Simple REST API in 3 Easy Steps

A powerful, simple, RESTful API generated from a CSV or text document in three easy steps.

In order to follow these steps, you'll need to have Docker and csvkit installed.

Run Postgres container

Set up a Docker container to run the Postgres database. You can write your own Dockerfile to do this, or just pull the latest from Docker Hub.

~$ docker pull postgres

Now, run the container and pass in environmental variables to set the user, password and to create a database. (Note, the user created using this command will have superuser privileges but you can access container and set up a read only user if preferred. More info in the docs.)

~$ docker run --name postres-database \
-p 5432:5432 \
-e POSTGRES_USER=simpleapi \
-e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=simpleapi \
-e POSTGRES_DB=simpleapi \
-d postgres:latest

Run PostgREST and link it to Postgres container

Set up a Docker container to run PostgREST and connect to the Postgres database container. Again, you can write your own Dockerfile for this (or use this one), or just pull one of the many fine PostgREST images on Docker Hub.

~$ docker pull suzel/docker-postgrest

Now, run the container and pass in the details of the Postgres container.

~$ docker run --name postgrest-service \
-p 3000:3000 \
-e POSTGREST_VERSION=0.3.1.1 \
-e POSTGREST_DBHOST={docker-container-ip} \
-e POSTGREST_DBPORT=5432 \
-e POSTGREST_DBNAME=simpleapi \
-e POSTGREST_DBUSER=simpleapi \
-e POSTGREST_DBPASS=simpleapi \
-d suzel/docker-postgrest:latest

Now you should be able to see both containers running in Docker:

~$ docker ps

CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                           COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS              PORTS                    NAMES
f667f2e68157        suzel/docker-postgrest:latest   "/bin/sh -c 'postgres"   2 minutes ago       Up 2 minutes        0.0.0.0:3000->3000/tcp   postgrest-service
f46707bbd549        postgres:latest                 "/docker-entrypoint.s"   2 minutes ago       Up 2 minutes        0.0.0.0:5432->5432/tcp   postres-database

Insert Data and Test API

Now, lets get some data.

~$ curl -s "http://data.louisvilleky.gov/sites/default/files/temp_import/FoodServiceData.txt" > inspections.csv

Check to make sure the data is valid CSV and then inset it into our Postgres instance from step 1 above using csvkit.

~$ csvsql --db postgres://simpleapi:simpleapi@{docker-container-ip}:5432/simpleapi --insert inspections.csv

Now, you can access the data at: http://{docker-container-ip}:3000/

You can query the data using the PostgREST query API, like so:

~$ curl -s "http://192.168.99.100:3000/inspections?Grade=eq.A" -H 'Range-Unit: items' -H 'Range: 0-1' | jq .

[
  {
    "Intersection": null,
    "State": "KY",
    "City": "LOUISVILLE",
    "Address2": null,
    "Address": "MOBILE FOOD UNIT",
    "PlaceName": null,
    "EstablishmentName": "FUNNEL CAKE #5",
    "InspectionID": 1104831,
    "EstablishmentID": 27867,
    "Zip": 40202,
    "TypeDescription": "SELF-CONTAINED MOBILE FOOD UNITS",
    "Latitude": 38.2526647,
    "Longitude": -85.7584557,
    "InspectionDate": "2015-05-24",
    "Score": 98,
    "Grade": "A",
    "NameSearch": "FUNNELCAKE"
  },
  {
    "Intersection": null,
    "State": "KY",
    "City": "LOUISVILLE",
    "Address2": null,
    "Address": "MOBILE FOOD UNIT",
    "PlaceName": null,
    "EstablishmentName": "FUNNEL CAKE #5",
    "InspectionID": 1132274,
    "EstablishmentID": 27867,
    "Zip": 40202,
    "TypeDescription": "SELF-CONTAINED MOBILE FOOD UNITS",
    "Latitude": 38.2526647,
    "Longitude": -85.7584557,
    "InspectionDate": "2015-08-25",
    "Score": 100,
    "Grade": "A",
    "NameSearch": "FUNNELCAKE"
  }
]