Create a Read-Only Meraki Inventory with Python

Admin

October 7, 2026

10 min read

The Meraki Dashboard API can provide a current inventory of organizations, networks, and devices available to an administrator. This guide uses the official Python library and read-only GET operations to write a CSV report. It does not change device configuration.

Create a Virtual Environment and Install the SDK

Prerequisites

Use a supported Python 3 installation and a dedicated virtual environment so the Meraki library does not alter system Python packages. Run these commands in a new project directory.

mkdir -p meraki-inventory
cd meraki-inventory &&
python3 -m venv .venv &&
.venv/bin/python -m pip install --upgrade pip &&
.venv/bin/python -m pip install meraki

Keep the API Key Out of the Script

Credentials

Enable Dashboard API access for the organization and create or use an API identity with the least privileges needed to read inventory. Keep the key out of source files and shell history. The hidden prompt below stores it only in the current shell session; do not enable shell tracing while entering it.

read -r -s -p 'Meraki API key: ' MERAKI_DASHBOARD_API_KEY
export MERAKI_DASHBOARD_API_KEY
printf '\n'

Query Organizations, Networks, and Devices

Inventory

Save this script as meraki_inventory.py. It checks that the key is present, follows all pages for organizations, networks, and assigned organization devices, and writes selected inventory fields. It uses the organization-scoped devices endpoint rather than the deprecated network-scoped device-list endpoint. Every API operation used here is a read request.

import csv
import os
import sys

import meraki

api_key = os.environ.get("MERAKI_DASHBOARD_API_KEY", "").strip()
if not api_key:
    sys.exit("Set MERAKI_DASHBOARD_API_KEY in this shell before running the report.")

dashboard = meraki.DashboardAPI(api_key, output_log=False, print_console=False)
rows = []

for organization in dashboard.organizations.getOrganizations(total_pages="all"):
    networks = dashboard.organizations.getOrganizationNetworks(
        organization["id"], total_pages="all"
    )
    network_names = {network["id"]: network.get("name", "") for network in networks}
    devices = dashboard.organizations.getOrganizationDevices(
        organization["id"], total_pages="all"
    )
    for device in devices:
        rows.append(
            {
                "organization": organization.get("name", ""),
                "network": network_names.get(device.get("networkId", ""), ""),
                "product_type": device.get("productType", ""),
                "model": device.get("model", ""),
                "name": device.get("name", ""),
                "serial": device.get("serial", ""),
                "tags": ", ".join(device.get("tags", [])),
            }
        )

fields = [
    "organization",
    "network",
    "product_type",
    "model",
    "name",
    "serial",
    "tags",
]
# Create a new private file; refuse to overwrite an earlier inventory.
report_fd = os.open("meraki_inventory.csv", os.O_WRONLY | os.O_CREAT | os.O_EXCL, 0o600)
with os.fdopen(report_fd, "w", newline="", encoding="utf-8") as report:
    writer = csv.DictWriter(report, fieldnames=fields)
    writer.writeheader()
    writer.writerows(rows)

print(f"Wrote {len(rows)} device records to meraki_inventory.csv")

Review the Exported Records

Verify

Run the script from the same shell where the key was loaded. Check the row count and sample the output locally. Confirm the report covers the expected organizations and network count before using it as an inventory baseline.

.venv/bin/python meraki_inventory.py &&
head -n 5 meraki_inventory.csv

Store the Inventory Securely and Re-run Deliberately

Operations

Set access controls on the CSV and keep it outside public or shared source repositories. The official Meraki Python library supports pagination and retries rate-limit responses using the API’s retry information. If an operation fails, record the request time and status without exposing the API key. The example disables SDK disk and console logging so inventory is not also written into an unprotected log. It creates a new owner-only CSV on Linux and refuses to overwrite an existing report; move a previous report to approved storage before rerunning. On Windows, apply equivalent NTFS access controls. Clear the key from the shell when finished.

chmod 600 meraki_inventory.csv &&
unset MERAKI_DASHBOARD_API_KEY