micro api
The micro api is an API gateway for microservices. Use the API gateway pattern to provide a
single entry point for your services. The micro api serves HTTP and dynamically routes to the appropriate backend using service discovery.
Overview
The micro api is a HTTP api. Requests to the API are served over HTTP and internally routed via RPC. It builds on
go-micro, leveraging it for service discovery, load balancing, encoding and RPC based communication.
Because the micro api uses go-micro internally, this also makes it pluggable. See go-plugins for
support for gRPC, kubernetes, etcd, nats, rabbitmq and more.
Getting started
Install
go get -u github.com/micro/micro
Run
micro api
Use ACME
Serve securely by default using ACME via letsencrypt
MICRO_ENABLE_ACME=true micro api
Optionally specify a host whitelist
MICRO_ENABLE_ACME=true \
MICRO_ACME_HOSTS=example.com,api.example.com \
micro api
Use TLS Certs
The API supports serving securely with TLS certificates
MICRO_ENABLE_TLS=true \
MICRO_TLS_CERT_FILE=/path/to/cert \
MICRO_TLS_KEY_FILE=/path/to/key \
micro api
Set Namespace
The API makes use of namespaces to logically separate backend and public facing services. The namespace and http path
are used to resolve service name/method. The default namespace is go.micro.api
.
MICRO_NAMESPACE=com.example.api micro api
Examples
Here we have an example of a 3 tier architecture
micro api
: (localhost:8080) - serving as the http entry point
api service
: (go.micro.api.greeter) - serving a public facing api
backend service
: (go.micro.srv.greeter) - internally scoped service
The full example is at examples/greeter
Run Example
Prereq: Ensure you are running service discovery e.g consul agent -dev
Get examples
git clone https://github.com/micro/examples
Start the service
go run examples/greeter/srv/main.go
Start the API
go run examples/greeter/api/api.go
Start the micro api
micro api
Query
Make a HTTP call via the micro api
curl "http://localhost:8080/greeter/say/hello?name=John"
The HTTP path /greeter/say/hello maps to service go.micro.api.greeter method Say.Hello
Bypass the api service and call the backend directly via /rpc
curl -d 'service=go.micro.srv.greeter' \
-d 'method=Say.Hello' \
-d 'request={"name": "John"}' \
http://localhost:8080/rpc
Make the same call entirely as JSON
curl -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"service": "go.micro.srv.greeter", "method": "Say.Hello", "request": {"name": "John"}}' \
http://localhost:8080/rpc
API
The micro api provides the following HTTP api
- /[service]/[method] # HTTP paths are dynamically mapped to services
- /rpc # Explicitly call a backend service by name and method
See below for examples
Handlers
Handlers are HTTP handlers which manage request routing.
The default handler uses endpoint metadata from the registry to determine service routes. If a route match is not found it will
fallback to the API handler. You can configure routes on registration using the go-api.
The API has the following configurable request handlers.
api
- Handles any HTTP request. Gives full control over the http request/response via RPC.
event
- Handles any HTTP request and publishes to a message bus.
http
- Handles any HTTP request and forwards as a reverse proxy.
rpc
- Handles json and protobuf POST requests. Forwards as RPC.
web
- The HTTP handler with web socket support included.
Optionally bypass the handlers with the /rpc
endpoint
API Handler
The API handler is the default handler. It serves any HTTP requests and forwards on as an RPC request with a specific format.
- Content-Type: Any
- Body: Any
- Forward Format: api.Request/api.Response
- Path:
/[service]/[method]
- Resolver: Path is used to resolve service and method
- Configure: Flag
--handler=api
or env var MICRO_API_HANDLER=api
- The default handler when no handler is specified
Event Handler
The event handler serves HTTP and forwards the request as a message over a message bus using the go-micro broker.
- Content-Type: Any
- Body: Any
- Forward Format: Request is formatted as go-api/proto.Event
- Path:
/[topic]/[event]
- Resolver: Path is used to resolve topic and event name
- Configure: Flag
--handler=event
or env var MICRO_API_HANDLER=event
HTTP Handler
The http handler is a http reserve proxy with built in service discovery.
- Content-Type: Any
- Body: Any
- Forward Format: HTTP Reverse proxy
- Path:
/[service]
- Resolver: Path is used to resolve service name
- Configure: Flag
--handler=http
or env var MICRO_API_HANDLER=http
- REST can be implemented behind the API as microservices
RPC Handler
The RPC handler serves json or protobuf HTTP POST requests and forwards as an RPC request.
- Content-Type:
application/json
or application/protobuf
- Body: JSON or Protobuf
- Forward Format: json-rpc or proto-rpc based on content
- Path:
/[service]/[method]
- Resolver: Path is used to resolve service and method
- Configure: Flag
--handler=rpc
or env var MICRO_API_HANDLER=rpc
Web Handler
The web handler is a http reserve proxy with built in service discovery and web socket support.
- Content-Type: Any
- Body: Any
- Forward Format: HTTP Reverse proxy including web sockets
- Path:
/[service]
- Resolver: Path is used to resolve service name
- Configure: Flag
--handler=web
or env var MICRO_API_HANDLER=web
RPC endpoint
The /rpc endpoint let's you bypass the main handler to speak to any service directly
- Request Params
service
- sets the service name
method
- sets the service method
request
- the request body
address
- optionally specify host address to target
Example call:
curl -d 'service=go.micro.srv.greeter' \
-d 'method=Say.Hello' \
-d 'request={"name": "Bob"}' \
http://localhost:8080/rpc
Find working examples in github.com/micro/examples/api
Resolver
Micro dynamically routes to services using a namespace value and the HTTP path.
The default namespace is go.micro.api
. Set namespace via --namespace
or MICRO_NAMESPACE=
.
The resolvers used are explained below.
RPC Resolver
RPC services have a name (go.micro.api.greeter) and a method (Greeter.Hello).
URLs are resolved as follows:
Path |
Service |
Method |
/foo/bar |
go.micro.api.foo |
Foo.Bar |
/foo/bar/baz |
go.micro.api.foo |
Bar.Baz |
/foo/bar/baz/cat |
go.micro.api.foo.bar |
Baz.Cat |
Versioned API URLs can easily be mapped to service names:
Path |
Service |
Method |
/foo/bar |
go.micro.api.foo |
Foo.Bar |
/v1/foo/bar |
go.micro.api.v1.foo |
Foo.Bar |
/v1/foo/bar/baz |
go.micro.api.v1.foo |
Bar.Baz |
/v2/foo/bar |
go.micro.api.v2.foo |
Foo.Bar |
/v2/foo/bar/baz |
go.micro.api.v2.foo |
Bar.Baz |
HTTP Resolver
With the http handler we only need to deal with resolving the service name. So the resolution differs slightly to the RPC resolver.
URLS are resolved as follows:
Path |
Service |
Service Path |
/foo |
go.micro.api.foo |
/foo |
/foo/bar |
go.micro.api.foo |
/foo/bar |
/greeter |
go.micro.api.greeter |
/greeter |
/greeter/:name |
go.micro.api.greeter |
/greeter/:name |