5 ms·

Ask HN: Are there API centric frameworks that have the same traction as Rails?

For those of you who have used Rails, it does a pretty good job of exercising best practises at your finger tips. Over the years I have been waiting for a dominant winner in the API space. I know of many attempts from across many different languages but none seem to cater for A->B development when taking into account versioning, rate-limiting and other API centric ideas. In my mind, problems like the lack of consensus on how to even semantically create resource/routes have delayed the process.

twunde 11y ago
I don't think I've seen anything that has the same traction as rails, but strongloop's loopback framework for nodejs was pretty good for best practices (I think their enterprise version has some api extras as well)
jstoiko 11y ago
Ramses is trying to solve that by using a RAML file as source of truth. Regardless of the level of restfulness of your API, what you spec is what you get. Well, that's the ultimate goal, right now it has limitations and opinions but we're trying to solve them. I'm a core dev btw. http://ramses.tech http://ramses.tech https://ramses.readthedocs.org https://ramses.readthedocs.org Let me know you thoughts!
codegeek 11y ago
Take a look at Laravel in PHP and also Lumen. I have been working with it for API work for past 2-3 months and I am amazed at how good this framework has been. yes it is PHP but Laravel has redefined the php framework space. If you like Python, then Flask framework is the way to go. Another great framework that I have worked with and love.
- __glibc_malloc 11y ago
  The Laravel documentation is an example of the worst documentation ever. It reminds me of the Fox News channel. I can't recommend using it on anything serious.
lgas 11y ago
They don't have the level of adoption but if your concern is automating best practices then you may be interested in Webmachine[0] (Erlang) or one of it's descendants like Liberator[1] (Clojure). [0]: https://github.com/Webmachine/webmachine https://github.com/Webmachine/webmachine [1]: https://github.com/clojure-liberator/liberator https://github.com/clojure-liberator/liberator
MalcolmDiggs 11y ago
Restify is pretty popular (for node.js), slim (for php), or Sinatra (for ruby) but I think a lot of developers just don't need much from an API framework, so they pick the most minimal framework available, or none at all.
tmlee 11y ago
Grape by Intridea https://github.com/ruby-grape/grape https://github.com/ruby-grape/grape is a nifty choice. It is somewhat opinionated, but lightweight enough to have most of the features you'll need in writing an API Docs over at http://intridea.github.io/grape/ http://intridea.github.io/grape/
- hackerboos 11y ago
  Grape + ROAR + Swagger is a good combo.
joshavant 11y ago
Cocoa and Foundation run nearly all Apple technologies and are pretty replete in their capabilities.
Irishsteve 11y ago
flask
kat 11y ago
What about Grails? Its the Groovy(ie Java) version of Rails. I think its gaining traction in enterprise software shops. https://grails.org/ https://grails.org/
55555 11y ago
Flask for python. It's so bare-bones that it's great for API's even though it's mostly used for full sites/apps.
- siquick 11y ago
  Flask is brilliant for building small apps/services. It makes setting up a new Django project feel like a complete PITA.
gt565k 11y ago
Django rest framework http://www.django-rest-framework.org/ http://www.django-rest-framework.org/
romanovcode 11y ago
WebApi2? It's pretty good. Also, MVC6 (it bundles WebApi2 inside of it, soon to be RC1)
deviloflaplace 11y ago
Not a framework but we're working on something called APIPlug (http://apiplug.com http://apiplug.com) that will enable you to get source code in your desired language. We support versioning and working on oAuth and rate limiting right now. Drop us a message if we can add some feature that will make your life easier.
jon-wood 11y ago
Its still early days for me, but I'm really enjoying working with Pliny[0], which is a Ruby based framework that came out of Heroku's experience building APIs. It makes the very good move of just being an opinionated Sinatra stack, and a set of patterns for things like API representations. [0] https://github.com/interagent/pliny https://github.com/interagent/pliny

twunde 11y ago

I don't think I've seen anything that has the same traction as rails, but strongloop's loopback framework for nodejs was pretty good for best practices (I think their enterprise version has some api extras as well)

jstoiko 11y ago

Ramses is trying to solve that by using a RAML file as source of truth. Regardless of the level of restfulness of your API, what you spec is what you get. Well, that's the ultimate goal, right now it has limitations and opinions but we're trying to solve them. I'm a core dev btw. http://ramses.tech http://ramses.tech https://ramses.readthedocs.org https://ramses.readthedocs.org Let me know you thoughts!

codegeek 11y ago

Take a look at Laravel in PHP and also Lumen. I have been working with it for API work for past 2-3 months and I am amazed at how good this framework has been. yes it is PHP but Laravel has redefined the php framework space. If you like Python, then Flask framework is the way to go. Another great framework that I have worked with and love.

__glibc_malloc 11y ago
The Laravel documentation is an example of the worst documentation ever. It reminds me of the Fox News channel. I can't recommend using it on anything serious.

lgas 11y ago

They don't have the level of adoption but if your concern is automating best practices then you may be interested in Webmachine[0] (Erlang) or one of it's descendants like Liberator[1] (Clojure). [0]: https://github.com/Webmachine/webmachine https://github.com/Webmachine/webmachine [1]: https://github.com/clojure-liberator/liberator https://github.com/clojure-liberator/liberator

MalcolmDiggs 11y ago

Restify is pretty popular (for node.js), slim (for php), or Sinatra (for ruby) but I think a lot of developers just don't need much from an API framework, so they pick the most minimal framework available, or none at all.

tmlee 11y ago

Grape by Intridea https://github.com/ruby-grape/grape https://github.com/ruby-grape/grape is a nifty choice. It is somewhat opinionated, but lightweight enough to have most of the features you'll need in writing an API Docs over at http://intridea.github.io/grape/ http://intridea.github.io/grape/

hackerboos 11y ago
Grape + ROAR + Swagger is a good combo.

joshavant 11y ago

Cocoa and Foundation run nearly all Apple technologies and are pretty replete in their capabilities.

Irishsteve 11y ago

flask

kat 11y ago

What about Grails? Its the Groovy(ie Java) version of Rails. I think its gaining traction in enterprise software shops. https://grails.org/ https://grails.org/

55555 11y ago

Flask for python. It's so bare-bones that it's great for API's even though it's mostly used for full sites/apps.

siquick 11y ago
Flask is brilliant for building small apps/services. It makes setting up a new Django project feel like a complete PITA.

gt565k 11y ago

Django rest framework http://www.django-rest-framework.org/ http://www.django-rest-framework.org/

romanovcode 11y ago

WebApi2? It's pretty good. Also, MVC6 (it bundles WebApi2 inside of it, soon to be RC1)

deviloflaplace 11y ago

Not a framework but we're working on something called APIPlug (http://apiplug.com http://apiplug.com) that will enable you to get source code in your desired language. We support versioning and working on oAuth and rate limiting right now. Drop us a message if we can add some feature that will make your life easier.

jon-wood 11y ago

Its still early days for me, but I'm really enjoying working with Pliny[0], which is a Ruby based framework that came out of Heroku's experience building APIs. It makes the very good move of just being an opinionated Sinatra stack, and a set of patterns for things like API representations. [0] https://github.com/interagent/pliny https://github.com/interagent/pliny