npm install json-server

Create a db.json or db.json5 file

{
  "posts": [
    { "id": "1", "title": "a title", "views": 100 },
    { "id": "2", "title": "another title", "views": 200 }
  ],
  "comments": [
    { "id": "1", "text": "a comment about post 1", "postId": "1" },
    { "id": "2", "text": "another comment about post 1", "postId": "1" }
  ],
  "profile": {
    "name": "typicode"
  }
}

{
  posts: [
    { id: '1', title: 'a title', views: 100 },
    { id: '2', title: 'another title', views: 200 },
  ],
  comments: [
    { id: '1', text: 'a comment about post 1', postId: '1' },
    { id: '2', text: 'another comment about post 1', postId: '1' },
  ],
  profile: {
    name: 'typicode',
  },
}

Pass it to JSON Server CLI

$ npx json-server db.json

Get a REST API

$ curl http://localhost:3000/posts/1
{
  "id": "1",
  "title": "a title"
}

Run json-server --help for a list of options

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Based on the example db.json, you'll get the following routes:

GET    /posts
GET    /posts/:id
POST   /posts
PUT    /posts/:id
PATCH  /posts/:id
DELETE /posts/:id

# Same for comments

GET   /profile
PUT   /profile
PATCH /profile

• → ==
• lt → <
• lte → <=
• gt → >
• gte → >=
• ne → !=

GET /posts?views_gt=9000

• start
• end
• limit

GET /posts?_start=10&_end=20
GET /posts?_start=10&_limit=10

• page
• per_page (default = 10)

GET /posts?_page=1&_per_page=25

• _sort=f1,f2

GET /posts?_sort=id,-views

• x.y.z...
• x.y.z[i]...

GET /foo?a.b=bar
GET /foo?x.y_lt=100
GET /foo?arr[0]=bar

GET /posts?_embed=comments
GET /comments?_embed=post

DELETE /posts/1
DELETE /posts/1?_dependent=comments

If you create a ./public directory, JSON Serve will serve its content in addition to the REST API.

You can also add custom directories using -s/--static option.

json-server -s ./static
json-server -s ./static -s ./node_modules

• id is always a string and will be generated for you if missing
• use _per_page with _page instead of _limitfor pagination
• use Chrome's Network tab > throtling to delay requests instead of --delay CLI option