Marimo Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Marimo-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI harness support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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Marimo is an open-source reactive Python notebook environment that provides REST API endpoints for server management, session control, and notebook execution. The REST API base URL is http://localhost:2718 and requests require an access token provided via Authorization header or access_token query parameter.
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 Marimo data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Marimo?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Marimo:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ai_completion | /api/ai/completion | POST | Get AI completion for a prompt | |
| ai_chat | /api/ai/chat | POST | Perform AI chat operation | |
| kernel_focus_cell | /api/kernel/focus_cell | POST | Focus a specific cell in the UI | |
| files_search | /api/files/search | GET | Search files | |
| file_get | /@file/{filename_and_length} | GET | Retrieve a virtual file |
How do I authenticate with the Marimo API?
Authentication requires a token supplied either as a password in the 'Authorization' header using the Basic authentication scheme or as an 'access_token' query parameter.
1. Get your credentials
Marimo does not have a formal 'API Key' management dashboard for accessing its internal REST API. Instead, it uses a token-based authentication system for the server. 1. Start your marimo server with token authentication enabled using the command 'marimo run your_notebook.py --token'. 2. The server will generate a random access token, which is displayed in your terminal logs or embedded in the notebook URL as a query parameter (e.g., '?access_token=YOUR_TOKEN'). 3. Use this generated token as the password in the 'Authorization' header (Basic Auth) or as the 'access_token' query parameter for REST API requests. For production environments, you can define a specific token password using '--token-password' or '--token-password-file'.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.marimo_source] access_token = "YOUR_TOKEN"
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 Marimo 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 marimo_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline marimo_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset marimo_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/marimo.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 /api/status and /api/health from the Marimo 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 marimo_source(access_token=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "http://localhost:2718", "auth": {"type": "api_key", "api_key": access_token, "name": "Authorization"}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "storage_entries", "endpoint": {"path": "/api/storage/entries", "data_selector": "entries"}}, {"name": "storage_list_entries", "endpoint": {"path": "/api/storage/list_entries", "data_selector": "entries"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="marimo_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="marimo_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(marimo_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("marimo_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.kernel_focus_cell.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM marimo_data.kernel_focus_cell LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("marimo_pipeline").dataset() data.kernel_focus_cell.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 Marimo 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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