APIEngine

A lightweight, protocol-agnostic API client designed to unify REST, Server-Sent Events (SSE), and WebSockets (WS). It transforms your API manifest into a strongly-typed, easy-to-use communication layer for modern web applications.

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1. Installation

npm install @@sandeshnaroju/api-engine
# or
yarn add @@sandeshnaroju/api-engine

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2. Configuration (api.yml)

Add all your Apis in the api.yml file. The engine is driven by a central manifest. It supports both relative paths (using baseUrl) and absolute URLs (bypassing baseUrl).

version: "1.0"
baseUrl: "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com"
endpoints:
  get_post:
    protocol: "REST"
    path: "/posts/:id"
    method: "GET"
    timeout: 3000
  create_post:
    protocol: "REST"
    path: "/posts"
    method: "POST"
    timeout: 5000
  ws_test:
    protocol: "WS"
    path: "wss://echo.websocket.org" # Full URL for testing
    autoReconnect: true
  sse_test:
    protocol: "SSE"
    path: "http://localhost:3000/api-proxy/apps/api/v1/chat/completions"
    method: "POST"
    headers:
      "Content-Type": "application/json"

4. Usage

Initializing

If you place your api.yml file in your project's public folder, the engine can find it automatically without you needing to import or pass anything. This is ideal if you want to update the API configuration without rebuilding your entire React/Vue app.

// Looks for /api.yml in your web server's root automatically
const api = await APIEngine.init();

This is the most common method in modern development. You keep the api.yml in your src folder or project root and import it. Because bundlers convert these imports into URL strings, init() handles the background fetching for you.

import manifestUrl from './api.yml';
// init() detects the URL string and fetches the content
const api = await APIEngine.init(manifestUrl);

If you are fetching your configuration from a custom database, a CMS, or even a text-area in your UI, you can pass the raw YAML text directly. The engine will parse it on the fly.

const rawYaml = `
baseUrl: https://api.production.com
endpoints:
  get_users:
    protocol: REST
    path: /users
`;

// Works with the static initializer...
const api = await APIEngine.init(rawYaml);

// ...or directly with the constructor
const api = new APIEngine(rawYaml);

If you prefer to work with JSON or hardcoded configuration objects, you can skip the YAML parsing entirely. This is the fastest method as it involves no network requests or string parsing.

const config = {
  baseUrl: "https://api.production.com",
  endpoints: {
    ping: { protocol: "REST", path: "/health" }
  }
};

// Pass the object directly
const api = new APIEngine(config);

You can use the api-engine like below:

REST:

import manifest from './api.yml';

const api = await APIEngine.init(manifest);

// GET
const todo = await api.call('get_post', { 
  params: { id: 1 } 
});

console.log("Post Title:", todo.title);

//POST
const res = await api.call('create_post', { 
  body: { title: 'New Post', userId: 1 } 
});

SSE:

import manifest from './api.yml';

const api = await APIEngine.init(manifest);

// Normal Usage: Listening to a live log stream
const stream = api.watch('sse_test');

const unsubscribe = stream.subscribe((log) => {
  console.log("New Server Log:", log.message);
});

// Stop listening when leaving the page
// unsubscribe();

WebSocket:

import manifest from './api.yml';

const api = await APIEngine.init(manifest);

// Normal Usage: A real-time chat or command console
const socket = api.watch('ws_test');

// 1. Listen for incoming messages
socket.subscribe((msg) => {
  console.log("Incoming Message:", msg.text);
});

// 2. Send a message back
socket.send({ 
  message: "Hi", 
});

// Close connection when done
// socket.close();

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4. Options

call and watch methods support below extra options.

Property	Type	Description
params	Replaces path variables (e.g., :id in /users/:id).	params: { id: 101 }
query	Appends key-value pairs as query strings (e.g., ?limit=10).	query: { limit: 10, page: 1 }
body	The request payload (JSON) for POST, PUT, and SSE.	body: { name: 'Sandesh' }
headers	Custom HTTP headers (e.g., Auth tokens).	headers: { 'Authorization': 'Bearer ...' }
timeout	Maximum time (ms) to wait before the request fails.	timeout: 5000
signal	An AbortSignal used to manually cancel requests.	signal: controller.signal
fetchOptions	Pass-through for raw Axios or Fetch configurations.	fetchOptions: { withCredentials: true }

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5. Framework Implementation Examples

Vanilla HTML / JavaScript

<script type="module">
  import { APIEngine } from './dist/index.js';
  import manifest from './api.yml';

  const api = await APIEngine.init(manifest);

  const todo = await api.call('get_todo', { params: { id: 1 } });

  const stream = api.watch('live_logs');
  const unsubSSE = stream.subscribe(data => console.log("Log Received:", data));

  const socket = api.watch('field_comms');
  socket.subscribe(msg => console.log("WS Message:", msg));
  socket.send({ type: 'hello' });
</script>

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React (Functional Components)

import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import { api } from './api-client';
import manifest from './api.yml';

const api = await APIEngine.init(manifest);

export const Dashboard = ({ sensorId }) => {
  const [data, setData] = useState(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    const stream = api.watch('live_logs', { params: { id: sensorId } });
    const unsubscribe = stream.subscribe(setData);

    const socket = api.watch('field_comms');
    socket.subscribe(msg => console.log("Real-time WS:", msg));

    return () => {
      unsubscribe();
      socket.close();
    };
  }, [sensorId]);

  return <div>{JSON.stringify(data)}</div>;
};

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Vue 3 (Composition API)

<script setup>
import { onMounted, onUnmounted, ref } from 'vue';
import { api } from '@/services/api';
import manifest from './api.yml';

const api = await APIEngine.init(manifest);

const messages = ref([]);
let sseUnsub = null;
let socket = null;

onMounted(() => {
  const stream = api.watch('live_logs');
  sseUnsub = stream.subscribe(msg => messages.value.push(msg));

  socket = api.watch('field_comms');
  socket.subscribe(msg => console.log("WS Data:", msg));
});

onUnmounted(() => {
  if (sseUnsub) sseUnsub();
  if (socket) socket.close();
});
</script>

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6. Core Logic Highlights

Smart URL Resolution

If a path starts with http://, https://, ws://, or wss://, the baseUrl is automatically ignored.

Path Variable Injection

The internal buildUrl utility maps params to :keys in the URL string and converts remaining keys into query strings.

Unified Watcher

Both SSE and WS are accessed via .watch().

• SSE (Unidirectional)
  • Use .subscribe()
  • Returns an unsubscribe function
• WebSocket (Bidirectional)
  • Use .subscribe()
  • Use .send()
  • Use .close()

Browser-First

Optimized for browser environments with native WebSocket and EventSource support.

Connection Management

• Automatic exponential backoff for WebSocket reconnections
• Clean resource disposal via subscription lifecycle

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License

Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004