Ocean Protocol Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Ocean Protocol-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI harness support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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Ocean Protocol Provider is a REST API that handles data service provisioning, including encryption, decryption, and compute job management within the Ocean Protocol stack. The REST API base URL is https://v4.provider.oceanprotocol.com and requests accept an 'AuthToken' header containing a JWT as an alternative to per-request digital signatures.
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 Ocean Protocol data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Ocean Protocol?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Ocean Protocol:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| assets_query | /api/aquarius/assets/metadata/query | GET | Query assets metadata | |
| assets_query_post | /api/aquarius/assets/metadata/query | POST | Query assets metadata using elasticsearch | |
| asset_ddo | /api/aquarius/assets/ddo/ | GET | Get DDO for a specific DID | |
| nonce | /api/services/nonce | GET | Get nonce for authentication | |
| index_queue | /api/services/indexQueue | GET | Get the current indexing queue |
How do I authenticate with the Ocean Protocol API?
The API supports an AuthToken mechanism where a JWT is passed in the 'AuthToken' request header. The token is obtained via the 'GET /api/services/createAuthToken' endpoint by signing a message containing the address and nonce.
1. Get your credentials
Ocean Protocol's Provider API does not use traditional static API keys for authentication. Instead, it utilizes signed authentication tokens to manage access securely. To obtain these credentials: 1) Generate a nonce for the current session. 2) Concatenate your Ethereum address and the nonce. 3) Sign this combined string using your Ethereum private key to generate a digital signature. 4) Send a GET request to the /api/services/createAuthToken endpoint with the address, nonce, expiration (future UTC timestamp), and the signature as query parameters. The response will return an AuthToken which you can then use in the request header (AuthToken: <your_token>) for subsequent API interactions.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.ocean_protocol_source] auth_token = "REPLACE_ME"
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 Ocean Protocol 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 ocean_protocol_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline ocean_protocol_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset ocean_protocol_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/ocean_protocol.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/services/createAuthToken and /api/services/deleteAuthToken from the Ocean Protocol 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 ocean_protocol_source(auth_token=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://v4.provider.oceanprotocol.com", "auth": {"type": "bearer", "token": auth_token}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "assets_query_post", "endpoint": {"path": "api/aquarius/assets/metadata/query"}}, {"name": "nonce", "endpoint": {"path": "api/services/nonce"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="ocean_protocol_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="ocean_protocol_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(ocean_protocol_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("ocean_protocol_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.assets_query_post.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM ocean_protocol_data.assets_query_post LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("ocean_protocol_pipeline").dataset() data.assets_query_post.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 Ocean Protocol 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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