Lightning SDK

2026.4.23 verified Fri May 01 auth: no python

The Lightning SDK provides programmatic access to Lightning AI Studios, enabling developers to create, manage, and interact with studios, workspaces, and apps. Version 2026.4.23 supports Python >=3.8 and is released on a monthly cadence.

pip install lightning-sdk

Common errors

error ImportError: cannot import name 'LightningClient' from 'lightning' ↓

cause Trying to import LightningClient from the 'lightning' package instead of 'lightning_sdk'.

fix

Use 'from lightning_sdk import LightningClient'.

error TypeError: create_studio() missing 1 required positional argument: 'project_id' ↓

cause Using old API that passed 'workspace_id' instead of 'project_id'.

fix

Pass 'project_id' argument to create_studio() instead of 'workspace_id'.

error lightning_sdk.exceptions.AuthenticationError: Invalid API key ↓

cause API key is missing, expired, or malformed.

fix

Check that LIGHTNING_API_KEY environment variable is set correctly or pass a valid api_key string to LightningClient.

Warnings

breaking In version 2026.4.0, the API for creating studios changed. The 'create_studio' method now requires a 'project_id' parameter instead of 'workspace_id'. ↓

fix Update your code: replace 'workspace_id' with 'project_id' when calling create_studio().

deprecated The 'lightning_sdk.api.v1' module is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. ↓

fix Use 'lightning_sdk.api.v2' or the high-level interfaces in 'lightning_sdk' directly.

gotcha API keys must be passed as a string to the client constructor. If you omit the api_key and have LIGHTNING_API_KEY env var set, it will be read automatically, but only if the env var is exactly 'LIGHTNING_API_KEY'. ↓

fix Ensure the environment variable is named 'LIGHTNING_API_KEY' (case-sensitive).

Imports

LightningClient
wrong
```
from lightning import LightningClient
```
correct
```
from lightning_sdk import LightningClient
```
LightningClient is not in the main 'lightning' package; it is in 'lightning_sdk'.
Studio
wrong
```
from lightning import Studio
```
correct
```
from lightning_sdk import Studio
```
Studio class is exported from lightning_sdk, not lightning.

Quickstart

Initialize the Lightning client with an API key environment variable and create a studio.

import os
from lightning_sdk import LightningClient, Studio

# Authenticate using API key (set as environment variable)
client = LightningClient(api_key=os.environ.get('LIGHTNING_API_KEY', ''))

# Create a new studio
studio = client.create_studio(name='my-studio')
print(f"Created studio: {studio.id}")