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Generating an API

This guide explains how to generate an API using Gateway’s discovery mechanism.

Prerequisites

Before generating an API, ensure you have:

  1. Gateway installed using one of the installation methods
  2. Get connection string to your database and make sure its accessable
  3. Prepare LLM provider API key

Using the Discovery Command

Gateway provides a convenient command for automatically discovering and generating API configurations:

Terminal window
# Basic command to get help
./gateway --help

Setting up Database Connection

First, create a connection configuration file (e.g., connection.yaml) with your database credentials:

# Example connection.yaml
type: postgres
hosts:
  - localhost
user: postgres
password: mysecretpassword
database: sampledb
port: 5432

Choosing one of our supported AI providers:

Google Gemini provides a generous free tier. You can obtain an API key by visiting Google AI Studio:

Once logged in, you can create an API key in the API section of AI Studio. The free tier includes a generous monthly token allocation, making it accessible for development and testing purposes.

Configure AI provider authorization. For Google Gemini, set an API key.

Terminal window
export GEMINI_API_KEY='yourkey'

Running the Discovery Command with AI Assistance

Use the following command to generate an API with AI assistance:

Terminal window
./gateway discover \
  --ai-provider gemini \
  --config connection.yaml \
  --prompt "Develop an API that enables a chatbot to retrieve information about data. \
Try to place yourself as analyst and think what kind of data you will require, \
based on that come up with useful API methods for that"

Parameter Descriptions:

  • discover: Activates the discovery mechanism to analyze your database using AI
  • --ai-provider: Supported AI Provider
  • --config connection.yaml: Path to the database connection configuration file
  • --tables: Specify which tables to include in API generation (can accept comma-separated list, eg “orders,sales,customers”)
  • --prompt "...": Customizes the AI’s approach to generating the API based on your specific needs

After running this command, Gateway will generate a gateway.yaml configuration file. This file contains the complete API definition, including:

  • Endpoint definitions
  • SQL queries for each endpoint
  • Parameter mappings
  • Response transformations

You can review and modify this file to verify SQL queries or enable additional features such as PII data cleansing through plugin configurations.

Next Steps

After generating your API:

  1. Review the generated configuration files
  2. Customize endpoints and parameters as needed
  3. Run Gateway with your configuration:
    Terminal window
    ./gateway start --config gateway.yaml