Marimo Python API Docs | dltHub

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

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Marimo API Reference connects interactive inputs to notebook cells. It supports reactive programming and can embed HTML. It's a Python notebook environment that runs cells automatically based on interactions. The REST API base URL is http://localhost:2718 (or the host where marimo is deployed, with optional sub‑path from --base‑url) and Token (session) authentication required; supply token 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 pip install "dlt[workspace]" 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:

ResourceEndpointMethodData selectorDescription
api_statusapi/statusGETServer status object (health/version)
healthhealthGETHealth check – returns HTTP 200
healthzhealthzGETAlternate health check – returns HTTP 200
mcp_tools_active_notebooksmcp/active_notebooksGETLists active notebook sessions (ids & file paths)
mcp_tools_errors_summarymcp/errors_summaryGETReturns notebook errors summary
mcp_get_database_tablesmcp/get_database_tablesGETReturns table/schema metadata for a session

How do I authenticate with the Marimo API?

Marimo uses session/token authentication. When the server is started with '--token', provide the token as the password in the Authorization header or append '?access_token=YOUR_TOKEN' to the request URL.

1. Get your credentials

  1. Start the marimo server with token authentication enabled: marimo run my_notebook.py --token --token-password="YOUR_TOKEN".
  2. Note the token you supplied (YOUR_TOKEN).
  3. Use this token in API requests via the Authorization header or as the access_token query parameter.

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 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 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:

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:

dlt pipeline marimo_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 api_status and 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 (or the host where marimo is deployed, with optional sub‑path from --base‑url)", "auth": { "type": "api_key", "access_token": access_token, }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "api_status", "endpoint": {"path": "api/status"}}, {"name": "health", "endpoint": {"path": "health"}} ], } 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.api_status.df() print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

SELECT * FROM marimo_data.api_status LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("marimo_pipeline").dataset() data.api_status.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:

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 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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