MySQL Python API Docs | dltHub

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

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MySQL REST Service is a RESTful HTTPS service that exposes MySQL tables, views, and procedures as JSON document REST endpoints. The REST API base URL is https://<HOST>:<PORT> and all requests require a Bearer token or session cookie.

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 MySQL data in under 10 minutes.


What data can I load from MySQL?

Here are some of the endpoints you can load from MySQL:

ResourceEndpointMethodData selectorDescription
table_rows/{schema}/{object}GETList documents from a table or view with pagination and filtering
row_by_id/{schema}/{object}/{id}GETRetrieve a document by primary key
schemas/schemasGETList available REST schemas
objects/{schema}/objectsGETList available objects within a schema
service_status/statusGETGet the operational status of the REST service

How do I authenticate with the MySQL API?

Authentication is performed by POSTing credentials to the <service_base_url>/authentication/login endpoint, where the response provides a JWT token to be used in the Authorization: Bearer header for subsequent requests. Session cookie authentication is also supported by utilizing the Set-Cookie response header from the login request.

1. Get your credentials

To obtain credentials for the MySQL REST Service (MRS), first ensure an authentication app (such as 'MRS' or 'MySQL') is linked to your REST service. In the MySQL Workbench management interface or your admin dashboard, navigate to 'REST Authentication Apps' under your service connection. Right-click to add a new authentication app, then add a user by right-clicking the app entry and selecting 'Add User'. Provide a username and password to create the credentials required for the login endpoint.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

[sources.mysql_source] username = "your_username" password = "your_password" # Use these in your dlt client configuration for authentication via credentials endpoint.

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 MySQL 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 mysql_pipeline.py

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

Pipeline mysql_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset mysql_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/mysql.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 authentication/login and authentication/logout from the MySQL 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 mysql_source(access_token=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://<HOST>:<PORT>", "auth": {"type": "bearer", "token": access_token}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "table_rows", "endpoint": {"path": "/{schema}/{object}"}}, {"name": "row_by_id", "endpoint": {"path": "/{schema}/{object}/{id}"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="mysql_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="mysql_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(mysql_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("mysql_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.table_rows.df() print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

SELECT * FROM mysql_data.table_rows LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("mysql_pipeline").dataset() data.table_rows.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 MySQL 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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