REST API QuickStart

Time to complete: 10 minutes

Stargate is a data gateway deployed between client applications and a database. In this QuickStart, you’ll be up and running on your local machine with the REST API plugin that exposes CRUD access to data stored in Cassandra tables.

Prerequisites

If you haven’t already, create a database using Astra DB.

You can create an Astra DB database using Astra Portal or the DevOps API. Currently, there are no drivers or other APIs that support creating a database.

Install cURL, a utility for running JSON, REST, Document, or GraphQL queries on the command line.
[Optional] If you prefer, you can use Postman as a client interface for exploring the APIs
- You will also find links to downloadable collections and environments in Using Postman
[Optional] If you going to use the GraphQL API, you will want to use the GraphQL Playground to deploy schema and execute mutations and queries.
[Optional] For the JSON, REST, and Document APIs, you can use the Swagger UI.

Before you get started, set your environment variables to save time developing on your database. There are four environment variables, three of which you will get from the Astra dashboard (database id, region, and keyspace), and one that you must create (token).

In Astra DB, select the database to which you want to connect.
In your Database Dashboard, select Connect.
Select your API.

If you have multiple regions, select the region you want to connect to from the dropdown menu for instructions.
Follow the steps to get your application token and set up your environment variables. Or if you have an older Astra Classic database, follow the steps in Authentication for classic databases.

Creating schema

In order to use the REST API, you must create schema that defines the keyspace and tables that will store the data. A keyspace is a container for which a replication factor defines the number of data replicas the database will store. Tables consist of columns that have a defined data type. Multiple tables are contained in a keyspace, but a table cannot be contained in multiple keyspaces.

Create a table in your keyspace

Create tables in your database using the DataStax Astra DB REST API. Use the application token you generated to create a table in your keyspace. A keyspace is like a bucket that holds your tables. You can create different keyspaces for groups of tables.

For example, we’ll use users_keyspace as the keyspace.

Optional: A header line using a {unique-UUID}, a randomly-generated UUID that is unique for the authorization request, can be included in the previous command by adding the following line:

 --header 'x-cassandra-request-id: {unique-UUID}'

Create a table

Send a POST request to /api/rest/v2/schemas/keyspaces/{keyspace-name}/tables to create a table. Set the table name and column definitions in the JSON body in the --data field.

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s --location \
--request POST https://$ASTRA_CLUSTER_ID-$ASTRA_REGION.apps.astra.datastax.com/api/rest/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $ASTRA_DB_APPLICATION_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "Accept: application/json" \
--data '{
	"name": "users",
	"columnDefinitions":
	  [
        {
	      "name": "firstname",
	      "typeDefinition": "text"
	    },
        {
	      "name": "lastname",
	      "typeDefinition": "text"
	    },
        {
	      "name": "favorite color",
	      "typeDefinition": "text"
	    }
	  ],
	"primaryKey":
	  {
	    "partitionKey": ["firstname"],
	    "clusteringKey": ["lastname"]
	  },
	"tableOptions":
	  {
	    "defaultTimeToLive": 0,
	    "clusteringExpression":
	      [{ "column": "lastname", "order": "ASC" }]
	  }
}'

{"name":"users"}

The name of our example table is users. This table column definition includes:

Partition key: One or more columns required. firstname is the partition key.
Clustering key: Optional, but zero, one or more columns can be defined. lastname is the clustering key.
Non-primary key: Optional, but zero, one or more columns that are not a partition key or clustering key can be defined. favorite_color is the non-primary key column.

Notice that each column must have a data type specified.

Information about primary keys (partition keys and clustering keys) are found in the Cassandra Query Language (CQL) reference.

Optional: Table options can be set. The two options are:

defaultTimeToLive: Sets the default Time-To-Live (TTL).
clusteringExpression: Defines the order, either ascending (ASC) or descending (DESC) for columns that are clustering keys. ASC is the default.

  "tableOptions":
    {
      "defaultTimeToLive": 0,
      "clusteringExpression":
        [{ "column": "lastname", "order": "ASC" }]
    }

Check table and column existence

To check if a table exists, execute a REST API query with cURL to find all the tables:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X GET https://$ASTRA_CLUSTER_ID-$ASTRA_REGION.apps.astra.datastax.com/api/rest/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $ASTRA_DB_APPLICATION_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Accept: application/json"

{
  "data": [
    {
      "name": "users",
      "keyspace": "users_keyspace",
      "columnDefinitions": [
        {
          "name": "firstname",
          "typeDefinition": "varchar",
          "static": false
        },
        {
          "name": "lastname",
          "typeDefinition": "varchar",
          "static": false
        },
        {
          "name": "email",
          "typeDefinition": "varchar",
          "static": false
        },
        {
          "name": "favorite color",
          "typeDefinition": "varchar",
          "static": false
        }
      ],
      "primaryKey": {
        "partitionKey": [
          "firstname"
        ],
        "clusteringKey": [
          "lastname"
        ]
      },
      "tableOptions": {
        "defaultTimeToLive": 0,
        "clusteringExpression": [
          {
            "order": "Asc",
            "column": "lastname"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

In this case, we only have one table in the keyspace.

To get a particular table, specify the table in the URL:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L \
-X GET https://$ASTRA_CLUSTER_ID-$ASTRA_REGION.apps.astra.datastax.com/api/rest/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $ASTRA_DB_APPLICATION_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Accept: application/json"

{
  "data": {
    "name": "users",
    "keyspace": "users_keyspace",
    "columnDefinitions": [
      {
        "name": "firstname
        "typeDefinition": "varchar",
        "static": false
      },
      {
        "name": "lastname",
        "typeDefinition": "varchar",
        "static": false
      },
      {
        "name": "current_country",
        "typeDefinition": "frozen<tuple<varchar, date, date>>",
        "static": false
      },
      {
        "name": "email",
        "typeDefinition": "varchar",
        "static": false
      },
      {
        "name": "evaluations",
        "typeDefinition": "map<int, varchar>",
        "static": false
      },
      {
        "name": "favorite color",
        "typeDefinition": "varchar",
        "static": false
      },
      {
        "name": "favorite_books",
        "typeDefinition": "set<varchar>",
        "static": false
      },
      {
        "name": "top_three_tv_shows",
        "typeDefinition": "list<varchar>",
        "static": false
      }
    ],
    "primaryKey": {
      "partitionKey": [
        "firstname"
      ],
      "clusteringKey": [
        "lastname"
      ]
    },
    "tableOptions": {
      "defaultTimeToLive": 0,
      "clusteringExpression": [
        {
          "order": "ASC",
          "column": "lastname"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Although this command is slightly different, because we have only one table, the command to get all tables and this command to just get the table users return the same information.

Interacting with data stored in tables

Write data

First, let’s add some data to the users table that you created. Send a POST request to /v2/keyspaces/{keyspace_name}/{table_name} to add data to the table. The column name/value pairs are passed in the JSON body.

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s --location --request POST 'https://$ASTRA_CLUSTER_ID-$ASTRA_REGION.apps.astra.datastax.com/api/rest/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users' \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
    "firstname": "Mookie",
    "lastname": "Betts",
    "email": "mookie.betts@gmail.com",
    "favorite color": "blue"
}'
curl -s --location --request POST 'https://$ASTRA_CLUSTER_ID-$ASTRA_REGION.apps.astra.datastax.com/api/rest/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users' \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
    "firstname": "Janesha",
    "lastname": "Doesha",
    "email": "janesha.doesha@gmail.com",
    "favorite color": "grey"
}'

{"firstname":"Mookie","lastname":"Betts"}
{"firstname":"Janesha","lastname":"Doesha"}

Notice that, unlike schema creation, data queries do not require tables in the URI, only the {tableName}.

Read data

Let’s check that the data was inserted. Send a GET request to /v2/keyspaces/{keyspace_name}/{table_name}?where={searchPath} to retrieve the two users that were entered:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X GET 'https://$ASTRA_CLUSTER_ID-$ASTRA_REGION.apps.astra.datastax.com/api/rest/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users?where=\{"firstname":\{"$in":\["Janesha","Mookie"\]\}\}' \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $ASTRA_DB_APPLICATION_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json"
-H "Accept: application/json" \
   --data-urlencode 'where={
     "firstname": {"in": ["Janesha","Mookie"]}
   }'

{
  "count": 2,
  "data": [
    {
      "firstname": "Janesha",
      "evaluations": 
        {
          "2019" : "okay",
          "2020" : "good"
        },
      "top_three_tv_shows": [
        "The Magicians",
        "The Librarians",
        "Agents of SHIELD"
      ],
      "favorite color": "grey",
      "current_country": [
        "France", 
        "2023-05-22T10:21:00.000Z",
        "2023-05-23T10:21:00.000Z"
      ],
      "email": "janesha.doesha@gmail.com",
      "lastname": "Doesha",
      "favorite_books": [
        "Emma",
        "The Color Purple"
      ]
    },
    {
      "firstname": "Mookie",
      "evaluations": {},
      "top_three_tv_shows": [],
      "favorite color": "blue",
      "current_country": null,
      "email": "mookie.betts.new-email@email.com",
      "lastname": "Betts",
      "favorite_books": []
    }
  ]
}

This query uses $in to find the two users. The WHERE clause can be used with other valid search terms: $eq, $lt, $lte, $gt, $gte, $ne, and $exists, if applicable. The primary key of the table can be used in the WHERE clause, but non-primary key columns cannot be used unless indexed.

Update data

Data changes, so often it is necessary to update an entire row. To update a row, send a PUT request to /v2/keyspaces/{keyspace_name}/{table_name}/{path}. The {path} is comprised of the primary key values. In this example, the partition key is firstname "Mookie" and the clustering key is lastname "Betts"; thus, we use /Mookie/Betts as the {path} in our request.

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X PUT 'https://$ASTRA_CLUSTER_ID-$ASTRA_REGION.apps.astra.datastax.com/api/rest/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users/Mookie/Betts' \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
    "email": "mookie.betts.new-email@email.com"
}'

{"data":{"email":"mookie.betts.new-email@email.com"}}

Updates are upserts. If the row doesn’t exist, it will be created. If it does exist, it will be updated with the new row data.

Delete data

To delete a row, send a DELETE request to /v2/keyspaces/{keyspace_name}/{table_name}/{primaryKey}. For this example, the primary key consists of a partition key firstname and clustering column lastname, so we delete all data with Mookie/Betts:

curl -s -L -X DELETE https://$ASTRA_CLUSTER_ID-$ASTRA_REGION.apps.astra.datastax.com/api/rest/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users/Mookie/Betts \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $ASTRA_DB_APPLICATION_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json"

Voila! For more information on the REST API, see the Using the REST API or the REST API in the API references section.