Pictory Python API Docs | dltHub

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

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Pictory API enables automated video creation from text, URLs, and existing videos. It supports scalable, personalized video generation and integrates for course content summarization. Leading companies use it for efficient video production. The REST API base URL is https://api.pictory.ai/pictoryapis and All requests require an API key in the Authorization header.

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 Pictory data in under 10 minutes.


What data can I load from Pictory?

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

ResourceEndpointMethodData selectorDescription
styles/v1/stylesGETRetrieves the list of text styles defined in the Pictory app.
video_brands/v1/brands/videoGETReturns an array of video brand objects.
projects/v1/projectsGETprojectsLists all projects in the account.
videos/v1/videosGETvideosReturns metadata for all videos.
transcriptions/v1/transcriptionsGETtranscriptionsRetrieves transcription records.

How do I authenticate with the Pictory API?

Provide your API key in the Authorization header of each request, e.g., Authorization: YOUR_API_KEY.

1. Get your credentials

  1. Log in to your Pictory account at https://pictory.ai.
  2. Navigate to the "Developer" or "API Settings" section in the account dashboard.
  3. Locate the "API Key" field and click "Generate New Key" (or copy the existing key).
  4. Copy the displayed key and store it securely; you will use it as the value for the Authorization header.
  5. Optionally, label the key for future reference.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

[sources.pictory_source] api_key = "your_api_key_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 Pictory 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 pictory_pipeline.py

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

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

Inspect your pipeline and data:

dlt pipeline pictory_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 styles and video_brands from the Pictory 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 pictory_source(api_key=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://api.pictory.ai/pictoryapis", "auth": { "type": "api_key", "api_key": api_key, }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "styles", "endpoint": {"path": "v1/styles"}}, {"name": "video_brands", "endpoint": {"path": "v1/brands/video"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="pictory_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="pictory_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(pictory_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("pictory_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.styles.df() print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

SELECT * FROM pictory_data.styles LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("pictory_pipeline").dataset() data.styles.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 Pictory 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 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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