Pictory Python API Docs | dltHub

Pictory is a cloud-based AI video creation platform that enables automated video generation from text, articles, and other inputs through its REST API. The REST API base URL is https://api.pictory.ai/pictoryapis and all requests require an 'Authorization' header containing an API key or an OAuth2 access 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 Pictory data in under 10 minutes.

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What data can I load from Pictory?

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

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How do I authenticate with the Pictory API?

Requests must include the 'Authorization' header containing the API key (which begins with 'pictai_'). Alternatively, some endpoints may support OAuth2 token-based authentication using client credentials.

1. Get your credentials

To obtain your Pictory API credentials, follow these steps: 1. Log in to your account at app.pictory.ai. 2. Click on your profile picture in the top right corner. 3. Select 'API Subscription' from the dropdown menu to navigate to the API access page. 4. If you have an active subscription, your API key (which begins with 'pictai_') will be displayed here. You can copy it directly from this page. If you do not have an active subscription, you must choose and purchase an API-compatible plan from this menu first.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

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[sources.pictory_source]
pictory_api_key = "pictai_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.

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How do I set up and run the pipeline?

Set up a virtual environment and install dlt:

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uv init
uv add "dlt[hub]"

1. Install the dlt AI harness:

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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:

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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 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:

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uv run python pictory_pipeline.py

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

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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:

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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.

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Python pipeline example

This example loads https://api.pictory.ai/pictoryapis/v2/projects and https://api.pictory.ai/pictoryapis/v1/aistudio/videos from the Pictory API into DuckDB. It mirrors the endpoint and data selector configuration from the table above:

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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, "name": "Authorization", "location": "header"},
        },
        "resources": [
            {"name": "projects", "endpoint": {"path": "pictoryapis/v2/projects", "data_selector": "items"}},
            {"name": "jobs", "endpoint": {"path": "pictoryapis/v1/jobs", "data_selector": "items"}}
        ],
    }
    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.

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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):

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import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("pictory_pipeline").dataset()
sessions_df = data.jobs.df()
print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

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SELECT * FROM pictory_data.jobs LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

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import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("pictory_pipeline").dataset()
data.jobs.df().head()

See how to explore your data in marimo Notebooks and how to query your data in Python with dataset.

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What destinations can I load Pictory data to?

dlt supports loading into any of these destinations — only the destination parameter changes:

Change the destination in dlt.pipeline(destination="snowflake") and add credentials in .dlt/secrets.toml. See the full destinations list.

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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.

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uv run dlthub ai toolkit install data-exploration
uv run dlthub ai toolkit install dlthub-platform

• How to deploy a pipeline
• How to explore your data in marimo Notebooks
• How to query your data in Python with dataset
• Join the dlt community on Slack