The Buildless service supports several different API technologies, including OpenAPI and gRPC. Below, access/setup instructions are listed for both. All interfaces connect to one actual API, so you can pick whichever works best for you without worrying about lagging support or feature parity.

Open API with RESTful JSON

The primary way to access our API from 3rd party systems is via our OpenAPI Spec. Using the linked API method, and tools designed for Open API, it is possible to generate API clients in nearly any language.

The service is CORS-enabled, allowing access to relevant methods from your own internal applications and systems, even over the web.

How do I use it?

You can use our RESTful API by performing the following steps:

1. Obtain access. Setup a Buildless account and locate your API key.
2. Setup a client. You can use a vanilla HTTP client, or a code-generated client from the spec.
3. Specify credentials. Follow the API auth guide which helps you set up your API key.

That's it! With your API key affixed to calls (and/or tenant ID, as applicable), you can now use any of the methods documented in the Cache: Generic, Service Discovery, or Telemetry sections.

Where are the docs?

The best docs for our RESTful API are right here on our Readme site 😄. You can find the list of API methods on the left.

RESTful API endpoints

If you don't want to force your traffic to a particular region, you should use the main global API endpoint, which is available at api.less.build.

Alternatively, if you know your traffic will be most efficiently handled in a specific geographic region, you can pin your traffic by using any of the geo-specific endpoints listed on the API Endpoints page.

gRPC / Protobuf

gRPC and Protobuf support are also available; internally at Buildless, we use these interfaces to gain a bit more efficiency for CLI tooling and other use cases. These interfaces are available for you, too. gRPC is a road tested API dispatch technology with broad language support, which makes it easy to generate typed clients wherever you want to invoke the Buildless API.

How do I use it?

You can use our gRPC API by performing the following steps:

1. Obtain access. Setup a Buildless account and locate your API key.
2. Setup a client. Using any gRPC client, direct proto-binary messages to api.less.build.
3. Setup credentials. Add your API key as shown in the auth guide.

Where are the docs?

While the gRPC interface is the same as the Open API interface (meaning, you can use these docs to infer how gRPC works without being wrong), it is much easier to use the Buf Schema Registry. Schemas are continuously updated on that platform with docs and even an API console to test things out.

Our services do support CORS and gRPC Web and Connect Web, should you need to access the gRPC interface from a web client.

gRPC API endpoints

Just like the REST API, it is usually preferable to target api.less.build, which is enabled with anycast DNS and edge support. On the other hand, you are welcome to direct traffic to any of the geo-specific endpoints listed on the API Endpoints page, all of which also support gRPC.