NZBGet Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a NZBGet-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI Workbench support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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NZBGet API supports XML-RPC, JSON-RPC, and JSON-P-RPC for controlling the program. Key methods include "append" and "listfiles". The API documentation is available on GitHub. The REST API base URL is http://localhost:6789 and All requests require HTTP Basic authentication..
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 NZBGet data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from NZBGet?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from NZBGet:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| status | jsonrpc?method=status | GET | result | Returns a struct with current download status and server information. |
| listgroups | jsonrpc?method=listgroups | GET | result | Returns an array of group (NZB) structs currently in the queue. |
| listfiles | jsonrpc?method=listfiles&IDFrom=0&IDTo=0&NZBID=0 | GET | result | Returns an array of file structs for the specified NZB IDs (0 returns all). |
| history | jsonrpc?method=history | GET | result | Returns an array of completed download history entries. |
| version | jsonrpc?method=version | GET | result | Returns a struct with the NZBGet server version information. |
How do I authenticate with the NZBGet API?
Requests must include an HTTP Basic Authorization header (or embed credentials in the URL) containing the NZBGet username and password.
1. Get your credentials
- Open the NZBGet web interface (default http://localhost:6789).\n2. Log in with an existing admin account.\n3. Navigate to Settings → Security.\n4. Locate the fields ControlUsername / ControlPassword (full access) or RestrictedUsername / RestrictedPassword (limited access) or AddUsername / AddPassword (add‑only access).\n5. Copy the username and password you wish to use for API calls and store them securely (e.g., in secrets.toml).
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.nzbget_source] username = "your_username_here" password = "your_password_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 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 NZBGet 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 nzbget_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline nzbget_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset nzbget_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/nzbget.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs
Inspect your pipeline and data:
dlt pipeline nzbget_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 status and listfiles from the NZBGet 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 nzbget_source(username=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "http://localhost:6789", "auth": { "type": "http_basic", "username": username, }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "status", "endpoint": {"path": "jsonrpc?method=status", "data_selector": "result"}}, {"name": "listfiles", "endpoint": {"path": "jsonrpc?method=listfiles&IDFrom=0&IDTo=0&NZBID=0", "data_selector": "result"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="nzbget_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="nzbget_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(nzbget_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("nzbget_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.status.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM nzbget_data.status LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("nzbget_pipeline").dataset() data.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 NZBGet 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 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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