Platformatic Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Platformatic-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI Workbench support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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Platformatic CLI generates front-end code for consuming its REST API. It supports CRUD operations. Platformatic is an open-source Node.js application server. The REST API base URL is http://127.0.0.1:3042 and no authentication required by default for local Platformatic apps (auto-generated REST API); managed/hosted Platformatic services may require API keys/Bearer tokens..
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 Platformatic data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Platformatic?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Platformatic:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| movies | /movies | GET | List movies (top-level JSON array) | |
| movie | /movies/{id} | GET | Get a single movie by id (JSON object) | |
| openapi | /openapi.json | GET | OpenAPI spec for the service (JSON object) | |
| health | /health | GET | Health/status endpoint (JSON object) | |
| metrics | /metrics | GET | Prometheus metrics (text/plain) |
How do I authenticate with the Platformatic API?
Local Platformatic apps expose the REST API without auth by default. For hosted/enterprise deployments, include provider‑issued API keys or Bearer tokens in the Authorization header (Authorization: Bearer ).
1. Get your credentials
- For local development no credentials are needed.
- For Platformatic Cloud/hosted: sign in to Platformatic dashboard → create or navigate to your service → go to API / Access or Tokens section → create a new API key or token → copy the token and store it securely.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.platformatic_source] api_key = "YOUR_PLATFORMATIC_API_KEY"
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 Platformatic 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 platformatic_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline platformatic_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset platformatic_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/platformatic.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs
Inspect your pipeline and data:
dlt pipeline platformatic_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 movies and movie from the Platformatic 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 platformatic_source(api_key=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "http://127.0.0.1:3042", "auth": { "type": "bearer", "token": api_key, }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "movies", "endpoint": {"path": "movies"}}, {"name": "movie", "endpoint": {"path": "movies/{id}"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="platformatic_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="platformatic_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(platformatic_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("platformatic_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.movies.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM platformatic_data.movies LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("platformatic_pipeline").dataset() data.movies.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 Platformatic 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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