Basejump Build a REST API on RethinkDB

Ryan Paul RethinkDB Evangelist @segphault

API Anatomy Dissecting an API backend

API Anatomy • Server to parse & handle requests • Routing to manage endpoints • Validation to sanitize user input • Persistence to store & retrieve data

API Anatomy RethinkDB NodeJS JOI Koa Vue Browser REST API Koa Router W3C Fetch Real-world RethinkDB stack

API Anatomy Persistence Runtime Validation Server Frontend Framework Browser REST API Router REST Client Real-world RethinkDB stack

API Anatomy • Lots of layers between persistence and requests • More boilerplate than business logic • Repetitive code that is difficult to reuse

API Anatomy router.post("/api/event/:id/messages", function*(id) { this.checkBody("message").notEmpty(); if (this.errors) this.throw(400, {success: false, errors: this.errors}); yield r.table("messages").insert({ created: r.now(), text: this.request.body.message, sender: sender, event: id}); this.body = {success: true}; });

Can we abstract away the boilerplate?

Project Basejump Attach queries to endpoints

Basejump • Visual tool for prototyping API backends • Dynamic routing middleware for attaching queries to endpoints • Powered by declarative JSON description format

Basejump

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Basejump Router • Database agnostic routing middleware • Uses Node’s VM module to execute code • Integrates seamlessly with Koa and Socket.io • Swagger-based format to describe routes and actions

Swagger

Swagger • Standard format for describing APIs — can use YAML or JSON • Uses JSON Schema for validation • Supported by many tools & frameworks • Extensible via vendor properties

Swagger paths: /test: get: parameters: - {in: query, name: count, type: number} x-action: > r.table("test") .orderBy(r.desc("time")) .limit(params.count) post: parameters: - in: body name: body schema: $ref: "#/definitions/test" x-action: > r.table("test").insert(params.body)

Embed Basejump • Embed in your own Node app • Pass custom objects into the execution context • Inherit and override the request handler • Custom pre & post processing on input and output

Embed Basejump const app = require("koa")(); const router = require("basejump-router"); const r = require("rethinkdbdash")(); app.use(require("kcors")()); app.use(require("koa-bodyparser")()); app.use(router.middleware.koa({ swagger: "routes.yaml", context: {r: r} })); app.listen(8000);

Project Basejump Status & Future Plans

Basejump • Not ready for adoption quite yet • API and data format still subject to change • New features might necessitate additional format churn

Feature Roadmap • Support for embedding in Express • Interactive Schema editing • Pluggable view system • Route collections and blueprints • Authentication and user management • Live API debugging

Feature Ideas • Generate client libraries for mobile & web • Use schemas to generate input forms & data dashboard • Support for file uploads & multipart mime • Automatically generate tables and indexes from schemas

How does it compare to Fusion?

How does it compare to Fusion? Horizon?

Basejump vs Horizon • Basejump: backend-first development & REST APIs • Horizon: frontend-first development & WebSockets

Basejump & Horizon • Embed Basejump and Horizon middleware in the same Node app • Expose Basejump routes through Horizon custom endpoint • Converge authentication and schema validation?

• RethinkDB website:
 http://rethinkdb.com • Basejump Router:
 http://github.com/segphault/ basejump-router • Follow me on Twitter:
 @segphault Resources