Excalibase REST

Zero-configuration REST API from your database schema.

Point Excalibase REST at your PostgreSQL database and get instant REST endpoints — no controllers, no DTOs, no manual configuration. Every table becomes a resource, every column becomes a filterable parameter.

How it works

On startup, Excalibase REST introspects your PostgreSQL schema and generates route handlers for every table. The routes follow a consistent pattern:

Everything — filtering, sorting, pagination, aggregations, relationship expansion — is controlled via query parameters. No request body schema to define, no OpenAPI spec to write by hand.

What you get

• 20+ filter operators — eq, gt, ilike, in, is.null, jsoncontains, and more
• Inline aggregations — ?select=count(),amount.sum() for instant analytics without extra endpoints
• Relationship expansion — ?expand=customer includes the related row inline
• Cursor and offset pagination — both styles, configurable page size
• Composite key support — GET /api/v1/order_items/1,2
• Column selection — ?select=title,rental_rate to return only what you need
• OpenAPI spec — auto-generated at /api/v1/openapi.json, importable into Swagger, Postman, or Insomnia
• Real-time CDC subscriptions — stream INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE events via SSE or WebSocket, powered by NATS JetStream
• Prefer: count=exact header — opt-in exact row count for paginated responses

Performance

Excalibase REST adds 5–10ms overhead over raw SQL. The architecture is intentionally lean:

• HikariCP connection pool — queries go straight to the database
• Schema metadata cache — introspection only happens at startup, not per-request
• Query complexity analysis — prevents accidental full-table scans and runaway queries

Supported Databases

GitHub

github.com/excalibase/excalibase-rest