jsonapi

A minimalistic JSON API framework in Python with support for graphql-style queries.

jsonapi is heavily inspired by graphql, but aimed at a much simpler use case. The idea is to have a minimal framework for easily building JSON based APIs, that doesn't require any particular frontend technology. The design is inspired in graphql's idea of a single fully customizable endpoint, but instead of defining a specific query language, jsonapi is entirely based on JSON both for the query and the response, requires much less boilerplate code, only works in Python 3, and of course, is much less battle-tested. If you find graphql amazing but would like to try a decaffeinated version that you can setup in 10 lines, then give jsonapi a shot.

Instalation

jsonapi is a single Python file with no dependencies that you can just clone and distribute with your project's source code:

git clone https://github.com/apiad/jsonapi.git

Hello world

To illustrate the usage is best to start with an example. The main class in jsonapi is (wait for it...) JsonApi, which defines all the available commands in the API as public methods:

>>> from jsonapi import JsonApi

>>> class HelloWorld(JsonApi):
...     def say(self, message, args):
...         return message.format(args)

Afterwards, create an instance of this API and call it, passing along either a JSON-enconded string, or a pure Python dictionary, to query either methods or attributes:

>>> api = HelloWorld()

>>> api({"say": { "$message": "Hello {0}!", "$args": "world" }})
{'say': 'Hello world!'}

Moving on

There is more that can be done with jsonapi, read the documentation to learn more:

• Perform structured queries with complex structure.
• Pass arguments to commands.
• Obtain aggregated data from collections.
• Manipulate JSON data with an object-oriented syntax.
• Get type conversions automatically for your API schema.

Contributing

Contributions are highly appreciated. Just fork and submit a pull request. All contributors will be granted credit on the following list:

• Alejandro Piad (@apiad)

Changelog

In the roadmap

• Automatic API documentation.

v0.2.1

• Support for typed arguments.

v0.2.0

• Support for meta operators in dictionaries (_count, _items, _keys, _values).
• The JsonObj constructor now receives either str, dict or a **kwargs mapping.

v0.1.4

• Support for some meta operators for lists (_count and _items).

v0.1.3

• Basic implementation of JsonObj for JSON manipulation.

v0.1.2

• Suport for complex method arguments (parsed via JsonObj).

v0.1.1

• Suport for plain method arguments.

v0.1

• Basic layout of the API.
• Simple attribute and method based navigation.
• Automatic serialization to a JSON compatible object.
• Basic documentation.

Colaboration

This project is licensed MIT, so you know the drill. Fork, open a pull request, and make sure to have up-to-date tests with (ideally) a 100% coverage.

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2018 Alejandro Piad

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.