QLib Python API Docs | dltHub

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

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QLib's API includes classes like DelayTrainerRM and PortAnaRecord for model training and analysis. The latest API reference is available at https://qlib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/reference/api.html. The REST API base URL is (not applicable). QLib does not expose a REST HTTP base URL; qlib‑server uses a WebSocket/socketio endpoint at the server host and port (config keys: flask_server and flask_port, example 127.0.0.1:9710). and No built‑in HTTP authentication; qlib‑server uses socketio connections and any auth must be custom‑implemented on the server side..

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 QLib data in under 10 minutes.


What data can I load from QLib?

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

ResourceEndpointMethodData selectorDescription
client_datasetsocketio event (dataset request)socketio (WebSocket)Request dataset and receive a pandas DataFrame.
client_instrumentsocketio event (list_instruments)socketio (WebSocket)Retrieve list of instruments.
client_calendarsocketio event (calendar request)socketio (WebSocket)Get calendar information for a time range.
client_featuresocketio event (feature request)socketio (WebSocket)Compute or retrieve a feature series.
server_status/status (optional diagnostic)GETSimple HTTP health check if the deployment exposes one; not part of core API.

How do I authenticate with the QLib API?

QLib's online mode communicates via WebSocket (Flask‑SocketIO). Authentication, if required, must be handled by the server deployment and is not part of the standard QLib client library.

1. Get your credentials

Not applicable — qlib‑server has no centralized dashboard to obtain API keys. To use authentication, implement it in your own server deployment (e.g., via a reverse proxy, Flask auth, or socketio handshake) and distribute the required credentials manually.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

[sources.qlib_source] api_key = "your_api_key_here" provider_host = "127.0.0.1" provider_port = 9710

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 QLib 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 qlib_pipeline.py

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

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

Inspect your pipeline and data:

dlt pipeline qlib_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 client_dataset and client_instrument from the QLib 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 qlib_source((not applicable)=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "(not applicable). QLib does not expose a REST HTTP base URL; qlib‑server uses a WebSocket/socketio endpoint at the server host and port (config keys: flask_server and flask_port, example 127.0.0.1:9710).", "auth": { "type": "none", "(not applicable)": (not applicable), }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "client_dataset", "endpoint": {"path": "(socketio event: dataset request)"}}, {"name": "client_instrument", "endpoint": {"path": "(socketio event: list_instruments request)"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="qlib_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="qlib_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(qlib_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("qlib_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.client_dataset.df() print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

SELECT * FROM qlib_data.client_dataset LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("qlib_pipeline").dataset() data.client_dataset.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 QLib 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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