diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 55ad026..ce1626d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -61,8 +61,12 @@ sample_event = {
 def print_batch(rb):
     print(rb)
 
-ctx = Context()
-ds = ctx.from_topic("temperature", json.dumps(sample_event), "localhost:9092")
+ds = Context().from_topic(
+    "temperature",
+    json.dumps(sample_event),
+    "localhost:9092",
+    "occurred_at_ms",
+)
 
 ds.window(
     [col("sensor_name")],
@@ -90,7 +94,7 @@ Details about developing the python bindings can be found in [py-denormalized/RE
 
 ### Running an example
 
-1. Start the custom docker image that contains an instance of kafka along with with a script that emits some sample data to kafka `docker build -t emgeee/kafka_emit_measurements:latest .`
+1. Start the custom docker image that contains an instance of kafka along with with a script that emits some sample data to kafka `docker run --rm -p 9092:9092 --name emit_measuremetns emgeee/kafka_emit_measurements:latest`
 2. Run a [simple streaming aggregation](./examples/examples/simple_aggregation.rs) on the data using denormalized: `cargo run --example simple_aggregation`
 
 ### Checkpointing
diff --git a/py-denormalized/README.md b/py-denormalized/README.md
index 1bc40a0..886273a 100644
--- a/py-denormalized/README.md
+++ b/py-denormalized/README.md
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ Denormalized is a single node stream processing engine written in Rust. This dir
 ## Getting Started
 
 1. Install denormalized `pip install denormalized`
-2. Start the custom docker image that contains an instance of kafka along with with a script that emits some sample data to kafka `docker build -t emgeee/kafka_emit_measurements:latest .`
+2. Start the custom docker image that contains an instance of kafka along with with a script that emits some sample data to kafka `docker run --rm -p 9092:9092 emgeee/kafka_emit_measurements:latest`
 3. Copy the [stream_aggregate.py](python/examples/stream_aggregate.py) example
 
 This script will connect to the kafka instance running in docker and aggregate the metrics in realtime.
diff --git a/py-denormalized/pyproject.toml b/py-denormalized/pyproject.toml
index de58d3e..9af3a12 100644
--- a/py-denormalized/pyproject.toml
+++ b/py-denormalized/pyproject.toml
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ dev-dependencies = [
     "ipython>=8.26.0",
     "pytest>=8.3.2",
     "maturin>=1.7.4",
+    "pyarrow-stubs>=17.11",
 ]
 
 # Enable docstring linting using the google style guide
diff --git a/py-denormalized/python/denormalized/context.py b/py-denormalized/python/denormalized/context.py
index 1b3c5df..e3f7c84 100644
--- a/py-denormalized/python/denormalized/context.py
+++ b/py-denormalized/python/denormalized/context.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 from denormalized._d_internal import PyContext
+
 from .data_stream import DataStream
 
+
 class Context:
     """Context."""
 
@@ -14,9 +16,22 @@ def __repr__(self):
     def __str__(self):
         return self.ctx.__str__()
 
-    def from_topic(self, topic: str, sample_json: str, bootstrap_servers: str) -> DataStream:
+    def from_topic(
+        self,
+        topic: str,
+        sample_json: str,
+        bootstrap_servers: str,
+        timestamp_column: str,
+        group_id: str = "default_group",
+    ) -> DataStream:
         """Create a new context from a topic."""
-        py_ds = self.ctx.from_topic(topic, sample_json, bootstrap_servers)
+        py_ds = self.ctx.from_topic(
+            topic,
+            sample_json,
+            bootstrap_servers,
+            timestamp_column,
+            group_id,
+        )
         ds = DataStream(py_ds)
 
         return ds
diff --git a/py-denormalized/python/denormalized/data_stream.py b/py-denormalized/python/denormalized/data_stream.py
index ca28dfb..e3790e0 100644
--- a/py-denormalized/python/denormalized/data_stream.py
+++ b/py-denormalized/python/denormalized/data_stream.py
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
+from typing import Callable
+
 import pyarrow as pa
 from denormalized._d_internal import PyDataStream
 from denormalized.datafusion import Expr
 from denormalized.utils import to_internal_expr, to_internal_exprs
 
-from typing import Callable
 
 class DataStream:
     """Represents a stream of data that can be manipulated using various operations."""
@@ -73,10 +74,9 @@ def with_column(self, name: str, predicate: Expr) -> "DataStream":
             DataStream: A new DataStream with the additional column.
         """
         return DataStream(self.ds.with_column(name, to_internal_expr(predicate)))
-    
+
     def drop_columns(self, columns: list[str]) -> "DataStream":
-        """Drops columns from the DataStream.
-        """
+        """Drops columns from the DataStream."""
         return DataStream(self.ds.drop_columns(columns))
 
     def join_on(
diff --git a/py-denormalized/python/examples/stream_aggregate.py b/py-denormalized/python/examples/stream_aggregate.py
index 6e7d5fd..6a88982 100644
--- a/py-denormalized/python/examples/stream_aggregate.py
+++ b/py-denormalized/python/examples/stream_aggregate.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ def signal_handler(sig, frame):
 signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, signal_handler)
 
 bootstrap_server = "localhost:9092"
+timestamp_column = "occurred_at_ms"
 
 sample_event = {
     "occurred_at_ms": 100,
@@ -33,8 +34,12 @@ def print_batch(rb):
     pp.pprint(rb.to_pydict())
 
 
-ctx = Context()
-ds = ctx.from_topic("temperature", json.dumps(sample_event), bootstrap_server)
+ds = Context().from_topic(
+    "temperature",
+    json.dumps(sample_event),
+    bootstrap_server,
+    timestamp_column,
+)
 
 
 ds.window(
diff --git a/py-denormalized/python/examples/stream_join.py b/py-denormalized/python/examples/stream_join.py
index 10804aa..70e76c2 100644
--- a/py-denormalized/python/examples/stream_join.py
+++ b/py-denormalized/python/examples/stream_join.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 """stream_aggregate example.
 
-docker build -t emgeee/kafka_emit_measurements:latest .
+docker run --rm -p 9092:9092 emgeee/kafka_emit_measurements:latest
 """
 
 import json
@@ -13,13 +13,14 @@
 from denormalized.datafusion import functions as f
 
 
-def signal_handler(sig, frame):
+def signal_handler(_sig, _frame):
     sys.exit(0)
 
 
 signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, signal_handler)
 
 bootstrap_server = "localhost:9092"
+timestamp_column = "occurred_at_ms"
 
 sample_event = {
     "occurred_at_ms": 100,
@@ -34,11 +35,16 @@ def print_batch(rb):
 
 ctx = Context()
 temperature_ds = ctx.from_topic(
-    "temperature", json.dumps(sample_event), bootstrap_server
+    "temperature", json.dumps(sample_event), bootstrap_server, timestamp_column
 )
 
 humidity_ds = (
-    ctx.from_topic("humidity", json.dumps(sample_event), bootstrap_server)
+    ctx.from_topic(
+        "humidity",
+        json.dumps(sample_event),
+        bootstrap_server,
+        timestamp_column,
+    )
     .with_column("humidity_sensor", col("sensor_name"))
     .drop_columns(["sensor_name"])
     .window(
diff --git a/py-denormalized/python/examples/udf_example.py b/py-denormalized/python/examples/udf_example.py
index 4993cfe..a198705 100644
--- a/py-denormalized/python/examples/udf_example.py
+++ b/py-denormalized/python/examples/udf_example.py
@@ -15,9 +15,11 @@
 def signal_handler(sig, frame):
     sys.exit(0)
 
+
 signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, signal_handler)
 
 bootstrap_server = "localhost:9092"
+timestamp_column = "occurred_at_ms"
 
 sample_event = {
     "occurred_at_ms": 100,
@@ -25,19 +27,26 @@ def signal_handler(sig, frame):
     "reading": 0.0,
 }
 
+
 def gt(lhs: pa.Array, rhs: pa.Scalar) -> pa.Array:
     return pc.greater(lhs, rhs)
 
+
 greater_than_udf = udf(gt, [pa.float64(), pa.float64()], pa.bool_(), "stable")
 
+
 def print_batch(rb: pa.RecordBatch):
     if not len(rb):
         return
     print(rb)
 
 
-ctx = Context()
-ds = ctx.from_topic("temperature", json.dumps(sample_event), bootstrap_server)
+ds = Context().from_topic(
+    "temperature",
+    json.dumps(sample_event),
+    bootstrap_server,
+    timestamp_column,
+)
 
 ds.window(
     [col("sensor_name")],
diff --git a/py-denormalized/requirements-dev.lock b/py-denormalized/requirements-dev.lock
index c1d8781..92923c9 100644
--- a/py-denormalized/requirements-dev.lock
+++ b/py-denormalized/requirements-dev.lock
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 #
 # last locked with the following flags:
 #   pre: false
-#   features: []
+#   features: ["dev"]
 #   all-features: false
 #   with-sources: false
 #   generate-hashes: false
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ pure-eval==0.2.3
 pyarrow==17.0.0
     # via datafusion
     # via denormalized
+    # via pyarrow-stubs
+pyarrow-stubs==17.11
 pygments==2.18.0
     # via ipython
 pytest==8.3.2
diff --git a/py-denormalized/requirements.lock b/py-denormalized/requirements.lock
index 5980bbc..216bf46 100644
--- a/py-denormalized/requirements.lock
+++ b/py-denormalized/requirements.lock
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 #
 # last locked with the following flags:
 #   pre: false
-#   features: []
+#   features: ["dev"]
 #   all-features: false
 #   with-sources: false
 #   generate-hashes: false
diff --git a/py-denormalized/src/context.rs b/py-denormalized/src/context.rs
index e6e6ffa..cee7a88 100644
--- a/py-denormalized/src/context.rs
+++ b/py-denormalized/src/context.rs
@@ -73,10 +73,12 @@ impl PyContext {
 
     pub fn from_topic(
         &self,
+        py: Python,
         topic: String,
         sample_json: String,
         bootstrap_servers: String,
-        py: Python,
+        timestamp_column: String,
+        group_id: String,
     ) -> PyResult<PyDataStream> {
         let context = self.context.clone();
         let rt = &get_tokio_runtime(py).0;
@@ -85,13 +87,13 @@ impl PyContext {
                 let mut topic_builder = KafkaTopicBuilder::new(bootstrap_servers.clone());
 
                 let source_topic = topic_builder
-                    .with_timestamp(String::from("occurred_at_ms"), TimestampUnit::Int64Millis)
+                    .with_timestamp(timestamp_column, TimestampUnit::Int64Millis)
                     .with_encoding("json")?
                     .with_topic(topic)
                     .infer_schema_from_json(sample_json.as_str())?
                     .build_reader(ConnectionOpts::from([
                         ("auto.offset.reset".to_string(), "latest".to_string()),
-                        ("group.id".to_string(), "sample_pipeline".to_string()),
+                        ("group.id".to_string(), group_id.to_string()),
                     ]))
                     .await?;