shelf_serve

Configure and run a http server.

Defining a http server

You define a http server by creating a shelf_serve.yaml file. This file lists the middleware and handlers that should be used to handle requests. For example:

handlers:
  /html:
    type: compound
    handlers:
      /web:
        type: pub
        package:
          path: test_web
      /static:
        type: static
        path: test_static
  /source:
    type: proxy
    url: https://github.com/appsup-dart/shelf_serve
  /api:
    type: rpc
  /echo:
    type: echo

middlewares:
  log_requests:

dependencies:
  test_api:
    path: test_api
  test_echo:
    path: test_echo
    

Adding middleware

In the middlewares section of the shelf_serve.yaml file, you can list the middlewares to be used and define optional configuration parameters.

There are two build in middlewares:

• log_requests logs requests to stdout.
• cors adds cors headers to the response.

Example:

middlewares:
  cors:
    allow: 
      headers: "rpc-auth, content-type"
      methods: "POST, GET, PUT, OPTIONS, DELETE"
      origin: "*"

Adding handlers

In the handlers section of the shelf_serve.yaml file, you can list different handlers to be used for different routes.

There are five build in handlers:

• static serves the static files in the directory defined by the path parameter.
• pub runs pub serve on a dart package and forwards requests to it.
• proxy proxies requests to the server defined in the url parameter.
• rpc serves a rest api defined by the rpc package.
• compound a compound handler that can contain other handlers and middlewares.

Note: when using the rpc handler, you should add the package that defines the api classes in the dependencies section.

Defining custom handlers and middleware

You can define custom handlers and middleware by annotating a factory function that creates the handler or middleware based on some configuration parameters.

For example

import 'package:shelf_serve/shelf_serve.dart';
import 'package:shelf/shelf.dart';

@ShelfHandler("echo")
createEchoHandler(String type, String route,
                      Map<String,dynamic> config) {
  return (Request r) async => new Response.ok(await r.readAsString());
}

You should add the package that defines those custom handlers and middlewares to the dependencies section.

Running the server from command line

First install the shelf_serve executable:

pub global activate shelf_serve

Then goto the directory where the shelf_serve.yaml file is located and run:

shelf_serve serve

By default the server will listen to port 8080. You can define another port by:

shelf_serve serve --port 5000

Running the server from code

Create a dart file and import all the necessary dependencies.

Run the method serve:

serve('path/to/shelf_serve.yaml', port: 5000);

Alternatively, you can run the method serveInIsolate, which will automatically do all the necessary imports based on the dependencies section in the shelf_serve.yaml file.

Creating a docker file

First install the shelf_serve executable:

pub global activate shelf_serve

Then goto the directory where the shelf_serve.yaml file is located and run:

shelf_serve create-docker-project

By default the project will be created in build/project. To select another output directory run:

shelf_serve create-docker-project --output-directory some/other/path

Next, go to the built project directory. There will be a Dockerfile there. You can create a container image by running:

docker build -t my/app .

And to run this image:

docker run -d -p 8080:8080 my/app