Load xMatters data in Python using dltHub
Build a xMatters-to-database or-dataframe pipeline in Python using dlt with automatic Cursor support.
In this guide, we'll set up a complete xMatters data pipeline from API credentials to your first data load in just 10 minutes. You'll end up with a fully declarative Python pipeline based on dlt's REST API connector, like in the partial example code below:
Example code
Why use dltHub Workspace with LLM Context to generate Python pipelines?
- Accelerate pipeline development with AI-native context
- Debug pipelines, validate schemas and data with the integrated Pipeline Dashboard
- Build Python notebooks for end users of your data
- Low maintenance thanks to Schema evolution with type inference, resilience and self documenting REST API connectors. A shallow learning curve makes the pipeline easy to extend by any team member
- dlt is the tool of choice for Pythonic Iceberg Lakehouses, bringing mature data loading to pythonic Iceberg with or without catalogs
What you’ll do
We’ll show you how to generate a readable and easily maintainable Python script that fetches data from xmatters’s API and loads it into Iceberg, DataFrames, files, or a database of your choice. Here are some of the endpoints you can load:
- Forms: Used to manage forms for notifications and incidents.
- Events: Retrieve and manage events within the xMatters system.
- Users: Manage user accounts and their roles.
- Groups: Handle group memberships, including on-call and dynamic groups.
- Devices: Manage notification devices for users.
- Shifts: Define and manage shifts for on-call teams.
- Integrations: Setup and manage integrations with external systems.
- Changes: Create and retrieve change records for service management.
You will then debug the xMatters pipeline using our Pipeline Dashboard tool to ensure it is copying the data correctly, before building a Notebook to explore your data and build reports.
Setup & steps to follow
💡Before getting started, let's make sure Cursor is set up correctly:
- We suggest using a model like Claude 3.7 Sonnet or better
- Index the REST API Source tutorial: https://dlthub.com/docs/dlt-ecosystem/verified-sources/rest_api/ and add it to context as @dlt rest api
- Read our full steps on setting up Cursor
Now you're ready to get started!
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⚙️ Set up
dlt
WorkspaceInstall dlt with duckdb support:
pip install dlt[workspace]
Initialize a dlt pipeline with xMatters support.
dlt init dlthub:xmatters duckdb
The
init
command will setup the necessary files and folders for the next step. -
🤠 Start LLM-assisted coding
Here’s a prompt to get you started:
PromptPlease generate a REST API Source for xMatters API, as specified in @xmatters-docs.yaml Start with endpoints forms and and skip incremental loading for now. Place the code in xmatters_pipeline.py and name the pipeline xmatters_pipeline. If the file exists, use it as a starting point. Do not add or modify any other files. Use @dlt rest api as a tutorial. After adding the endpoints, allow the user to run the pipeline with python xmatters_pipeline.py and await further instructions. -
🔒 Set up credentials
xMatters supports both Basic Authentication using a username and password as well as OAuth2.0 authentication. For OAuth2.0, an initial access token and refresh token are obtained by making a call to POST /oauth2/token with the client ID, username, and password. The API requires valid credentials for access.
To get the appropriate API keys, please visit the original source at https://www.xmatters.com/. If you want to protect your environment secrets in a production environment, look into setting up credentials with dlt.
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🏃♀️ Run the pipeline in the Python terminal in Cursor
python xmatters_pipeline.py
If your pipeline runs correctly, you’ll see something like the following:
Pipeline xmatters load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset xmatters_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/xmatters.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs
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📈 Debug your pipeline and data with the Pipeline Dashboard
Now that you have a running pipeline, you need to make sure it’s correct, so you do not introduce silent failures like misconfigured pagination or incremental loading errors. By launching the dlt Workspace Pipeline Dashboard, you can see various information about the pipeline to enable you to test it. Here you can see:
- Pipeline overview: State, load metrics
- Data’s schema: tables, columns, types, hints
- You can query the data itself
dlt pipeline xmatters_pipeline show --dashboard
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🐍 Build a Notebook with data explorations and reports
With the pipeline and data partially validated, you can continue with custom data explorations and reports. To get started, paste the snippet below into a new marimo Notebook and ask your LLM to go from there. Jupyter Notebooks and regular Python scripts are supported as well.
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("xmatters_pipeline").dataset() # get orm table as Pandas frame data.orm.df().head()
Running into errors?
Ensure to use HTTPS for all requests to protect sensitive information. Access to certain data may be limited by user permissions and pricing plans. When working with historical data, the user must have the ability to access historical data permissions. Uploaded files cannot be removed once uploaded and should be attached to an event or scenario quickly. The default trigger type for forms is MESSAGING.