Using Feature Service URL in Arcpy

[aam]

Hi guys whats the best way to process a Feature services url in arcpy?

I have number of feature services (here's and example of one layer: https://services1.arcgis.com/d0ZCwU7eGKVeNiEE/ArcGIS/rest/services/MVT_Trails/FeatureServer/0 )

I am trying to process these layers, clip them to my jurisdiction and then save them in a GDB. However, arcpy does not recognize a feature service and I am getting an error.

Does anyone know what I need to do?

[JoeBorgione]

see this post of mine:  

https://community.esri.com/thread/246363-using-arcpy-to-copy-a-portal-feature-service-to-a-fgdb-feat... 

you'll need to venture into the arcpy api....

[aam]

would it be easier to use model builder instead. I've never used Arcpy API. 

[JoeBorgione]

I'm not a model builder guy; if you follow what Joshua Bixby‌ instructs me to do, you should be fine.  That was my first time into the api myself...

[ANH]

Assuming you want to use the service as an input for geoprocessing tools in arcpy, I would recommend using the MakeFeatureLayer_management() function:

url = r"https://services1.arcgis.com/d0ZCwU7eGKVeNiEE/ArcGIS/rest/services/MVT_Trails/FeatureServer/0"
layer_name = "MVT Trails"
layer = MakeFeatureLayer_management(url, layer_name).getOutput(0)