Developing with the Stargate REST API

Stargate is a data gateway deployed between client applications and a database. The REST API exposes CRUD access to data stored in Cassandra tables.

Lightweight transactions (LWT) are not supported in the Stargate REST API.

Prerequisites

If you’re looking to just get started, you can try DataStax Astra DB and skip the installation steps.

The base URL will be https://DATABASE_ID-REGION.apps.astra.datastax.com/api/rest/v2. See the FAQ to learn where to find your DATABASE_ID and REGION.

Install cURL, a utility for running REST, Document, or GraphQL queries on the command line.
[Optional] If you prefer, you can use Postman as a client interface for exploring the APIs
- You will also find links to downloadable collections and environments in Using Postman
[Optional] If you going to use the GraphQL API, you will want to use the GraphQL Playground to deploy schema and execute mutations and queries.
[Optional] For the REST and Document APIs, you can use the Swagger UI.
Install Docker for Desktop
Pull a Stargate Docker image

Cassandra 4.0
Cassandra 3.x
DSE 6.8

For Stargate v2, you’ll need to pull an image for coordinator, plus an image for each API that you wish to run: restapi, graphql, and docsapi. The coordinator image contains a Apache Cassandra^™ backend, the Cassandra Query Language (CQL), and the gRPC API.

The following are the commands for each of those images using the tag v2:

docker pull stargateio/coordinator-4_0:v2
docker pull stargateio/restapi:v2
docker pull stargateio/docsapi:v2
docker pull stargateio/graphqlapi:v2

This image contains the Cassandra Query Language (CQL), REST, Document, GraphQL APIs, and GraphQL Playground, along with an Apache Cassandra^™ 4.0 backend.

docker pull stargateio/stargate-4_0:v1.0.57

The following are the commands for each of those images using the tag v2:

docker pull stargateio/coordinator-3_11:v2
docker pull stargateio/restapi:v2
docker pull stargateio/docsapi:v2
docker pull stargateio/graphqlapi:v2

This image contains the Cassandra Query Language (CQL), REST, Document, GraphQL APIs, and GraphQL Playground, along with an Apache Cassandra^™ 3.11 backend.

docker pull stargateio/stargate-3_11:v1.0.57

The following are the commands for each of those images using the tag v2:

docker pull stargateio/coordinator-dse-68:v2
docker pull stargateio/restapi:v2
docker pull stargateio/docsapi:v2
docker pull stargateio/graphqlapi:v2

This image contains the Cassandra Query Language (CQL), REST, Document, GraphQL APIs, and GraphQL Playground, along with a DataStax Enterprise^™ 6.8 backend.

docker pull stargateio/stargate-dse-68:v1.0.57

Run the Stargate Docker image

Cassandra 4.0
Cassandra 3.x
DSE 6.8

Use this docker-compose shell script to start the coordinator and APIs in developer mode. The easiest way to do that is to navigate to the <install_location>/stargate/docker-compose directory, and run the script. You will want to run, for example:

./start_cass_4_0_dev_mode.sh

This command will start using the latest available coordinator and API images with the v2 tag.

You may also select a specific image tag using the -t <image_tag> option. A list of the available tags for the coordinator can be found here.

Start the Stargate container in developer mode. Developer mode removes the need to set up a separate Cassandra instance and is meant for development and testing only.

docker run --name stargate \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -p 8081:8081 \
  -p 8082:8082 \
  -p 127.0.0.1:9042:9042 \
  -d \
  -e CLUSTER_NAME=stargate \
  -e CLUSTER_VERSION=4.0 \
  -e DEVELOPER_MODE=true \
  stargateio/stargate-4_0:v1.0.57

./start_cass_3_11_dev_mode.sh

This command will start using the latest available coordinator and API images with the v2 tag.

You may also select a specific image tag using the -t <image_tag> option. A list of the available tags for the coordinator can be found here.

Start the Stargate container in developer mode. Developer mode removes the need to set up a separate Cassandra instance and is meant for development and testing only.

docker run --name stargate \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -p 8081:8081 \
  -p 8082:8082 \
  -p 127.0.0.1:9042:9042 \
  -d \
  -e CLUSTER_NAME=stargate \
  -e CLUSTER_VERSION=3.11 \
  -e DEVELOPER_MODE=true \
  stargateio/stargate-3_11:v1.0.57

./start_dse_68_dev_mode.sh

This command will start using the latest available coordinator and API images with the v2 tag.

You may also select a specific image tag using the -t <image_tag> option. A list of the available tags for the coordinator can be found here.

Start the Stargate container in developer mode. Developer mode removes the need to set up a separate DSE instance and is meant for development and testing only.

docker run --name stargate \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -p 8081:8081 \
  -p 8082:8082 \
  -p 127.0.0.1:9042:9042 \
  -d \
  -e CLUSTER_NAME=stargate \
  -e CLUSTER_VERSION=6.8 \
  -e DEVELOPER_MODE=true \
  stargateio/stargate-dse-68:v1.0.57

Generate an authorization token to access the interface by following the instructions in Table-based authentication/Authorization

API reference

If you prefer to learn using a QuickStart, try out the Stargate REST QuickStart. To view the API Reference, see Stargate REST API.

Create or delete keyspace and table schema

In order to use the REST API, you must create schema that defines at least one keyspace and one table that will store the data. A keyspace is a container for which a replication factor defines the number of data replicas the database will store. Tables consist of columns that each have a name and a defined data type. Multiple tables are contained in a keyspace, but a table cannot be contained in multiple keyspaces. If you are connecting to a Cassandra database with existing schema, you can skip this step.

For keyspaces, an optional setting, replicas, defines the number of data replicas the database will store for the keyspace. If no replica is defined, then for a keyspace in a single datacenter cluster, the default is 1, and for a multiple-datacenter cluster, the default is 3 for each datacenter.

Create a keyspace

Simple keyspace

Send a POST request to /v2/schemas/keyspaces. In this example we use users_keyspace for the name, and no replicas setting, to default to 1.

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s --location --request POST 'http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces' \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
    "name": "users_keyspace"
}'

{"name":"users_keyspace"

The authorization token and the content type are passed with --header. The token must be identified as X-Cassandra-Token so that cluster recognizes the token and its value. The specified name for the keyspace is passed as JSON data using --data. For shorthand, cURL can use -L for --location, -X for --request, -H for --header, and -d for --data.

Set replicas in simple keyspace

Send a POST request to /v2/schemas/keyspaces. In this example we use users_keyspace for the name, and 1 for the number of data replicas.

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
    "name": "users_keyspace",
    "replicas": 1
}'

{"name":"users_keyspace"

Keyspace for multiple datacenters

For a multiple-datacenter cluster, a keyspace is defined datacenters. Send a POST request to /v2/schemas/keyspaces. In this example we use users_keyspace-dcs for the name, the datacenters are dc1 and dc2, where dc1 defaults to 3 replicas and dc2 is set to 5 replicas.

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X POST 'http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces' \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
    "name": "users_keyspace-dcs",
    "datacenters": [ {"name": "dc1"}, {"name": "dc2", "replicas": 5} ]
}'

{"name":"users_keyspace-dcs"}

Check keyspace existence

To check if a keyspaces exist, execute a REST API query with cURL to find all the keyspaces:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X GET http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Accept: application/json"

{
  "data":[
    {
      "name":"system_distributed"
    },
    {
      "name":"system"
    },
    {
      "name":"data_endpoint_auth"
    },
    {
      "name":"users_keyspace"
    },
    {
      "name":"system_schema"
    },
    {
      "name":"test"
    },
    {
      "name":"stargate_system"
    },
    {
      "name":"library"
    },
    {
      "name":"system_auth"
    },
    {
      "name":"system_traces"
    }
  ]
}

To get a particular keyspace, specify the keyspace in the URL:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X GET http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Accept: application/json"

{"data":{"name":"users_keyspace"}}

Delete a keyspace

Send a DELETE request to /v2/schemas/keyspaces/{keyspace_name} to delete a keyspace. All data and all table schema will be deleted along with the keyspace schema.

curl -s --location \
--request DELETE http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json"

Create a table in your keyspace

Create tables in your database using the Stargate REST API. Use the application token you generated to create a table in your keyspace. A keyspace is like a bucket that holds your tables. You can create different keyspaces for groups of tables.

After generating an authorization token, run the following request to get all available keyspaces and verify that the keyspace you wish to use is listed in the results:

Check keyspace existence

To check if a keyspaces exist, execute a REST API query with cURL to find all the keyspaces:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X GET http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Accept: application/json"

{
  "data":[
    {
      "name":"system_distributed"
    },
    {
      "name":"system"
    },
    {
      "name":"data_endpoint_auth"
    },
    {
      "name":"users_keyspace"
    },
    {
      "name":"system_schema"
    },
    {
      "name":"test"
    },
    {
      "name":"stargate_system"
    },
    {
      "name":"library"
    },
    {
      "name":"system_auth"
    },
    {
      "name":"system_traces"
    }
  ]
}

To get a particular keyspace, specify the keyspace in the URL:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X GET http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Accept: application/json"

{"data":{"name":"users_keyspace"}}

For example, we’ll use users_keyspace as the keyspace.

Optional: A header line using a {unique-UUID}, a randomly-generated UUID that is unique for the authorization request, can be included in the previous command by adding the following line:

 --header 'x-cassandra-request-id: {unique-UUID}'

Create a table

Send a POST request to /v2/schemas/keyspaces/{keyspace-name}/tables to create a table. Set the table name and column definitions in the JSON body in the --data field.

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s --location \
--request POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "Accept: application/json" \
--data '{
	"name": "users",
	"columnDefinitions":
	  [
        {
	      "name": "firstname",
	      "typeDefinition": "text"
	    },
        {
	      "name": "lastname",
	      "typeDefinition": "text"
	    },
        {
	      "name": "favorite color",
	      "typeDefinition": "text"
	    }
	  ],
	"primaryKey":
	  {
	    "partitionKey": ["firstname"],
	    "clusteringKey": ["lastname"]
	  },
	"tableOptions":
	  {
	    "defaultTimeToLive": 0,
	    "clusteringExpression":
	      [{ "column": "lastname", "order": "ASC" }]
	  }
}'

{"name":"users"}

The name of our example table is users. This table column definition includes:

Partition key: One or more columns required. firstname is the partition key.
Clustering key: Optional, but zero, one or more columns can be defined. lastname is the clustering key.
Non-primary key: Optional, but zero, one or more columns that are not a partition key or clustering key can be defined. favorite_color is the non-primary key column.

Notice that each column must have a data type specified.

Information about partition keys and clustering keys are found in the CQL reference.

Optional: Table options can be set. The two options are:

defaultTimeToLive: Sets the default Time-To-Live (TTL).
clusteringExpression: Defines the order, either ascending (ASC) or descending (DESC) for columns that are clustering keys. ASC is the default.

  "tableOptions":
    {
      "defaultTimeToLive": 0,
      "clusteringExpression":
        [{ "column": "lastname", "order": "ASC" }]
    }

Check table and column existence

To check if a table exists, execute a REST API query with cURL to find all the tables:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X GET http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Accept: application/json"

{
  "data": [
    {
      "name": "users",
      "keyspace": "users_keyspace",
      "columnDefinitions": [
        {
          "name": "firstname",
          "typeDefinition": "varchar",
          "static": false
        },
        {
          "name": "lastname",
          "typeDefinition": "varchar",
          "static": false
        },
        {
          "name": "email",
          "typeDefinition": "varchar",
          "static": false
        },
        {
          "name": "favorite color",
          "typeDefinition": "varchar",
          "static": false
        }
      ],
      "primaryKey": {
        "partitionKey": [
          "firstname"
        ],
        "clusteringKey": [
          "lastname"
        ]
      },
      "tableOptions": {
        "defaultTimeToLive": 0,
        "clusteringExpression": [
          {
            "order": "Asc",
            "column": "lastname"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

In this case, we only have one table in the keyspace.

To get a particular table, specify the table in the URL:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L \
-X GET http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Accept: application/json"

{
  "data": {
    "name": "users",
    "keyspace": "users_keyspace",
    "columnDefinitions": [
      {
        "name": "firstname
        "typeDefinition": "varchar",
        "static": false
      },
      {
        "name": "lastname",
        "typeDefinition": "varchar",
        "static": false
      },
      {
        "name": "current_country",
        "typeDefinition": "frozen<tuple<varchar, date, date>>",
        "static": false
      },
      {
        "name": "email",
        "typeDefinition": "varchar",
        "static": false
      },
      {
        "name": "evaluations",
        "typeDefinition": "map<int, varchar>",
        "static": false
      },
      {
        "name": "favorite color",
        "typeDefinition": "varchar",
        "static": false
      },
      {
        "name": "favorite_books",
        "typeDefinition": "set<varchar>",
        "static": false
      },
      {
        "name": "top_three_tv_shows",
        "typeDefinition": "list<varchar>",
        "static": false
      }
    ],
    "primaryKey": {
      "partitionKey": [
        "firstname"
      ],
      "clusteringKey": [
        "lastname"
      ]
    },
    "tableOptions": {
      "defaultTimeToLive": 0,
      "clusteringExpression": [
        {
          "order": "ASC",
          "column": "lastname"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Although this command is slightly different, because we have only one table, the command to get all tables and this command to just get the table users return the same information.

Delete a table

Send a DELETE request to /v2/schemas/keyspaces/{keyspace_name}/tables/{table_name} to delete a table. All data will be deleted along with the table schema.

curl -s --location \
--request DELETE http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json"

Create an index

Tables can contain partition keys and clustering keys, both of which define the primary key. A table can also include non-primary keys.

If you wish to create a table query that uses anything other than the partition key to define which row or rows are to be retrieved, a column index must be created on each column to read the data.

Currently, those indexes can be created with REST, CQL, or GraphQL. To use the REST API to create indexes, you’ll need the application token you generated to create other schema in your keyspace.

Send a POST request to /v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/indexes to create an index. Set the index definitions in the JSON body in the --data. In this example, an index name is defined as fav_books_idx for the column favorite_books in the keyspace users_keyspace and table users. An option to only create the index if it already exists is set with ifNotExists: true; the default is false.

Two additional options are available:

type can be defined to use SAI indexes if desired; the default is secondary indexes.
kind defines the kind of index for map collections; the choices available are VALUES/KEYS/ENTRIES/FULL.

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s --location \
--request POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/indexes \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "Accept: application/json" \
--data '{
  "column": "favorite_books",
  "name": "fav_books_idx",
  "ifNotExists": true
}'

{
  "success": true
}

Here is an additional example, which creates indexes that are used in the REST API examples:

cURL command
Result

curl -s --location \
--request POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/indexes \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "Accept: application/json" \
--data '{
  "column": "favorite_books",
  "name": "fav_books_idex",
  "ifNotExists": true
}'

curl -s --location \
--request POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/indexes \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "Accept: application/json" \
--data '{
  "column": "top_three_tv_shows",
  "name": "tv_idx",
  "ifNotExists": true
}'

curl -s --location \
--request POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/indexes \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "Accept: application/json" \
--data '{
  "column": "evaluations",
  "name": "evalv_idx",
  "ifNotExists": true
}'

curl -s --location \
--request POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/indexes \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "Accept: application/json" \
--data '{
  "column": "evaluations",
  "name": "evalk_idx",
  "kind": "KEYS",
  "ifNotExists": true
}'

curl -s --location \
--request POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/indexes \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "Accept: application/json" \
--data '{
  "column": "evaluations",
  "name": "evale_idx",
  "kind": "ENTRIES",
  "ifNotExists": true
}'

curl -s --location \
--request POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/indexes \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "Accept: application/json" \
--data '{
  "column": "current_country",
  "name": "country_idx",
  "ifNotExists": true
}'

{
  "success": true
}
{
  "success": true
}
{
  "success": true
}
{
  "success": true
}
{
  "success": true
}
{
  "success": true
}

Note the use of the kind in the definitions used for the map collection evaluations.

Delete an index

You may wish to list all the indexes to verify the index name you wish to delete:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s --location \
--request GET http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/indexes \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "Accept: application/json" \

[
  {
    "keyspace_name": "users_keyspace",
    "options": [
      {
        "key": "target",
        "value": "current_country"
      }
    ],
    "table_name": "users",
    "index_name": "country_idx",
    "kind": "COMPOSITES"
  },
  {
    "keyspace_name": "users_keyspace",
    "options": [
      {
        "key": "target",
        "value": "entries(evaluations)"
      }
    ],
    "table_name": "users",
    "index_name": "evale_idx",
    "kind": "COMPOSITES"
  },
  {
    "keyspace_name": "users_keyspace",
    "options": [
      {
        "key": "target",
        "value": "keys(evaluations)"
      }
    ],
    "table_name": "users",
    "index_name": "evalk_idx",
    "kind": "COMPOSITES"
  },
  {
    "keyspace_name": "users_keyspace",
    "options": [
      {
        "key": "target",
        "value": "values(evaluations)"
      }
    ],
    "table_name": "users",
    "index_name": "evalv_idx",
    "kind": "COMPOSITES"
  },
  {
    "keyspace_name": "users_keyspace",
    "options": [
      {
        "key": "target",
        "value": "values(favorite_books)"
      }
    ],
    "table_name": "users",
    "index_name": "fav_books_idx",
    "kind": "COMPOSITES"
  },
  {
    "keyspace_name": "users_keyspace",
    "options": [
      {
        "key": "target",
        "value": "values(top_three_tv_shows)"
      }
    ],
    "table_name": "users",
    "index_name": "tv_idx",
    "kind": "COMPOSITES"
  }
]

Send a DELETE request to /v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/indexes/{index_name} to delete an index. All index data will be deleted along with the index schema.

curl -s --location \
--request DELETE http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/indexes/fav_books_idx \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "Accept: application/json"

If the call is successful, a 204 message is returned.

Create a user-defined type (UDT)

A user-defined type, or UDT, consists of two or more values that can be retrieved together. UDTs are useful for associating items that are naturally grouped, like an address (street, city, zip code), or a review (item reviewed, rating, date reviewed).

UDTs are stored in a defined keyspace and can be used in other UDT definitions or table columns.

Send a POST request to /v2/schemas/keyspaces{keyspace_name}/types. In this example we use address_type for the name. The defined fields describe the included items and their data type.

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/types \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
  "name": "address_type",
  "fields":[
    {
      "name": "street",
      "typeDefinition": "text"
    },
    {
      "name": "city",
      "typeDefinition": "text"
    },
    {
      "name": "state",
      "typeDefinition": "text"
    },
    {
      "name": "zip",
      "typeDefinition": "text"
    }
  ]
}'

{
    "name": "address_type"
}

Delete a UDT

To delete a UDT, use a DELETE request to /v2/schemas/keyspaces/{keyspace_name}/types/{type_name}. All UDT schema will be deleted along with the UDT data.

cURL command (/v2)

curl --location --request DELETE http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/types/address_type \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json'

Add columns to table schema

If you need to add an attribute to something you are storing in a table, you can add a column by sending a POST request to add the column.

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/columns \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H  "Accept: application/json" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
   "name": "email",
   "typeDefinition": "text"
}'

{ "name": "email" }

To change the name or data type of an existing column, use a similar command, but sent a PUT request instead:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L \
-X PUT http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/columns/firstname \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H  "Accept: application/json" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{   "name": "first",   "typeDefinition": "varchar"}'

{
  "name": "first"
}

To add a set to a table, specify the data type set along with the data type of the set contents, such as text:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/columns \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H  "Accept: application/json" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
   "name": "favorite_books",
   "typeDefinition": "set<text>"
}'

{"name":"favorite_books"}

To add a set as a frozen set, specify "typeDefinition": "frozen<set<text>>" with the keyword frozen. In the following examples, both lists and maps can also be specified as frozen.

To add a list to a table, specify the data type list along with the data type of the set contents, such as text. The difference between a set and a list is that a set is unordered, whereas a list is ordered:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/columns \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H  "Accept: application/json" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
   "name": "top_three_tv_shows",
   "typeDefinition": "list<text>"
}'

{"name":"top_three_tv_shows"}

To add a map to a table, specify the data type map along with the data type of the map key and the may value:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/columns \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H  "Accept: application/json" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
   "name": "evaluations",
   "typeDefinition": "map<int,text>"
}'

{"name":"evaluations"}

To add a tuple to a table, specify the data type tuple along with the data type of the each item in the tuple. A tuple can consist of two or more values that can be retrieved together.

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/columns \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H  "Accept: application/json" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
   "name": "current_country",
   "typeDefinition": "tuple<text, date, date>"
}'

{"name":"current_country"}

To add a user-defined type (UDT) to a table, specify the data type udt along with the data type of the each item in the UDT. A UDT can consist of two or more values that can be retrieved together.

UDTs must currently be created in CQL before specifying for a column in the REST API. For instance, for a UDT created with the following CQL statement:

CREATE TYPE IF NOT EXISTS users_keyspace.address (
  street text,
  zip int
);

we can add a UDT column to our table:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X POST http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/columns \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H  "Accept: application/json" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
   "name": "address",
   "typeDefinition": "address_type"
}'

{ "name": "address" }

To check if a column exists, execute a REST API query with cURL to find all the columns:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L \
-X GET http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/columns \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H "Accept: application/json" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json"

{
  "data": [
    {
      "name": "firstname",
      "typeDefinition": "varchar",
      "static": false
    },
    {
      "name": "lastname",
      "typeDefinition": "varchar",
      "static": false
    },
    {
      "name": "current_country",
      "typeDefinition": "frozen<tuple<varchar, date, date>>",
      "static": false
    },
    {
      "name": "email",
      "typeDefinition": "varchar",
      "static": false
    },
    {
      "name": "evaluations",
      "typeDefinition": "map<int, varchar>",
      "static": false
    },
    {
      "name": "favorite color",
      "typeDefinition": "varchar",
      "static": false
    },
    {
      "name": "favorite_books",
      "typeDefinition": "set<varchar>",
      "static": false
    },
    {
      "name": "top_three_tv_shows",
      "typeDefinition": "list<varchar>",
      "static": false
    }
  ]
}

To get a particular column, specify the column in the URL:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L \
-X GET http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/columns/email \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Accept: application/json"

{
  "data":{
    "name":"email",
    "typeDefinition":"varchar",
    "static":false
  }
}

Delete columns from table schema

If you find an attribute is no longer required in a table, you can delete a column by sending a DELETE request. All column data will be deleted along with the column schema.

curl -s --location \
--request DELETE http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/tables/users/columns/email \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json"

Write data

First, let’s add some data to the users table that you created. Send a POST request to /v2/keyspaces/{keyspace_name}/{table_name} to add data to the table. The column name/value pairs are passed in the JSON body.

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s --location --request POST 'http://localhost:8082/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users' \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
    "firstname": "Mookie",
    "lastname": "Betts",
    "email": "mookie.betts@gmail.com",
    "favorite color": "blue"
}'
curl -s --location --request POST 'http://localhost:8082/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users' \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
    "firstname": "Janesha",
    "lastname": "Doesha",
    "email": "janesha.doesha@gmail.com",
    "favorite color": "grey"
}'

{"firstname":"Mookie","lastname":"Betts"}
{"firstname":"Janesha","lastname":"Doesha"}

Notice that, unlike schema creation, data queries do not require tables in the URI, only the {tableName}.

Collections, tuples, and UDTs

Some data types require special handling to write the data. Examples of set, list, map, tuple, and udt are shown, using the column schema created earlier.

SET:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8082/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users \
-H  "accept: application/json" \
-H  "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H  "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"firstname": "Janesha",
  "lastname": "Doesha",
  "favorite color": "grey",
  "favorite_books": [ "Emma", "The Color Purple" ]
}'

{"firstname":"Janesha","lastname":"Doesha"}

LIST:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8082/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users \
-H  "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H  "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H  "Accept: application/json" \
-d '{"firstname": "Janesha",
  "lastname": "Doesha",
  "favorite color": "grey",
  "top_three_tv_shows": [ "The Magicians", "The Librarians", "Agents of SHIELD" ]
}'

{"firstname":"Janesha","lastname":"Doesha"}

MAP:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X POST http://localhost:8082/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users \
-H  "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H  "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H  "Accept: application/json" \
-d '{"firstname": "Janesha",
  "lastname": "Doesha",
  "favorite color": "grey",
  "top_three_tv_shows": [ "The Magicians", "The Librarians", "Agents of SHIELD" ],
  "evaluations": [ {"key":"2020", "value":"good"}, {"key":"2019", "value":"okay"} ]
}'

{"firstname":"Janesha","lastname":"Doesha"}

TUPLE:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8082/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users \
-H  "accept: application/json" \
-H  "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H  "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"firstname": "Janesha",
  "lastname": "Doesha",
  "favorite color": "grey",
  "current_country": [ "France", "2016-01-01", "2020-02-02" ]
}'

{"firstname":"Janesha","lastname":"Doesha"}

UDT:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8082/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users \
-H  "accept: application/json" \
-H  "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H  "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"firstname": "Janesha",
  "lastname": "Doesha",
  "favorite color": "grey",
  "address": { "street": "1 Main St", "zip": "12345" }
}'

{"firstname":"Janesha","lastname":"Doesha"}

Read data

Let’s check that the data was inserted. Send a GET request to /v2/keyspaces/{keyspace_name}/{table_name}?where={searchPath} to retrieve the two users that were entered:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -G 'http://localhost:8082/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users' \
   -H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
   -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
   -H "Accept: application/json" \
   --data-urlencode 'where={
     "firstname": {"$in": ["Janesha","Mookie"]}
   }'

{
  "count": 2,
  "data": [
    {
      "firstname": "Janesha",
      "evaluations": [
        { "key": 2019,
          "value": "okay"
        },
        {
          "key": 2020,
          "value": "good"
        }        
        ],
      "top_three_tv_shows": [
        "The Magicians",
        "The Librarians",
        "Agents of SHIELD"
      ],
      "favorite color": "grey",
      "current_country": [
        "France", 
        "2023-05-22T10:21:00.000Z",
        "2023-05-23T10:21:00.000Z"
      ],
      "email": "janesha.doesha@gmail.com",
      "lastname": "Doesha",
      "favorite_books": [
        "Emma",
        "The Color Purple"
      ]
    },
    {
      "firstname": "Mookie",
      "evaluations": [],
      "top_three_tv_shows": [],
      "favorite color": "blue",
      "current_country": null,
      "email": "mookie.betts.new-email@email.com",
      "lastname": "Betts",
      "favorite_books": []
    }
  ]
}

This query uses $in to find the two users. The WHERE clause can be used with other valid search terms: $eq, $lt, $lte, $gt, $gte, $ne, and $exists, if applicable. The primary key of the table can be used in the WHERE clause, but non-primary key columns cannot be used unless indexed.

Send a GET request to /v2/keyspaces/{keyspace_name}/{table_name} to retrieve the row for Mookie using $eq:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X GET 'http://localhost:8082/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users' \
   -H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
   -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
   -H "Accept: application/json" \
   --data-urlencode 'where={
     "firstname": {"$eq": "Mookie"}
   }'

{
  "count": 1,
  "data": [
    {
      "firstname": "Mookie",
      "evaluations": [],
      "top_three_tv_shows": [],
      "favorite color": "blue",
      "current_country": null,
      "email": "mookie.betts.new-email@email.com",
      "lastname": "Betts",
      "favorite_books": []
    }
  ]
}

If the CQL indexes exist, a multiple WHERE can be used:

Send a GET request to /v2/keyspaces/{keyspace_name}/{table_name} to retrieve the row for Janesha using $eq, and Emma using $contains:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -G 'http://localhost:8082/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users' \
   -H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
   -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
   -H "Accept: application/json" \
   --data-urlencode 'where={
      "firstname": {"$eq": "Janesha"},
      "favorite_books": {"$contains": "Emma"}
   }'

{
  "count": 1,
  "data": [
    {
      "firstname": "Janesha",
      "evaluations": [
        { "key": 2019,
          "value": "okay"
        },
        {
          "key": 2020,
          "value": "good"
        }        
        ],
      "top_three_tv_shows": [
        "The Magicians",
        "The Librarians",
        "Agents of SHIELD"
      ],
      "favorite color": "grey",
      "current_country": [
        "France", 
        "2023-05-22T10:21:00.000Z",
        "2023-05-23T10:21:00.000Z"
      ],
      "email": "janesha.doesha@gmail.com",
      "lastname": "Doesha",
      "favorite_books": [
        "Emma",
        "The Color Purple"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

A primary key can be supplied to retrieve a row:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X GET http://localhost:8082/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users/Mookie/Betts \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Accept: application/json"

{
  "count": 1,
  "data": [
    {
      "firstname": "Mookie",
      "evaluations": [],
      "top_three_tv_shows": [],
      "favorite color": "blue",
      "current_country": null,
      "email": "mookie.betts.new-email@email.com",
      "lastname": "Betts",
      "favorite_books": []
    }
  ]
}

Adding /rows instead of a WHERE clause or primary key returns all table rows.

Returning all rows in a large table can negatively impact your database. The page-size parameter limits the number of results returned, and is recommended for large tables. The pageState is useful for pagination of the results in queries.

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X GET http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users/rows \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Accept: application/json"

{
  "count": 2,
  "data": [
    {
      "firstname": "Mookie",
      "evaluations": [],
      "top_three_tv_shows": [],
      "favorite color": "blue",
      "current_country": null,
      "email": "mookie.betts.new-email@email.com",
      "lastname": "Betts",
      "favorite_books": []
    }, 
    {
      "firstname": "Janesha",
      "evaluations": [
        {
          "key": 2019,
          "value": "okay"
        },
        {
          "key": 2020,
          "value": "good"
        }
      ],
      "top_three_tv_shows": [
        "The Magicians",
        "The Librarians",
        "Agents of SHIELD"
      ],
      "favorite color": "grey",
      "current_country": [
        "France", 
        "2023-05-22T10:21:00.000Z",
        "2023-05-23T10:21:00.000Z"
      ],
      "email": "janesha.doesha@gmail.com",
      "lastname": "Doesha",
      "favorite_books": [
        "Emma",
        "The Color Purple"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

In this example both Mookie and Betts are supplied in the path. Mookie is the partition key firstname and Betts is the clustering key lastname. Together these keys form the primary key of a row. To retrieve any rows using the partition keys and clustering keys, the primary key can be part of the request, in order and separated by a forward slash, such as pk1/pk2/ck1/ck2/…. Each key must be included in order, but subsequent clustering keys do not have to be included. Note that the inclusion of clustering keys may return a range of rows.

To return only desired fields in a response object, use the fields query parameter:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X GET http://localhost:8082/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users/Janesha/Doesha?fields=firstname,lastname,top_three_tv_shows \
--header "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json"

{
  "count": 1,
  "data": [
    {
      "firstname": "Janesha",
      "lastname": "Doesha",
      "top_three_tv_shows": [
        "The Magicians",
        "The Librarians",
        "Agents of SHIELD"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Collections, tuples, and UDTs

Some data types require special handling to read the data. Examples of set, list, map, tuple, and udt are shown, using the column schema created earlier. Because these columns are not part of the partition or clustering key, an index is required to read the data. Currently, for Cassandra, those indexes must be created with CQL. Here are the indexes created for use in the following examples:

CREATE INDEX books_idx ON users_keyspace.users (VALUES(favorite_books));
CREATE INDEX tv_idx ON users_keyspace.users (VALUES (top_three_tv_shows));
CREATE INDEX evalk_idx ON users_keyspace.users (KEYS (evaluations));
CREATE INDEX evalv_idx ON users_keyspace.users (VALUES (evaluations));
CREATE INDEX evale_idx ON users_keyspace.users (ENTRIES (evaluations));
CREATE INDEX country_idx ON users_keyspace.users (VALUES (current_country));

If you are using DataStax Enterprise, you may optionally use Storage-Attached Indexing (SAI):

CREATE CUSTOM INDEX books_idx 
  ON users_keyspace.users (VALUES(favorite_books)) 
  USING 'StorageAttachedIndex'
  WITH OPTIONS = ('case_sensitive': 'false');
CREATE CUSTOM INDEX tv_idx
  ON users_keyspace.users (VALUES(top_three_tv_shows))
  USING 'StorageAttachedIndex'
  WITH OPTIONS = ('case_sensitive': 'false');
CREATE CUSTOM INDEX eval_idx
  ON users_keyspace.users (KEYS(evaluations))
  USING 'StorageAttachedIndex'
  WITH OPTIONS = ('case_sensitive': 'false');

SAI does not support tuples. Searches using SAI do not support the operator $in.

SET:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -G http://localhost:8082/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users \
   -H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
   -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
   -H "Accept: application/json" \
   --data-urlencode 'where={
     "firstname": {"$eq": "Janesha"},
     "lastname": {"$eq": "Doesha"},
     "favorite_books": {"$contains": "Emma"}
   }'

{
  "count": 1,
  "data": [
    {
      "firstname": "Janesha",
      "evaluations": [
        { "key": 2019,
          "value": "okay"
        },
        {
          "key": 2020,
          "value": "good"
        }        
        ],
      "top_three_tv_shows": [
        "The Magicians",
        "The Librarians",
        "Agents of SHIELD"
      ],
      "favorite color": "grey",
      "current_country": [
        "France", 
        "2023-05-22T10:21:00.000Z",
        "2023-05-23T10:21:00.000Z"
      ],
      "email": "janesha.doesha@gmail.com",
      "lastname": "Doesha",
      "favorite_books": [
        "Emma",
        "The Color Purple"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

LIST:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -G http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users \
   -H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
   -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
   -H "Accept: application/json" \
   --data-urlencode 'where={
     "firstname": {"$eq": "Janesha"},
     "lastname": {"$eq": "Doesha"},
     "top_three_tv_shows": {"$contains": "The Magicians"}
   }'

{
  "count": 1,
  "data": [
    {
      "firstname": "Janesha",
      "evaluations": [
        { "key": 2019,
          "value": "okay"
        },
        {
          "key": 2020,
          "value": "good"
        }        
        ],
      "top_three_tv_shows": [
        "The Magicians",
        "The Librarians",
        "Agents of SHIELD"
      ],
      "favorite color": "grey",
      "current_country": [
        "France", 
        "2023-05-22T10:21:00.000Z",
        "2023-05-23T10:21:00.000Z"
      ],
      "email": "janesha.doesha@gmail.com",
      "lastname": "Doesha",
      "favorite_books": [
        "Emma",
        "The Color Purple"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

MAP:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -G http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users \
   -H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
   -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
   -H "Accept: application/json" \
   --data-urlencode 'where={
     "firstname": {"$eq": "Janesha"},
     "lastname": {"$eq": "Doesha"},
     "evaluations": {"$containsKey": "2020"}
   }'

{
  "count": 1,
  "data": [
    {
      "firstname": "Janesha",
      "evaluations": 
        [
        { "key": 2019,
          "value": "okay"
        },
        {
          "key": 2020,
          "value": "good"
        }        
        ],
      "top_three_tv_shows": [
        "The Magicians",
        "The Librarians",
        "Agents of SHIELD"
      ],
      "favorite color": "grey",
      "current_country": [
        "France", 
        "2023-05-22T10:21:00.000Z",
        "2023-05-23T10:21:00.000Z"
      ],
      "email": "janesha.doesha@gmail.com",
      "lastname": "Doesha",
      "favorite_books": [
        "Emma",
        "The Color Purple"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

TUPLE:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -G http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users \
   -H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
   -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
   -H "Accept: application/json" \
   --data-urlencode 'where={
     "firstname": {"$eq": "Janesha"},
     "lastname": {"$eq": "Doesha"},
     "current_country": {"$eq": "( 'France', '2016-01-01', '2020-02-02' )"}
   }'

{
  "count": 1,
  "data": [
    {
      "firstname": "Janesha",
      "evaluations": [
        { "key": 2019,
          "value": "okay"
        },
        {
          "key": 2020,
          "value": "good"
        }        
        ],
      "top_three_tv_shows": [
        "The Magicians",
        "The Librarians",
        "Agents of SHIELD"
      ],
      "favorite color": "grey",
      "current_country": [
        "France", 
        "2023-05-22T10:21:00.000Z",
        "2023-05-23T10:21:00.000Z"
      ],
      "email": "janesha.doesha@gmail.com",
      "lastname": "Doesha",
      "favorite_books": [
        "Emma",
        "The Color Purple"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

UDT:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -G http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users \
   -H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
   -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
   -H "Accept: application/json" \
   --data-urlencode 'where={
     "firstname": {"$eq": "Janesha"},
     "lastname": {"$eq": "Doesha"},
     "address": {"$eq": { "street": "1, Main St", "zip": 12345 }}
   }'

Example coming

Update data

Data changes, so often it is necessary to update an entire row. To update a row, send a PUT request to /v2/keyspaces/{keyspace_name}/{table_name}/{path}. The {path} is comprised of the primary key values. In this example, the partition key is firstname "Mookie" and the clustering key is lastname "Betts"; thus, we use /Mookie/Betts as the {path} in our request.

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X PUT 'http://localhost:8082/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users/Mookie/Betts' \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
    "email": "mookie.betts.new-email@email.com"
}'

{"data":{"email":"mookie.betts.new-email@email.com"}}

Updates are upserts. If the row doesn’t exist, it will be created. If it does exist, it will be updated with the new row data.

It is also possible to update only part of a row. To partially update, send a PATCH request to /v2/keyspaces/{keyspace_name}/{table_name}/{path}. In this example, we realize we should not have changed the email address, and we want to only change that one column:

cURL command (/v2)
Result

curl -s -L -X PATCH 'http://localhost:8082/v2/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users/Mookie/Betts' \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
    "email": "mookie.betts.email@email.com"
}'

{"data":{"email":"mookie.betts.email@email.com"}}

Delete data

To delete a row, send a DELETE request to /v2/keyspaces/{keyspace_name}/{table_name}/{primaryKey}. For this example, the primary key consists of a partition key firstname and clustering column lastname, so we delete all data with Mookie/Betts:

curl -s -L -X DELETE http://localhost:8082/v2/schemas/keyspaces/users_keyspace/users/Mookie/Betts \
-H "X-Cassandra-Token: $AUTH_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json"