Notebooks API Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Notebooks API-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI harness support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
Last updated:
The Notebooks API allows users to manage and interact with notebook resources in Google Cloud environments. The REST API base URL is https://notebooks.googleapis.com/v1/ 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 Notebooks API data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Notebooks API?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Notebooks API:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| notebook_instances | /notebook-instances | GET | NotebookInstances | List notebook instances |
| notebook_instance_get | /notebook-instances/{name} | GET | Get details of a single instance | |
| notebook_instance_create | /notebook-instances | POST | Create a new notebook instance | |
| notebook_instance_delete | /notebook-instances/{name} | DELETE | Delete a notebook instance | |
| notebook_instance_diagnose | /notebook-instances/{name} | POST | Run diagnostic tool for instance |
How do I authenticate with the Notebooks API API?
The API uses Bearer token authentication, which requires sending an Authorization header with the value 'Bearer '.
1. Get your credentials
To obtain credentials for the Notebooks API, navigate to the Settings or Configuration dashboard in your application. Locate the API Keys or Credentials section. Click the Add Credential button, select your target provider, and provide the required information (such as your API key or token). Save the credential, then perform a test connection to ensure valid access. For dlt pipelines, store these sensitive values securely in your local secrets.toml file rather than hardcoding them in scripts.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.notebooks_api_source] api_key = "your_actual_api_key_here" base_url = "https://api.your-notebook-provider.com"
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 Notebooks API 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 notebooks_api_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline notebooks_api_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset notebooks_api_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/notebooks_api.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 notebooks and instances from the Notebooks API 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 notebooks_api_source(access_token=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://notebooks.googleapis.com/v1/", "auth": {"type": "bearer", "token": access_token}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "notebook_instances", "endpoint": {"path": "notebook-instances", "data_selector": "NotebookInstances"}}, {"name": "notebook_instance_details", "endpoint": {"path": "notebook-instances/{name}", "data_selector": "NotebookInstances"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="notebooks_api_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="notebooks_api_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(notebooks_api_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("notebooks_api_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.notebook_instances.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM notebooks_api_data.notebook_instances LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("notebooks_api_pipeline").dataset() data.notebook_instances.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 Notebooks API 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
Was this page helpful?
Community Hub
Need more dlt context for Notebooks API?
Request dlt skills, commands, AGENT.md files, and AI-native context.