Pipe API¶

The Pipes API allows you to interact with your Pipes. Several services are included under Pipes:

Pipes: List, create, update, or delete your Tinybird Pipes.
API Endpoints: Publish or unpublish your Pipes as API Endpoints.
Materialized Views and Populates: Create, delete, or populate Materialized Views.
Scheduled Copy (Copy Pipes API): Create, delete, schedule, and trigger Copy jobs.

New to Pipes? Read the Concepts > Pipes docs.

All Tinybird API Endpoints require authentication using a Token with the appropriate scope.

Example: Create a Tinybird Pipe¶

Imagine you have an events Data Source named app_events and you want to expose an API Endpoint containing the aggregation of events per day.

First, create a Pipe. Let's call this one events_per_day:

creating a Pipe from a Data Source

curl \
-H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
-d "name=events_per_day&sql=select * from app_events" \
https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes

As shown above, creating the Pipe also defines the first transformation Node SQL query, which in this case gets all the data from the Data Source. Below shows a successful request response after creating a Pipe:

Pipe successfully created

{
  "id": "t_1b501ccf34764a69aaf886bac9a7a6d8",
  "name": "events_per_day",
  "published_version": "t_878a81f0e1344a2ca990c8c1aa7dd69f",
  "published_date": "2019-06-14 09:46:07.884855",
  "nodes": [
    {
      "name": "events_per_day_0",
      "sql": "select * from app_events",
      "id": "t_878a81f0e1344a2ca990c8c1aa7dd69f",
      "dependencies": [
        "app_events"
      ],
      "materialized": false,
      "created_at": "2019-06-14 09:46:07.884849"
    }
  ]
}

Now, you're going to add a new transformation Node to perform the aggregation per date, using the previously-created Node events_per_day_0. Let's use the "append" endpoint.

appending a new Node to transform your data

curl -d "select toDate(timestamp) date, count() event_count from events_per_day_0 group by date" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
  https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/events_per_day/nodes

Whenever a transformation Node is added to a Pipe, you receive a response like the one below, summarizing and giving you an autogenerated name for the Node, as well as some metadata such as the dependencies with other transformation Nodes:

successful response

{
  "name": "events_per_day_1",
  "sql": "select toDate(timestamp) date, count() event_count from events_per_day_0 group by date",
  "id": "t_5164622050b244338ea2b79c19bd1e57",
  "dependencies": [
    "events_per_day_0"
  ],
  "materialized": false,
  "created_at": "2019-06-14 09:58:08.311812"
}

In order to make a Pipe publicly accessible through the API, you need to enable your desired transformation Node as an API Endpoint. Remember, Pipes only support one enabled Node each, so enabling one will make previously-enabled Nodes inaccessible.

Enabling a transformation Node as an API Endpoint

curl \
  -X PUT \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
  -d t_878a81f0e1344a2ca990c8c1aa7dd69f \
  https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/events_per_day/endpoint

When enabling a transformation Node as an API Endpoint, a JSON containing the full Pipe description is sent as the response.

Successful response

{
  "id": "t_1b501ccf34764a69aaf886bac9a7a6d8",
  "name": "events_per_day",
  "published_version": "t_5164622050b244338ea2b79c19bd1e57",
  "published_date": "2019-06-14 10:17:01.201962",
  "nodes": [
    {
      "name": "events_per_day_0",
      "sql": "select * from app_events",
      "id": "t_878a81f0e1344a2ca990c8c1aa7dd69f",
      "dependencies": [
        "app_events"
      ],
      "materialized": false,
      "created_at": "2019-06-14 10:17:01.201784"
    },
    {
      "name": "events_per_day_1",
      "sql": "select toDate(date) date, count() event_count from events_per_day_0 group by date",
      "id": "t_5164622050b244338ea2b79c19bd1e57",
      "dependencies": [
        "events_per_day_0"
      ],
      "materialized": false,
      "created_at": "2019-06-14 10:17:01.201943"
    }
  ]
}

Once the Pipe is created and you've enabled a transformation Node as an Endpoint, you can easily integrate it into any 3rd party application.

Using the Query API, you can query the Pipe using its name, just like a regular table in a SQL query: SELECT * FROM events_per_day where date > yesterday()

Querying a Pipe using SQL

curl \
-H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
-d 'SELECT * FROM events_per_day where date > yesterday()' \
'https://api.tinybird.co/v0/sql'

If you don't need to run any special operations against your Pipe, you can just use the Pipe data Endpoint accessible at {% user("apiHost") %}/v0/pipes/events_per_day.json. It's an alias for SELECT * FROM events_per_day

Pipes are updated in real-time, so as you insert the new data in app_events Data Source, every Pipe using it events_per_day is updated.

To share this Endpoint, you can create a READ Token. You can add a new Token for the Pipe with:

Adding a READ Token to an API Endpoint Pipe

curl -X POST "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/tokens/?name=events_per_day_token&scope=PIPES:READ:events_per_day"

Pipes¶

GET /v0/pipes/?¶

Get a list of pipes in your account.

getting a list of your pipes¶

curl -X GET \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:CREATE token>" \
    "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes"

Pipes in the response will be the ones that are accessible using a particular token with read permissions for them.

Successful response¶

{
    "pipes": [{
        "id": "t_55c39255e6b548dd98cb6da4b7d62c1c",
        "name": "my_pipe",
        "description": "This is a description",
        "endpoint": "t_h65c788b42ce4095a4789c0d6b0156c3",
        "created_at": "2022-11-10 12:39:38.106380",
        "updated_at": "2022-11-29 13:33:40.850186",
        "parent": null,
        "nodes": [{
            "id": "t_h65c788b42ce4095a4789c0d6b0156c3",
            "name": "my_node",
            "sql": "SELECT col_a, col_b FROM my_data_source",
            "description": null,
            "materialized": null,
            "cluster": null,
            "tags": {},
            "created_at": "2022-11-10 12:39:47.852303",
            "updated_at": "2022-11-10 12:46:54.066133",
            "version": 0,
            "project": null,
            "result": null,
            "ignore_sql_errors": false
            "node_type": "default"
        }],
        "url": "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/my_pipe.json"
    }]
}

Request parameters¶
Key	Type	Description
dependencies	boolean	The response will include the nodes dependent data sources and pipes, default is `false`
attrs	String	comma separated list of the pipe attributes to return in the response. Example: `attrs=name,description`
node_attrs	String	comma separated list of the node attributes to return in the response. Example `node_attrs=id,name`

Pipes id’s are immutable so you can always refer to them in your 3rd party applications to make them compatible with Pipes once they are renamed.

For lighter JSON responses consider using the attrs and node_attrs params to return exactly the attributes you need to consume.

POST /v0/pipes/?¶

Creates a new Pipe. There are 3 ways to create a Pipe

Creating a Pipe providing full JSON¶

curl -X POST \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:CREATE token>" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes" \
    -d '{
        "name":"pipe_name",
        "description": "my first pipe",
        "nodes": [
            {"sql": "select * from my_datasource limit 10", "name": "node_00", "description": "sampled data" },
            {"sql": "select count() from node_00", "name": "node_01" }
        ]
    }'

If you prefer to create the minimum Pipe, and then append your transformation nodes you can set your name and first transformation node’s SQL in your POST request

Creating a pipe with a name and a SQL query¶

curl -X POST \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:CREATE token>" \
    "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes?name=pipename&sql=select%20*%20from%20events"

Pipes can be also created as copies of other Pipes. Just use the from argument:

Creating a pipe from another pipe¶

curl -X POST \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:CREATE token>" \
    "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes?name=pipename&from=src_pipe"

Bear in mind, if you use this method to overwrite an existing Pipe, the endpoint will only be maintained if the node name is the same.

POST /v0/pipes/(.+)/nodes¶

Appends a new node to a Pipe.

adding a new node to a pipe¶

curl \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:CREATE token>" \
    -d 'select * from node_0' "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/:name/nodes?name=node_name&description=explanation"

Appends a new node that creates a Materialized View

adding a Materialized View using a materialized node¶

curl \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:CREATE token>" \
    -d 'select id, sum(amount) as amount, date from my_datasource' "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/:name/nodes?name=node_name&description=explanation&type=materialized&datasource=new_datasource&engine=AggregatingMergeTree"

Request parameters¶
Key	Type	Description
name	String	The referenceable name for the node.
description	String	Use it to store a more detailed explanation of the node.
token	String	Auth token. Ensure it has the `PIPE:CREATE` scope on it
type	String	Optional. Available options are {`standard` (default), `materialized`, `endpoint`}. Use `materialized` to create a Materialized View from your new node.
datasource	String	Required with `type=materialized`. Specifies the name of the destination Data Source where the Materialized View schema is defined.
override_datasource	Boolean	Optional. Default `false` When the target Data Source of the Materialized View exists in the Workspace it’ll be overriden by the `datasource` specified in the request.
populate	Boolean	Optional. Default `false`. When `true`, a job is triggered to populate the destination Data Source.
populate_subset	Float	Optional. Populate with a subset percent of the data (limited to a maximum of 2M rows), this is useful to quickly test a materialized node with some data. The subset must be greater than 0 and lower than 0.1. A subset of 0.1 means a 10 percent of the data in the source Data Source will be used to populate the Materialized View. Use it together with `populate=true`, it has precedence over `populate_condition`
populate_condition	String	Optional. Populate with a SQL condition to be applied to the trigger Data Source of the Materialized View. For instance, `populate_condition='date == toYYYYMM(now())'` it’ll populate taking all the rows from the trigger Data Source which `date` is the current month. Use it together with `populate=true`. `populate_condition` is not taken into account if the `populate_subset` param is present. Including in the `populate_condition` any column present in the Data Source `engine_sorting_key` will make the populate job process less data.
unlink_on_populate_error	String	Optional. Default is `false`. If the populate job fails the Materialized View is unlinked and new data won’t be ingested in the Materialized View.
engine	String	Optional. Engine for destination Materialized View. Requires the `type` parameter as `materialized`.
engine_*	String	Optional. Engine parameters and options. Requires the `type` parameter as `materialized` and the `engine` parameter. Check Engine Parameters and Options for more details

SQL query for the transformation node must be sent in the body encoded in utf-8

Response codes¶
Code	Description
200	No error
400	empty or wrong SQL or API param value
403	Forbidden. Provided token doesn’t have permissions to append a node to the pipe, it needs `ADMIN` or `PIPE:CREATE`
404	Pipe not found
409	There’s another resource with the same name, names must be unique \| The Materialized View already exists \| `override_datasource` cannot be performed

DELETE /v0/pipes/(.+)/nodes/(.+)¶

Drops a particular transformation node in the Pipe. It does not remove related nodes so this could leave the Pipe in an unconsistent state. For security reasons, enabled nodes can’t be removed.

removing a node from a pipe¶

curl -X DELETE "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/:name/nodes/:node_id"

Response codes¶
Code	Description
204	No error, removed node
400	The node is published. Published nodes can’t be removed
403	Forbidden. Provided token doesn’t have permissions to change the last node of the pipe, it needs ADMIN or IMPORT
404	Pipe not found

PUT /v0/pipes/(.+)/nodes/(.+)¶

Changes a particular transformation node in the Pipe

Editing a Pipe’s transformation node¶

curl -X PUT \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:CREATE token>" \
    -d 'select * from node_0' "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/:name/nodes/:node_id?name=new_name&description=updated_explanation"

Request parameters¶
Key	Type	Description
name	String	new name for the node
description	String	new description for the node
token	String	Auth token. Ensure it has the `PIPE:CREATE` scope on it

Please, note that the desired SQL query should be sent in the body encoded in utf-8.

Response codes¶
Code	Description
200	No error
400	Empty or wrong SQL
403	Forbidden. Provided token doesn’t have permissions to change the last node to the pipe, it needs `ADMIN` or `PIPE:CREATE`
404	Pipe not found
409	There’s another resource with the same name, names must be unique

GET /v0/pipes/(.+)\.(json|csv|ndjson|parquet|prometheus)¶

Returns the published node data in a particular format.

Getting data for a pipe¶

curl -X GET \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:READ token>" \
    "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/:name.format"

Request parameters¶
Key	Type	Description
q	String	Optional, query to execute, see API Query endpoint
output_format_json_quote_64bit_integers	int	(Optional) Controls quoting of 64-bit or bigger integers (like UInt64 or Int128) when they are output in a JSON format. Such integers are enclosed in quotes by default. This behavior is compatible with most JavaScript implementations. Possible values: 0 — Integers are output without quotes. 1 — Integers are enclosed in quotes. Default value is 0
output_format_json_quote_denormals	int	(Optional) Controls representation of inf and nan on the UI instead of null e.g when dividing by 0 - inf and when there is no representation of a number in Javascript - nan. Possible values: 0 - disabled, 1 - enabled. Default value is 0
output_format_parquet_string_as_string	int	(Optional) Use Parquet String type instead of Binary for String columns. Possible values: 0 - disabled, 1 - enabled. Default value is 0

The q parameter is a SQL query (see Query API). When using this endpoint to query your Pipes, you can use the _ shortcut, which refers to your Pipe name

Available formats¶
format	Description
csv	CSV with header
json	JSON including data, statistics and schema information
ndjson	One JSON object per each row
parquet	A Parquet file. Some libraries might not properly process `UInt` data types, if that’s your case cast those columns to signed integers with `toInt` functions. `String` columns are exported as `Binary`, take that into account when reading the resulting Parquet file, most libraries convert from Binary to String (e.g. Spark has this configuration param: `spark.sql.parquet.binaryAsString`)
prometheus	Prometheus text-based format. The output table must include name (String) and value (number) as required columns, with optional help (String), timestamp (number), and type (String) (valid values: counter, gauge, histogram, summary, untyped, or empty). Labels should be a Map(String, String), and rows for the same metric with different labels must appear consecutively. The table must be sorted by the name column.

POST /v0/pipes/(.+)\.(json|csv|ndjson|parquet|prometheus)¶

Returns the published node data in a particular format, passing the parameters in the request body. Use this endpoint when the query is too long to be passed as a query string parameter.

When using the post endpoint, there are no traces of the parameters in the pipe_stats_rt Data Source.

See the get endpoint for more information.

GET /v0/pipes/(.+\.pipe)¶

Get pipe information. Provided Auth Token must have read access to the Pipe.

Getting information about a particular pipe¶

curl -X GET \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:READ token>" \
    "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/:name"

pipe_id and pipe_name are two ways to refer to the pipe in SQL queries and API endpoints the only difference is pipe_id never changes so it’ll work even if you change the pipe_name (which is the name used to display the pipe). In general you can use pipe_id or pipe_name indistinctly:

Successful response¶

{
    "id": "t_bd1c62b5e67142bd9bf9a7f113a2b6ea",
    "name": "events_pipe",
    "pipeline": {
        "nodes": [{
            "name": "events_ds_0"
            "sql": "select * from events_ds_log__raw",
            "materialized": false
        }, {
            "name": "events_ds",
            "sql": "select * from events_ds_0 where valid = 1",
            "materialized": false
        }]
    }
}

You can make your Pipe’s id more descriptive by prepending information such as t_my_events_table.bd1c62b5e67142bd9bf9a7f113a2b6ea

DELETE /v0/pipes/(.+\.pipe)¶

Drops a Pipe from your account. Auth token in use must have the DROP:NAME scope.

Dropping a pipe¶

curl -X DELETE \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:CREATE token>" \
    "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/:name"

PUT /v0/pipes/(.+\.pipe)¶

Changes Pipe’s metadata. When there is another Pipe with the same name an error is raised.

editing a pipe¶

curl -X PUT \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:CREATE token>" \
    "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/:name?name=new_name"

Request parameters¶
Key	Type	Description
name	String	new name for the pipe
description	String	new Markdown description for the pipe
token	String	Auth token. Ensure it has the `PIPE:CREATE` scope on it

GET /v0/pipes/(.+)¶

Get pipe information. Provided Auth Token must have read access to the Pipe.

Getting information about a particular pipe¶

curl -X GET \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:READ token>" \
    "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/:name"

Successful response¶

{
    "id": "t_bd1c62b5e67142bd9bf9a7f113a2b6ea",
    "name": "events_pipe",
    "pipeline": {
        "nodes": [{
            "name": "events_ds_0"
            "sql": "select * from events_ds_log__raw",
            "materialized": false
        }, {
            "name": "events_ds",
            "sql": "select * from events_ds_0 where valid = 1",
            "materialized": false
        }]
    }
}

You can make your Pipe’s id more descriptive by prepending information such as t_my_events_table.bd1c62b5e67142bd9bf9a7f113a2b6ea

DELETE /v0/pipes/(.+)¶

Drops a Pipe from your account. Auth token in use must have the DROP:NAME scope.

Dropping a pipe¶

curl -X DELETE \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:CREATE token>" \
    "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/:name"

PUT /v0/pipes/(.+)¶

Changes Pipe’s metadata. When there is another Pipe with the same name an error is raised.

editing a pipe¶

curl -X PUT \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:CREATE token>" \
    "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/:name?name=new_name"

Request parameters¶
Key	Type	Description
name	String	new name for the pipe
description	String	new Markdown description for the pipe
token	String	Auth token. Ensure it has the `PIPE:CREATE` scope on it

GET /v0/pipes/(.+)/nodes/(.+)/explain¶

Return the explain plan and the whole debug query for the node.

If no node is specified, the most relevant node of the pipe will be used:

The endpoint node for endpoints.
The node that materializes for materialized views.
The copy node for Copy pipes.
The last node for general pipes.

It accepts query parameters to test the query with different values.

Getting the explain plan¶

curl -X GET \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:READ and DATASOURCE:READ token>" \
    "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/:pipe_name/nodes/:node_name/explain?department=Engineering"

or

curl -X GET \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:READ and DATASOURCE:READ token>" \
    "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/:pipe_name/explain?department=Engineering"

Successful response¶

{
    "debug_query": "SELECT country, department FROM (SELECT * FROM employees AS employees) AS an_endpoint_0 WHERE department = 'Engineering'",
    "query_explain": "Expression ((Projection + Before ORDER BY)) Filter ((WHERE + (Projection + Before ORDER BY))) ReadFromMergeTree (employees) Indexes: MinMax Condition: true Parts: 6/6 Granules: 6/6 Partition Condition: true Parts: 6/6 Granules: 6/6 PrimaryKey Condition: true Parts: 6/6 Granules: 6/6"
}

Request parameters¶
Key	Type	Description
token	String	Auth token. Ensure it has the `PIPE:READ` and the proper `DATASOURCE:READ` scopes on it.
pipe_name	Float	The name or id of the pipe.
node_name	String	Optional. The name or id of the node to explain. If not provided, the most relevant node of the pipe will be used.
params	String	Optional. The value of the parameters to test the query with. They are regular URL query parameters.

Response codes¶
Code	Description
200	No error
400	Could not get a node to run the explain plan
403	Forbidden. Provided token doesn’t have permissions to run the explain plan, it needs `ADMIN` or `PIPE:READ` and `DATASOURCE:READ`
404	Pipe not found, Node not found

GET /v0/pipes/(.+)/explain¶

Return the explain plan and the whole debug query for the node.

If no node is specified, the most relevant node of the pipe will be used:

The endpoint node for endpoints.
The node that materializes for materialized views.
The copy node for Copy pipes.
The last node for general pipes.

It accepts query parameters to test the query with different values.

Getting the explain plan¶

curl -X GET \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:READ and DATASOURCE:READ token>" \
    "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/:pipe_name/nodes/:node_name/explain?department=Engineering"

or

curl -X GET \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <PIPE:READ and DATASOURCE:READ token>" \
    "https://api.tinybird.co/v0/pipes/:pipe_name/explain?department=Engineering"

Successful response¶

{
    "debug_query": "SELECT country, department FROM (SELECT * FROM employees AS employees) AS an_endpoint_0 WHERE department = 'Engineering'",
    "query_explain": "Expression ((Projection + Before ORDER BY)) Filter ((WHERE + (Projection + Before ORDER BY))) ReadFromMergeTree (employees) Indexes: MinMax Condition: true Parts: 6/6 Granules: 6/6 Partition Condition: true Parts: 6/6 Granules: 6/6 PrimaryKey Condition: true Parts: 6/6 Granules: 6/6"
}

Request parameters¶
Key	Type	Description
token	String	Auth token. Ensure it has the `PIPE:READ` and the proper `DATASOURCE:READ` scopes on it.
pipe_name	Float	The name or id of the pipe.
node_name	String	Optional. The name or id of the node to explain. If not provided, the most relevant node of the pipe will be used.
params	String	Optional. The value of the parameters to test the query with. They are regular URL query parameters.

Response codes¶
Code	Description
200	No error
400	Could not get a node to run the explain plan
403	Forbidden. Provided token doesn’t have permissions to run the explain plan, it needs `ADMIN` or `PIPE:READ` and `DATASOURCE:READ`
404	Pipe not found, Node not found

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CLI reference

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Pipe API¶

Example: Create a Tinybird Pipe¶

creating a Pipe from a Data Source

Pipe successfully created

appending a new Node to transform your data

successful response

Enabling a transformation Node as an API Endpoint

Successful response

Querying a Pipe using SQL

Adding a READ Token to an API Endpoint Pipe

Pipes¶