Things to check before integrating
Before you integrate
Check the separator, quoted line breaks and identifier columns before generating the destination.
Before you integrate
The script is not executed; review inferred types, literal NULL handling and any generated DROP statement before using it.
Code examples
These examples send the sample as multipart/form-data and save the returned bytes unchanged. Set TABLECONVERT_API_KEY in your environment.
CSV to SQL INSERT script API · cURL
curl --fail-with-body --max-time 40 \
'https://api.tableconvert.com/v2/convert/csv-to-sql' \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $TABLECONVERT_API_KEY" \
--form-string 'data="id","name","email"
"101","Alice","alice@example.com"
"102","Bob","bob@example.com"' \
--form-string 'output[create]=true' \
--form-string 'output[oneInsert]=false' \
--form-string 'output[drop]=false' \
--form-string 'output[table]=tableName' \
--form-string 'output[primaryKey]=' \
--form-string 'output[dialect]=MySQL' \
--output 'csv-to-sql.sql'Requires cURL. Download the sample input first when this example uploads a file.
CSV to SQL INSERT script API · Python
import os
from pathlib import Path
import requests
endpoint = "https://api.tableconvert.com/v2/convert/csv-to-sql"
headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer " + os.environ["TABLECONVERT_API_KEY"]}
fields = {
"data": (None, "\"id\",\"name\",\"email\"\r\n\"101\",\"Alice\",\"alice@example.com\"\r\n\"102\",\"Bob\",\"bob@example.com\""),
"output[create]": (None, "true"),
"output[oneInsert]": (None, "false"),
"output[drop]": (None, "false"),
"output[table]": (None, "tableName"),
"output[primaryKey]": (None, ""),
"output[dialect]": (None, "MySQL"),
}
response = requests.post(endpoint, headers=headers, files=fields, timeout=40)
response.raise_for_status()
Path("csv-to-sql.sql").write_bytes(response.content)Requires Python 3 and requests. Install it with pip install requests.
CSV to SQL INSERT script API · Node.js
import { writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
const form = new FormData();
form.set("data", "\"id\",\"name\",\"email\"\r\n\"101\",\"Alice\",\"alice@example.com\"\r\n\"102\",\"Bob\",\"bob@example.com\"");
form.set("output[create]", "true");
form.set("output[oneInsert]", "false");
form.set("output[drop]", "false");
form.set("output[table]", "tableName");
form.set("output[primaryKey]", "");
form.set("output[dialect]", "MySQL");
const response = await fetch("https://api.tableconvert.com/v2/convert/csv-to-sql", {
method: "POST",
headers: { Authorization: "Bearer " + process.env.TABLECONVERT_API_KEY },
body: form,
signal: AbortSignal.timeout(40_000),
});
if (!response.ok) {
throw new Error("HTTP " + response.status + ": " + await response.text());
}
await writeFile("csv-to-sql.sql", Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer()));Requires Node.js 20 or later with built-in fetch, FormData and Blob.
Authentication
Send Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY. Let the HTTP client set the multipart boundary; do not set Content-Type manually.
Keep production API keys in server-side environment variables.
Request parameters
Delimited text is parsed into a rectangular table before the requested output is generated. A header row and consistent separators make field mapping explicit.
| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
data | string | — | Inline CSV table content. Choose one of data, file or url. |
file | binary | — | Upload a csv file using multipart/form-data. |
url | string | — | A supported publicly accessible HTTP or HTTPS file URL. |
Send one source: data, file, or url. The examples below use the source mode appropriate for this format.
Output options
Generate SQL INSERT statements and optional table-creation text for a chosen dialect. The API returns a script and does not execute it against a database.
| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
output[create] | boolean | true | Emit a CREATE TABLE draft before SQL INSERT statements; inspect inferred column types. |
output[oneInsert] | boolean | false | Group SQL records into one INSERT with multiple value tuples. |
output[drop] | boolean | false | Emit DROP TABLE IF EXISTS in the script; review this destructive statement before any separate execution. |
output[table] | string | tableName | Set the generated table identifier or label; conversion does not create a live database or analytics object. |
output[primaryKey] | string | Empty string | Add a primary-key declaration to the generated SQL CREATE TABLE text. |
output[dialect] | string | MySQL | Choose SQL identifier/literal quoting conventions for the generated script. |
Conversion rules
| Case | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Mapping rule 1 | The CSV header becomes the table’s first row; subsequent delimited records become data rows. |
| Mapping rule 2 | Headers become quoted identifiers and records become INSERT value tuples in the selected dialect. |
| Mapping rule 3 | Decide whether numeric-looking CSV text should stay quoted or be parsed as a scalar in the destination records. |
| Mapping rule 4 | Review whether a source string equal to NULL should remain text: the SQL generator emits that exact uppercase value as SQL NULL. |
How the input is read
- Use the first row for column names when the destination creates named records or schema fields.
- Quoted separators, escaped quotes and quoted line breaks are parsed as cell content; inconsistent rows are padded to the table width.
- Normalize mixed separators before conversion; automatic delimiter detection is a heuristic.
- CSV cells become text; a numeric-looking identifier and an actual numeric type are not interchangeable.
How the output is written
- Header names become column identifiers and each record becomes a VALUES tuple.
- Optional CREATE TABLE types are heuristic; review null handling, identifier quoting and dialect rules.
- The optional drop setting emits destructive SQL text; review it before any separate database execution.
When to use this API
This conversion in practice
Use a delimited export as the starting dataset for a reviewed database seed or import script. Check the separator, quoted line breaks and identifier columns before generating the destination.
SQL INSERT script
Prepare a reviewed seed-data or migration-input script from a flat table.
Responses and errors
| HTTP status | Description |
|---|---|
200 | text/plain; charset=utf-8 |
400 | Invalid input or conversion parameters. |
402 | Insufficient credits for this request. |
403 | Missing or invalid API key. |
413 | The input exceeds the configured request limit. |
415 | Unsupported input media type. |
429 | Rate limit exceeded. |
500 | The conversion could not be completed. |
503 | The renderer is unavailable or the request timed out. |
Check the response before retrying. A new HTTP request is a new conversion and may use credits again.
Limits, billing and versions
Local previews accept up to 200 KB. The current API implementation allows one uploaded file up to 50 MiB, limits each multipart text field to 1 MiB, and gives v2 conversion tasks a 30-second deadline. Deployment limits may be stricter. Read the returned error before retrying; some parser or renderer failures return HTTP 500.
Live calls follow the API credit policy. Failed conversions are refunded; a completed conversion is not undone if the download connection later fails.
View API pricing and creditsUsing API v1?
This page documents v2, which returns the output directly. API v1 wraps the result in a JSON envelope. Check the overview before changing an existing integration.
API overviewReferences and format specifications
Format references explain the underlying syntax. The conversion rules and samples above describe TableConvert’s implementation.