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Python-based dlt Library: Loading Jira Data into BigQuery

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The dlt open-source Python library simplifies the data transfer process between Jira and BigQuery. Jira, known as the leading project management tool for agile teams, allows for the planning, tracking, and release of world-class software. On the other hand, BigQuery is an enterprise data warehouse that is serverless, cost-effective, and scales with your data across multiple clouds. With dlt, you can efficiently load data from Jira into BigQuery, making it easier to manage and analyze your project data. Further information about Jira can be found at https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira.

dlt Key Features​

  • Automated Maintenance: With schema inference and evolution and alerts, and with short declarative code, maintenance becomes simple. Learn more
  • Runs Everywhere Python Runs: dlt runs on Airflow, serverless functions, notebooks. No external APIs, backends or containers, scales on micro and large infra alike. Learn more
  • User-friendly Interface: dlt provides a declarative interface that removes knowledge obstacles for beginners while empowering senior professionals. Learn more
  • Robust Governance Support: dlt pipelines offer robust governance support through three key mechanisms: pipeline metadata utilization, schema enforcement and curation, and schema change alerts. Learn more
  • Google BigQuery Integration: dlt supports Google BigQuery as a destination for your data pipelines. It provides detailed instructions on how to setup and use BigQuery with dlt. Learn more

Getting started with your pipeline locally​

0. Prerequisites​

dlt requires Python 3.8 or higher. Additionally, you need to have the pip package manager installed, and we recommend using a virtual environment to manage your dependencies. You can learn more about preparing your computer for dlt in our installation reference.

1. Install dlt​

First you need to install the dlt library with the correct extras for BigQuery:

pip install "dlt[bigquery]"

The dlt cli has a useful command to get you started with any combination of source and destination. For this example, we want to load data from Jira to BigQuery. You can run the following commands to create a starting point for loading data from Jira to BigQuery:

# create a new directory
mkdir jira_pipeline
cd jira_pipeline
# initialize a new pipeline with your source and destination
dlt init jira bigquery
# install the required dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

The last command will install the required dependencies for your pipeline. The dependencies are listed in the requirements.txt:

dlt[bigquery]>=0.3.25

You now have the following folder structure in your project:

jira_pipeline/
├── .dlt/
│   ├── config.toml          # configs for your pipeline
│   └── secrets.toml         # secrets for your pipeline
├── jira/                   # folder with source specific files
│   └── ...
├── jira_pipeline.py        # your main pipeline script
├── requirements.txt         # dependencies for your pipeline
└── .gitignore               # ignore files for git (not required)

2. Configuring your source and destination credentials​

The dlt cli will have created a .dlt directory in your project folder. This directory contains a config.toml file and a secrets.toml file that you can use to configure your pipeline. The automatically created version of these files look like this:

generated config.toml​

# put your configuration values here

[runtime]
log_level="WARNING"  # the system log level of dlt
# use the dlthub_telemetry setting to enable/disable anonymous usage data reporting, see https://dlthub.com/docs/telemetry
dlthub_telemetry = true

generated secrets.toml​

# put your secret values and credentials here. do not share this file and do not push it to github

[sources.jira]
subdomain = "subdomain" # please set me up!
email = "email" # please set me up!
api_token = "api_token" # please set me up!

[destination.bigquery]
location = "US"

[destination.bigquery.credentials]
project_id = "project_id" # please set me up!
private_key = "private_key" # please set me up!
client_email = "client_email" # please set me up!

2.1. Adjust the generated code to your usecase​

Further help setting up your source and destinations
  • Read more about setting up the Jira source in our docs.
  • Read more about setting up the BigQuery destination in our docs.

3. Running your pipeline for the first time​

The dlt cli has also created a main pipeline script for you at jira_pipeline.py, as well as a folder jira that contains additional python files for your source. These files are your local copies which you can modify to fit your needs. In some cases you may find that you only need to do small changes to your pipelines or add some configurations, in other cases these files can serve as a working starting point for your code, but will need to be adjusted to do what you need them to do.

The main pipeline script will look something like this:


from typing import List, Optional

import dlt
from jira import jira, jira_search


def load(endpoints: Optional[List[str]] = None) -> None:
    """
    Load data from specified Jira endpoints into a dataset.

    Args:
        endpoints: A list of Jira endpoints. If not provided, defaults to all resources.
    """
    if not endpoints:
        endpoints = list(jira().resources.keys())

    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="jira_pipeline", destination='bigquery', dataset_name="jira"
    )

    load_info = pipeline.run(jira().with_resources(*endpoints))

    print(f"Load Information: {load_info}")


def load_query_data(queries: List[str]) -> None:
    """
    Load issues from specified Jira queries into a dataset.

    Args:
        queries: A list of JQL queries.
    """
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="jira_search_pipeline",
        destination='bigquery',
        dataset_name="jira_search",
    )

    load_info = pipeline.run(jira_search().issues(jql_queries=queries))

    print(f"Load Information: {load_info}")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Add your desired endpoints to the list 'endpoints'
    load(endpoints=None)

    queries = [
        "created >= -30d order by created DESC",
        'project = KAN AND status = "In Progress" order by created DESC',
    ]

    load_query_data(queries=queries)

Provided you have set up your credentials, you can run your pipeline like a regular python script with the following command:

python jira_pipeline.py

4. Inspecting your load result​

You can now inspect the state of your pipeline with the dlt cli:

dlt pipeline jira_pipeline info

You can also use streamlit to inspect the contents of your BigQuery destination for this:

# install streamlit
pip install streamlit
# run the streamlit app for your pipeline with the dlt cli:
dlt pipeline jira_pipeline show

5. Next steps to get your pipeline running in production​

One of the beauties of dlt is, that we are just a plain Python library, so you can run your pipeline in any environment that supports Python >= 3.8. We have a couple of helpers and guides in our docs to get you there:

The Deploy section will show you how to deploy your pipeline to​

  • Deploy with Github Actions: dlt can be deployed using Github Actions. This CI/CD runner can be used for free and allows you to specify the schedule for running the GitHub Action.
  • Deploy with Airflow and Google Composer: You can deploy a pipeline with Airflow and Google Composer. This guide will walk you through the steps to deploy your pipeline using a managed Airflow environment provided by Google.
  • Deploy with Google Cloud Functions: dlt supports deployment with Google Cloud Functions. This guide will help you deploy your pipeline serverlessly on Google Cloud.
  • Other Deployment Methods: There are several other methods to deploy dlt. You can find them in the deployment guide.

The running in production section will teach you about:​

  • Monitor Your Pipeline: dlt provides a comprehensive set of tools to monitor your pipeline. This includes inspecting and saving load information and tracing, as well as alerting on schema changes. Learn more about these features here.
  • Set Up Alerts: With dlt, you can set up alerts to notify you of any issues or changes in your pipeline. This can be particularly useful for detecting and responding to potential problems early. Check out the guide on how to set up alerts here.
  • Enable Tracing: Tracing is a powerful feature in dlt that allows you to keep track of the runtime of your pipeline. It provides detailed information on the extract, normalize and load steps, and can be a valuable tool for debugging and optimization. Learn how to set up tracing here.

Available Sources and Resources​

For this verified source the following sources and resources are available

Source jira​

The Jira source provides data on project management tasks, including details on issues, users, workflows, and projects.

Resource NameWrite DispositionDescription
issuesreplaceIndividual pieces of work to be completed. Contains various fields such as assignee, comments, created time, reporter, status, summary, updated time, etc.
projectsreplaceA collection of tasks that need to be completed to achieve a certain outcome. Contains fields such as avatar URL, description, ID, key, lead, name, etc.
usersreplaceAdministrator of a given project. Contains fields such as account ID, account type, avatar URL, display name, email address, etc.
workflowsreplaceThe key aspect of managing and tracking the progress of issues or tasks within a project. Contains fields such as created time, description, ID, updated time, etc.

Additional pipeline guides​

This demo works on codespaces. Codespaces is a development environment available for free to anyone with a Github account. You'll be asked to fork the demo repository and from there the README guides you with further steps.
The demo uses the Continue VSCode extension.

Off to codespaces!

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