What is json-server?
json-server is a full fake REST API with zero coding in less than 30 seconds. It allows you to create a mock REST API using a simple JSON file as the database.
What are json-server's main functionalities?
Create a Fake REST API
This code sets up a basic JSON server that reads from a 'db.json' file and serves it as a REST API. The server listens on port 3000.
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');
});
Custom Routes
This code demonstrates how to use custom routes with json-server. The rewriter middleware is used to map custom routes to the default routes.
const jsonServer = require('json-server');
const server = jsonServer.create();
const router = jsonServer.router('db.json');
const middlewares = jsonServer.defaults();
server.use(middlewares);
server.use(jsonServer.rewriter({
'/api/*': '/$1',
'/blog/:resource/:id/show': '/:resource/:id'
}));
server.use(router);
server.listen(3000, () => {
console.log('JSON Server is running');
});
Add Custom Middleware
This code adds custom middleware to the JSON server. In this example, a timestamp is added to the request body for POST requests.
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 (req.method === 'POST') {
req.body.createdAt = Date.now();
}
next();
});
server.use(router);
server.listen(3000, () => {
console.log('JSON Server is running');
});
Other packages similar to json-server
miragejs
Mirage JS is a client-side server to build, test and share a complete working JavaScript application without having to rely on any backend services. Unlike json-server, which is more focused on quickly setting up a REST API, Mirage JS is designed to work seamlessly with frontend frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular.
prism
Prism is a package for creating mock servers based on OpenAPI and API Blueprint specifications. It allows you to create a mock server that can validate requests and responses against your API specification. Unlike json-server, which uses a JSON file as a database, Prism uses API specifications to generate mock responses.
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.
Powers JSONPlaceholder
Example
Create a db.json
file
{
"posts": [
{ "id": 1, "title": "json-server", "author": "typicode" }
],
"comments": [
{ "id": 1, "body": "some comment", "postId": 1 }
]
}
Start JSON Server
$ json-server db.json
Now if you go to http://localhost:3000/posts/1, you will get:
{
"id": 1,
"body": "foo"
}
Routes
In fact, you instantly get all these routes:
GET /posts
GET /posts?title=json-server&author=typicode
GET /posts/1/comments
GET /posts/1
POST /posts
PUT /posts/1
PATCH /posts/1
DEL /posts/1
To slice resources, add _start
and _end
.
GET /posts?_start=0&_end=10
GET /posts/1/comments?_start=0&_end=10
To sort resources, add _sort
and _order
(ascending order by default).
GET /posts?_sort=views&_order=DESC
GET /posts/1/comments?_sort=votes&_order=ASC
To make a full-text search on resources, add q
.
GET /posts?q=internet
Returns database.
GET /db
Returns default index file or serves ./public
directory.
GET /
Install
$ npm install -g json-server
Static file server
You can use JSON Server to serve your HTML, JS and CSS, simply create a ./public
directory.
Access from anywhere
You can access your fake API from anywhere using CORS and JSONP.
Remote schema
You can load remote schemas:
$ json-server http://example.com/file.json
$ json-server http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/db
JS file support
You can use JS to programmatically create data:
module.exports = function() {
data = { users: [] }
for (var i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
data.users.push({ name: 'user' + i })
}
return data
}
$ json-server index.js
Module
You can use JSON Server as a module:
var server = require('json-server')
server({
posts: [
{ id: 1, body: 'foo' }
]
}).listen(3000)
Deployment
You can deploy JSON Server. For example, JSONPlaceholder is an online fake API powered by JSON Server and running on Heroku.
Links
Articles
Projects
License
MIT - Typicode