Rick and Morty API

The Rick and Morty API provides a fully typed JavaScript client for easier integration. This client provides access to all API features with type safety.

• GitHub Repository: afuh/rick-and-morty-api-node
• Client Reference: https://javascript.rickandmortyapi.com

The server uses environment variables for configuration. To run the server with specific settings, ensure the following variables are set in your environment or a .env file:

• NODE_ENV: Determines the database connection string. If set to 'test', it uses a -test suffix on the local MongoDB URI. If set to 'production', it uses the DATABASE variable.
• DATABASE: The connection string for the MongoDB instance when NODE_ENV is set to 'production'.
• PORT: The port on which the Express server will listen. Defaults to 8080 if not provided.

# Example .env file
PORT=8080
NODE_ENV=development
DATABASE=mongodb://user:pass@remote-host:27017/rickmorty

Once the server is running, it exposes two primary interfaces:

1. REST API: Available at the /api/ prefix (e.g., http://localhost:${PORT}/api/). Specific routes are defined in the routes module.
2. GraphQL API: Available at the default Apollo Server path (usually /graphql). The server has introspection and playground enabled, allowing you to explore the schema and run queries via a web interface.

Static Assets: Character avatars are served via the /api/character/avatar endpoint, which maps to the local images directory.

REST      → http://localhost:${PORT}/api/
GraphQL   → http://localhost:${PORT}${server.graphqlPath}/

Attempting to access the character avatar endpoint via GET /character/avatar will result in a 404 Not Found error with a standardized error message.

GET /character/avatar

Status: 404
{
  "error": "<message.noPage>"
}

A GET request to the root path (/) returns a JSON object containing the base URLs for the primary resources: characters, locations, and episodes. This is useful for discovering the entry points for the different resource collections.

GET /

{
  "characters": "<baseUrl>/character",
  "locations": "<baseUrl>/location",
  "episodes": "<baseUrl>/episode"
}

The models module serves as the central entry point for accessing the data schemas and models for the Rick and Morty API. It exports three primary models:

• character: Represents character entities.
• location: Represents location entities.
• episode: Represents episode entities.

You can import these models to interact with or validate data structures related to these specific entities.

const models = require('./models');

// Accessing specific models
const Character = models.character;
const Location = models.location;
const Episode = models.episode;

The following environment variables control the server's behavior and connectivity.

NODE_ENV      - Sets environment (test, production, etc.)
DATABASE       - MongoDB connection string (used in production)
PORT           - Port for the Express server (default: 8080)