JSON Server

Give it a JSON or JS seed file and it will serve it through REST routes.

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

Powers http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com

Examples

Command line interface

// db.json
{
  "posts": [
    { "id": 1, "body": "foo" }
  ]
}

$ json-server db.json
$ curl -i http://localhost:3000/posts/1

Node module

var server = require('json-server');

server({
  posts: [
    { id: 1, body: 'foo' }
  ]
}).listen(3000);

You can find a running demo here: http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com.

Why?

• Lets you use plain JSON or simple JS file
• Supports GET but also POST, PUT, DELETE and even PATCH requests
• Can be used from anywhere through cross domain requests (JSONP or CORS)
• Can load remote JSON files (JSON Generator, ...)
• Can be deployed on Nodejitsu, Heroku, ...

Installation

$ npm install -g json-server

CLI usage

json-server <source>

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


Options:
  --help, -h     Show help
  --version, -v  Show version number
  --port, -p     Set port             [default: 3000]

Input

Here's 2 examples showing how to format JSON or JS seed file:

• db.json

{
  "posts": [
    { "id": 1, "body": "foo" },
    { "id": 2, "body": "bar" }
  ],
  "comments": [
    { "id": 1, "body": "baz", "postId": 1 },
    { "id": 2, "body": "qux", "postId": 2 }
  ]
}

• file.js

module.exports = function() {
  var data = {};

  data.posts = [];
  data.posts.push({ id: 1, body: 'foo' });
  //...

  return data;
}

JSON Server expects JS files to export a function that returns an object.

Seed files are useful if you need to programmaticaly create a lot of data.

Routes

GET   /:resource
GET   /:resource?filter=&filter=&
GET   /:parent/:parentId/:resource
GET   /:resource/:id
POST  /:resource
PUT   /:resource/:id
PATCH /:resource/:id
DEL   /:resource/:id

To slice resources, add _start and _end.

GET /:resource?_start=&_end=
GET /:parent/:parentId/:resource?_start=&_end=

To sort resources, add _sort and _order (ascending order by default).

GET /:resource?_sort=&_order=(ASC|DESC)
GET /:parent/:parentId/:resource?_sort=&_order=(ASC|DESC)

To make a full-text search on resources, add q.

GET /:resource?q=

Returns database.

GET /db

Returns default index file or content of ./public/index.html (useful if you need to set a custom home page).

GET /

For routes usage examples, have a look at JSONPlaceholder's README.

Links

• Fast prototyping using Restangular and Json-server
• grunt plugin