DreamFactory API Builder

df-api-builder is a human-first custom API builder for DreamFactory.

The package stores custom API definitions, endpoint definitions, execution plans, and response mappings. The first runtime slice supports testing a service-backed endpoint with one or more service_request steps.

AI assistance should draft or refine these definitions later, but it is not required to create, edit, publish, or run custom APIs.

Initial Service Resources

api-builder/apis
api-builder/endpoints
api-builder/test

First Execution Shape

{
  "endpoint_id": 1,
  "path_params": {
    "id": 42
  },
  "query": {},
  "body": {}
}

Execution-plan step types

• service_request — dispatch to a backing DF service (database / file / remote) in the API's workspace. Selectors (service/resource/method) are admin-authored and static; only params/body resolve caller input.
• transform — reshape a prior step's data in-memory (no backing request), so an endpoint can shape its response without a script. from resolves a context path; ops run in order.

{
  "id": "shaped",
  "type": "transform",
  "from": "{steps.customers.resource}",
  "ops": [
    { "op": "pick", "fields": ["id", "name", "email"] },
    { "op": "rename", "map": { "name": "customer_name" } },
    { "op": "limit", "count": 25 }
  ]
}

Transform ops: pick, omit, rename, defaults, filter, sort, first, limit, count, wrap, unwrap. Each handles a resource-wrapped list, a bare list, or a single record.

• filter — { "op": "filter", "field": "status", "cmp": "eq", "value": "shipped" } (cmp: eq, ne, gt, gte, lt, lte, contains, in).
• sort — { "op": "sort", "by": "total", "dir": "desc" }.

Testing an endpoint (step-by-step trace)

POST api-builder/test with "trace": true returns an envelope with a per-step trace — each step's target, status, output preview, and timing, and it pinpoints the failing step:

{
  "ok": true,
  "result": { "...": "mapped response" },
  "trace": [
    { "key": "customers", "type": "service_request", "service": "db",
      "resource": "_table/customers", "method": "GET", "ok": true,
      "preview": "25 row(s)", "ms": 11 }
  ]
}

Without trace, the raw result is returned (back-compatible). The admin UI's Preview panel renders this trace.