Custom HTTPS Endpoints

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Structure of an Endpoint

Base URL
Endpoint Routes
HTTP Methods
Create a Custom HTTPS Endpoint
Authentication
Authorization
Write an Endpoint Function
Access Request Data
Return an HTTPS Response
Call a Custom Endpoint
Choose a Response Data Format
Authenticate the Request
Authorize the Request

You can define custom HTTPS endpoints to create app-specific API routes or webhooks that integrate with external services. A custom endpoint uses a serverless function that you write to handle incoming requests for a specific URL and HTTP method.

Endpoints use standard, encrypted HTTPS requests, which means that you don't need to install any database drivers or opinionated libraries to call them. Instead, you send requests like this from any HTTP client:

curl -X POST \
     -H 'api-key: <API Key>' \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     -H 'Accept: application/json' \
     -d '{ "message": "Hello, world!" }' \
     https://data.mongodb-api.com/app/myapp-abcde/endpoint/hello

Structure of an Endpoint

An endpoint handles one or more HTTP methods sent to a specific URL.

Base URL

Endpoints in an app share a base URL. The URL uses your App ID to uniquely point to your app.

Globally deployed apps use the following format:

Endpoint Base URL (Global Apps):

https://data.mongodb-api.com/app/<App ID>/endpoint

Endpoints in a locally deployed app use a base URL specific to the app's deployment region (e.g. us-east-1)

Endpoint Base URL (Local Apps)

https://<Region>.aws.data.mongodb-api.com/app/<App ID>/endpoint

Endpoint Routes

Every HTTPS endpoint has a route that serves as a name for the endpoint. An endpoint's route is arbitrary and specific to your app. However, it appears in the endpoint URL path and so should represent the action the route performs.

Route names must begin with a forward slash (/) and may contain additional forward slashes to indicate a nested path.

An endpoint route

/my/nested/route

You call an endpoint by appending its route to your app's base URL and sending an HTTP request.

An endpoint URL

https://data.mongodb-api.com/app/<App ID>/endpoint/my/nested/route

HTTP Methods

Each endpoint in your app handles one or more HTTP methods for a given route. For example, you might have a single route that accepts POST requests to create a new resource and a GET request to list existing resources.

You can define multiple custom endpoints that serve the same route but handle different request methods. Alternatively, you can define a single endpoint for the route that handles all methods.

Custom endpoints support the following standard HTTP methods:

Create a Custom HTTPS Endpoint

You can configure the Data API for your app from the Atlas App Services UI or by deploying configuration files with Realm CLI:

Authentication

Custom endpoints run in the context of a specific user, which allows your app to enforce rules and validate document schemas for each request.

By default, endpoints use Application Authentication, which requires each request to include credentials for one of your application users, like an API key or JWT. You can also configure other custom authentication schemes to fit your application's needs.

Tip

New endpoints that you create in the UI use System authentication by default.

Authorization

An endpoint can require authenticated users to provide additional authorization information in the request. You define the authorization scheme for each custom endpoint by configuring the endpoint function.

Write an Endpoint Function

Every custom endpoint is associated with a function that runs whenever the endpoint receives an incoming request. In the function, you can import libraries from npm, connect to a linked MongoDB Atlas cluster, and call other serverless functions.

Tip

You define and edit endpoint handler functions on the Functions page of the Atlas App Services UI or in the /functions folder of an app configuration directory.

Endpoint functions always receive two arguments:

A Request object that lets you access incoming request headers, query parameters, and body data.
A Response object that you use to configure the HTTPS response sent back to the caller.

Example

This endpoint function parses the body of an incoming POST request, stores the parsed body in a MongoDB collection, and then responds to the caller:

exports = async function (request, response) {
  try {
    // 1. Parse data from the incoming request
    if(request.body === undefined) {
      throw new Error(`Request body was not defined.`)
    }
    const body = JSON.parse(request.body.text());
    // 2. Handle the request
    const { insertedId } = await context.services
      .get("mongodb-atlas")
      .db("myDb")
      .collection("myCollection")
      .insertOne({ date: new Date(), requestBody: body });
    // 3. Configure the response
    response.setStatusCode(201);
    // tip: You can also use EJSON.stringify instead of JSON.stringify.
    response.setBody(JSON.stringify({
       message: "Successfully saved the request body",
       insertedId,
    }));
  } catch (error) {
    response.setStatusCode(400);
    response.setBody(error.message);
  }
}

Access Request Data

A custom endpoint Request object represents the HTTP request that called the endpoint. You can access the incoming request's headers, query parameters, and body data.

Endpoint Request Object

{
  "headers": { "<Header>": ["<Header Value>"] },
  "query": { "<Query Parameter>": "<Parameter Value>" },
  "body": <BSON.Binary>
}

Field

Description

query

An object where each field maps a URL query parameter to its value. If a key is used multiple times in the query string, only the first occurence is represented in this object. To work with the full query string, use context.request.rawQueryString.

Example

The following query object represents the query string ?regions=na,eu&currency=USD:

{
  "regions": "na&eu",
  "currency": "USD"
}

headers

An object where each field maps a request header name to an array of one or more values.

Example

{
  "Content-Type": ["application/json"],
  "Accept": ["application/json"],
  "X-CustomHeader": ["some-value", "some-other-value"]
}

body

A BSON.Binary object that contains the request body. If the request did not include a body, this value is undefined.

To access data in the request body, you need to serialize the binary:

// Convert the request body to a JSON string
const serialized = request.body.text();
// Parse the string into a usable object
const body = JSON.parse(serialized);

Return an HTTPS Response

A custom endpoint Response object lets you configure the HTTPS response sent back to the caller. You can set the status code, customize headers, and include data in the response body.

Method

Description

setStatusCode(code)

- code: number

Set the HTTP response status code.

Example

response.setStatusCode(201);

setBody(body)

- body: string | BSON.Binary

Set the HTTP response body.

If body is a string, the endpoint automatically encodes it as a BSON.Binary.

Example

response.setBody(
  "{'message': 'Hello, World!'}"
);

setHeader(name, value)
- name: string
- value: string

Set the HTTP response header specified by name to the value passed in the value argument. This overrides any other values that may have already been assigned to that header.

Example

response.setHeader(
  "Content-Type",
  "application/json"
);

addHeader(name, value)
- name: string
- value: string

Set the HTTP response header specified by name to the value passed in the value argument. Unlike setHeader, this does not override other values that have already been assigned to the header.

Example

response.addHeader(
  "Cache-Control",
  "max-age=600"
);
response.addHeader(
  "Cache-Control",
  "min-fresh=60"
)

Call a Custom Endpoint

You can call a custom endpoint from any standard HTTPS client.

curl -X GET \
  -H 'api-key: <API Key>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/ejson' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  --data-raw '{
    "name": "Leafie",
    "date": { "$date": { "$numberLong": "1638551310749" } }
  }'
  https://data.mongodb-api.com/app/myapp-abcde/endpoint/hello

Choose a Response Data Format

A request can include an Accept header to request a specific data format for the response body, either JSON or EJSON. If a request does not include a valid Accept header, the response uses the default data format specified in the endpoint configuration.

Authenticate the Request

An endpoint function can require requests to include valid credentials for an application user in the request headers. You can authenticate requests for users that log in with any of the following enabled authentication providers:

Authorize the Request

Depending on the endpoint configuration, your requests may need to include additional authorization information.

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Structure of an Endpoint

Base URL

Endpoint Routes

HTTP Methods

Create a Custom HTTPS Endpoint

Authentication

Authorization

Write an Endpoint Function

Access Request Data

Return an HTTPS Response

Call a Custom Endpoint

Choose a Response Data Format

Authenticate the Request

Authorize the Request

Custom HTTPS Endpoints