Meraki Python API Docs | dltHub

Meraki is a cloud-managed networking platform providing APIs to programmatically manage organizations, networks, devices, clients, and other Meraki resources. The REST API base URL is https://api.meraki.com/api/v1 and All requests require an API Key provided in a request header (Bearer or X-Cisco-Meraki-API-Key)..

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 Meraki data in under 10 minutes.

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What data can I load from Meraki?

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

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How do I authenticate with the Meraki API?

Authentication uses an API key generated in the Dashboard. Include the key in requests via the Authorization: Bearer <API_KEY> header (or X-Cisco-Meraki-API-Key header). The API returns 404 for missing/incorrect keys to avoid resource existence disclosure.

1. Get your credentials

1. Log into the Meraki Dashboard as an organization administrator. 2. Navigate to Organization → Configure → API & Webhooks (API keys and access tab). 3. Click 'Generate API Key' (record the key immediately; dashboard will not show it again). 4. Store the key securely; revoke and regenerate if lost.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

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[sources.meraki_management_source]
api_key = "your_meraki_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 Meraki 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 meraki_management_pipeline.py

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

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Pipeline meraki_management_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds
1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset meraki_management_data
The duckdb destination used duckdb:/meraki_management.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 meraki_management_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 organizations and networks from the Meraki 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 meraki_management_source(api_key=dlt.secrets.value):
    config: RESTAPIConfig = {
        "client": {
            "base_url": "https://api.meraki.com/api/v1",
            "auth": {
                "type": "bearer",
                "token": api_key,
            },
        },
        "resources": [
            {"name": "organizations", "endpoint": {"path": "organizations"}},
            {"name": "organization_networks", "endpoint": {"path": "organizations/{organizationId}/networks"}}
        ],
    }
    yield from rest_api_resources(config)


def get_data() -> None:
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="meraki_management_pipeline",
        destination="duckdb",
        dataset_name="meraki_management_data",
    )
    load_info = pipeline.run(meraki_management_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("meraki_management_pipeline").dataset()
sessions_df = data.organizations.df()
print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

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SELECT * FROM meraki_management_data.organizations LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

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import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("meraki_management_pipeline").dataset()
data.organizations.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 Meraki 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 failures

If you see 401 Unauthorized or 404 Not Found for requests that should be valid, confirm the API key header. Meraki accepts the key as Authorization: Bearer <API_KEY> or X-Cisco-Meraki-API-Key. The dashboard intentionally returns 404 for missing/incorrect keys to avoid revealing resource existence. Ensure the API key was generated by an account with access to the target organizations; revoked or deleted admin keys will fail.

Rate limiting (429)

Meraki rate-limits to 10 requests per second per organization (burst allowance described in docs). When you exceed the limit you receive 429 Too Many Requests and a Retry-After header indicating when to retry. Implement exponential backoff and coordinate API usage across applications. The response body includes an "errors" array with a message like "API rate limit exceeded for organization".

Common error responses and handling

• 400 Bad Request: malformed request or missing parameter — server returns JSON with an "errors" array describing the issue.
• 403 Forbidden: insufficient permissions (e.g., non-admin trying to POST/PUT) — check admin role and scopes.
• 404 Not Found: resource does not exist or API key lacks access (also returned for missing/incorrect keys).
• 5xx Server Errors: retry with backoff; check status endpoints.

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