Booqable Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Booqable-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI Workbench support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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Booqable is a RESTful JSON API for managing inventory, orders, and customers for rental businesses. The REST API base URL is https://{company_slug}.booqable.com/api/4 and Authentication is performed via an API key passed as the api_key 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 Booqable data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Booqable?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Booqable:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| authentication_methods | /api/4/authentication_methods | GET | data | List available authentication methods. |
| items | /api/4/items | GET | data | Retrieves inventory items. |
| customers | /api/1/customers | GET | customers | Returns customer records. |
| products | /api/1/products | GET | products | Returns product records. |
| orders | /api/1/orders | GET | orders | Returns order records. |
How do I authenticate with the Booqable API?
Include the API key in each request URL as ?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY. No additional headers are required.
1. Get your credentials
- Log in to your Booqable account.
- Click your avatar in the top‑right corner and select User Settings.
- Navigate to the API keys section.
- Click Create new key, give it a name, and save.
- Copy the generated key; it will be used as
api_keyin requests.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.booqable_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 Booqable 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 booqable_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline booqable_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset booqable_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/booqable.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs
Inspect your pipeline and data:
dlt pipeline booqable_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 items and orders from the Booqable 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 booqable_source(api_key=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://{company_slug}.booqable.com/api/4", "auth": { "type": "api_key", "api_key": api_key, }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "items", "endpoint": {"path": "api/4/items", "data_selector": "data"}}, {"name": "orders", "endpoint": {"path": "api/1/orders", "data_selector": "orders"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="booqable_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="booqable_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(booqable_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("booqable_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.items.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM booqable_data.items LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("booqable_pipeline").dataset() data.items.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 Booqable 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.
Troubleshooting
Authentication Errors
- 401 Unauthorized – The API key is missing, invalid, or revoked. Verify that the
api_keyquery parameter is correct.
Rate Limiting
- 429 Too Many Requests – You have exceeded the allowed request rate. Implement back‑off and respect the
Retry-Afterheader if present.
General Errors
- 400 Bad Request – The request is malformed.
- 404 Not Found – The requested resource/path does not exist.
- 500 Internal Server Error – An unexpected server error occurred; retry later.
Ensure that the API key is valid to avoid 401 Unauthorized errors. Also, verify endpoint paths and parameters to avoid 404 Not Found errors.
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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