API Platform: A Framework for API-driven Projects

Framework for API-driven Projects

@dunglas - Les-Tilleuls.coop
Kévin Dunglas
Founder of Les-Tilleuls.coop
Symfony Core Team
API Platform creator
@dunglas

Les-Tilleuls.coop
Self-managed company since 2011
100% owned by employees
25 people, 97% growth in 2016
Hiring in London, Paris and Lille: jobs@les-tilleuls.coop

APIs: the Heart of the New Web

APIs: the Heart of the New Web
Central point to access data
Encapsulate the business logic
Same features available everywhere:
webapps, mobile apps, IoT, customers, providers…

Progressive Web Apps
Downloaded only 1 time, works offline!
Sends async HTTP requests to the API
Huge ecosystem: React, Angular, Vue…
Holds the presentation logic
Static « website »: JS, HTML and CSS
Modernized stack:
ES2015, Babel, Webpack, Yarn, Flow, TypeScript, ReasonML…

Native Mobile Apps
Sync data by sending HTTP requests to the API
JS stack:
React Native, NativeScript
Downloaded from stores (App Store, Google Play)
Look’n’Feel consistent with the platform (iOS or Android)

Cloud Native Projects
Software built, tested and deployed continuously
Rich and open ecosystem:
Docker, Kubernetes, Mesos, Terraform…
Projects are hosted on public and private clouds
Containers and orchestration from dev stations to prod

A Framework
for the Modern Web

Goals
Modern API formats: JSON-LD, GraphQL…
A rock-solid API-first project in minutes
Batteries included:
create, consume and deploy the API
Customizable, extensible, modular:
config, events, decoration…

Docker
All you need is
(but it’s optional)

Install
Download the latest release on api-platform.com or GitHub
https://localhost
$ docker-compose up

What’s Inside?
Postgres
Container 3: back office (dev)
Container 2: generated front office Progressive Web App (dev)
HTTP/2 and HTTPS proxy (dev)
Container 1: API Server (PHP + Symfony Flex)
Varnish cache (more later)
dev ➡ CI ➡ prod

Persistence
Public and internal models can be different
Work with any persistence layer: 2 interfaces to implement
Experimental ElasticSearch and MongoDB built-in support
RAD: built-in support for Doctrine ORM, 100% optional
Compatible with CQRS and Event Sourcing

Out of the Box Features
JSON-LD + Hydra formats
But also… GraphQL, JSONAPI, HAL, YAML, CSV, XML, raw JSON…
OpenAPI (aka Swagger) support
API documentation (Swagger UI)
POST, GET (item and lists), PUT, DELETE
Pagination for lists (30 items per page), fully configurable

Validation groups
Error levels
Symfony Validator integration
Custom validators

Creating custom filters is easy
8 built-in filters, with different strategies

Embedded Relations

HTTP cache (invalidation)
GET responses generated only 1 time, then served by Varnish
(can work with CloudFlare and Fastly too)
Responses are tagged with resources’s IDs they contain
(including relations, embedded resources…)
On write: cached responses containing stale data are purged
Builtin, single config flag
https://localhost:8444

Other Features
Deprecation / API evolution
Extensible: compatible with all Symfony bundles
Every part can be replaced (dependency injection)
Authentification and authorization

JSON-LD
Standardized hypermedia format: W3C recommandation (2014)
Easy to use: a standard JSON document with some specials
keys (starting with @) and mapped with a context
Backed by Google, BBC, Microsoft, US & UK govs...
Compliant with technologies of the semantic web: RDF,
SPARQL, triple store...
JSON for Linked Data

Hydra
Allow to create auto-discoverable APIs:
resources, properties, types, operations
Standard for common API structures:
collections, paginations, filters, errors…
In-band hypermedia API docs
W3C community group

API Platform Admin
Material Design back office interface
Built on top of React Admin
Hypermedia: parses Hydra docs
100% dynamic: no code generation
https://localhost:444
100% client-side, 100% JS: work with any Hydra enabled API
100% customizable: bring your own React components!

Show Me the Code!

React PWA Generator (default)
Scaffolds a client-side apps
Twitter Bootstrap support + accessibility (ARIA roles)
Uses ES2015’s fetch()
Parses Hydra API doc to generate files 
(experimental Swagger support)
$ docker-compose exec client  
generate-api-platform-client

The Stack
React, ES2015+, JSX
React Router: client-side routing library
Redux: extensible container to manage the states of the app
Redux Form: forms
Redux Thunk: async actions (AJAX requests)
Optional: Twitter Bootstrap

Other Skeletons
React Native (@mysiar)
Your preferred technology: Pull Requests very appreciated!
TypeScript definitions (@soyuka)
Vue.js (@alOneh)
Angular (momenttech/lysis)

React Native
$ generate-api-platform-client
—g react-native

Kubernetes & Helm
k8s: « Production-Grade Container Orchestration »
Google GKE / Amazon EKS / Azure AKS
Helm: K8S package manager (like APT or Homebrew)
Open Source

Deploy in the Cloud
A Helm chart is provided with API Platform
# …Build and push the Docker images…
# …Connect to your Kubernetes cluster…
$ helm install ./api/helm/api --name api
The project is deployed,
managed, and scales!

GraphQL Support
$ docker-compose exec php  
composer req webonyx/graphql-php

They Already Use API Platform

They Build API Platform
10 maintainers
MIT licensed (Free Open Source Software)
150+ contributors
2.9k GitHub Stars
3000+ commits

Thanks!
Any questions?
api-platform/api-platform @ApiPlatform
https://api-platform.com

API Platform: A Framework for API-driven Projects

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to API Platform: A Framework for API-driven Projects

More from Les-Tilleuls.coop

API Platform: A Framework for API-driven Projects