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Getting Started with the API

Welcome to the Edge Python API! This is a Python library which you can use to access nearly every feature of Edge from Python code. It can help with the following tasks:

  • Scripting in a Jupyter notebook: Access the Edge file system and data connectors, directly from a notebook in the Analysis App. The built-in edge object is already set up in your notebook, and has all the access needed.
  • Data access and ingestion: With an API token, you can upload and download files to Edge from anywhere. This makes it easy to get data into Edge, and retrieve the results of analysis for use elsewhere.
  • Application development: You can use the Edge Python API to programmatically add new apps or app versions. This can be used on your laptop as part of a build script, or in an automated build workflow like GitHub Actions.

Installing​

For notebooks, no install needed!

The Edge Python API is already installed in the Analysis App. You can access it via the built-in edge object in your Jupyter Notebook. The instructions below are for installing on a computer outside of Edge, for example a developer's laptop or an automated build system.

Step 1: Get EDM​

The Edge Python API is delivered via the Enthought Deployment Manager, a tool for creating and managing Python development environments. Follow the instruction in the linked page to install EDM. When finished, make sure you can run the edm command line tool in a terminal:

$ edm --version

If you haven't used EDM before, you may want to bookmark the EDM official docs.

Step 2: Configure EDM​

First, in a terminal run $ edm configure, and provide the information requested.

Then, in your home directory, locate the file .edm.yaml. This is EDM's configuration file. You should check the following items:

  • Make sure that enthought/lgpl and enthought/edge are listed in the "repositories" section.
  • If you are not using the main Edge server at edge.enthought.com, you may need to set the store_url parameter to point to your company's package server.

When finished, the file should look something like this:

store_url: https://packages.enthought.com

repositories:
  - enthought/free
  - enthought/lgpl
  - enthought/edge

authentication:
  api_token: <very-long-string-of-characters>

Step 3: Install the library​

In a terminal, type:

$ edm install enthought_edge

For ease of use, you may also wish to install ipython:

$ edm install ipython

Start IPython:

$ ipython
Python 3.8.12 |Enthought, Inc. (x86_64)| (default, Sep 27 2021, 11:51:02) 
Type 'copyright', 'credits' or 'license' for more information
IPython 7.22.0 -- An enhanced Interactive Python. Type '?' for help.

Verify you can import the library:

In [1]: from edge.api import EdgeSession

In [2]:

Next steps​

The center of the Edge Python API is the EdgeSession class. Through it, you can access files, data connectors, applications and all other capabilities exposed through the API.

See the next section to learn how to use EdgeSession.