A SQLite REST and Realtime server

Usage

Docker

This is the preferred method as the dependency better-sqlite3 is making of lot of assumptions about the system it will be installed and running on which in most cases will lead to errors when installing soul.

Using the following Dockerfile:

Dockerfile

# node:19-alpine amd64
FROM node@sha256:d0ba7111bc031323ce2706f8e424afc868db289ba40ff55b05561cf59c123be1 AS node

WORKDIR /app

ENV NODE_ENV="production"

COPY package-lock.json package.json ./

RUN apk update && apk add python3=3.11.10-r1 build-base=0.5-r3 && npm ci

COPY . .

CMD [ "npm", "start" ]

You can proceed to building the application.

npm

  npm install -g soul-cli

1. Running Soul

Soul is command line tool, after installing it, Run soul -d sqlite.db -p 8000 and it'll start a REST API on http://localhost:8000 and a Websocket server on ws://localhost:8000.

Usage: soul [options]


Options:
            --version                               Show version number                                 [boolean]
  -d,       --database                              SQLite database file or :memory:                    [string] [required]
  -p,       --port                                  Port to listen on                                   [number]
  -r,       --rate-limit-enabled                    Enable rate limiting                                [boolean]
  -c,       --cors                                  CORS whitelist origins                              [string]
  --env,    --envpath                               Path to load .env file                              [string]
  -a,       --auth                                  Enable authentication and authorization             [boolean]

  --iuu,     --initialuserusername                   Initial user username                               [string]
  --iup,     --initialuserpassword                   Initial user password                               [string]

  --ts,      --tokensecret                           Token Secret                                        [string]
  --atet,    --accesstokenexpirationtime             Access Token Expiration Time    (Default: 5H)       [string]
  --rtet,    --refreshtokenexpirationtime            Refresh Token Expiration Time   (Default: 1D)       [string]
  -S,       --studio                                 Start Soul Studio in parallel
  --help                                             Show help

Then to test Soul is working run the following command

curl http://localhost:8000/api/tables

It should return a list of the tables inside sqlite.db database.

2. Running Soul in Auth mode

To run Soul in auth mode, allowing login and signup features with authorization capabilities in your database tables, follow these steps:

Run the Soul command with the necessary parameters:


  soul -d foobar.db -a --ts=<your_jwt_secret_value> --atet=4H --rtet=3D --iuu=john --iup=<your_password>

Note: When configuring your JWT Secret, it is recommended to use a long string value for enhanced security. It is advisable to use a secret that is at least 10 characters in length.

In this example:

The -a flag instructs Soul to run in auth mode.
The --ts flag allows you to pass a JWT secret value for the access and refresh tokens generation and verification. Replace <your_jwt_secret_value> with your desired secret value.
The --atet flag sets the JWT expiration time for the access token. In this case, it is set to four hours (4H), meaning the token will expire after 4 hours.
The --rtet flag sets the JWT expiration time for the refresh token. In this case, it is set to three days (3D), meaning the token will expire after 3 days.
The --iuu flag is used to pass a username for the initial user
The --iup flag is used to pass a password for the initial user

Here are some example values for the atet and rtet flags

60M: Represents a duration of 60 minutes.
5H: Represents a duration of 5 hours.
1D: Represents a duration of 1 day.

NOTE: It is crucial to securely store a copy of the --ts(Token Secret) value used in Soul. Once you pass this values, make sure to keep a backup because you will need it every time you restart Soul. Losing this secret values can result in a situation where all of your users are blocked from accessing Soul.

3. Updating Super Users

To modify a superuser information in a database, you can utilize the updatesuperuser command. This command allows you to change a superuser's password or upgrade/downgrade a normal user to a superuser. Below is an example of how to use it:

soul -d foobar.db updatesuperuser --id=1 password=<new_password_for_the_user> // Update the password for the superuser with ID 1

soul -d foobar.db updatesuperuser --id=1 --is_superuser=true // Upgrade the user with ID 1 to a superuser

soul -d foobar.db updatesuperuser --id=1 --is_superuser=false // Revoke the superuser role from the superuser with ID 1

Passing Custom Path for .env File

There might be cases where you want to pass a custom path for your .env file. For this, you can use the --env flag when running the soul command, providing the absolute file path of your .env file.

soul -d foobar.db --env=/absolute/path/of/your/.env/file

NOTE:

You should pass an absolute file path of the .env file.
Relative paths are not allowed.
Don't forget to include the .env file in the specified path.

Documentation

API documentation is available while the project is running at http://localhost:8000/api/docs

There's also a list of all endpoints examples at docs/api-examples.md

For websocket examples, check docs/ws-examples.md

For detailed information on how authentication works in Soul, please refer to the docs/auth.md

Extending Soul

Soul is able to be extended (e.g. Adding custom APIs) via extensions, you can find a list of extensions at docs/extensions-examples.md

Soul-mates

A collection of projects that revolve around the Soul ecosystem.

Soul Studio provides a GUI to work with your database.

Right now Soul Studio is in early stages of development and not useful to work with.
RCO-Soul The purpose of this project is to demonstrate how to run a React admin client using Soul as a REST API service.
dber Database design tool based on entity relation diagram

Development

git clone https://github.com/thevahidal/soul # Clone project

cp .env.sample .env # Duplicate sample environment variables
vim .env # Update the environment variables

npm install # Install dependencies
npm run dev # Start the dev server

Testing

Set the AUTH variable to true in your .env file.
Provide a username for the INITIAL_USER_USERNAME environment variable. The username should be a valid, meaningful username.
Provide a strong password for the INITIAL_USER_PASSWORD environment variable. The password should be at least 8 characters long and contain a combination of lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters, for example: "Str0ng$Pw!".
Provider a secret for the TOKEN_SECRET environment variable.
Use the following command to run the tests:

 npm run test

Make sure to replace the placeholders with the appropriate values for your environment.

Hosting Static Content Using Soul

You can host static content using Soul by utilizing its extensions feature. This allows you to expose your static application through Soul, enabling users to access your content without hosting multiple applications. please check this document