PCI Proxy Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a PCI Proxy-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI Workbench support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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PCI Proxy is a platform to collect, tokenize and proxy sensitive payment card data (PAN, CVV, 3DS) so customers can reduce PCI scope and interact with tokens/vaults via REST APIs. The REST API base URL is https://pci-proxy-api.paynopain.com and All protected requests require a 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 PCI Proxy data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from PCI Proxy?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from PCI Proxy:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| channels | /channels | GET | channels | List configured channels |
| channel | /channels/{id} | GET | Retrieve a single channel configuration | |
| link_status | /v1/links/{id} | GET | Get status and tokenized card data for a tokenization link (host: api.link.sandbox.pci-proxy.com) | |
| card_show | /card/{maskedPAN}/show | GET | Returns a short‑lived URL to display the masked PAN in an iframe | |
| vault_tokens | /vaults/{vaultId}/tokens | GET | tokens | List tokens stored in a vault |
How do I authenticate with the PCI Proxy API?
Authentication uses an HTTP Bearer token obtained from the /customers POST endpoint (using API key/signature). Protected requests require the header Authorization: Bearer {jwt}; sandbox tokenization‑link calls may also accept the pci-proxy-api-key header.
1. Get your credentials
- Sign up / contact Paylands / PCI Proxy for a customer contract.
- Log in to the Paylands admin dashboard.
- Navigate to the API credentials section and copy your API key and signature.
- Call the
/customersPOST endpoint (or the equivalent init endpoint) with the API key to receive a JWT. - Use the returned JWT in the
Authorization: Bearer {token}header for all subsequent API calls.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.pci_proxy_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 PCI Proxy 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 pci_proxy_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline pci_proxy_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset pci_proxy_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/pci_proxy.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs
Inspect your pipeline and data:
dlt pipeline pci_proxy_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 channels and links from the PCI Proxy 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 pci_proxy_source(api_key=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://pci-proxy-api.paynopain.com", "auth": { "type": "bearer", "token": api_key, }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "channels", "endpoint": {"path": "channels", "data_selector": "channels"}}, {"name": "links", "endpoint": {"path": "v1/links"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="pci_proxy_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="pci_proxy_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(pci_proxy_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("pci_proxy_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.channels.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM pci_proxy_data.channels LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("pci_proxy_pipeline").dataset() data.channels.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 PCI Proxy 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 failures
If you receive a 401 Unauthorized response, ensure you have exchanged your API key and signature for a JWT via the /customers POST endpoint and that the request includes Authorization: Bearer {jwt}. Tokens expire after a configurable period; obtain a new token if needed.
Link endpoint host differences
Tokenization‑link calls use the separate host api.link.sandbox.pci-proxy.com. In sandbox examples the header pci-proxy-api-key is required; production calls use the main PCI Proxy host and Bearer authentication. Verify you are calling the correct host for the environment.
Proxy invocation response parsing
The /channel/{channelId}/invoke endpoint returns the raw upstream payload (JSON, XML, etc.). Data selectors therefore depend on the channel's configured mapping (JSONPath/XPath) rather than a fixed key.
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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