Crafter is an API Blueprint parser written in pure JavaScript. It is a replacement for Drafter library with some handy features added.

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Drafter is written in C++, so the code is pretty complicated and obscure while containing a lot of bugs and legacy. It is hard to understand how some of its parts work. And if bug fixes are welcomed by maintainers, adding a new feature could become an obstacle.

Our company has a tiny percent of C++ projects, so almost none of the developers can maintain Drafter.

That is why we decided to create own JavaScript replacement which eliminates all previously described limitations, is easy to maintain, and allows us to add all needed features.

Compared to Drafter, this library can offer some important features:

• Modules. Now it is possible to split one giant file into parts and inject APIB files into each other, which makes documentation easy to use.
• Resource Prototypes allow you to set up common responses in one place and reuse them through the documentation.
• Support of arrays in query strings.
• JSON Schema based types. In case of complex types it is possible to describe them directly as JSON Schema.
• String validation attributes that describe the expected length of parameters and regular expressions they should match.
• Describe a non-HTTP interaction (as WebSocket) by means of Message section.

Additional information about how the library works is placed in the docs directory.

Global install:

npm install -g @funboxteam/crafter

Local install:

npm install --save @funboxteam/crafter

Parse a file:

const crafter = require('@funboxteam/crafter');

const apibFile = 'doc.apib';
const ast = (await crafter.parseFile(apibFile))[0].toRefract();

Or provide a string variable containing APIB documentation:

const crafter = require('@funboxteam/crafter');

const source = '# My API\n\n## List users [GET /users]\n\n+ Response 200';
const ast = (await crafter.parse(source))[0].toRefract();

To parse a file named doc.apib run the next command:

crafter [options] doc.apib

• -f, --format <format> — set output format of the parse result. Available formats: json, yaml. Default is yaml.
• -s, --sourcemap — export source maps in the parse result.
• -d, --debug — enable debugging mode, which disables catching some of the exceptions.
• -l, --langserver — enable tolerant mode, which is used in language server.
• -h, --help — output usage information.

npm test

To run @funboxteam/crafter as a Docker container execute the next command in the directory with documentation:

docker run \
  --rm \
  -v $(pwd):/app \
  funbox/crafter -f json doc-file.apib

The default working directory of the image is set to /app, therefore it is easier to mount a host directory into the /app. Then just a filename as a parameter will do.

To run a container in Windows, add a slash (/) before pwd. The command will look like this:

docker run \
  --rm \
  -v /$(pwd):/app/doc \
  funbox/crafter -f json doc/doc-file.apib

There is a chance that the mounted directory is empty. In this case, check that your hard drive is marked as shared. This setting can be found in the settings of Docker Desktop for Windows, Shared Drives section. If the disk is not shared, mark it as shared, apply changes, and restart Docker Desktop.

We use JSON API widely in the company, so each day our developers face such issues as describing and approving API documentation, tracking changes, distributing documentation among partners, and so on. That is why we felt a strong need for convenient tools to work with documentation.

Historically, the battle was between API Blueprint and Swagger. We chose API Blueprint for two reasons. Firstly, the source code of documentation that is described using API Blueprint is more readable to humans. Secondly, at the time of research conducted, Swagger lacked several important features, as One Of support.

Awesome logo for the project was made by Igor Garybaldi.