Run API Maker on your computer¶
API Maker Local Run is a desktop app which runs API Maker on your machine. Pick a folder and a version, click Start, and it installs API Maker from npm on a Node.js it downloads, starts the MongoDB and Redis API Maker needs in Docker, runs the admin panel and shows you the URLs and the sign-in details. Download it from apimaker.dev/download.
What it does¶
- Installs and starts everything : API Maker from npm, on a Node.js runtime it downloads and verifies itself ; MongoDB as a replica set and Redis in Docker ; the admin panel.
- Adds databases in a few clicks : MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, Oracle, TiDB and Percona Server, several of each if you want, every one with its connection string shown. Create instance puts the credentials in the default secret and creates the instance in API Maker.
- Runs several projects at once, each in its own folder and on its own ports.
- Keeps a folder in sync with your editor through the local client (see below).
- Stops everything it started when you close it, and cleans up after a crash.
- Deletes a project with everything it created, after you confirm by typing its name.
Requirements¶
| Docker | Docker Desktop, OrbStack, Rancher Desktop, Colima or Docker Engine, with Docker Compose v2 |
| macOS | 13 Ventura or later, Intel or Apple silicon |
| Windows | 10 or 11, x64 or ARM64 |
| Linux | x64 or ARM64 with GTK 3 and WebKitGTK 4.1 (Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 39+…) |
| Memory | about 4 GB free for API Maker, MongoDB and Redis ; each extra database needs more |
First run¶
- Pick a folder An empty folder becomes a new workspace ; a folder which already has one is loaded from its
.api_maker_local_run_statefile. Recent folders are listed on the welcome screen. - Set it up Choose the project name, the API Maker version (the list comes from npm), the license key and the ports. Ports already in use are flagged before anything starts.
- Start The progress shows step by step, with the logs of every service next to it. When it is done, the admin panel opens in your browser.
- Add a database On the Databases page, pick the engine and version, set the port, password, user and database name, and click Create instance. The instance is ready in API Maker with its connection string in the default secret.
- Call your first API Follow Your first API with the URL the app shows.
Ports and folder¶
The app keeps everything in the folder you picked : the API Maker install, its configuration (config/.env, config/docker-compose.yml), the logs and the data files of every database (docker-data/…). Docker only runs the containers ; no data lives inside them.
| Service | Default port |
|---|---|
| API Maker backend | 38246 |
| API Maker WebSocket | 38245 |
| Admin panel | 4626 |
| Internal MongoDB | 38248 |
| Internal Redis | 7479 |
| Extra databases | MongoDB 27018 · PostgreSQL 5433 · MySQL 3307 · MariaDB 3308 · Percona 3309 · TiDB 4001 · SQL Server 14330 · Oracle 1522 |
New projects get free ports. Services bind to 127.0.0.1 on macOS and Windows and to 0.0.0.0 on Linux ; the bind address is a project setting.
The license key¶
API Maker needs a license key. The local run key ____your_license_key____ is accepted by API Maker versions which support local runs : with it, API Maker only answers requests from this computer and from private networks (loopback, 10/8, 172.16/12, 192.168/16, link local, CGNAT and IPv6 unique local addresses). To serve other clients, set your own key in Project Settings or in the admin panel. For a key, write to [email protected].
Your code in your editor : the Local Client¶
The Local Client page of a project keeps a folder of your computer in sync with API Maker, both ways : edit custom APIs, utility classes, schemas, schedulers, hooks and test cases in VS Code, WebStorm, Zed or any editor, and what you save in the admin panel lands on the disk. It runs the local client which ships with API Maker (npm run start in the folder), started and watched by the app.
- Where the code is kept : a Git repository on this computer (recommended, made by the app and served to API Maker on
127.0.0.1), GitHub, GitLab or another host with a personal access token, or just a folder without Git. - Every folder has a card with the state of the sync, the Git branch, and Open in buttons for the editors found on your computer.
- The folder is an ordinary local client folder :
npm run testruns the test cases of the account from the terminal and writes their coverage for your IDE, and an AI agent working in the folder finds the security report and every item of the account as files.
See Developer tools for the local client on a server.
Cloud mode¶
The Cloud tab installs API Maker on servers you rent anywhere, and everything it needs : its MongoDB and Redis, a reverse proxy (Caddy, Ferron or Pingap), your databases with their replication and the firewall. Everything happens over SSH from your computer : no agent, no third party service.
- Servers : Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, x86-64 or ARM64, 1 core, 900 MB of memory and 10 GB of disk at least (4 GB and 20 GB recommended). Sign in as root or a sudo user with a password, a key or your SSH agent. Credentials are stored encrypted on your computer, the key in the keychain of the operating system.
- Environments and architectures : a project groups environments (production, staging…), each one an API Maker with its own servers, version and license key. Start from a layout (all in one, app + data, dedicated databases, load balanced) and drag components between servers on the diagram.
- Databases : MongoDB replica sets, PostgreSQL, MySQL and MariaDB (Galera), SQL Server and Oracle, with their replication, password rotation and moves between servers with their data.
- Day two : deploy new versions, rolling updates behind the load balancer, live logs and health of every server, and a full uninstall.
Install on a server maps the reference architectures of the website to the layouts of Cloud mode. The install script on the same page sets up one server from its own terminal instead.