json-server

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.

README

json-server

Usage

Install json-server

npm install json-server

Create a db.json file or run json-server db.json to create one with some default resources

{
  "posts": [
    { "id": "1", "title": "string" },
    { "id": "2", "title": "some post" }
  ],
  "comments": [
    { "id": "1", "text": "some text", "postId": "1" },
    { "id": "2", "text": "some text", "postId": "1" }
  ]
}

json-server db.json

Run json-server --help for a list of options

Routes

GET    /posts
GET    /posts/:id
POST   /posts
PUT    /posts
DELETE /posts/:id

Params

Comparison

• →==
• lt → <
• lte → <=
• gt → >
• gte → >=
• ne → !=

GET /posts?views_gt=9000

Range

• start
• end
• limit

GET /posts?_start=10&_end=20
GET /posts?_start=10&_limit=10

Paginate

• page
• per_page (default = 10)

GET /posts?_page=1&_per_page=25

Sort

• _sort=f1,f2

GET /posts?_sort=id,-views

Nested fields

• x.y.z

Include

GET /posts?_include=comments
GET /comments?_include=post

Delete

DELETE /posts/1
DELETE /posts/1?_include=comments

Serving static files

If you create a ./public directory, JSON Serve will serve its content in addition to the REST API. You can add custom directories using -s/--static option.

json-server -s ./static
json-server -s ./static -s ./node_modules