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API Gateway Using KrakenD

The increasing demands of users for high-quality web services create the need to integrate various technologies into our application. This will cause the code base to grow larger, making maintenance more difficult over time. A microservices approach offers a solution, where the application is built by combining multiple smaller services, each with a distinct function. For example, one service handles authentication, another manages business functions, another maintains file uploads, and so on. These services communicate and integrate through a common channel. On the client side, users don't need to understand how the application is built or how it functions internally. They simply send a request to a single endpoint, and processes like authentication, caching, or database querying happen seamlessly. This is where an API gateway is effective. It handles user requests and directs them to the appropriate handler. There are several tools available for building an API gateway, su...

Headless CMS for Building API Endpoints

Recently, someone introduced me to a tool called Directus, which is used for building backend systems and defining data structures. This also reminded me of a product I reviewed about two years ago, which was also built using Directus. After doing some online research, I decided to test another headless CMS solution called Strapi. When we think of CMS platforms, names like WordPress, Joomla, or Moodle might come to mind. But what does 'headless' mean in this context? A headless CMS is a type of CMS that focuses solely on the backend system, without providing the frontend interface. It can generate the API endpoints, letting developers build the frontend or client-side application separately. However, this doesn't mean headless CMS platforms lack a user interface entirely. Most, like Directus and Strapi, include a UI tool (an administrator dashboard) for designing and managing the backend system and resources. After spending some time testing and reviewing Stra...

Tools To Help You Create API Documentation

Nowadays, many paid and free tools can help us make beautiful API documentation for our software projects. These are a few of them with an explanation of each advantage. RapiDoc This open-source tool can generate API documentation based on OpenAPI specifications. So, if you already use the Swagger tool to generate your documentation, you can use the configuration and generate a new documentation page instantly. To use RapiDoc, we can create an HTML file that includes the Javascript library provided by RapiDoc or we can include it in a Javascript framework like React and Vue. It is very customisable, we can add custom HTML or markdown in the generated documentation, apply a dark theme or custom style, create custom methods, and many more. It also supports in page console to try an API request. ReadMe It is a service that can transform static API documentation into interactive developer hubs. Developer hubs mean it can mon...

Generate API Documentation Using Swagger Module in NestJS

Swagger provides us a standard to generate API documentation based on the Open API specification. If we use NestJS for building our API providers, we can utilize a tool provided by NestJS in the  @nestjs/swagger  module to generate the documentation automatically in the built time. This module also requires the swagger-ui-express module if we use Express as the NestJS base HTTP handler. Set Swagger configuration First, we need to define Swagger options and instantiate the documentation provider on the main.ts file. import { DocumentBuilder, SwaggerModule } from '@nestjs/swagger'; // sample application instance const app = await NestFactory.create(AppModule); // setup Swagger options const options = new DocumentBuilder() .setTitle('Coffee') .setVersion('1.0') .setDescription('Learn NestJS with coffee') .build(); // build the document const document = SwaggerModule.createDocument(app, options); // provide an endpoint ...