JSON Server 

Get a full fake REST API with __zero coding__ in __less than 30 seconds__ (seriously)

Created with <3 for front-end developers who need a quick back-end for prototyping and mocking.

* Egghead.io free video tutorial - Creating demo APIs with json-server
* JSONPlaceholder - Live running version
* __My JSON Server__ - no installation required, use your own data

See also:
* :dog: husky - Git hooks made easy
* :owl: lowdb - local JSON database
* ✅ xv - a beautifully simple and capable test runner

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Bronze sponsors 🥉

Become a sponsor and have your company logo here

Sponsor

__Please help me build OSS__ 👉 GitHub Sponsors :heart:

Table of contents

- Getting started
- Routes
* Plural routes
* Singular routes
* Filter
* Paginate
* Sort
* Slice
* Operators
* Full-text search
* Relationships
* Database
* Homepage
- Extras
* Static file server
* Alternative port
* Access from anywhere
* Remote schema
* Generate random data
* HTTPS
* Add custom routes
* Add middlewares
* CLI usage
* Module
+ Simple example
+ Custom routes example
+ Access control example
+ Custom output example
+ Rewriter example
+ Mounting JSON Server on another endpoint example
+ API
* Deployment
- Links
* Video
* Articles
* Third-party tools
- License

Getting started

Install JSON Server

``
npm install -g json-server
`

Create a db.json file with some data

`json
{
"posts": [
{ "id": 1, "title": "json-server", "author": "typicode" }
],
"comments": [
{ "id": 1, "body": "some comment", "postId": 1 }
],
"profile": { "name": "typicode" }
}
`

Start JSON Server

`bash
json-server --watch db.json
`

Now if you go to http://localhost:3000/posts/1, you'll get

`json
{ "id": 1, "title": "json-server", "author": "typicode" }
`

Also when doing requests, it's good to know that:

- If you make POST, PUT, PATCH or DELETE requests, changes will be automatically and safely saved to db.json using lowdb.
- Your request body JSON should be object enclosed, just like the GET output. (for example {"name": "Foobar"})
- Id values are not mutable. Any id value in the body of your PUT or PATCH request will be ignored. Only a value set in a POST request will be respected, but only if not already taken.
- A POST, PUT or PATCH request should include a Content-Type: application/json header to use the JSON in the request body. Otherwise it will return a 2XX status code, but without changes being made to the data.

Routes

Based on the previous db.json file, here are all the default routes. You can also add other routes using --routes.

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`
GET /posts
GET /posts/1
POST /posts
PUT /posts/1
PATCH /posts/1
DELETE /posts/1
`

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`
GET /profile
POST /profile
PUT /profile
PATCH /profile
`

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Use . to access deep properties

`
GET /posts?title=json-server&author=typicode
GET /posts?id=1&id=2
GET /comments?author.name=typicode
`

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Use _page and optionally _limit to paginate returned data.

In the Link header you'll get first, prev, next and last links.


`
GET /posts?_page=7
GET /posts?_page=7&_limit=20
`

_10 items are returned by default_

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Add _sort and _order (ascending order by default)

`
GET /posts?_sort=views&_order=asc
GET /posts/1/comments?_sort=votes&_order=asc
`

For multiple fields, use the following format:

`
GET /posts?_sort=user,views&_order=desc,asc
`

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Add _start and _end or _limit (an X-Total-Count header is included in the response)

`
GET /posts?_start=20&_end=30
GET /posts/1/comments?_start=20&_end=30
GET /posts/1/comments?_start=20&_limit=10
`

_Works exactly as Array.slice (i.e. _start is inclusive and _end exclusive)_

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Add _gte or _lte for getting a range

`
GET /posts?views_gte=10&views_lte=20
`

Add _ne to exclude a value

`
GET /posts?id_ne=1
`

Add _like to filter (RegExp supported)

`
GET /posts?title_like=server
`

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Add q

`
GET /posts?q=internet
`

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To include children resources, add _embed

`
GET /posts?_embed=comments
GET /posts/1?_embed=comments
`

To include parent resource, add _expand

`
GET /comments?_expand=post
GET /comments/1?_expand=post
`

To get or create nested resources (by default one level, add custom routes for more)

`
GET /posts/1/comments
POST /posts/1/comments
`

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`
GET /db
`

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Returns default index file or serves ./public directory

`
GET /
`

Extras

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You can use JSON Server to serve your HTML, JS and CSS, simply create a ./public directory
or use --static to set a different static files directory.

`bash
mkdir public
echo 'hello world' > public/index.html
json-server db.json
`

`bash
json-server db.json --static ./some-other-dir
`

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You can start JSON Server on other ports with the --port flag:

`bash
$ json-server --watch db.json --port 3004
`

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You can access your fake API from anywhere using CORS and JSONP.

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You can load remote schemas.

`bash
$ json-server http://example.com/file.json
$ json-server http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/db
`

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Using JS instead of a JSON file, you can create data programmatically.

`javascript
// index.js
module.exports = () => {
const data = { users: [] }
// Create 1000 users
for (let i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
data.users.push({ id: i, name: user${i} })
}
return data
}
`

`bash
$ json-server index.js
`

__Tip__ use modules like Faker, Casual, Chance or JSON Schema Faker.

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There are many ways to set up SSL in development. One simple way is to use hotel.

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Create a routes.json file. Pay attention to start every route with /.

`json
{
"/api/*": "/$1",
"/:resource/:id/show": "/:resource/:id",
"/posts/:category": "/posts?category=:category",
"/articles\\?id=:id": "/posts/:id"
}
`

Start JSON Server with --routes option.

`bash
json-server db.json --routes routes.json
`

Now you can access resources using additional routes.

`sh
/api/posts # → /posts
/api/posts/1 # → /posts/1
/posts/1/show # → /posts/1
/posts/javascript # → /posts?category=javascript
/articles?id=1 # → /posts/1
`

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You can add your middlewares from the CLI using --middlewares option:

`js
// hello.js
module.exports = (req, res, next) => {
res.header('X-Hello', 'World')
next()
}
`

`bash
json-server db.json --middlewares ./hello.js
json-server db.json --middlewares ./first.js ./second.js
`

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`
json-server [options]

Options:
--config, -c Path to config file [default: "json-server.json"]
--port, -p Set port [default: 3000]
--host, -H Set host [default: "localhost"]
--watch, -w Watch file(s) [boolean]
--routes, -r Path to routes file
--middlewares, -m Paths to middleware files [array]
--static, -s Set static files directory
--read-only, --ro Allow only GET requests [boolean]
--no-cors, --nc Disable Cross-Origin Resource Sharing [boolean]
--no-gzip, --ng Disable GZIP Content-Encoding [boolean]
--snapshots, -S Set snapshots directory [default: "."]
--delay, -d Add delay to responses (ms)
--id, -i Set database id property (e.g. _id) [default: "id"]
--foreignKeySuffix, --fks Set foreign key suffix, (e.g. _id as in post_id)
[default: "Id"]
--quiet, -q Suppress log messages from output [boolean]
--help, -h Show help [boolean]
--version, -v Show version number [boolean]

Examples:
json-server db.json
json-server file.js
json-server http://example.com/db.json

https://github.com/typicode/json-server
`

You can also set options in a json-server.json configuration file.

`json
{
"port": 3000
}
`

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If you need to add authentication, validation, or __any behavior__, you can use the project as a module in combination with other Express middlewares.

#### Simple example

`sh
$ npm install json-server --save-dev
`

`js
// server.js
const jsonServer = require('json-server')
const server = jsonServer.create()
const router = jsonServer.router('db.json')
const middlewares = jsonServer.defaults()

server.use(middlewares)
server.use(router)
server.listen(3000, () => {
console.log('JSON Server is running')
})
`

`sh
$ node server.js
`

The path you provide to the jsonServer.router function is relative to the directory from where you launch your node process. If you run the above code from another directory, it’s better to use an absolute path:

`js
const path = require('path')
const router = jsonServer.router(path.join(__dirname, 'db.json'))
`

For an in-memory database, simply pass an object to jsonServer.router().

To add custom options (eg. foreginKeySuffix) pass in an object as the second argument to jsonServer.router('db.json', { foreginKeySuffix: '_id' }).

Please note also that jsonServer.router() can be used in existing Express projects.

#### Custom routes example

Let's say you want a route that echoes query parameters and another one that set a timestamp on every resource created.

`js
const jsonServer = require('json-server')
const server = jsonServer.create()
const router = jsonServer.router('db.json')
const middlewares = jsonServer.defaults()

// Set default middlewares (logger, static, cors and no-cache)
server.use(middlewares)

// Add custom routes before JSON Server router
server.get('/echo', (req, res) => {
res.jsonp(req.query)
})

// To handle POST, PUT and PATCH you need to use a body-parser
// You can use the one used by JSON Server
server.use(jsonServer.bodyParser)
server.use((req, res, next) => {
if (req.method === 'POST') {
req.body.createdAt = Date.now()
}
// Continue to JSON Server router
next()
})

// Use default router
server.use(router)
server.listen(3000, () => {
console.log('JSON Server is running')
})
`

#### Access control example

`js
const jsonServer = require('json-server')
const server = jsonServer.create()
const router = jsonServer.router('db.json')
const middlewares = jsonServer.defaults()

server.use(middlewares)
server.use((req, res, next) => {
if (isAuthorized(req)) { // add your authorization logic here
next() // continue to JSON Server router
} else {
res.sendStatus(401)
}
})
server.use(router)
server.listen(3000, () => {
console.log('JSON Server is running')
})
`
#### Custom output example

To modify responses, overwrite router.render method:

`javascript
// In this example, returned resources will be wrapped in a body property
router.render = (req, res) => {
res.jsonp({
body: res.locals.data
})
}
`

You can set your own status code for the response:


`javascript
// In this example we simulate a server side error response
router.render = (req, res) => {
res.status(500).jsonp({
error: "error message here"
})
}
`

#### Rewriter example

To add rewrite rules, use jsonServer.rewriter():

`javascript
// Add this before server.use(router)
server.use(jsonServer.rewriter({
'/api/*': '/$1',
'/blog/:resource/:id/show': '/:resource/:id'
}))
`

#### Mounting JSON Server on another endpoint example

Alternatively, you can also mount the router on /api.

`javascript
server.use('/api', router)
`

#### API

__jsonServer.create()__

Returns an Express server.

__jsonServer.defaults([options])__

Returns middlewares used by JSON Server.

* options
* static path to static files
* logger enable logger middleware (default: true)
* bodyParser enable body-parser middleware (default: true)
* noCors disable CORS (default: false)
* readOnly accept only GET requests (default: false)

__jsonServer.router([path|object], [options])`__

Returns JSON Server router.

* options (see CLI usage)

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You can deploy JSON Server. For example, JSONPlaceholder is an online fake API powered by JSON Server and running on Heroku.

Links

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* Creating Demo APIs with json-server on egghead.io

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* Node Module Of The Week - json-server
* ng-admin: Add an AngularJS admin GUI to any RESTful API
* Fast prototyping using Restangular and Json-server
* Create a Mock REST API in Seconds for Prototyping your Frontend
* No API? No Problem! Rapid Development via Mock APIs
* Zero Code REST With json-server

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* Grunt JSON Server
* Docker JSON Server
* JSON Server GUI
* JSON file generator
* JSON Server extension

License

MIT

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