Load Perch CMS data in Python using dltHub

Build a Perch CMS-to-database or-dataframe pipeline in Python using dlt with automatic Cursor support.

Last updated: Feb 11, 2026

In this guide, we'll set up a complete Grab a Perch data pipeline from API credentials to your first data load in just 10 minutes. You'll end up with a fully declarative Python pipeline based on dlt's REST API connector, like in the partial example code below:

Example code
@dlt.source
def perch_cms_source(access_token=dlt.secrets.value):
    config: RESTAPIConfig = {
        "client": {
            "base_url": "https://grabaperch.com/api/",
            "auth": {
                "type": "bearer",
                "token": access_token,
            },
        },
        "resources": [
            "auth", "apps", "blocks"
            ],
    }
    [...]
    yield from rest_api_resources(config)


def get_data() -> None:
    # Connect to destination
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name='perch_cms_pipeline',
        destination='duckdb',
        dataset_name='perch_cms_data', 
    )
    # Load the data
    load_info = pipeline.run(perch_cms_source())
    print(load_info)

Why use dltHub Workspace with LLM Context to generate Python pipelines?

Accelerate pipeline development with AI-native context
Debug pipelines, validate schemas and data with the integrated Pipeline Dashboard
Build Python notebooks for end users of your data
Low maintenance thanks to Schema evolution with type inference, resilience and self documenting REST API connectors. A shallow learning curve makes the pipeline easy to extend by any team member
dlt is the tool of choice for Pythonic Iceberg Lakehouses, bringing mature data loading to pythonic Iceberg with or without catalogs

What you’ll do

We’ll show you how to generate a readable and easily maintainable Python script that fetches data from perch_cms’s API and loads it into Iceberg, DataFrames, files, or a database of your choice. Here are some of the endpoints you can load:

Auth: Handles authentication processes.
Apps: Provides access to application data and configurations.
Blocks: Manages content blocks within the CMS.
Import: Facilitates content imports into the system.
Search: Enables searching through various resources.
Addons: Manages additional features and extensions.
Events: Handles event-driven interactions.
Podcasts: Interfaces with podcast resources.
Buckets: Manages resource storage buckets.
Form Tags: Deals with tag management for forms.
Validators: Provides validation tools for fields.
Custom UI: Manages custom user interface components.
Templates: Handles template management and rendering.
Dashboard: Provides access to the admin dashboard.
Resources: General resource management.

You will then debug the Grab a Perch pipeline using our Pipeline Dashboard tool to ensure it is copying the data correctly, before building a Notebook to explore your data and build reports.

Setup & steps to follow

💡
Before getting started, let's make sure Cursor is set up correctly:

We suggest using a model like Claude 3.7 Sonnet or better
Index the REST API Source tutorial: https://dlthub.com/docs/dlt-ecosystem/verified-sources/rest_api/ and add it to context as @dlt rest api
Learn more about our LLM native workflow

Now you're ready to get started!

⚙️ Set up dlt Workspace

Install dlt with duckdb support:
```
pip install "dlt[workspace]"
```
Initialize a dlt pipeline with Grab a Perch support.
```
dlt init dlthub:perch_cms duckdb
```
The init command will setup the necessary files and folders for the next step.

🤠 Start LLM-assisted coding

Here’s a prompt to get you started:

Prompt
Please generate a REST API Source for Grab a Perch API, as specified in @perch_cms-docs.yaml 
Start with endpoints auth and  and skip incremental loading for now. 
Place the code in perch_cms_pipeline.py and name the pipeline perch_cms_pipeline. 
If the file exists, use it as a starting point. 
Do not add or modify any other files. 
Use @dlt rest api as a tutorial. 
After adding the endpoints, allow the user to run the pipeline with python perch_cms_pipeline.py and await further instructions.

🔒 Set up credentials

The source uses an API key for authentication, which is passed in the headers of the requests.

To get the appropriate API keys, please visit the original source at https://grabaperch.com/. If you want to protect your environment secrets in a production environment, look into setting up credentials with dlt.

🏃‍♀️ Run the pipeline in the Python terminal in Cursor


python perch_cms_pipeline.py

If your pipeline runs correctly, you’ll see something like the following:


Pipeline perch_cms load step completed in 0.26 seconds
1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset perch_cms_data
The duckdb destination used duckdb:/perch_cms.duckdb location to store data
Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs

📈 Debug your pipeline and data with the Pipeline Dashboard

Now that you have a running pipeline, you need to make sure it’s correct, so you do not introduce silent failures like misconfigured pagination or incremental loading errors. By launching the dlt Workspace Pipeline Dashboard, you can see various information about the pipeline to enable you to test it. Here you can see:
- Pipeline overview: State, load metrics
- Data’s schema: tables, columns, types, hints
- You can query the data itself
```
dlt pipeline perch_cms_pipeline show
```
🐍 Build a Notebook with data explorations and reports

With the pipeline and data partially validated, you can continue with custom data explorations and reports. To get started, paste the snippet below into a new marimo Notebook and ask your LLM to go from there. Jupyter Notebooks and regular Python scripts are supported as well.
```
import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("perch_cms_pipeline").dataset()
# get ut table as Pandas frame
data.ut.df().head()
```

Running into errors?

When using this source, be aware that certain features may require specific PHP configurations, such as enabling sessions and setting appropriate permissions for file uploads. Additionally, ensure to back up your data before making changes, as unexpected behavior can occur after updates. Large image uploads may need special handling, and some resources are cached for performance.

Extra resources:

Learn more with our 1h LLM-assisted coding course!

Next steps

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