Package

Data Package commands help you work with Data Packages - collections of data files along with their metadata. These commands allow you to create, validate, explore, and publish data packages across various platforms.

Available Commands

`dp package copy`

Copy a local or remote Data Package to a local folder, a ZIP archive or a database.

dp package copy <descriptor-path> --to-path <target>

Options:

--to-path (required): Target destination for the copy
--with-remote: Include remote resources in the copy
-d, --debug: Enable debug mode

Examples:

# Copy package to local directory
dp package copy datapackage.json --to-path ./output

# Copy package to ZIP archive
dp package copy datapackage.json --to-path package.zip

# Copy remote package including remote resources
dp package copy https://example.com/datapackage.json --to-path ./local --with-remote

`dp package infer`

Infer a data package from local or remote file paths. This command analyzes data files and automatically generates metadata including schema information.

dp package infer <file-paths...>

Table Dialect Options:

--delimiter: Field delimiter character
--header: Whether files have headers
--header-rows: Number of header rows
--header-join: Join character for multi-row headers
--comment-rows: Number of comment rows to skip
--comment-char: Comment character
--quote-char: Quote character for fields
--double-quote: Whether quotes are doubled for escaping
--escape-char: Escape character
--null-sequence: Sequence representing null values
--skip-initial-space: Skip initial whitespace
--property: JSON property path for nested data
--item-type: Type of items in arrays
--item-keys: Keys for object items
--sheet-number: Excel sheet number
--sheet-name: Excel sheet name
--table: Database table name
--sample-bytes: Bytes to sample for inference

Table Schema Options:

--field-names: Override field names
--field-types: Override field types
--missing-values: Values to treat as missing
--string-format: String format specification
--decimal-char: Decimal separator character
--group-char: Thousands separator character
--bare-number: Allow bare numbers
--true-values: Values to treat as true
--false-values: Values to treat as false
--datetime-format: DateTime format string
--date-format: Date format string
--time-format: Time format string
--array-type: Type of array elements
--list-delimiter: List item delimiter
--list-item-type: Type of list items
--geopoint-format: Geopoint format specification
--geojson-format: GeoJSON format specification
--sample-rows: Rows to sample for inference
--confidence: Confidence threshold for type inference
--comma-decimal: Use comma as decimal separator
--month-first: Parse dates with month first
--keep-strings: Keep string types when possible

Examples:

# Infer package from CSV files
dp package infer data1.csv data2.csv

# Infer with custom delimiter
dp package infer data.csv --delimiter ";"

# Infer from remote files
dp package infer https://example.com/data.csv

`dp package explore`

Explore a Data Package descriptor to view its structure and metadata in an interactive format.

dp package explore <descriptor-path>

Options:

-j, --json: Output as JSON
-d, --debug: Enable debug mode

Examples:

# Explore local package
dp package explore datapackage.json

# Explore remote package
dp package explore https://example.com/datapackage.json

# Export structure as JSON
dp package explore datapackage.json --json

`dp package validate`

Validate a data package from a local or remote path against the Data Package specification.

dp package validate <descriptor-path>

Options:

--json: Output validation results as JSON
-d, --debug: Enable debug mode
-q, --quit: Exit immediately after validation (don’t prompt for error filtering)
-a, --all: Skip selection prompts when all can be selected

Examples:

# Validate local package
dp package validate datapackage.json

# Validate remote package
dp package validate https://example.com/datapackage.json

# Get validation results as JSON
dp package validate datapackage.json --json

`dp package script`

Open an interactive scripting session with a loaded Data Package. This provides a REPL environment where you can programmatically interact with the package data.

dp package script <descriptor-path>

Available Variables:

dpkit: The dpkit library object
dataPackage: The loaded data package object

Examples:

# Start scripting session
dp package script datapackage.json

# In the REPL session:
dp> dataPackage.resources.length
dp> dataPackage.resources[0].schema.fields

`dp package publish`

Publish data packages to various platforms. This is a parent command with platform-specific subcommands.

`dp package publish ckan`

Publish a data package to a CKAN instance.

dp package publish ckan <descriptor-path>

CKAN Options:

--to-ckan-api-key: CKAN API key for authentication
--to-ckan-url: CKAN instance URL
--to-ckan-owner-org: Organization to publish under
--to-ckan-dataset-name: Name for the dataset

Examples:

# Publish to CKAN
dp package publish ckan datapackage.json \
  --to-ckan-url https://demo.ckan.org \
  --to-ckan-api-key your-api-key \
  --to-ckan-owner-org your-org

`dp package publish github`

Publish a data package to GitHub as releases or repository files.

dp package publish github <descriptor-path>

`dp package publish zenodo`

Publish a data package to Zenodo for academic archiving.

dp package publish zenodo <descriptor-path>

Common Workflows

Creating a New Package

Infer from data files:

dp package infer *.csv --json > datapackage.json

Validate the generated package:
Terminal window
```
dp package validate datapackage.json
```
Explore the package structure:
Terminal window
```
dp package explore datapackage.json
```

Working with Remote Packages

# Explore remote package
dp package explore https://example.com/datapackage.json

# Copy remote package locally
dp package copy https://example.com/datapackage.json --to-path ./local-copy

# Validate remote package
dp package validate https://example.com/datapackage.json

Publishing Workflow

# Validate before publishing
dp package validate datapackage.json

# Publish to CKAN
dp package publish ckan datapackage.json \
  --to-ckan-url https://your-ckan-instance.org \
  --to-ckan-api-key $CKAN_API_KEY

Output Formats

Most commands support multiple output formats:

Interactive Display: Default rich terminal interface
JSON: Use --json flag for machine-readable output
Debug Mode: Use --debug for detailed operation logs