Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Docker 24+ and Docker Compose v2
• Or for local development: Node.js 20+, npm, MongoDB 7+

Installation

Three deployment options are available — see Deployment Variants for a full comparison.

Variant 1 — Docker (recommended for first run)

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/Dynamic-API-Platform/Dynamic-API-Platform.git
cd Dynamic-API-Platform

# Optional: copy and edit environment variables
cp .env.example .env

# Start all services
docker compose up -d

# Check status
docker compose ps

Wait until all three containers are healthy (dap-mongodb, dap-backend, dap-frontend).

Access the platform

1. Open http://localhost:8080
2. Log in with:
   • Login: admin
   • Password: Admin123!
3. Go to Settings and change the admin password
4. Open Settings → Software Updates to check for new releases or click Update now
5. Update JWT secrets in .env before any production use

Create your first dynamic endpoint

Via Admin UI

1. Navigate to Endpoint Groups → create a group (e.g. SHOP)
2. Go to Endpoints → New Endpoint
3. Fill in:
   • Name: List Products
   • Path: /api/products
   • Method: GET
4. Open the full editor → Schema tab → add fields:
   • name — string, required
   • price — number, required
5. Save and test on the Test tab

Via API (curl)

# 1. Get access token
TOKEN=$(curl -s -X POST http://localhost:3001/api/auth/login \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"login":"admin","password":"Admin123!"}' \
  | jq -r '.data.accessToken')

# 2. Create endpoint
curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/api/endpoints \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Products",
    "description": "Product catalog",
    "slug": "products",
    "path": "/api/products",
    "method": "GET",
    "accessType": "authenticated",
    "schema": [
      {"name": "name", "type": "string", "required": true, "order": 0},
      {"name": "price", "type": "number", "required": true, "order": 1}
    ]
  }'

# 3. Create a POST endpoint on the same path for writing data
curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/api/endpoints \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Create Product",
    "path": "/api/products",
    "method": "POST",
    "accessType": "authenticated",
    "schema": [
      {"name": "name", "type": "string", "required": true, "order": 0},
      {"name": "price", "type": "number", "required": true, "order": 1}
    ]
  }'

# 4. Add data
curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/api/products \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "Laptop", "price": 999}'

# 5. Read data
curl http://localhost:3001/api/products \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Link endpoints (reference fields)

Use type reference to connect records across endpoints (like a foreign key):

1. Create the target endpoint first (e.g. GET/POST /api/categories with a name field)
2. POST a category and note its id from the response
3. On Products, open Schema → add field categoryId, type reference
4. Select Linked endpoint: GET /api/categories — List Categories
5. Save. When creating a product, pass "categoryId": "<category-record-id>"

Read with embedded category:

curl "http://localhost:3001/api/products?populate=categoryId" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Details: Dynamic API Engine — References.

Restrict API access by domain or IP

Network access is separate from JWT/RBAC. Use it to allow only specific frontends or server subnets.

Via Admin UI

1. Endpoint Groups → edit group → Network Access section
   • Enable rules, add domains (app.example.com, *.example.com) and/or IP-CIDR (10.0.0.0/8)
2. Endpoints → edit endpoint → Network Access tab
   • Toggle Inherit rules from endpoint group or define endpoint-only rules

Example: partner webhook (IP only)

1. Create POST /api/webhooks/partner with access type public or authenticated
2. Network Access tab → disable inherit → enable rules
3. Add IP range: 203.0.113.0/24
4. Save — calls from other IPs return 403 Forbidden: network access denied

Full guide: Network Access.

Navigation overview

Network access is configured under Endpoint Groups and the Network Access tab on each endpoint — not in Settings.

Interface preview

Full screenshot gallery →

Next steps

• Read Architecture to understand the system design
• Review RBAC before adding team members
• Follow Deployment for production setup