mock rest api locally

[alexladerman]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. I want to be able to run both the frontend and backend locally, control with environment variables when to produce/consume mock data and have the urls map to the right environment. I don't use GraphQL!

Describe the solution you'd like amplify serve and mock -> frontend on localhost:3000 with env variables of mock && backend on localhost:3001 with env variables of mock

Describe alternatives you've considered writing my own bash script passing environment variables in to every backend function

[attilah]

@alexladerman thanks for the feature request, would you elaborate in details on your requirements, how would you imagine the developer workflow?

[hisham]

+1 for local mocking of API Gateway. I'm surprised this isn't supported yet by amplify mock. It would be nice to be able to run amplify mock and aws-exports.js which is consumed by our web app would automatically point to the localhost REST API rather than the cloud one.

I'm currently able to run the express server locally via amplify function invoke, but automatically changing aws-exports.js and hot reloading the express server on code change does not happen through this method.

[waldothedeveloper]

Add me to this list. Let's pass this bill to congress!

[tim-payton]

This would be really useful!

[IsaacTrevino]

At the moment i'm using: amplify function invoke restapiName this works pretty well. https://aws-amplify.github.io/docs/js/react#testing-serverless-functions

[andre347]

+1 on this one. Would be great to quickly run amplify mock api when you have a basic rest api with express. I don't have a GraphQL backend so mock doesn't work.

[Lasim]

+1

[AbirAbbas]

we can no longer use amplify function invoke to do this, this feature would be really useful for those of us who aren't using GraphQL!

[RealSlimMahdi]

+1 need this functionality

[hooiyung]

+1 or any alternative?

[AbirAbbas]

Hey guys, an alternative is to cd into the src folder and run the command “node app.js” and using dotenv for local environments, this will host your function on localhost port 3000 and u can test with postman. You can also use nodemon for hot reload.

[hamedmam]

+1

[alexkates]

+1

[rileyschuit]

+1

[AbirAbbas]

hello, can we please add the old amplify function invoke flow back? this is definitely making definitely significantly more tedious as the mock functionality replaced something that was working with something that is broken...

[rileyschuit]

I used @AbirAbbas method and it does work. (thank you) It would be VERY NICE if I could use amplify mock api <NAME>, have aws-exports.js generate my local environment for my clientside app, and fully test. I am also thinking this would allow for easier testing in a pipeline.

[dtelaroli]

+1

[laygir]

+1

[dafixios]

+1

[araviind0009]

+1

[arturocanalda]

+1

[mm-ct]

+1

[nguyenan]

+1 We are also waiting for this

[deepaksingh007]

+1

[Rezaavoor]

in addition to @AbirAbbas workaround, for ease of development you can add a script to your main package.json file that runs the command "node app.js". package.json: "scripts": { "server_dev": "node amplify/backend/function/<function_name>/src/app.js" }

and then just run npm run server_dev

[dtelaroli]

This works only if you use a pure node project. If you use layers for example, it's not work.

[JtawRobot]

Up

[tobiasriemenschneider]

+1

[lis10app]

+1

[rodrigovcortezi]

+1

[loganpowell]

Is this why - when I submit a query to the mock api - I get:

{ errorMessage: 'Must provide Source. Received: undefined' } 

?

[itachiluan]

+1, since we are able to use sam local start-api to test the REST APIs locally, I think it is reasonable to assume that Amplify is able to provide something similar :)

[deanbarrow]

I'll share my workaround for this issue, it will allow local testing for the REST API, I've not looked into a local GraphQL API.

I just run yarn start for the frontend and yarn mock for the backend. You can also pass in events, see below.

package.json (at project root level to save changing to the function directory each time)

"scripts": {
"start": "cross-env PORT=8000 react-app-rewired start",
"mock": "nodemon amplify/backend/function/[YOUR API NAME]/src/index.js",
"mock:event": "nodemon amplify/backend/function/[YOUR API NAME]/src/index.js ./events/event.json",
}

Backend index.js

const handler = async (event, context) => {
  const awsServerlessExpress = require('aws-serverless-express')
  const app = require('./app')
  const server = awsServerlessExpress.createServer(app)

  console.log(`EVENT: ${JSON.stringify(event, null, 2)}`)

  // Express app
  return awsServerlessExpress.proxy(server, event, context, 'PROMISE').promise
}

;(async function () {
  /**
   * Support running function locally
   * ---------------------------------
   * Run `yarn mock` from project root
   * Requires `.env` in project root with:
   * - ENV=
   * - REGION=
   * - AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=
   * - AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=
   * - MOCK=true
   */
  if (
    process.env.npm_package_scripts_mock &&
    process.env.npm_package_scripts_mock.includes('nodemon')
  ) {
    process.env.MOCK = true
    require('dotenv').config()

    // getting the event from passed args
    const event = process.argv[2] ? require(process.argv[2]) : ''
    if (!event)
      console.log(
        `No event - run 'yarn mock:event' etc...`
      )
    const res = await handler(event, {
      done: () => {}, // err, success
    })
    if (res) console.log({ statusCode: res.statusCode, body: res.body })
  }
})()

module.exports = {
  handler,
}

React frontend

import Amplify from 'aws-amplify'
import React from 'react'
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom'

import App from './app'
import awsconfig from './aws-exports'

if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development') {
  awsconfig.aws_cloud_logic_custom = awsconfig.aws_cloud_logic_custom.map(
    (config) => {
      if (config.name === '[YOUR API NAME]') {
        config.endpoint = `http://${window.location.hostname}:3000`
      }
      return config
    }
  )
}
Amplify.configure(awsconfig)

ReactDOM.render(<App />, document.getElementById('root'))

Note, I've taken this code from my app and stripped it down, might need adjusting to work.

[kanelincoln]

+1

[StefanV85]

+1 please add it!

[w0wka91]

+1

[agyimr]

We are currently evaluating migrating away from AWS Amplify for exactly these kind of reasons. Not being able to test locally is an essential feature the lack of which drastically slows down development cycles.

[rodrigowpl]

I'm also having issues running locally and it's being really a pain. I'm reading the docs: https://docs.amplify.aws/cli/usage/mock

From my understanding, this only mocks the API and not the functions. Could u please recommend me clear instructions about how can I work locally?

[mcmoodoo]

Our team will start migrating away from 'amplify' and back to containers.

Issues like this make it impossible to develop and iterate fast!

I wouldn't say it was a waste of time though to try amplify. There are a lot of neat features, but it definitely needs more engineering force behind its development.

[k3b0]

+1

[SHIJILKAILAS]

+1

[Lasim]

Still no update on this topic?

[nbeuchat]

+1

[laygir]

in case the maintainers need more +1's, here's another one, +1

[derevo]

Here's one more +1 :)

As a newcomer to amplify, I was surprised at the lack of this ability, but I also understand the potential complexity.

[theabbie]

This would be really great +1

[jgverzosa]

+1

[danbueno20]

+1 It's fine to close duplicates, but it's frustrating when there are no comments added here in terms of whether it's even on the radar... I've definitely been finding Amplify with Python to have more issues than it's really helping with at this point.

[AllanOricil]

That is sad :/ I was enjoying to work with amplify After just a few hours I stumbled upon this limitation and now Im just going to give up on it