Babble Cloud

Babble is a tool that enables beginner programmers to rapidly deploy serverless applications to AWS through a readable, low-code, Python-based YAML configuration file.

Table of Contents

Requirements
Installation
Usage
Configuration
Demonstration

Requirements

Python
Docker
AWS

Installation

To install Babble, run the following command:

  pip install babble-cloud

Usage

To start a new project, run the following command:

  babble create

To set the configuration file for a project, run the following command:

  babble push <source file>

To retrieve the configuration file from a project, run the following command:

  babble pull <destination file>

To view the current configuration of a project, run the following command:

  babble view

To activate a project, run the following command:

  babble activate

To deactivate your project, run the following command:

  babble deactivate

To delete your project, run the following command:

  babble delete

Note:  Upon running the commands babble activate, babble deactivate, and in some cases babble delete, you will be prompted for your AWS account credentials in order to add or remove the necessary resources from your AWS account. For information about obtaining these credentials, please refer to the AWS documentation on getting IAM role credentials.

Configuration

To configure your application infrastructure, you will need to create a YAML configuration file containing your resources. Currently, resources fall under five categories: tables, folders, packages, modules, and endpoints.

Tables

Table definitions are used to deploy DynamoDB tables to the user's AWS account. The following methods can be accessed via dot notation from module and endpoint source code:

put_item(item: dict) - Creates a new item in the table, or replaces an old item with a new item. It is required that the item contains the "key" attribute specified in the table's configuration. If an item that has the same "key" attribute as the new item already exists in the table, the new item completely replaces the existing item. Otherwise, an entirely new item will be created.

get_item(item: dict) - Retrieves an item from the table. It is required that the item contains the "key" attribute specified in the table's configuration. If there is no matching item, get_item will return an empty dict ({}).

delete_item(item: dict) - Retrieves an item from the table. It is required that the item contains the "key" attribute specified in the table's configuration.

scan() - Performs a full table scan, returning a list of all items in the table.

tables:
    <table name>:
        key: <key name>
    <table name>:
        key: <key name>
    ...

Folders

Folder definitions are used to deploy S3 buckets to the user's AWS account. The following methods can be accessed via dot notation from module and endpoint source code:

open(path: str, mode: str) -

url(path: str) -

folders:
    <folder name>:
    <folder name>:
    ...

Packages

Package definitions are used to include external packages in both module and endpoint source code. These packages can be sourced from the Python Standard Library (lib), or packages from the Python Package Index (pip).

packages:
    <package name>:
        source: <lib or pip>
        version: <version number or "~">
    <package name>:
        source: <lib or pip>
        version: <version number or "~">
    ...

Modules

Module definitions are used to write source code for the application. All functions, classes, and variables defined within these modules can be accessed via dot notation from module and endpoint source code. Please note that all imports are handled implicitly and there is no need for any import statements. All tables, folders, packages, and other modules can be accessed via dot notation.

modules:
    <module name>:
        content: |
            # source code goes here
    <module name>:
        content: |
            # source code goes here
    ...

Endpoints

Endpoint definitions are used to write source code that processes the request data and determines the response data. Please note that all imports are handled implicitly and there is no need for any import statements. All tables, folders, packages, and modules can be accessed via dot notation. It is imperative that all endpoints contain a function named request with the parameters headers, path, query, and body as shown below.

endpoints:
    <endpoint method> <endpoint path>:
        content: |
            def request(headers, path, query, body):
                # source code goes here
                return response
    <endpoint method> <endpoint path>:
        content: |
            def request(headers, path, query, body):
                # source code goes here
                return response

Demonstration

Creation and Activation

Step 1: Create a new project. Upon running this command, you will be prompted for a name for your new project.

babble create

Step 2: Push your YAML configuration file to the project. Upon running this command, you will be prompted to select a project you previously created.

babble push <filename>

Step 3: Activate your project. Upon running this command, you will be prompted to select a project you previously created.

babble activate

Deactivation and Deletion

Step 1: Deactivate your project. Upon running this command, you will be prompted to select a project you previously created.

babble deactivate

Step 2: Delete your project. Upon running this command, you will be prompted to select a project you previously created. If the selected project is not deactivated, it will be deactivated automatically.

babble delete

Configuration File

Here is an example of a configuration file that can be used with Babble to deploy a serverless application:

tables:
  my_table:
    key: my_key
folders:
  my_folder:
packages:
  pandas:
    source: pip
    version: 1.5.3
  json:
    source: lib
    version: ~
modules:
  my_module:
    content: |
      def get_item(item_key):
        return my_table.get_item({"my_key": item_key})
      def put_item(item_key, body):
        item = json.loads(body)
        item["my_key"] = item_key
        my_table.put_item(item)
      def delete_item(item_key):
        my_table.delete_item({"my_key": item_key})
      def get_items():
        items = my_table.scan()
        df = pandas.DataFrame.from_dict(items)
        with my_folder.open("output.txt", "w") as fp:
          fp.write(df.to_string())
        return my_folder.url("output.txt")
endpoints:
  GET /items/{item_key}:
    content: |
      def request(headers, path, query, body):
        return my_module.get_item(path["item_key"])
  PUT /items/{item_key}:
    content: |
      def request(headers, path, query, body):
        return my_module.put_item(path["item_key"], body)
  DELETE /items/{item_key}:
    content: |
      def request(headers, path, query, body):
        return my_module.delete_item(path["item_key"])
  GET /items:
    content: |
      def request(headers, path, query, body):
        return my_module.get_items()