Sm0ke

Posted on Jul 26, 2021 • Edited on Nov 23 • Originally published at blog.appseed.us

Free API Servers - Open-source REST products: Django, Node JS, Flask

#webdev #fullstack #api #rest

Hello Coders!

This article presents a collection of simple REST Servers built with a unified API definition across multiple frameworks: Django, Node JS/ Express, Flask, and FastAPI (coming soon). The good part is that any of these servers can be used with React and Vue UI Kits with less effort.

Thanks for reading! - Content provided by App Generator.

(free) API Server Django - built with Django REST Framework
(free) API Server Flask - the API uses flask_restx to manage nodes
(free) API Server NodeJS - built with Typescript/Express/TypeORM
API Node JS PRO - built with Typescript/MongoDB/Mongoose

React products enhanced with JWT authentication compatible with mentioned API Servers:

React Berry Dashboard - open-source sample
React Datta Dashboard - open-source sample
React Datta PRO - commercial full-stack React Dashboard

Why Using a Unified API Interface

A while ago, based on our community feedback, we decided to implement a unified API definition across all supported servers (Flask, Django, Node JS) and let users decide the preferred backend framework without changing the UI once a backend migration occurs from Flask to Django or from Django to Node JS for instance. Using a common definition, basically all frontend products, despite the technology, can be used without extra efforts with currently provided backends and stay compliant with the future ones: FastAPI, Koa, etc.

The current definition covers only a simple JWT authentication that manages users via the following methods:

/api/users/register: create a new user
/api/users/login: authenticate an existing user
/api/users/logout: delete the associated JWT token
/api/users/checkSession: check an existing JWT Token for validity
/api/users/edit - edit the information associated with a registered user

All provided methods use a simple I/O interface and intuitive, beginner-friendly structures.

API Register I/O Sample

POST api/users/register
Content-Type: application/json

{
    "username":"test",
    "password":"pass", 
    "email":"test@appseed.us"
}

API Login I/O Sample

POST /api/users/login
Content-Type: application/json

{
    "password":"pass", 
    "email":"test@appseed.us"
}

For more information related to this concept, feel free to access the official documentation: API Unified Definition.

Now, back to our API servers, the next sections will present each server starting with the open-source ones.

API Server Django

Simple starter built with Python / Django Rest / Sqlite3 and JWT Auth. The authentication flow is based on json web tokens. The product comes with a simple, intuitive codebase, DRF integration, SQLite for persistence JWT Authentication API, Docker, and unitary tests.

API Server Django - official documentation
API Server Django - source code (MIT License)

API Server Flask

Simple Flask API Starter with JWT authentication, and SQLite persistence that provides "out-of-the-box" all the ready-to-use bare minimum essentials - Built on top of flask_rextx and flask_jwt_extended libraries.

API Server Flask - official documentation
API Server Flask - source code (MIT License)

API Server Node JS

Simple API server crafted in Node JS/Express/Typescript with SQLite for persistence and TypeORM as SQL interface. Authentication Flow uses json web tokens via Passport library - passport-jwt strategy.

API Server Node JS - official documentation
Nodejs API Server - source code (MIT License)

API Server Node JS PRO

This commercial product contains two branches: the first one uses SQLite and TypeORM as SQL interface and the second branch handles the persistence via MongoDB and Mongoose.

Nodejs API Server PRO - the Github repository (used for bug tracking)

To make this article more useful, I will mention a few React Products already coded to handle the JWT Authentication provided by all mentioned servers. Let's go!

React Dashboard Berry

Berry is a creative React Dashboard build using the Material-UI. It is meant to be the best User Experience with highly customizable feature-riched pages. It is a complete game-changer React Dashboard Template with an easy and intuitive responsive design as on retina screens or laptops. The product comes with a simple JWT authentication flow: login/register/logout.

React Node JS Berry - product page
React Node JS Berry - LIVE Demo

React Dashboard Datta Able

Datta Able is an open-source React Dashboard that provides a colorful and modern design. Datta Able React Free is the most stylized React Free Admin Template, around all other admin templates in the market. It comes with high feature-rich pages and components with fully developer-centric code. The product comes with a simple JWT authentication flow: login/register/logout.

React Node JS Datta Able - product page
React Node JS Datta Able - LIVE Demo

React Datta Able PRO

Datta Able PRO is a premium React Dashboard that provides a colorful and modern design. Datta Able React PRO is the most stylized React Free Admin Template, around all other admin templates in the market. It comes with high feature-rich pages and components with fully developer-centric code. The product comes with a simple JWT authentication flow: login/register/logout.