Jina AI Python API Docs | dltHub

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

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Jina AI is a Search Foundation providing embeddings, rerankers, classifiers and multimodal models for semantic search and retrieval. The REST API base URL is https://api.jina.ai and all requests require a Bearer token.

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 Jina AI data in under 10 minutes.


What data can I load from Jina AI?

Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Jina AI:

ResourceEndpointMethodData selectorDescription
modelsv1/modelsGETmodelsList available Jina AI models.
batch_statusv1/batch/{batch_id}GETPoll status of a specific batch embedding job.
batch_outputv1/batch/{batch_id}/outputGETDownload completed batch embedding results.
batch_errorsv1/batch/{batch_id}/errorsGETRetrieve errors for a specific batch job.
batchesv1/batchesGETList batch jobs (check API docs for pagination details).
healthhealthGETService liveness/readiness health check.

How do I authenticate with the Jina AI API?

All requests require the Authorization header with a Bearer token in the format 'Bearer jina_YOUR_API_KEY'. You must also include 'Content-Type: application/json' and 'Accept: application/json' headers for standard requests.

1. Get your credentials

To obtain your Jina AI API key, visit the official Jina AI API dashboard at https://jina.ai/api-dashboard/. You can generate a free API key there to access their services. New users typically receive a complimentary token allowance. You can manage, monitor usage, or top up your account balance directly within the 'API Key & Billing' or 'Manage API Key' sections of the dashboard.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

[sources.jina_ai_source] api_key = "jina_your_api_key_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 Jina AI 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 jina_ai_pipeline.py

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

Pipeline jina_ai_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset jina_ai_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/jina_ai.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 https://api.jina.ai/v1/embeddings and https://r.jina.ai/ from the Jina AI 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 jina_ai_source(api_key=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://api.jina.ai", "auth": {"type": "bearer", "token": api_key}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "models", "endpoint": {"path": "v1/models", "data_selector": "models"}}, {"name": "batch_status", "endpoint": {"path": "v1/batch/{batch_id}/status"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="jina_ai_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="jina_ai_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(jina_ai_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("jina_ai_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.models.df() print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

SELECT * FROM jina_ai_data.models LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("jina_ai_pipeline").dataset() data.models.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 Jina AI 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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