Building a REST Query Language
Last modified: July 8, 2021
Flakiness in REST requests is a common issue. A request can get a 200 OK in one scenario and a 409 next time. Sometimes a request can even succeed and fail intermittently on the same exact request. In short, working over HTTP can be a bit of a mess without solid tooling.
Also, while it’s easy enough to debug these issues locally when developing the application, we’re talking about production here - we can’t afford the downtime while you’re stepping in and out of code. Uptime is kind of the whole point.
With Lightrun, you can get the same level of access you get with a local debugger or profiler - no downtime required. You can add logs, metrics, and snapshots (think breakpoints, but without stopping the running service), in a safe and read-only manner - without redeploying, restarting, or even stopping the running service. Performance and security are maintained throughout the process.
Learn how to debug a live REST API (built with Spring, of course), using Lightrun, in this 5-minute tutorial:
>> Debugging REST Requests in Spring-Based applications using the Lightrun Platform
A mature REST API can be a lot of work, and publishing Resources in a flexible way is usually a balancing act.
On the one hand, you want to allow the client to search for information in many flexible ways. On the other hand, you don't want to implement too many operations.
A Search/Query Language for the API makes the most sense – it allows for a single, clean operation while still opening up the API for powerful searching.
