REM. REST easy.

REM is a minimal library to consume REST APIs, constructed around simple language idioms and manifests for popular libraries that alleviate differences between between configuration, authentication, and formats. Getting started with REM is quick and easy.

To use REM with Node.js, install using npm:

npm install rem

Examples

Examples are provided for each predefined API. These examples can be run from the command line:

coffee examples/dropbox

For authentication, create a file called examples/keys.json with your API keys and secrets, of the following format:

{"tumblr": {"key": "KEY", "secret": "SECRET"}, "twitter": ...}

Usage

REM includes configurations for several popular APIs. Getting started with a particular API is as simple is specifying the name and API version:

var rem = require('rem')
var tw = rem.load('twitter', 1, {key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', secret: 'YOUR_INNERMOST_API_SECRET'})
// Get started with version 1 of the Twitter API

You can make API requests simply:

tw('search').get({q: 'fleetwood mac', rpp: 5}, function(err, json) {
    console.log('There are', json.results.length, 'results for Fleetwood Mac. #awesome');
});

OAuth authentication parameters are already included. You can authenticate by using callbacks, connect middleware, or out-of-band modes when available:

var read = require('read');
var oauth = rem.oauth(tw);
tw.start(function (url, token, secret) {
    console.log("Visit:", url);
    read({prompt: "Verification code: "}, function (err, verifier) {
        oauth.complete(verifier, token, secret, function (err, user) {
            // Authenticated calls with the Twitter API can now be made:
            user('statuses/update').post({status: message}, function (err, json) {
            	console.log('Posted a comment:', err, json);
            })
        })
    })
})

You can also define and load your own manifests for your own APIs:

var api = rem.create({base: 'http://cozy.api/v1', ...}, {format: 'json'})

Reference

rem module

• rem.load(id, version, options) returns Api

  Load a predefined manifest. The available list exists in the rem repo. A version parameter is required for each API. The options object is a map of values that configure the API, most commonly key and secret. You can also specify a format parameter with the value "xml" or "json", which determines what format to use for REST calls. When a format is not specified, "json" is assumed.

• rem.create(manifest, options) returns Api

  Create a REM Api object using the JSON manifest you supply. The format of manifests is defined in the rem repo.

Api object

The Api object is callable:

• api(path[, params]) returns Route

  Returns a route object for the given path, and if specified, query parameters. These parameters can be augmented by method calls, for instance api('/some/path', {"key1": "A"}).get({"key2": "B"}, function () { ... }) uses both key1 and key2.

Route object

All route methods perform a REST call. Each takes a callback parameter (which can be omitted, for instance to just return the ClientRequest object). The callback receives an err argument, a data object (which will be a JSON object or a libxmljs document), and a RESTCall object with additional methods and properties.

• route.get([params, ]callback(err, data, call)) returns ClientRequest

  Performs a GET request on the given route. Additional query parameters can be specified.

• route.post([mime, ]data, callback(err, data, call)) returns ClientRequest

  Performs a POST request on the given route with the data argument, which can be a string, buffer, or object. The mime argument can be a MIME type or one of form or json. If the mime argument is omitted, the value is either uploadFormat as defined in the manifest, or form by default. If an object is passed as the data argument, it will be serialized as either form data or JSON, depending on the MIME type.

• route.post([mime, ]data, callback(err, data, call)) returns ClientRequest

  Performs a PUT request on the given route. See route.post()

• route.head(callback(err, data, call)) returns ClientRequest

  Performs a HEAD request on the given route. The data argument in the callback will be empty. (The ClientResponse is saved in the call.res parameter.)

• route.del([mime, ]data, callback(err, data, call)) returns ClientRequest

  Performs a DELETE request on the given route.

Auth object

TODO. See examples/server-oauth1.coffee and examples/server-oauth2.coffee.

License

MIT.