ez_api : a simple library to write client/server web APIs

EzAPI is a collection of libraries and tools to handle APIs that can be installed with opam:

opam install ez_api

The main package ez_api accessible via the module EzAPI defines services handling encoding (via json-data-encoding), errors, securites, and documentation.

Around this ez_api provides a multitude of sub-package, sometimes depending on optional libraries.

Encoding

ez_api proposes a small addition to json-data-encoding for easier coding (ez_api.encoding) and to avoid overflow when using js_of_ocaml (ez_api.encoding_js).

Client

ez_api implements client side requests for unix and web using different libraries. The main sub-package ez_api.req (or ez_api.req_lwt if you're using lwt) is a virtual implemetation that needs to be complemented with a implementation of your choice:

For unix:

curl implementation ez_api.icurl or ez_api.icurl_lwt that requires curl library:

opam depext ocurl
opam install ocurl

cohttp implementation ez_api.icohttp or ez_api.icohttp_lwt that requires tls and cohttp-lwt-unix libraries:

opam depext tls
opam install tls cohttp-lwt-unix

For web:

javascript XHR implemenation ez_api.ixhr or ez_api.ixhr_lwt
cohttp web ez_api.icoxhr or ez_api.icoxhr_lwt that requires cohttp-lwt-jsoo:

opam install cohttp-lwt-jsoo

fetch implemetation ez_api.ifetch or ez_api.ifetch_lwt requiring ezjs_fetch

opam install ezjs_fetch

All these implementation can also be used directly by removing the i preceding the sub-package name.

Websocket Client

As for the traditional client, ez_api provides a virtual implementation of a websocket client: ez_api.ws It can be complemented with:

For unix the implementation ez_api.ws_cohttp requires cohttp-lwt-unix and websocket-lwt-unix:

opam install cohttp-lwt-unix websocket-lwt-unix

For javascript ez_api.ws_js that uses the native implementation of the browsers

Server

The server part (ez_api.server) requires more optional unix dependencies from geoip:

opam depext geoip
opam install calendar geoip

As for the client, the server has a virtual implementation (ez_api.server) that can be complemented with either cohttp or httpaf:

for cohttp (ez_api.iserver_cohttp), you will need cohttp-lwt-unix:

opam install cohttp-lwt-unix

for httpaf (ez_api.iserver_httpaf), you will need httpaf-lwt-unix:

opam install httpaf-lwt-unix

These implementation can also be used directly by removing the i preceding the sub-package name.

If you need your server to handle websocket, you will need to install the corresponding dependencies:

for cohttp server:

opam install websocket-lwt-unix

for httpaf server:

opam pin add websocket-httpaf.~dev git+https://github.com/anmonteiro/websocket-httpaf.git
opam pin add websocket-httpaf-lwt.~dev git+https://github.com/anmonteiro/websocket-httpaf.git

More Tools

ez_api provides useful tools for server and client:

server side sessions with different kind of authentication. (ez_api.session, ez_api.session_client, ez_api.server_session)
recaptcha verification (ez_api.recaptcha)
sending email via sendgrid (ez_api.sendgrid)
exporting the documentation of your API to openapi-specs JSON (ez_api.openAPI)
ppx rewriter (ez_api.ppx) to simplify some server/handler registration

Documentation

The documentation for the different libraries can be found here: API Reference

Usage

Have a look at the files in test

OCamlPro/ez_api