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Getting Started

This page walks you through installing SlaPyShot, setting up your API key, and making your first request.

1. Install SlaPyShot

pip install git+https://github.com/Calebpeterson22/SlaPyShot.git@main

uv pip install git+https://github.com/Calebpeterson22/SlaPyShot.git@main

uv sync

2. Get a SportRadar API Key

SlaPyShot uses the SportRadar NHL API. The free trial tier gives you access to all endpoints used by this package.

  1. Sign up at developer.sportradar.com
  2. Register a new application and request access to the NHL Official API Trial
  3. Copy your API key

Trial tier limits

The free trial tier allows 1 request per second and 1,000 requests per month. SlaPyShot's built-in rate limiter handles the 1 req/sec limit automatically.

3. Configure Your API Key

Create a .env file in your project root and add your key:

SPORTRADAR_API_KEY=your_key_here

SlaPyShot will load it automatically on import. You can also pass the key directly:

from slapyshot import NHLClient

# From .env (recommended)
client = NHLClient()

# Or passed directly
client = NHLClient(api_key="your_key_here")

Keep your key out of version control

Add .env to your .gitignore so your API key is never committed to a repository.

4. Your First Request

from slapyshot import NHLClient

client = NHLClient()

# Get all NHL teams
teams = client.teams.get_all_teams()
print(teams)

You should see a Polars DataFrame with one row per team:

shape: (32, 9)
┌──────────────────────┬────────────┬──────────┬───────┬─────────┬──────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────┬───────────────┐
│ id                   ┆ name       ┆ market   ┆ alias ┆ founded ┆ conference_id┆ conference_name ┆ division_id ┆ division_name │
╞══════════════════════╪════════════╪══════════╪═══════╪═════════╪══════════════╪═════════════════╪═════════════╪═══════════════╡
│ 4416091c-0f24-11e2…  ┆ Wild       ┆ Minnesota┆ MIN   ┆ 2000    ┆ conf-west-id ┆ Western         ┆ div-cent-id ┆ Central       │
│ …                    ┆ …          ┆ …        ┆ …     ┆ …       ┆ …            ┆ …               ┆ …           ┆ …             │
└──────────────────────┴────────────┴──────────┴───────┴─────────┴──────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────┴───────────────┘

5. Access Levels

SlaPyShot supports both SportRadar access levels:

# Free trial (default)
client = NHLClient(access_level="trial")

# Paid production access
client = NHLClient(access_level="production")

6. Rate Limiting

The default delay between API calls is 1.0 seconds, matching the trial tier limit. You can adjust this for production access:

# Faster for production tier
client = NHLClient(rate_limit_delay=0.5)

# Slower if you want to be extra conservative
client = NHLClient(rate_limit_delay=2.0)

The rate limiter is automatic — you never need to call time.sleep() yourself.

Next Steps

Now that you're set up, explore what SlaPyShot can do: