Wolfram Alpha Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Wolfram Alpha-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI Workbench support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
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Wolfram Alpha's LLM API provides optimized responses for language models, requiring an AppID or bearer token for authorization. The Short Answers API returns concise results directly from Wolfram Alpha. The Full Results API offers detailed responses with various pod options. The REST API base URL is https://www.wolframalpha.com/api/v1/llm-api and All requests require a Wolfram|Alpha AppID, which can be passed as a query parameter 'appid' or as 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 Wolfram Alpha data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Wolfram Alpha?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Wolfram Alpha:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| llm_queries | api/v1/llm-api | GET | LLM-optimized structured textual output for queries (use 'input' query param). | |
| short_answer | v1/result | GET | Short Answers API returns a single-line plain text result; use 'i' or 'input' and 'appid'. | |
| full_query_json | v2/query?output=json | GET | queryresult.pods | Full Results API returns structured JSON when output=json; main records are in queryresult.pods (each pod has subpods array). |
| full_query_xml | v2/query | GET | Full Results API default XML output; pods are elements. | |
| simple_api | api/v1/simple | GET | Simple API returns result pages/images (not JSON). |
How do I authenticate with the Wolfram Alpha API?
Provide your AppID either as the 'appid' URL parameter (e.g., ?appid=YOUR_APPID) or in the HTTP header 'Authorization: Bearer '. No additional key/secret pair is required for these APIs.
1. Get your credentials
- Go to https://developer.wolframalpha.com and sign in or create an account. 2) Open 'My Apps' / 'Get API Access' and create a new App. 3) Copy the generated AppID from the app details. 4) Use AppID as query param 'appid' or as 'Authorization: Bearer '.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.wolfram_alpha_source] app_id = "your_appid_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 Wolfram Alpha 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 wolfram_alpha_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline wolfram_alpha_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset wolfram_alpha_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/wolfram_alpha.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs
Inspect your pipeline and data:
dlt pipeline wolfram_alpha_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 llm_queries and short_answer from the Wolfram Alpha 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 wolfram_alpha_source(app_id=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://www.wolframalpha.com/api/v1/llm-api", "auth": { "type": "api_key", "app_id": app_id, }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "llm_queries", "endpoint": {"path": "api/v1/llm-api"}}, {"name": "short_answer", "endpoint": {"path": "v1/result"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="wolfram_alpha_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="wolfram_alpha_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(wolfram_alpha_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("wolfram_alpha_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.llm_queries.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM wolfram_alpha_data.llm_queries LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("wolfram_alpha_pipeline").dataset() data.llm_queries.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 Wolfram Alpha 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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