This client library can use environment parameters to automatically configure the authentication credentials, platform endpoint and namespace. These parameters are defined within the Node.js runtime environment in OpenWhisk. Unless you want to override these values, you can construct the client instance without further configuration.

var openwhisk = require('openwhisk');

function action() {
  var ow = openwhisk();  
  return ow.actions.invoke({actionName: 'sample'})
}

exports.main = action

All methods return a Promise resolved asynchronously with the results. Failures are available through the catch method.

ow.resource.operation().then(function () { // success! }).catch(function (err) { // failed! })

Users can override default constructor parameters by passing in explicit options as shown in the example below.

Please note: Due to an issue with the Node.js runtime in OpenWhisk, environment variables used by the constructor are not available until the invocation function handler is called. If you want to define the client instance outside this function, you will need to manually pass in the constructor options .

var openwhisk = require('openwhisk');
// DOES NOT WORK! Environment parameters not set.
var ow = openwhisk();  

function action() {  
  return ow.actions.invoke({actionName: 'sample'})
}

exports.main = action

outside openwhisk platform

var openwhisk = require('openwhisk');
var options = {apihost: 'openwhisk.ng.bluemix.net', api_key: '...'};
var ow = openwhisk(options);
ow.actions.invoke({actionName: 'sample'}).then(result => console.log(result))

constructor options

Client constructor supports the following mandatory parameters:

apihost. Hostname and optional port for openwhisk platform, e.g. openwhisk.ng.bluemix.net or my_whisk_host:80. Used with API URL template ${protocol}://${apihost}/api/v1/. If port is missing or port value is 443 in the apihost string, protocol is HTTPS. Otherwise, protocol is HTTP.
api_key. Authorisation key for user account registered with OpenWhisk platform.

Client constructor supports the following optional parameters:

api. Full API URL for OpenWhisk platform, e.g. https://openwhisk.ng.bluemix.net/api/v1/. This value overrides apihost if both are present.
namespace. Namespace for resource requests, defaults to _.
ignore_certs. Turns off server SSL/TLS certificate verification. This allows the client to be used against local deployments of OpenWhisk with a self-signed certificate. Defaults to false.

environment variables

Client constructor will read values for the apihost, namespace and api_key options from the environment if the following parameters are set. Explicit parameter values override these values.

__OW_API_HOST__
__OW_NAMESPACE__
__OW_API_KEY

Examples

invoke action, blocking for result

const actionName = 'reverseWords'
const blocking = true
const params = {msg: 'this is some words to reverse'}

ow.actions.invoke({actionName, blocking, params}).then(result => {
  console.log('here's the reversed string', result.reversed)
}).catch(err => {
  console.error(failed to invoke actions', err)
})

fire trigger

const triggerName = 'eventTrigger'
const params = {msg: 'event trigger message string'}
ow.triggers.invoke({triggerName, params}).then(result => {
  console.log('trigger fired!')
}).catch(err => {
  console.error('failed to fire trigger', err)
})

create action from source file

const actionName = 'reverseWords'
const action = fs.readFileSync('source.js', {encoding: 'utf8'})

ow.actions.create({actionName, action}).then(result => {
  console.log('action created!')
}).catch(err => {
  console.error('failed to create action', err)
})

create action from zip package

const actionName = 'reverseWords'
const action = fs.readFileSync('package.zip')

ow.actions.create({actionName, action}).then(result => {
  console.log('action created!')
}).catch(err => {
  console.error('failed to create action', err)
})

retrieve action resource

const actionName = 'reverseWords'
ow.actions.retrieve({actionName}).then(action => {
  console.log('action resource', action)
}).catch(err => {
  console.error('failed to retrieve action', err)
})

list packages

ow.packages.list().then(packages => {
  packages.forEach(package => console.log(package.name))
}).catch(err => {
  console.error('failed to list packages', err)
})

update package parameters

const packageName = 'myPackage'
const package = {
  parameters: [
    {key: "colour", value: "green"},
    {key: "name", value: "Freya"}
  ]
}

ow.packages.update({packageName, package}).then(package => {
  console.log('updated package:', package.name)
}).catch(err => {
  console.error('failed to update package', err)
})

create trigger feed from alarm package

// for example... 
const params = {cron: '*/8 * * * * *', trigger_payload: {name: 'James'}}
const feedName = 'alarms/alarm'
const namespace = 'whisk.system'
const trigger = 'alarmTrigger'
ow.feeds.create({feedName, namespace, trigger, params}).then(package => {
  console.log('alarm trigger feed created')
}).catch(err => {
  console.error('failed to create alarm trigger', err)
})

API Details

list resources

ow.actions.list()
ow.activations.list()
ow.triggers.list()
ow.rules.list()
ow.namespaces.list()
ow.packages.list()

Query parameters for the API calls are supported (e.g. limit, skip, etc.) by passing an object with the named parameters as the first argument.

ow.actions.list({skip: 100, limit: 50})