Wikipedia Table JSON API Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Wikipedia Table JSON API-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI Workbench support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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The Wikipedia Table JSON API is documented at https://www.wikitable2json.com/openapi.yaml. It converts Wikipedia tables into JSON format. The API version is 1.0.0. The REST API base URL is https://www.wikitable2json.com and no authentication required; set a descriptive User-Agent header for automated 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 Wikipedia Table JSON API data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Wikipedia Table JSON API?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Wikipedia Table JSON API:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| api_page | /api/{page} | GET | Get all tables on the given Wikipedia page. Supports query params: table (array of indexes), section, lang, keyRows, verbose, cleanRef, brNewLine. | |
| tables_matrix | /api/{page}? (matrix) | GET | Default matrix (2D array) response — returned when not requesting key-value or verbose formats. | |
| tables_matrix_verbose | /api/{page}?verbose=true | GET | Matrix verbose format: 2D array where each cell is an object (verboseCell) with text and links. | |
| tables_key_value | /api/{page}?keyRows={n} | GET | Key-value format: list of tables where each row is an object using first n rows as keys. | |
| tables_key_value_verbose | /api/{page}?keyRows={n}&verbose=true | GET | Key-value verbose format: objects with verboseCell values (text + links). |
How do I authenticate with the Wikipedia Table JSON API API?
The API does not require API keys or tokens. For automated requests follow Wikimedia guidance and set a unique User-Agent header containing an email or URL contact. No Authorization header is used.
1. Get your credentials
This API does not require credentials. No provider dashboard or token issuance is necessary. For polite automated use, configure your HTTP client to send a unique User-Agent header (e.g. 'my-app/1.0 (mailto:you@example.com)').
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.wikipedia_table_json_api_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.
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 Wikipedia Table JSON API 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 wikipedia_table_json_api_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline wikipedia_table_json_api_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset wikipedia_table_json_api_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/wikipedia_table_json_api.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs
Inspect your pipeline and data:
dlt pipeline wikipedia_table_json_api_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 api_page and tables_key_value from the Wikipedia Table JSON API 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 wikipedia_table_json_api_source(=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://www.wikitable2json.com", "auth": { "type": "none", "": , }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "api_page", "endpoint": {"path": "api/{page}"}}, {"name": "tables_key_value", "endpoint": {"path": "api/{page}"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="wikipedia_table_json_api_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="wikipedia_table_json_api_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(wikipedia_table_json_api_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("wikipedia_table_json_api_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.api_page.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM wikipedia_table_json_api_data.api_page LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("wikipedia_table_json_api_pipeline").dataset() data.api_page.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 Wikipedia Table JSON API 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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