kapow/spec

Kapow!

Why?

Because we think that:

• UNIX is great and we love it
• The UNIX shell is great
• HTTP interfaces are convenient and everywhere
• CGI is not a good way to mix them

How?

So, how we can mix the web and the shell? Let's see...

The web and the shell are two different beasts, both packed with history.

There are some concepts in HTTP and the shell that resemble each other.

                 +------------------------+-------------------------+
                 | HTTP                   | Shell                   |
  +--------------+------------------------+-------------------------+
  | Input        | POST form-encoding     | Command line parameters |
  | Parameters   | GET parameters         | Environment variables   |
  |              | Headers                |                         |
  |              | Serialized body (JSON) |                         |
  +--------------+------------------------+-------------------------+
  | Data Streams | Response/Request Body  | stdin/stdout/stderr     |
  |              | Websocket              | Input/Output files      |
  |              | Uploaded files         |                         |
  +--------------+------------------------+-------------------------+
  | Control      | Status codes           | Signals                 |
  |              | HTTP Methods           | Exit Codes              |
  +--------------+------------------------+-------------------------+

Any tool designed to give an HTTP interface to an existing shell command must map concepts from both domains. For example:

• "GET parameters" to "Command line parameters"
• "Headers" to "Environment variables"
• "stdout" to "Response body"

Kapow! is not opinionated about the different ways you can map both worlds. Instead, it provides a concise set of tools, with a set of sensible defaults, allowing the user to express the desired mapping in an explicit way.

Why not tool "X"?

All the alternatives we found are rigid about the way they match between HTTP and shell concepts.

• shell2http: HTTP-server to execute shell commands. Designed for development, prototyping or remote control. Settings through two command line arguments, path and shell command.
• websocketd: Turn any program that uses STDIN/STDOUT into a WebSocket server. Like inetd, but for WebSockets.
• webhook: webhook is a lightweight incoming webhook server to run shell commands.
• gotty: GoTTY is a simple command line tool that turns your CLI tools into web applications. Note that this tool works only with interactive commands.
• shell-microservice-exposer: Expose your own scripts as a cool microservice API dockerizing it.

Tools with a rigid matching can't evade impedance mismatch. Resulting in an easy-to-use software, convenient in some scenarios but incapable in others.

Why not my good-old programming language "X"?

• Boilerplate
• Custom code = More bugs
• Security issues (command injection, etc)
• Dependency on developers
• "A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant" Alan Perlis
• There is more Unix-nature in one line of shell script than there is in ten thousand lines of C Master Foo

Why not CGI?

• CGI is also rigid about how it matches between HTTP and UNIX process concepts. Notably CGI meta-variables are injected into the script's environment; this behavior can and has been exploited by nasty attacks such as Shellshock.
• Trying to leverage CGI from a shell script could be less cumbersome in some cases but possibly being more error-prone. For instance, since in CGI everything written to the standard output becomes the body of the response, any leaked command output would corrupt the HTTP response.

What?

We named it Kapow!. It is pronounceable, short and meaningless... like every good UNIX command ;-)

TODO: Definition

TODO: Intro to Architecture

API

Kapow! server interacts with the outside world only through its HTTP API. Any program making the correct HTTP request to a Kapow! server can change its behavior.

Kapow! exposes two distinct APIs, a control API and a data API, described below.

HTTP Control API

It allows you to configure the Kapow! service. This API is available during the whole lifetime of the server.

Design Principles

• All requests and responses will leverage JSON as the data encoding method.
• The API calls responses will have two distinct parts:
  • The HTTP status code (e.g., 400, which is a bad request). The target audience of this information is the client code. The client can thus use this information to control the program flow.
  • The JSON-encoded message. The target audience in this case is the human operating the client. The human can use this information to make a decision on how to proceed.
• All successful API calls will return a representation of the final state attained by the objects which have been addressed (either requested, set or deleted).

For instance, given this request:

HTTP/1.1 GET /routes

an appropiate reponse may look like this:

200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Content-Length: 189

[
  {
    "method": "GET",
    "url_pattern": "/hello",
    "entrypoint": null,
    "command": "echo Hello World | response /body",
    "index": 0
  }
]

API Elements

Kapow! provides a way to control its internal state through these elements.

Routes

Routes are the mechanism that allows Kapow! to find the correct program to respond to an external event (e.g. an incoming HTTP request).

List routes

Returns JSON data about the current routes.

• URL: /routes
• Method: GET
• Success Responses:
  • Code: 200 OK
    Content:
    

    [
      {
        "method": "GET",
        "url_pattern": "/hello",
        "entrypoint": null,
        "command": "echo Hello World | response /body"
      },
      {
        "method": "POST",
        "url_pattern": "/bye",
        "entrypoint": null,
        "command": "echo Bye World | response /body"
      }
    ]
    

• Sample Call: $ curl $KAPOW_URL/routes
• Notes: Currently all routes are returned; in the future, a filter may be accepted.

Append route

Accepts JSON data that defines a new route to be appended to the current routes.

• URL: /routes
• Method: POST
• Header: Content-Type: application/json
• Data Params:
  

  {
    "method": "GET",
    "url_pattern": "/hello",
    "entrypoint": null,
    "command": "echo Hello World | response /body"
  }
  

• Success Responses:
  • Code: 201 Created
    Header: Content-Type: application/json
    Content:
    

    {
      "method": "GET",
      "url_pattern": "/hello",
      "entrypoint": null,
      "command": "echo Hello World | response /body",
      "index": 0
    }
    

• Error Responses:
  • Code: 400 Malformed JSON
  • Code: 400 Invalid Data Type
  • Code: 400 Invalid Route Spec
  • Code: 400 Missing Mandatory Field
    Header: Content-Type: application/json
    Content:

    {
      "missing_mandatory_fields": [
        "url_pattern",
        "command"
      ]
    }
    

• Sample Call:

  $ curl -X POST --data-binary @- $KAPOW_URL/routes <<EOF
  {
    "method": "GET",
    "url_pattern": "/hello",
    "entrypoint": null,
    "command": "echo Hello World | response /body",
    "index": 0
  }
  EOF
  

• Notes:
  • A successful request will yield a response containing all the effective parameters that were applied.
  • Kapow! won't try to validate the submitted command. Any errors will happen at runtime, and trigger a 500 status code.

Insert a route

Accepts JSON data that defines a new route to be inserted at the specified index to the current routes.

• URL: /routes
• Method: PUT
• Header: Content-Type: application/json
• Data Params:
  

  {
    "method": "GET",
    "url_pattern": "/hello",
    "entrypoint": null,
    "command": "echo Hello World | response /body",
  }
  

• Success Responses:
  • Code: 200 OK
    Header: Content-Type: application/json
    Content:
    

    {
      "method": "GET",
      "url_pattern": "/hello",
      "entrypoint": null,
      "command": "echo Hello World | response /body",
      "index": 0
    }
    

• Error Responses:
  • Code: 400 Malformed JSON
  • Code: 400 Invalid Data Type
  • Code: 400 Invalid Route Spec
  • Code: 400 Missing Mandatory Field
    Header: Content-Type: application/json
    Content:

    {
      "missing_mandatory_fields": [
        "url_pattern",
        "command"
      ]
    }
    

  • Code: 400 Invalid Index Type
  • Code: 400 Index Already in Use
  • Code: 404 Invalid Index
  • Code: 404 Invalid Route Spec
• Sample Call:

  $ curl -X PUT --data-binary @- $KAPOW_URL/routes <<EOF`
  {
    "method": "GET",
    "url_pattern": "/hello",
    "entrypoint": null,
    "command": "echo Hello World | response /body",
    "index": 0
  }
  EOF
  

• Notes:
  • Route numbering starts at zero.
  • When index is not provided or is less than 0 the route will be inserted first, effectively making it index 0.
  • Conversely, when index is greater than the number of entries on the route table, it will be inserted last.
  • A successful request will yield a response containing all the effective parameters that were applied.

Delete a route

Removes the route identified by :id.

• URL: /routes/:id
• Method: DELETE
• Success Responses:
  • Code: 200 OK
    Content:

    {
      "method": "GET",
      "url_pattern": "/hello",
      "entrypoint": null,
      "command": "echo Hello World | response /body",
      "index": 0
    }
    

• Error Responses:
  • Code: 404 Not Found
• Sample Call:

  $ curl -X DELETE $KAPOW_URL/routes/ROUTE_1f186c92_f906_4506_9788_a1f541b11d0f
  

• Notes:

HTTP Data API

It is the channel through which the actual HTTP data flows during the request/response cycle, both reading from the request as well as writing to the response.

Design Principles

• According to established best practices we use the HTTP methods as follows:
  • GET: Read data without any side-effects.
  • PUT: Overwrite existing data.
• The API calls responses will have two distinct parts:
  • The HTTP status code (e.g., 400, which is a bad request). The target audience of this information is the client code. The client can thus use this information to control the program flow.
  • The HTTP reason phrase. The target audience in this case is the human operating the client. The human can use this information to make a decision on how to proceed.
• Regarding HTTP request and response bodies:
  • The response body will be empty in case of error.
  • It will transport binary data in other case.

API Elements

The data API consists of a single element, the handler.

Handlers

Handlers are in-memory data structures exposing the data of the current request and response.

Each handler is identified by a handler_id and provide access to the following resource paths:

/                               The root of the resource paths tree
│
├─ request                      All information related to the HTTP request.  Read-Only
│  ├──── method                 Used HTTP Method (GET, POST)
│  ├──── path                   Complete URL path (URL-unquoted)
│  ├──── matches                Previously matched URL path parts
│  │     └──── <name>
│  ├──── params                 URL parameters (post ? symbol)
│  │     └──── <name>
│  ├──── headers                HTTP request headers
│  │     └──── <name>
│  ├──── cookies                HTTP request cookie
│  │     └──── <name>
│  ├──── form                   Form-urlencoded form fields
│  │     └──── <name>
│  ├──── files                  Files uploaded via multi-part form fields
│  │     └──── <name>
│  │           └──── filename   Original file name
│  │           └──── content    The file content
│  └──── body                   HTTP request body
│
└─ response                     All information related to the HTTP request.  Write-Only
   ├──── status                 HTTP status code
   ├──── headers                HTTP response headers
   │     └──── <name>
   ├──── cookies                HTTP request cookie
   │     └──── <name>
   ├──── body                   Response body.  Mutually exclusive with response/stream
   └──── stream                 Chunk-encoded body.  Streamed response.  Mutually exclusive with response/body

Example Keys

• Read the request URL path.
  • Scenario: Request URL is http://localhost:8080/example?q=foo&r=bar
  • Key: /request/path
  • Access: Read-Only
  • Returned Value: /example?q=foo&r=bar
  • Comment: That would provide read-only access to the request URL path.
• Read an specific URL parameter.
  • Scenario: Request URL is http://localhost:8080/example?q=foo&r=bar
  • Key: /request/params/q
  • Access: Read-Only
  • Returned Value: foo
  • Comment: That would provide read-only access to the request URL parameter q.
• Obtain the Content-Type header of the request.
  • Scenario: A POST request with a JSON body and the header Content-Type set to application/json.
  • Key: /request/headers/Content-Type
  • Access: Read-Only
  • Returned Value: application/json
  • Comment: That would provide read-only access to the value of the request header Content-Type.
• Read a field from a form.
  • Scenario: A request generated by submitting this form:
    

    <form method="post">
      First name:<br>
      <input type="text" name="firstname" value="Jane"><br>
      Last name:<br>
      <input type="text" name="lastname" value="Doe">
      <input type="submit" value="Submit">
    </form>
    

  • Key: /request/form/firstname
  • Access: Read-Only
  • Returned Value: Jane
  • Comment: That would provide read-only access to the value of the field firstname of the form.
• Set the response status code.
  • Scenario: A request is being attended.
  • Key: /response/status
  • Access: Write-Only
  • Acceptable Value: A 3-digit integer. Must match [0-9]{3}.
  • Default Value: 200
  • Comment: It is customary to use the HTTP status code as defined at https://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec6.html#sec6.1.1.
• Set the response body.
  • Scenario: A request is being attended.
  • Key: /response/body
  • Access: Write-Only
  • Acceptable Value: Any string of bytes.
  • Default Value: N/A
  • Comment: For media types other than application/octet-stream you should specify the appropiate Content-Type header.

Note: Parameters under request are read-only and, conversely, parameters under response are write-only.

Get handler resource

Returns the value of the requested resource path, or an error if the resource path doesn't exist or is invalid.

• URL: /handlers/{:handler_id}{:resource_path}
• Method: GET
• URL Params: FIXME: We think that here should be options to cook the value in some way, or get it raw.
• Success Responses:
  • Code: 200 OK
    Header: Content-Type: application/octet-stream
    Content: The value of the resource. Note that it may be empty.
• Error Responses: Code: 400 Invalid Resource Path
  Notes: Check the list of valid resource paths at the top of this section.
  • Code: 404 Not Found
• Sample Call: TODO
• Notes: TODO

Overwrite the value of a resource

• URL: /handlers/{:handler_id}{:resource_path}
• Method: PUT
• URL Params: FIXME: We think that here should be options to cook the value in some way, or pass it raw.
• Data Params: Binary payload.
• Success Responses:
  • Code: 200 OK
• Error Responses:
  • Code: 400 Invalid Payload
  • Code: 400 Invalid Resource Path
    Notes: Check the list of valid resource paths at the top of this section.
  • Code: 404 Handler Not Found
  • Code: 404 Name Not Found
    Notes: Although the resource path is correct, no such name is present in the request. For instance, /request/headers/Foo, when no Foo header is not present in the request.
• Sample Call:
• Notes:

Usage Example

TODO: End-to-end example of the data API.

Test Suite Notes

The test suite is located on [blebleble] directory. You can run it by ...

Framework

Commands

Any compliant implementation of Kapow! must provide these commands:

kapow

This implements the server, XXX

Example

kapow route

Example

request

Example

response

Example

An End-to-End Example

Test Suite Notes

Server

Test Suite Notes