ICE Encompass Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a ICE Encompass-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI harness support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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Encompass Developer Connect is a REST API platform that allows developers to programmatically configure, customize, and administer loan information and resources for Encompass clients. The REST API base URL is https://api.elliemae.com/encompass/v3 and all requests require a Bearer token in the Authorization header.
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 ICE Encompass data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from ICE Encompass?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from ICE Encompass:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| loan_pipeline | /encompass/v3/loanPipeline | POST | Search loan pipeline via cursor pagination. | |
| internal_users | /encompass/v3/users | GET | Retrieve a list of Encompass internal users. | |
| contact_groups | /encompass/v1/contactGroups/{groupId}/contacts | GET | Returns all contacts associated with a group ID. | |
| borrower_contacts | /encompass/v1/contacts/borrower | GET | Retrieve borrower contacts. | |
| pipeline_cursor | /encompass/v3/loanPipeline/cursor | POST | Create a cursor for a pipeline report. |
How do I authenticate with the ICE Encompass API?
Authentication is performed using the OAuth 2.0 protocol with the Bearer authentication scheme. The access token must be included in the Authorization header as 'Authorization: Bearer <access_token>'.
1. Get your credentials
- Confirm you are an Encompass user with the Super Administrator persona; only a Super Administrator can retrieve and distribute the API credentials. If you are not one, ask your Encompass administrator to perform these steps. 2. Sign in to the Encompass Developer Connect portal. 3. In the top navigation, choose My Account, then API Key. 4. Sign in with the Super Administrator's Encompass credentials, supplying the instance name or SmartClient ID, Encompass user ID, and password. Production instance names generally start with BE; test instances generally start with TEBE. 5. After successful login, copy the displayed Client ID (OAuth) and Client Secret. These are the application credentials used by the OAuth flows; store the secret securely and do not expose it in client-side code. Credentials are instance-specific, so repeat the process for each Encompass instance. For a lender integration, obtain an OAuth access token from https://api.elliemae.com/oauth2/v1/token using the appropriate flow (typically password for lenders) and then call REST resources with Authorization: Bearer <access_token>. ISV partners use the separate API User/partner onboarding process and must obtain partner API keys through the ICE Mortgage Technology Partner Portal.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.ice_encompass_source] client_id = "your_encompass_oauth_client_id" client_secret = "your_encompass_oauth_client_secret" instance_id = "BE0000000" username = "your_encompass_user_id" password = "your_encompass_password"
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 ICE Encompass 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 ice_encompass_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline ice_encompass_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset ice_encompass_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/ice_encompass.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 loans and oauth2/v1/token from the ICE Encompass 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 ice_encompass_source(access_token=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://api.elliemae.com/encompass/v3", "auth": {"type": "bearer", "token": access_token}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "internal_users", "endpoint": {"path": "encompass/v3/users"}}, {"name": "borrower_contacts", "endpoint": {"path": "encompass/v1/contacts/borrower"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="ice_encompass_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="ice_encompass_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(ice_encompass_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("ice_encompass_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.loan_pipeline.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM ice_encompass_data.loan_pipeline LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("ice_encompass_pipeline").dataset() data.loan_pipeline.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 ICE Encompass 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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