Yaade: An open-source, self-hosted, collaborative API development environment

by React

Yaade – Yet Another API Development Environment

Yaade is an open-source, self-hosted, collaborative API development environment.

? Why did you develop Yaade?

I was looking for a self-hosted Postman alternative so that API collections can easily be shared between teammates. Even though popular solutions like Hoppscotch exist, their self-hosted app does not come with authentication and relies on Firebase for persistency. Yaade is developed from the ground up with self-hosting and security in mind. That means sensitive information in API requests can safely be stored on your own server!

? Features

  1. Self-hosted: data never leaves your own server
  2. Secured: if you don’t know the password, you can’t get in
  3. Persistent: even across container or server restarts
  4. Import your OpenAPI v3 files
  5. Easy single-file data import / export
  6. Requests are executed on your machine so you can call localhost as well as remote servers
  7. Most importantly: dark mode default

⚡ Install

To have the best experience with Yaade run the docker container on your server and install the browser extension on your local machine.

1. ? Docker

$ docker volume create yaade
$ docker run -d --restart=always -p 9339:9339 -e YAADE_ADMIN_USERNAME=admin -v yaade:/app/data --name yaade esperotech/yaade:latest

The default password is password. After login go to ⚙️ > Account and change the password.

2. ? Extension

Yaade uses a browser extension as a proxy to enable CORS requests. Install the extension using your browsers extension store. Currently only a chrome extension is available. You can find it here. Then open it and input your server URL, eg. https://yaade.example.com/. From that point all requests originating from your Yaade browser tabs will be proxied through the extension.

⚠️ DO NO FORGET TO ADD A TRAILING SLASH TO YOUR URL https://yaade.example.com -> https://yaade.example.com/.

? Technology

  1. SPA built with TypeScript, React and Vite.
  2. Backend built with Kotlin.
  3. H2 file-based database.
  4. Browser extension with plain JavaScript.

?️ Local development

  1. Install the required dependencies
    • Java 11
    • Kotlin
    • Node >= 16
  2. Clone the repository
  3. Install the project specific dependencies

$ cd scripts/
$ chmod +x install.sh
$ ./install.sh
  1. Start the server on port 9339 using your IDE of choice (I use IntelliJ IDEA)
    • you can also run it by using the jar file directly $ java -jar server/build/libs/yaade-server-1.0-SNAPSHOT
    • note that you must set the environment variable YAADE_ADMIN_USERNAME to run
  2. Start the vite dev server on port 9338

$ cd client/
$ npm run dev
  1. Start the dev-proxy on port 9337

$ cd dev-proxy/
$ node index.js
  1. Now open your browser and visit http://localhost:9337

? Build

$ cd scripts/
$ chmod +x build.sh
$ ./build.sh

Screenshots

? Dark mode

☀️ Light mode

? How can I contribute?

Your contribution is very welcome! First open an issue about the topic you want to contribute on, eg. adding a new feature, bugfixing or refactoring. We will then discuss further details. Eventually, I will review your Pull Request and merge / release it.

GitHub

View Github