> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.carto.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.carto.com/carto-for-developers/reference/carto-api/imports-api.md).

# Imports API

Imports read a file from a public URL and create a table in your data warehouse, running the checks and optimizations that make the result usable in Builder and in your own applications.

The work happens asynchronously: create a job, then poll it until `status` is `success`, `failure` or `cancelled`.

| Endpoint                          | What it does         |
| --------------------------------- | -------------------- |
| `POST /v3/imports`                | Create an import job |
| `GET /v3/imports`                 | List import jobs     |
| `POST /v3/imports/preview`        | Preview an import    |
| `GET /v3/imports/{jobId}`         | Get an import job    |
| `POST /v3/imports/{jobId}/cancel` | Cancel an import job |

{% hint style="info" %}
Each organization can run **5 import jobs concurrently**. Creating a sixth while five are still `pending` or `running` returns `429`.

Files are read from a public URL, and the size limit is **5 GB** for all formats. [Let us know](mailto:support@carto.com) if you need a higher limit.
{% endhint %}

## Letting CARTO detect the schema, or setting it yourself

By default `autoguessing` is on and CARTO infers column types from the file. That is usually what you want.

When it guesses wrong — a postal code read as a number, a date in an unusual format — preview the import first, adjust the columns it returns, then create the job with `autoguessing: false` and your `schema`. Sending a schema while `autoguessing` is on has no effect.

CARTO supports importing **CSV**, **GeoJSON**, **GeoPackage**, **KML**, **KMZ**, **TAB**, **Shapefiles** (in a `.zip` package), and [**GeoParquet**](https://geoparquet.org/) files. These formats can be imported into any connected data warehouse.

**GeoTIFF** raster files are also supported when importing into **BigQuery**, **Snowflake**, and **Databricks** connections. The resulting table follows the [**Raquet**](https://github.com/CartoDB/raquet) specification.

The size limit for file imports is **5 GB** for all formats.

## Endpoints

{% openapi src="<https://openapi.gitbook.com/o/zP3LT2Qhlb5jPWQCfWV3/spec/carto-api>" path="/v3/imports" method="post" %}
<https://openapi.gitbook.com/o/zP3LT2Qhlb5jPWQCfWV3/spec/carto-api>
{% endopenapi %}

{% openapi src="<https://openapi.gitbook.com/o/zP3LT2Qhlb5jPWQCfWV3/spec/carto-api>" path="/v3/imports" method="get" %}
<https://openapi.gitbook.com/o/zP3LT2Qhlb5jPWQCfWV3/spec/carto-api>
{% endopenapi %}

{% openapi src="<https://openapi.gitbook.com/o/zP3LT2Qhlb5jPWQCfWV3/spec/carto-api>" path="/v3/imports/preview" method="post" %}
<https://openapi.gitbook.com/o/zP3LT2Qhlb5jPWQCfWV3/spec/carto-api>
{% endopenapi %}

{% openapi src="<https://openapi.gitbook.com/o/zP3LT2Qhlb5jPWQCfWV3/spec/carto-api>" path="/v3/imports/{jobId}" method="get" %}
<https://openapi.gitbook.com/o/zP3LT2Qhlb5jPWQCfWV3/spec/carto-api>
{% endopenapi %}

{% openapi src="<https://openapi.gitbook.com/o/zP3LT2Qhlb5jPWQCfWV3/spec/carto-api>" path="/v3/imports/{jobId}/cancel" method="post" %}
<https://openapi.gitbook.com/o/zP3LT2Qhlb5jPWQCfWV3/spec/carto-api>
{% endopenapi %}


---

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