WhatsApp Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a WhatsApp-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI Workbench support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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The WhatsApp API from imiconnect sends text notifications; for media, use the Template API. The Messaging API supports sending up to 1000 messages per request. An authentication key is required for all API requests. The REST API base URL is https://api.imiconnect.com/resources/v1 and All requests require a Service Key provided in request headers..
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 WhatsApp data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from WhatsApp?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from WhatsApp:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| messaging | /messaging | POST | response | Unified Messaging API (multi‑channel outbound messages, used for WhatsApp sends). |
| inbound_webhook | (tenant‑specific inbound webhook URL) | POST | data | Inbound webhook payloads contain a top‑level "data" array. |
| get_topic | /rtmsAPI/api/v1/apps/{appid}/topics/{topicid} | GET | Retrieve a specific topic. | |
| apps_topics_list | /rtmsAPI/api/v1/apps/{appid}/topics | GET | List topics for an app. | |
| tools_templates | /tools/templates | GET/POST | Manage WhatsApp HSM/template resources. |
How do I authenticate with the WhatsApp API?
API requests require a Service Key passed in the request header (header name "key"). Content‑Type: application/json is required for JSON payloads.
1. Get your credentials
- Log in to your IMIconnect account.
- Navigate to Services → Create New Service (or open an existing Service).
- In the Service General Settings you will find the generated Service Key.
- Copy that Service Key and use it as the value for the request header named "key".
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.whatsapp_source] service_key = "your_service_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 WhatsApp 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 whatsapp_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline whatsapp_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset whatsapp_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/whatsapp.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs
Inspect your pipeline and data:
dlt pipeline whatsapp_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 messaging and inbound_webhook from the WhatsApp 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 whatsapp_source(service_key=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://api.imiconnect.com/resources/v1", "auth": { "type": "api_key", "service_key": service_key, }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "messaging", "endpoint": {"path": "messaging", "data_selector": "response"}}, {"name": "inbound_webhook", "endpoint": {"path": "(tenant-specific inbound webhook URL)", "data_selector": "data"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="whatsapp_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="whatsapp_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(whatsapp_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("whatsapp_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.messaging.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM whatsapp_data.messaging LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("whatsapp_pipeline").dataset() data.messaging.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 WhatsApp 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.
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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