How to Access Live Hugging Face Data in Power Automate Desktop via ODBC
The CData ODBC Driver for Hugging Face enables you to access live Hugging Face data in workflow automation tools like Power Automate. This article shows how to integrate Hugging Face data into a simple workflow, moving Hugging Face data into a CSV file.
Through optimized data processing, CData ODBC Drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live Hugging Face data in Microsoft Power Automate. When you issue complex SQL queries from Power Automate to Hugging Face, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Hugging Face and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (e.g. SQL functions and JOIN operations).
Connect to Hugging Face as an ODBC Data Source
If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.
HuggingFace Hub uses token-based authentication to enable access to its API. The API provides access to machine learning models, datasets, spaces, papers, and other resources on the HuggingFace Hub platform.
Using API Key Authentication
To authenticate to HuggingFace Hub, you will need to provide an API Key (Access Token). To obtain your access token:
- Log in to your HuggingFace account at https://huggingface.co
- Navigate to Settings > Access Tokens
- Click "New token" to create a new access token
- Select the appropriate permissions (read or write)
- Copy the token value
After obtaining your access token, set the following connection properties:
- AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
- APIKey: Set this to your HuggingFace access token.
Example connection string
Profile=C:\profiles\HuggingFace.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=hf_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx';
When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing workflows.
Integrate Hugging Face Data into Power Automate Workflows
After configuring the DSN for Hugging Face, you are ready to integrate Hugging Face data into your Power Automate workflows. Open Microsoft Power Automate, add a new flow, and name the flow.
In the flow editor, you can add the actions to connect to Hugging Face, query Hugging Face using SQL, and write the query results to a CSV document.
Add an Open SQL Connection Action
Add an "Open SQL connection" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.
- Connection string: DSN=CData Hugging Face Source
After configuring the action, click Save.
Add an Execute SQL Statement Action
Add an "Execute SQL statement" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.
- Get connection by: SQL connection variable
- SQL connection: %SQLConnection% (the variable from the "Open SQL connection" action above)
- SQL statement: SELECT * FROM Collections
After configuring the action, click Save.
Add a Write to CSV File Action
Add a "Write to CSV file" action (Actions -> File) and configure the properties.
- Variable to write to: %QueryResult% (the variable from the "Execute SQL statement" action above)
- File path: set to a file on disk
- Configure Advanced settings as needed.
After configuring the action, click Save.
Add a Close SQL Connection Action
Add a "Close SQL connection" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.
- SQL Connection: %SQLConnection% (the variable from the "Open SQL connection" action above)
After configuring the action, click Save.
Save & Run the Flow
Once you have configured all the actions for the flow, click the disk icon to save the flow. Click the play icon to run the flow.
Now you have a workflow to move Hugging Face data into a CSV file.
With the CData ODBC Driver for Hugging Face, you get live connectivity to Hugging Face data within your Microsoft Power Automate workflows.
Related Power Automate Articles
This article explains how to use the CData ODBC Driver for Hugging Face with Power Automate Desktop. Check out our other articles for more ways to work with Power Automate (Desktop & Online):