WordPress Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a WordPress-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI harness support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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WordPress REST API is an interface for interacting with WordPress sites to perform CRUD operations on posts, users, media, and other site data. The REST API base URL is https://example.com/wp-json/ and requests require HTTP Basic Authentication using an Application Password.
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 WordPress data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from WordPress?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from WordPress:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| posts | /wp/v2/posts | GET | Retrieve a collection of posts. | |
| pages | /wp/v2/pages | GET | Retrieve a collection of pages. | |
| comments | /wp/v2/comments | GET | Retrieve a collection of comments. | |
| users | /wp/v2/users | GET | Retrieve a collection of users. | |
| categories | /wp/v2/categories | GET | Retrieve a collection of categories. |
How do I authenticate with the WordPress API?
WordPress REST API uses HTTP Basic Authentication for Application Passwords, requiring an Authorization header with the value 'Basic' followed by a base64-encoded string of 'username
'.1. Get your credentials
- Ensure your WordPress site is served over HTTPS, as Application Passwords require an encrypted connection to function.
- Log into your WordPress admin dashboard (wp-admin).
- Navigate to Users > Profile (or All Users > Edit for a specific user).
- Scroll down to the Application Passwords section.
- In the New Application Password Name field, enter a descriptive name (e.g., 'dlt-pipeline').
- Click Add New Application Password.
- Copy the generated 24-character password immediately, as it will not be displayed again. Store it securely.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.wordpress_source] username = "your_wordpress_username" application_password = "your_generated_24_char_password"
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 init uv add "dlt[hub]"
1. Install the dlt AI harness:
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:
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 WordPress 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:
uv run python wordpress_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline wordpress_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset wordpress_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/wordpress.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs
Inspect your pipeline and data:
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.
Python pipeline example
This example loads posts and media from the WordPress 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 wordpress_source(api_key=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://example.com/wp-json/", "auth": {"type": "http_basic", "username": "REPLACE_ME", "password": api_key}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "posts", "endpoint": {"path": "wp/v2/posts"}}, {"name": "pages", "endpoint": {"path": "wp/v2/pages"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="wordpress_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="wordpress_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(wordpress_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("wordpress_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.posts.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM wordpress_data.posts LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("wordpress_pipeline").dataset() data.posts.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 WordPress 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 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.
uv run dlthub ai toolkit install data-exploration uv run dlthub ai toolkit install dlthub-platform
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