Getting Started

Getting Started

This section helps you get started with Couper.

• Running Couper

  Running Couper

  Couper is available as docker image from Docker Hub

  Running Couper requires a working Docker setup on your computer. Please visit the get started guide to get prepared.

  To download/install Couper, open a terminal and execute:

  $ docker pull coupergateway/couper
  

  Couper needs a configuration file to know what to do.

  Create a directory with an empty couper.hcl file.

  Copy/paste the following configuration to the file and save it.

  server "hello" {
    endpoint "/**" {
      response {
        body = "Hello World!"
      }
    }
  }
  

  Now cd into the directory with the configuration file and start Couper in a docker container:

• Examples

  Examples

  File and Web Serving

  Couper contains a Web server for simple file serving and also takes care of the more complex web serving of SPA assets.

  server "example" {
  
    files {
      document_root = "htdocs"
    }
  
    spa {
      bootstrap_file = "htdocs/index.html"
      paths = ["/**"]
    }
  }
  

  The files block configures Couper’s file server. It needs to know which directory to serve (document_root).

  The spa block is responsible for serving the bootstrap document for all paths that match the paths list.

• Beta Features

  About beta features

  We use beta features to have the possibility to develop new, complex features for you while still being able to maintain our compatibility promise.

  You can see beta features as a feature preview. We will announce new beta features in the Changelog.

  We will keep features in beta as long as we collect feedback and are actively working on it. You can expect beta features to evolve.

  They can change with every release.

• Introduction

  Introduction

  Couper is a lightweight open-source API gateway that acts as an entry point for clients to your application (frontend API gateway) and an exit point to upstream services (upstream API gateway).

  It adds access control, observability, and back-end connectivity on a separate layer. This will keep your core application code more simple.

  Couper does not need any special development skills and offers easy configuration and integration.

  Architectural Overview