HTTP Handlers

HTTP handlers allow a SpacetimeDB database to expose an HTTP API. External clients can make HTTP requests to routes nested under /v1/database/:name_or_address/route; these requests are resolved to routes defined by the database and then passed to the corresponding HTTP handler.

warning

HTTP handlers are currently in beta, and their API may change in upcoming SpacetimeDB releases.

Defining HTTP Handlers

TypeScript

Define an HTTP handler with spacetimedb.httpHandler.

The function must accept exactly two arguments:

1. A HandlerContext.
2. A Request.

The function must return a SyncResponse.

import { schema, SyncResponse } from "spacetimedb/server";

const spacetimedb = schema({});
export default spacetimedb;

export const say_hello = spacetimedb.httpHandler((_ctx, _req) => {
    return new SyncResponse("Hello!");
});

Rust

Because HTTP handlers are unstable, Rust modules that define them must opt in to the unstable feature in their Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
spacetimedb = { version = "2.*", features = ["unstable"] }

Define an HTTP handler by annotating a function with #[spacetimedb::http::handler].

The function must accept exactly two arguments:

1. A &mut spacetimedb::http::HandlerContext.
2. A spacetimedb::http::Request.

The function must return a spacetimedb::http::Response.

use spacetimedb::http::{Body, handler, HandlerContext, Request, Response};

#[handler]
fn say_hello(_ctx: &mut HandlerContext, _req: Request) -> Response {
    Response::new(Body::from_bytes("Hello!"))
}

C++

Because HTTP handlers are unstable, C++ modules that define them must enable SPACETIMEDB_UNSTABLE_FEATURES when compiling.

Define an HTTP handler with SPACETIMEDB_HTTP_HANDLER.

The function must accept exactly two arguments:

1. A SpacetimeDB::HandlerContext.
2. A SpacetimeDB::HttpRequest.

The function must return a SpacetimeDB::HttpResponse.

#include "spacetimedb.h"

using namespace SpacetimeDB;

SPACETIMEDB_HTTP_HANDLER(say_hello, HandlerContext ctx, HttpRequest request) {
    return HttpResponse{
        200,
        HttpVersion::Http11,
        { HttpHeader{"content-type", "text/plain; charset=utf-8"} },
        HttpBody::from_string("Hello!"),
    };
}

C#

HTTP handlers in C# are currently unstable. To use them, add #pragma warning disable STDB_UNSTABLE at the top of your file.

Define an HTTP handler by annotating a method with [SpacetimeDB.HttpHandler].

The method must accept exactly two arguments:

1. A SpacetimeDB.HandlerContext.
2. A SpacetimeDB.HttpRequest.

The method must return a SpacetimeDB.HttpResponse.

using System.Collections.Generic;
using SpacetimeDB;

#pragma warning disable STDB_UNSTABLE
public static partial class Module
{
    [SpacetimeDB.HttpHandler]
    public static HttpResponse SayHello(HandlerContext ctx, HttpRequest request)
    {
        return new HttpResponse(
            200,
            HttpVersion.Http11,
            new List<HttpHeader>(),
            HttpBody.FromString("Hello!")
        );
    }
}

Registering Handlers to Routes

Once you've defined an HTTP handler, you must register it to a route in order to make it reachable for requests.

TypeScript

All routes exposed by your module are declared in a Router. Register the Router for your database by passing it to spacetimedb.httpRouter.

import { Router } from "spacetimedb/server";

export const router = spacetimedb.httpRouter(
    new Router()
        .get("/say-hello", say_hello)
);

Add routes within a router with the get, head, options, put, delete, post, patch and any methods, which register an HTTP handler for that HTTP method at a given path.

Nest routers with router.nest(prefix, subRouter), which causes subRouter to handle routing for all paths that start with prefix.

Combine routers with router.merge(otherRouter), which combines both routers.

Rust

All routes exposed by your module are declared in a spacetimedb::http::Router. Register the Router for your database by returning it from a function annotated with #[spacetimedb::http::router].

use spacetimedb::http::{router, Router};

#[router]
fn router() -> Router {
    Router::new()
        .get("/say-hello", say_hello)
}

Add routes within a router with the get, head, options, put, delete, post, patch and any methods, which register an HTTP handler for that HTTP method at a given path.

Nest routers with router.nest(prefix, sub_router), which causes sub_router to handle routing for all paths that start with prefix.

Combine routers with router.merge(other_router), which combines both routers.

C++

All routes exposed by your module are declared in a SpacetimeDB::Router. Register the Router for your database by returning it from a function defined with SPACETIMEDB_HTTP_ROUTER.

SPACETIMEDB_HTTP_ROUTER(router) {
    return Router()
        .get("/say-hello", say_hello);
}

Add routes within a router with the get, head, options, put, delete_, post, patch and any methods, which register an HTTP handler for that HTTP method at a given path.

Nest routers with router.nest(prefix, sub_router), which causes sub_router to handle routing for all paths that start with prefix.

Combine routers with router.merge(other_router), which combines both routers.

C#

All routes exposed by your module are declared in a SpacetimeDB.Router. Register the Router for your database by returning it from a method annotated with [SpacetimeDB.HttpRouter].

public static partial class Module
{
    [SpacetimeDB.HttpRouter]
    public static Router Router() =>
        SpacetimeDB.Router.New()
            .Get("/say-hello", Handlers.SayHello);
}

Add routes within a router with the Get, Head, Options, Put, Delete, Post, Patch and Any methods, which register an HTTP handler for that HTTP method at a given path.

Nest routers with router.Nest(prefix, subRouter), which causes subRouter to handle routing for all paths that start with prefix.

Combine routers with router.Merge(otherRouter), which combines both routers.

Strict Routing

SpacetimeDB uses strict routing, meaning that a request must match a path exactly in order to be routed to that handler. Trailing slashes are significant.

Sending Requests

Routes defined by a SpacetimeDB database are exposed under the prefix /v1/database/:name/route. To access the say-hello route above, send a request to $SPACETIMEDB_URI/v1/database/$DATABASE/route/say-hello, where $SPACETIMEDB_URI is the SpacetimeDB host (usually https://maincloud.spacetimedb.com), and $DATABASE is the name of the database.