Yjs Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Yjs-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI Workbench support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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Yhub is a server implementation for Yjs that provides REST endpoints for reading, updating, and querying the history of Yjs documents. The REST API base URL is /ydoc/{org}/{docid} and all requests require an auth-cookie for PERM CALLBACK verification.
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 Yjs data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Yjs?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Yjs:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| documents | /api/documents | GET | Retrieve a list of all documents with pagination options | |
| document | /api/documents/ | GET | Get a document in json or yjs format | |
| create_document | /api/documents/ | POST | Create a document using a yjs or json update message | |
| update_document | /api/documents/ | PATCH | Apply a Yjs update message to an existing document | |
| batch_import | /api/admin/batch-import | PUT | Import multiple documents in bulk |
How do I authenticate with the Yjs API?
All endpoints require an auth-cookie, which is checked via the configured PERM CALLBACK mechanism.
1. Get your credentials
Yjs is a protocol, not a hosted service. However, providers (like Liveblocks) that offer Yjs-compatible REST APIs manage authentication via their respective dashboards. To obtain credentials for such services: 1. Log in to your provider's dashboard (e.g., liveblocks.io/dashboard). 2. Navigate to the 'API Keys' section (often under 'Settings' or 'Developers'). 3. Generate or copy your 'Secret Key'. Note: Self-hosted solutions like 'yhub' manage authentication via custom implemented auth servers (e.g., using JWTs) and environment variables rather than a dashboard-managed API key.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.yjs_source] liveblocks_api_key = "sk_prod_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
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 Yjs 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 yjs_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline yjs_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset yjs_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/yjs.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 /rooms/{roomId}/ydoc and /rooms/{roomId}/ydoc-binary from the Yjs 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 yjs_source(auth_cookie=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "/ydoc/{org}/{docid}", "auth": {"type": "api_key", "api_key": auth_cookie, "name": "auth-cookie", "location": "header"}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "documents", "endpoint": {"path": "api/documents"}}, {"name": "document", "endpoint": {"path": "api/documents/:identifier"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="yjs_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="yjs_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(yjs_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("yjs_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.documents.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM yjs_data.documents LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("yjs_pipeline").dataset() data.documents.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 Yjs 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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