UK Government API Documentation Python API Docs | dltHub

GOV.UK Content API is a REST API that provides structured JSON access to GOV.UK content used to render pages on www.gov.uk. The REST API base URL is https://www.gov.uk/api/content and no authentication required for public GET requests.

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 UK Government API Documentation data in under 10 minutes.

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What data can I load from UK Government API Documentation?

Here are some of the endpoints you can load from UK Government API Documentation:

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How do I authenticate with the UK Government API Documentation API?

The GOV.UK Content API does not require authentication for read‑only access; requests are made over HTTPS. Include standard headers like Accept: application/json if desired.

1. Get your credentials

No credentials are required for public read access to the GOV.UK Content API. If you need elevated access or higher rate limits, contact GOV.UK support via https://support.publishing.service.gov.uk or the GOV.UK contact channels as documented in the API docs.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

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[sources.uk_government_api_documentation_source]

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 UK Government API Documentation 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 uk_government_api_documentation_pipeline.py

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

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Pipeline uk_government_api_documentation_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds
1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset uk_government_api_documentation_data
The duckdb destination used duckdb:/uk_government_api_documentation.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 uk_government_api_documentation_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 content_item and search from the UK Government API Documentation 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 uk_government_api_documentation_source(=dlt.secrets.value):
    config: RESTAPIConfig = {
        "client": {
            "base_url": "https://www.gov.uk/api/content",
            "auth": {
                "type": "none",
                "": ,
            },
        },
        "resources": [
            {"name": "content_item", "endpoint": {"path": "content/{path}"}},
            {"name": "search", "endpoint": {"path": "search.json", "data_selector": "results"}}
        ],
    }
    yield from rest_api_resources(config)


def get_data() -> None:
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="uk_government_api_documentation_pipeline",
        destination="duckdb",
        dataset_name="uk_government_api_documentation_data",
    )
    load_info = pipeline.run(uk_government_api_documentation_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("uk_government_api_documentation_pipeline").dataset()
sessions_df = data.content_item.df()
print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

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SELECT * FROM uk_government_api_documentation_data.content_item LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

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import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("uk_government_api_documentation_pipeline").dataset()
data.content_item.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 UK Government API Documentation 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 / 401 or 403 errors

The public GOV.UK Content API does not require authentication for read‑only GET requests. 401/403 errors are uncommon; if you see them for endpoints that should be public, verify the hostname (www.gov.uk/api) and ensure no proxy/firewall is stripping headers. Contact GOV.UK support if the issue persists.

Rate limiting / 429 or throttling

The Content API enforces a limit of up to 10 requests per second per client. Exceeding this may result in 429 responses or timeouts. Implement exponential back‑off and retry. For higher limits, request an increase through GOV.UK support.

Pagination quirks

Search results are paginated: default count is 10. Use count and start query parameters to page (start is zero‑based). Maximum count per request is up to 1,000. Use count=0 to retrieve only totals.

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