Buzzsumo Python API Docs | dltHub

BuzzSumo is a platform that provides content research and analytics APIs for searching articles, trends, influencers, shares, backlinks and managing alerts/projects. The REST API base URL is https://api.buzzsumo.com/ and All requests require an API key passed as a query parameter api_key or 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 Buzzsumo data in under 10 minutes.

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What data can I load from Buzzsumo?

Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Buzzsumo:

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How do I authenticate with the Buzzsumo API?

Provide the API key either as the api_key query parameter or as an Authorization header (e.g., Authorization: Bearer <your_key>).

1. Get your credentials

1. Log in to your BuzzSumo account.
2. Click your profile avatar and choose Settings.
3. In the Settings menu select the API tab.
4. Click Generate API key.
5. Copy the displayed key and store it securely; you will use it in API requests.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

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[sources.buzzsumo_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.

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How do I set up and run the pipeline?

Set up a virtual environment and install dlt:

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uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install "dlt[workspace]"

1. Install the dlt AI Workbench:

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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:

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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 Buzzsumo 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:

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python buzzsumo_pipeline.py

If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:

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Pipeline buzzsumo_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds
1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset buzzsumo_data
The duckdb destination used duckdb:/buzzsumo.duckdb location to store data
Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs

Inspect your pipeline and data:

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dlt pipeline buzzsumo_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.

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Python pipeline example

This example loads search_articles and account_alerts from the Buzzsumo API into DuckDB. It mirrors the endpoint and data selector configuration from the table above:

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import dlt
from dlt.sources.rest_api import RESTAPIConfig, rest_api_resources

@dlt.source
def buzzsumo_source(api_key=dlt.secrets.value):
    config: RESTAPIConfig = {
        "client": {
            "base_url": "https://api.buzzsumo.com/",
            "auth": {
                "type": "api_key",
                "api_key": api_key,
            },
        },
        "resources": [
            {"name": "search_articles", "endpoint": {"path": "search/articles", "data_selector": "results"}},
            {"name": "account_alerts", "endpoint": {"path": "account/alerts", "data_selector": "alerts"}}
        ],
    }
    yield from rest_api_resources(config)


def get_data() -> None:
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="buzzsumo_pipeline",
        destination="duckdb",
        dataset_name="buzzsumo_data",
    )
    load_info = pipeline.run(buzzsumo_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.

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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):

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import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("buzzsumo_pipeline").dataset()
sessions_df = data.search_articles.df()
print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

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SELECT * FROM buzzsumo_data.search_articles LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

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import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("buzzsumo_pipeline").dataset()
data.search_articles.df().head()

See how to explore your data in marimo Notebooks and how to query your data in Python with dataset.

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What destinations can I load Buzzsumo data to?

dlt supports loading into any of these destinations — only the destination parameter changes:

Change the destination in dlt.pipeline(destination="snowflake") and add credentials in .dlt/secrets.toml. See the full destinations list.

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Troubleshooting

Authentication errors

• 401 Unauthorized – Occurs when the API key is missing, malformed, or revoked. Ensure the api_key parameter or Authorization header contains a valid key.

Rate limiting

• 429 Too Many Requests – Free API keys are limited to 100 Search calls and 100 000 Account calls per month. Exceeding these limits returns a 429 response. To increase limits, request an upgrade via the form linked in the Help Center.

Bad request

• 400 Bad Request – Indicates missing required query parameters or invalid values. Verify required parameters for each endpoint as documented.

Pagination quirks

• Some endpoints return a next_page token in the response; include this token as the page query parameter to retrieve subsequent pages.

Ensure that the API key is valid to avoid 401 Unauthorized errors. Also, verify endpoint paths and parameters to avoid 404 Not Found errors.

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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.

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dlt ai toolkit data-exploration install
dlt ai toolkit dlthub-runtime install

• How to deploy a pipeline
• How to explore your data in marimo Notebooks
• How to query your data in Python with dataset
• Join the dlt community on Slack