API uses OAuth 2.0. API requests require an Authorization header with a Bearer token, formatted as 'Authorization: Bearer <access_token>'.
1. Get your credentials
- Sign in to your Hootsuite account and navigate to the Hootsuite Developer Portal (apply for developer access if prompted). 2. Create a new application in the Developer Portal. 3. Navigate to your app's configuration page (App directory -> Developer apps -> [Select App] -> Security/REST API tab). 4. Retrieve your 'Client ID' and 'Client Secret' from this page. 5. If required for your workflow, ensure your Redirect URI is configured here as well. For single-customer use, you must also install your app via the Hootsuite App Directory for your member account.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.hootsuite_source] client_id = "your_client_id_here" client_secret = "your_client_secret_here" member_id = "your_member_id_here" # Note: These are for the member_app grant type flow.
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 Hootsuite 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 hootsuite_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline hootsuite_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset hootsuite_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/hootsuite.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 /oauth2/token and /v1/me from the Hootsuite 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 hootsuite_source(access_token=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://platform.hootsuite.com", "auth": {"type": "bearer", "token": access_token}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "social_profiles", "endpoint": {"path": "v1/socialProfiles", "data_selector": "data"}}, {"name": "post_metrics", "endpoint": {"path": "v1/analytics/social/posts/metrics", "data_selector": "data"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="hootsuite_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="hootsuite_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(hootsuite_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("hootsuite_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.post_metrics.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM hootsuite_data.post_metrics LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("hootsuite_pipeline").dataset() data.post_metrics.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 Hootsuite 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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