The Odds API Python API Docs | dltHub

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

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The Odds API provides live and historical sports odds data, with endpoints for current and past events, and supports multiple sports and betting markets. It returns data in JSON format and updates odds frequently. The API is accessible via RESTful API calls. The REST API base URL is https://api.the-odds-api.com/v4 and Requests require an API key provided as the apiKey query parameter..

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 The Odds API data in under 10 minutes.


What data can I load from The Odds API?

Here are some of the endpoints you can load from The Odds API:

ResourceEndpointMethodData selectorDescription
sports/sportsGETReturns a list of available sports
odds/sports/{sport}/oddsGETReturns live and upcoming odds for a sport
event_odds/sports/{sport}/events/{eventId}/oddsGETReturns odds for a single event
historical_odds/historical/sports/{sport}/oddsGETdataReturns historical odds snapshots wrapped in a data array
sports_events/sports/{sport}/eventsGETReturns a list of events for a sport

How do I authenticate with the The Odds API API?

Include your API key as the apiKey query parameter on every request; no additional headers are needed.

1. Get your credentials

  1. Visit https://the-odds-api.com and click "Sign Up".
  2. Complete the registration form and verify your email.
  3. After logging in, navigate to the dashboard or account page.
  4. Locate the section labelled "API Key" and copy the generated key.
  5. Optionally, restrict the key or view usage limits in the same dashboard.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

[sources.the_odds_api_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 The Odds API 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 the_odds_api_pipeline.py

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

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

Inspect your pipeline and data:

dlt pipeline the_odds_api_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 sports and odds from the The Odds API 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 the_odds_api_source(api_key=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://api.the-odds-api.com/v4", "auth": { "type": "api_key", "api_key": api_key, }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "sports", "endpoint": {"path": "sports"}}, {"name": "odds", "endpoint": {"path": "sports/{sport}/odds"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="the_odds_api_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="the_odds_api_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(the_odds_api_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("the_odds_api_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.sports.df() print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

SELECT * FROM the_odds_api_data.sports LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("the_odds_api_pipeline").dataset() data.sports.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 The Odds API 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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