Zoho Creator Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Zoho Creator-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI harness support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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Zoho Creator REST API allows users to programmatically interact with applications to fetch, add, update, and delete data. The REST API base URL is https://www.zohoapis.com (or the regional equivalent returned as api_domain in the token response) and all requests require an OAuth 2.0 Bearer token in the Authorization header.
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 Zoho Creator data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Zoho Creator?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Zoho Creator:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| records | creator/v2.1/data/{account_owner_name}/{app_link_name}/report/{report_link_name} | GET | data | Fetches records displayed by a report. |
| reports | creator/v2.1/meta/{account_owner_name}/{app_link_name}/reports | GET | reports | Fetches metadata of all reports. |
| applications | creator/v2.1/meta/applications | GET | applications | Fetches list of applications. |
| forms | creator/v2.1/meta/{account_owner_name}/{app_link_name}/forms | GET | forms | Fetches metadata of all forms. |
| sections | creator/v2.1/meta/{account_owner_name}/{app_link_name}/sections | GET | sections | Fetches metadata of all sections. |
How do I authenticate with the Zoho Creator API?
Authentication is handled via OAuth 2.0. Include the access token in the Authorization header of every request using the format 'Authorization: Zoho-oauthtoken {access-token-value}'.
1. Get your credentials
- Navigate to the Zoho API Console (accounts.zoho.com/developerconsole). 2. Click 'Add Client'. 3. Choose a client type (e.g., 'Server-based Applications'). 4. Enter a Client Name, Homepage URL, and Authorized Redirect URI. 5. Click 'Create' to receive your Client ID and Client Secret. 6. Use these credentials to initiate an OAuth 2.0 flow to obtain an access token and an optional refresh token via Zoho's authorization endpoint.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.zoho_creator_source] access_token = "REPLACE_ME"
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 harness:
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:
dlthub 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 Zoho Creator 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 zoho_creator_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline zoho_creator_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset zoho_creator_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/zoho_creator.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs
Inspect your pipeline and data:
dlt pipeline zoho_creator_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 records and applications from the Zoho Creator 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 zoho_creator_source(access_token=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://www.zohoapis.com (or the regional equivalent returned as api_domain in the token response)", "auth": {"type": "api_key", "api_key": access_token, "name": "Authorization", "location": "header"}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "records", "endpoint": {"path": "creator/v2.1/data/{account_owner_name}/{app_link_name}/report/{report_link_name}", "data_selector": "data"}}, {"name": "reports", "endpoint": {"path": "creator/v2.1/meta/{account_owner_name}/{app_link_name}/reports", "data_selector": "reports"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="zoho_creator_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="zoho_creator_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(zoho_creator_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("zoho_creator_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.records.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM zoho_creator_data.records LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("zoho_creator_pipeline").dataset() data.records.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 Zoho Creator 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.
dlthub ai toolkit data-exploration install dlthub ai toolkit dlthub-platform install
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