Using Convex to expose an HTTP API
hey, so we are going to go 100% convex for a new service.
We do not need a client exposed api yet, but we will in the future. one of the ideas we'd like to see is autogenerated docs "openapi" and validation for api endpoints if we use convex to host our rest api.
if hosting the rest api, we would like the ability to add things like rate limits, etc. to prevent bad actors.
if this is not the intended direction/use case of convex longterm, would like to understand the best way to consume the convex database from our external rest api - e.g., created in Go.
@jamwt @james
3 Replies
Hey @puchesjr, this is all quite well-supported by Convex, IMO. You can wire up libraries like Hono (see, for example, this Stack post on the topic) which would then grant you access to middleware for generating OpenAPI specs and live API documentation (e.g. via Scalar. It looks like Hono has rate limiter middleware that you could use as well, or you could use Convex's rate limiter component. I also maintain and use a library (still in alpha) where I use Effect's version of Hono to accomplish the same thing, and I can confirm that the implementation is very straightforward.
If you'd like to see a live example of public API documentation rendered like this feel free to DM me and I can send you a link. Either way, main takeaway is this is well within Convex's wheelhouse; if anything it's (IMO) something that Convex handles really well. And folks here can definitely help you get this set up when the time comes, too.
This is fantastic to hear, i'll check it out and thank you for the response. I want to see how fast we can go from ground zero to deploy. we start coding tomorrow.
Exciting, good luck!