HTTP JSON API Service

The JSON API provides a significantly simpler way than the Ledger API to interact with a ledger by providing basic active contract set functionality:

  • creating contracts,
  • exercising choices on contracts,
  • querying the current active contract set, and
  • retrieving all known parties.

The goal of this API is to get you up and running distributed ledger applications quickly, so we have deliberately excluded complicating concerns, including but not limited to:

  • inspecting transactions,
  • asynchronous submit/completion workflows,
  • temporal queries (e.g. active contracts as of a certain time), and
  • ledger metaprogramming (e.g. retrieving packages and templates).

For these and other features, use the Ledger API instead.

How to start

Start sandbox

From a DAML project directory:

$ daml sandbox --wall-clock-time --ledgerid MyLedger ./.daml/dist/quickstart-0.0.1.dar

Start HTTP service

From a DAML project directory:

$ daml json-api --ledger-host localhost --ledger-port 6865 \
    --http-port 7575 --max-inbound-message-size 4194304 --package-reload-interval 5s \
    --application-id HTTP-JSON-API-Gateway --static-content "prefix=static,directory=./static-content" \
    --query-store-jdbc-config "driver=org.postgresql.Driver,url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/test?&ssl=true,user=postgres,password=password,createSchema=false"
$ daml json-api --help
HTTP JSON API daemon
Usage: http-json-binary [options]

  --help
        Print this usage text
  --ledger-host <value>
        Ledger host name or IP address
  --ledger-port <value>
        Ledger port number
  --address <value>
        IP address that HTTP JSON API service listens on. Defaults to 127.0.0.1.
  --http-port <value>
        HTTP JSON API service port number. A port number of 0 will let the system pick an ephemeral port. Consider specifying `--port-file` option with port number 0.
  --port-file <value>
        Optional unique file name where to write the allocated HTTP port number. If process terminates gracefully, this file will be deleted automatically. Used to inform clients in CI about which port HTTP JSON API listens on. Defaults to none, that is, no file gets created.
  --application-id <value>
        Optional application ID to use for ledger registration. Defaults to HTTP-JSON-API-Gateway
  --pem <value>
        TLS: The pem file to be used as the private key.
  --crt <value>
        TLS: The crt file to be used as the cert chain.
        Required for client authentication.
  --cacrt <value>
        TLS: The crt file to be used as the the trusted root CA.
  --tls
        TLS: Enable tls. This is redundant if --pem, --crt or --cacrt are set
  --package-reload-interval <value>
        Optional interval to poll for package updates. Examples: 500ms, 5s, 10min, 1h, 1d. Defaults to 5 seconds
  --max-inbound-message-size <value>
        Optional max inbound message size in bytes. Defaults to 4194304
  --query-store-jdbc-config "driver=<JDBC driver class name>,url=<JDBC connection url>,user=<user>,password=<password>,createSchema=<true|false>"
        Optional query store JDBC configuration string. Query store is a search index, use it if you need to query large active contract sets. Contains comma-separated key-value pairs. Where:
        driver -- JDBC driver class name, only org.postgresql.Driver supported right now,
        url -- JDBC connection URL, only jdbc:postgresql supported right now,
        user -- database user name,
        password -- database user password,
        createSchema -- boolean flag, if set to true, the process will re-create database schema and terminate immediately.
        Example: "driver=org.postgresql.Driver,url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/test?&ssl=true,user=postgres,password=password,createSchema=false"
  --static-content "prefix=<URL prefix>,directory=<directory>"
        DEV MODE ONLY (not recommended for production). Optional static content configuration string. Contains comma-separated key-value pairs. Where:
        prefix -- URL prefix,
        directory -- local directory that will be mapped to the URL prefix.
        Example: "prefix=static,directory=./static-content"
  --allow-insecure-tokens
        DEV MODE ONLY (not recommended for production). Allow connections without a reverse proxy providing HTTPS.
  --access-token-file <value>
        provide the path from which the access token will be read, required to interact with an authenticated ledger, no default
  --websocket-config "maxDuration=<Maximum websocket session duration in minutes>,heartBeatPer=Server-side heartBeat interval in seconds"
        Optional websocket configuration string. Contains comma-separated key-value pairs. Where:
        maxDuration -- Maximum websocket session duration in minutes
        heartBeatPer -- Server-side heartBeat interval in seconds
        Example: "maxDuration=120,heartBeatPer=5"

With Authentication

Apart from interacting with the Ledger API on behalf of the user, the HTTP JSON API server must also interact with the Ledger API to maintain some relevant internal state.

For this reason, you must provide an access token when you start the HTTP JSON API if you’re running it against a Ledger API server that requires authentication.

Note that this token is used exclusively for maintaining the internal list of known packages and templates, and that it will not be use to authenticate client calls to the HTTP JSON API: the user is expected to provide a valid authentication token with each call.

The HTTP JSON API server requires no access to party-specific data, only access to the ledger identity and package services. A token issued for the HTTP JSON API server should contain enough claims to contact these two services but no more than that. Please refer to your ledger operator’s documentation to find out how.

Once you have retrieved your access token, you can provide it to the HTTP JSON API by storing it in a file. Give the path to it with the --access-token-file command line option.

If the token cannot be read from the provided path or the Ledger API reports an authentication error (for example due to token expiration), the HTTP JSON API will report the error via logging. The token file can be updated with a valid token, and it will be picked up at the next attempt to send a request.

Example session

$ daml new iou-quickstart-java quickstart-java
$ cd iou-quickstart-java/
$ daml build
$ daml sandbox --wall-clock-time --ledgerid MyLedger ./.daml/dist/quickstart-0.0.1.dar
$ daml json-api --ledger-host localhost --ledger-port 6865 --http-port 7575

Choosing a party

Every request requires you to specify a party and some other settings, with a JWT token. Normal HTTP requests pass the token in an Authentication header, while WebSocket requests pass the token in a subprotocol.

In testing environments, you can use https://jwt.io to generate your token. The default “header” is fine. Under “Payload”, fill in:

{
  "https://daml.com/ledger-api": {
    "ledgerId": "MyLedger",
    "applicationId": "foobar",
    "actAs": ["Alice"]
  }
}

Keep in mind that the value of ledgerId payload field has to match --ledgerid passed to the sandbox. You can replace Alice with whatever party you want to use.

Under “Verify Signature”, put secret as the secret (_not_ base64 encoded); that is the hardcoded secret for testing.

Then the “Encoded” box should have your token, ready for passing to the service as described in the following sections.

Alternatively, here are two tokens you can use for testing:

  • {"https://daml.com/ledger-api": {"ledgerId": "MyLedger", "applicationId": "foobar", "actAs": ["Alice"]}} eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJodHRwczovL2RhbWwuY29tL2xlZGdlci1hcGkiOnsibGVkZ2VySWQiOiJNeUxlZGdlciIsImFwcGxpY2F0aW9uSWQiOiJmb29iYXIiLCJhY3RBcyI6WyJBbGljZSJdfX0.VdDI96mw5hrfM5ZNxLyetSVwcD7XtLT4dIdHIOa9lcU
  • {"https://daml.com/ledger-api": {"ledgerId": "MyLedger", "applicationId": "foobar", "actAs": ["Bob"]}} eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJodHRwczovL2RhbWwuY29tL2xlZGdlci1hcGkiOnsibGVkZ2VySWQiOiJNeUxlZGdlciIsImFwcGxpY2F0aW9uSWQiOiJmb29iYXIiLCJhY3RBcyI6WyJCb2IiXX19.zU-iMSFG90na8IHacrS25xho3u6AKnSlTKbvpkaSyYw

For production use, we have a tool in development for generating proper RSA-encrypted tokens locally, which will arrive when the service also supports such tokens.

Passing token with HTTP

Set HTTP header Authorization: Bearer copy-paste-token-here for normal requests.

Passing token with WebSockets

WebSocket clients support a “subprotocols” argument (sometimes simply called “protocols”); this is usually in a list form but occasionally in comma-separated form. Check documentation for your WebSocket library of choice for details.

For HTTP JSON requests, you must pass two subprotocols:

  • daml.ws.auth
  • jwt.token.copy-paste-token-here

where copy-paste-token-here is the encoded JWT token described above.

Error Reporting

The JSON API reports errors using standard HTTP status codes. It divides HTTP status codes in 3 groups indicating:

  1. success (200)
  2. failure due to a client-side problem (400, 401, 404)
  3. failure due to a server-side problem (500)

The JSON API can return one of the following HTTP status codes:

  • 200 - OK
  • 400 - Bad Request (Client Error)
  • 401 - Unauthorized, authentication required
  • 404 - Not Found
  • 500 - Internal Server Error

If client’s HTTP GET or POST request reaches an API endpoint, the corresponding response will always contain a JSON object with status field, either errors or result and optional warnings:

{
    "status": <400 | 401 | 404 | 500>,
    "errors": <JSON array of strings>, | "result": <JSON object or array>,
    ["warnings": <JSON object> ]
}

Where:

  • status – a JSON number which matches the HTTP response status code returned in the HTTP header,
  • errors – a JSON array of strings, each string represents one error,
  • result – a JSON object or JSON array, representing one or many results,
  • warnings – optional field, a JSON object, representing one ore many warnings.

See the following blog post for more details about error handling best practices: REST API Error Codes 101.

Successful response, HTTP status: 200 OK

  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
    "status": 200,
    "result": <JSON object>
}

Successful response with a warning, HTTP status: 200 OK

  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
    "status": 200,
    "result": <JSON object>,
    "warnings": <JSON object>
}

Failure, HTTP status: 400 | 401 | 404 | 500

  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
    "status": <400 | 401 | 404 | 500>,
    "errors": <JSON array of strings>
}

Examples

Result with JSON Object without Warnings:

{"status": 200, "result": {...}}

Result with JSON Array and Warnings:

{"status": 200, "result": [...], "warnings": {"unknownTemplateIds": ["UnknownModule:UnknownEntity"]}}

Bad Request Error:

{"status": 400, "errors": ["JSON parser error: Unexpected character 'f' at input index 27 (line 1, position 28)"]}

Bad Request Error with Warnings:

{"status":400, "errors":["Cannot not resolve any template ID from request"], "warnings":{"unknownTemplateIds":["XXX:YYY","AAA:BBB"]}}

Authentication Error:

{"status": 401, "errors": ["Authentication Required"]}

Not Found Error:

{"status": 404, "errors": ["HttpMethod(POST), uri: http://localhost:7575/v1/query1"]}

Internal Server Error:

{"status": 500, "errors": ["Cannot initialize Ledger API"]}

Create a new Contract

See the request documentation below on how to create an instance of Iou contract from the Quickstart guide:

template Iou
  with
    issuer : Party
    owner : Party
    currency : Text
    amount : Decimal
    observers : [Party]

HTTP Request

  • URL: /v1/create
  • Method: POST
  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
  "templateId": "Iou:Iou",
  "payload": {
    "issuer": "Alice",
    "owner": "Alice",
    "currency": "USD",
    "amount": "999.99",
    "observers": []
  }
}

Where:

  • templateId is the contract template identifier, which can be formatted as either:
    • "<package ID>:<module>:<entity>" or
    • "<module>:<entity>" if contract template can be uniquely identified by its module and entity name.
  • payload field contains contract fields as defined in the DAML template and formatted according to DAML-LF JSON Encoding.

HTTP Response

  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
    "status": 200,
    "result": {
        "observers": [],
        "agreementText": "",
        "payload": {
            "observers": [],
            "issuer": "Alice",
            "amount": "999.99",
            "currency": "USD",
            "owner": "Alice"
        },
        "signatories": [
            "Alice"
        ],
        "contractId": "#124:0",
        "templateId": "11c8f3ace75868d28136adc5cfc1de265a9ee5ad73fe8f2db97510e3631096a2:Iou:Iou"
    }
}

Where:

  • status field matches the HTTP response status code returned in the HTTP header,
  • result field contains created contract details. Keep in mind that templateId in the JSON API response is always fully qualified (always contains package ID).

Create a new Contract with optional meta field

When creating a new contract, client may specify an optional meta field:

{
  "templateId": "Iou:Iou",
  "payload": {
    "observers": [],
    "issuer": "Alice",
    "amount": "999.99",
    "currency": "USD",
    "owner": "Alice"
  },
  "meta": {
    "commandId": "a unique ID"
  }
}

Where:

  • commandId – optional field, a unique string identifying the command.

Exercise by Contract ID

The JSON command below, demonstrates how to exercise Iou_Transfer choice on Iou contract:

    controller owner can
      Iou_Transfer : ContractId IouTransfer
        with
          newOwner : Party
        do create IouTransfer with iou = this; newOwner

HTTP Request

  • URL: /v1/exercise
  • Method: POST
  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
    "templateId": "Iou:Iou",
    "contractId": "#124:0",
    "choice": "Iou_Transfer",
    "argument": {
        "newOwner": "Alice"
    }
}

Where:

  • templateId – contract template identifier, same as in create request,
  • contractId – contract identifier, the value from the create response,
  • choice – DAML contract choice, that is being exercised,
  • argument – contract choice argument(s).

HTTP Response

  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
    "status": 200,
    "result": {
        "exerciseResult": "#201:1",
        "events": [
            {
                "archived": {
                    "contractId": "#124:0",
                    "templateId": "11c8f3ace75868d28136adc5cfc1de265a9ee5ad73fe8f2db97510e3631096a2:Iou:Iou"
                }
            },
            {
                "created": {
                    "observers": [],
                    "agreementText": "",
                    "payload": {
                        "iou": {
                            "observers": [],
                            "issuer": "Alice",
                            "amount": "999.99",
                            "currency": "USD",
                            "owner": "Alice"
                        },
                        "newOwner": "Alice"
                    },
                    "signatories": [
                        "Alice"
                    ],
                    "contractId": "#201:1",
                    "templateId": "11c8f3ace75868d28136adc5cfc1de265a9ee5ad73fe8f2db97510e3631096a2:Iou:IouTransfer"
                }
            }
        ]
    }
}

Where:

  • status field matches the HTTP response status code returned in the HTTP header,

  • result field contains contract choice execution details:

    • exerciseResult field contains the return value of the exercised contract choice,
    • events contains an array of contracts that were archived and created as part of the choice execution. The array may contain: zero or many {"archived": {...}} and zero or many {"created": {...}} elements. The order of the contracts is the same as on the ledger.

Exercise by Contract Key

The JSON command below, demonstrates how to exercise Archive choice on Account contract with a (Party, Text) key defined like this:

template Account with
    owner : Party
    number : Text
    status : AccountStatus
  where
    signatory owner
    key (owner, number) : (Party, Text)
    maintainer key._1

HTTP Request

  • URL: /v1/exercise
  • Method: POST
  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
    "templateId": "Account:Account",
    "key": {
        "_1": "Alice",
        "_2": "abc123"
    },
    "choice": "Archive",
    "argument": {}
}

Where:

  • templateId – contract template identifier, same as in create request,
  • key – contract key, formatted according to the DAML-LF JSON Encoding,
  • choice – DAML contract choice, that is being exercised,
  • argument – contract choice argument(s), empty, because Archive does not take any.

HTTP Response

Formatted similar to Exercise by Contract ID response.

Create and Exercise in the Same Transaction

This command allows creating a contract and exercising a choice on the newly created contract in the same transaction.

HTTP Request

  • URL: /v1/create-and-exercise
  • Method: POST
  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
  "templateId": "Iou:Iou",
  "payload": {
    "observers": [],
    "issuer": "Alice",
    "amount": "999.99",
    "currency": "USD",
    "owner": "Alice"
  },
  "choice": "Iou_Transfer",
  "argument": {
    "newOwner": "Bob"
  }
}

Where:

  • templateId – the initial contract template identifier, in the same format as in same as in the create request,
  • payload – the initial contract fields as defined in the DAML template and formatted according to DAML-LF JSON Encoding,
  • choice – DAML contract choice, that is being exercised,
  • argument – contract choice argument(s).

HTTP Response

Please note that the response below is for a consuming choice, so it contains:

  • created and archived events for the initial contract ("contractId": "#1:0"), which was created and archived right away when a consuming choice was exercised on it,
  • a created event for the contract that is the result of the choice exercise ("contractId": "#1:2").
  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
  "result": {
    "exerciseResult": "#1:2",
    "events": [
      {
        "created": {
          "observers": [],
          "agreementText": "",
          "payload": {
            "observers": [],
            "issuer": "Alice",
            "amount": "999.99",
            "currency": "USD",
            "owner": "Alice"
          },
          "signatories": [
            "Alice"
          ],
          "contractId": "#1:0",
          "templateId": "a3b788b4dc18dc060bfb82366ae6dc055b1e361d646d5cfdb1b729607e344336:Iou:Iou"
        }
      },
      {
        "archived": {
          "contractId": "#1:0",
          "templateId": "a3b788b4dc18dc060bfb82366ae6dc055b1e361d646d5cfdb1b729607e344336:Iou:Iou"
        }
      },
      {
        "created": {
          "observers": [
            "Bob"
          ],
          "agreementText": "",
          "payload": {
            "iou": {
              "observers": [],
              "issuer": "Alice",
              "amount": "999.99",
              "currency": "USD",
              "owner": "Alice"
            },
            "newOwner": "Bob"
          },
          "signatories": [
            "Alice"
          ],
          "contractId": "#1:2",
          "templateId": "a3b788b4dc18dc060bfb82366ae6dc055b1e361d646d5cfdb1b729607e344336:Iou:IouTransfer"
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "status": 200
}

Fetch Contract by Contract ID

HTTP Request

  • URL: /v1/fetch
  • Method: POST
  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:

application/json body:

{
  "contractId": "#201:1"
}

Contract Not Found HTTP Response

  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
    "status": 200,
    "result": null
}

Contract Found HTTP Response

  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
    "status": 200,
    "result": {
        "observers": [],
        "agreementText": "",
        "payload": {
            "iou": {
                "observers": [],
                "issuer": "Alice",
                "amount": "999.99",
                "currency": "USD",
                "owner": "Alice"
            },
            "newOwner": "Alice"
        },
        "signatories": [
            "Alice"
        ],
        "contractId": "#201:1",
        "templateId": "11c8f3ace75868d28136adc5cfc1de265a9ee5ad73fe8f2db97510e3631096a2:Iou:IouTransfer"
    }
}

Fetch Contract by Key

HTTP Request

  • URL: /v1/fetch
  • Method: POST
  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
    "templateId": "Account:Account",
    "key": {
        "_1": "Alice",
        "_2": "abc123"
    }
}

Contract Not Found HTTP Response

  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
    "status": 200,
    "result": null
}

Contract Found HTTP Response

  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
    "status": 200,
    "result": {
        "observers": [],
        "agreementText": "",
        "payload": {
            "owner": "Alice",
            "number": "abc123",
            "status": {
                "tag": "Enabled",
                "value": "2020-01-01T00:00:01Z"
            }
        },
        "signatories": [
            "Alice"
        ],
        "key": {
            "_1": "Alice",
            "_2": "abc123"
        },
        "contractId": "#697:0",
        "templateId": "11c8f3ace75868d28136adc5cfc1de265a9ee5ad73fe8f2db97510e3631096a2:Account:Account"
    }
}

Contract Search, All Templates

List all currently active contracts for all known templates.

Note that the retrieved contracts do not get persisted into query store database. Query store is a search index and can be used to optimize search latency. See Start HTTP service for information on how to start JSON API service with query store enabled.

HTTP Request

  • URL: /v1/query
  • Method: GET
  • Content: <EMPTY>

HTTP Response

The response is the same as for the POST method below.

Fetch Parties by Identifiers

  • URL: /v1/parties
  • Method: POST
  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
["Alice", "Bob", "Dave"]

If empty JSON array is passed: [], this endpoint returns BadRequest(400) error:

{
  "status": 400,
  "errors": [
    "JsonReaderError. Cannot read JSON: <[]>. Cause: spray.json.DeserializationException: must be a list with at least 1 element"
  ]
}

HTTP Response

  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
  "status": 200,
  "result": [
    {
      "identifier": "Alice",
      "displayName": "Alice & Co. LLC",
      "isLocal": true
    },
    {
      "identifier": "Bob",
      "displayName": "Bob & Co. LLC",
      "isLocal": true
    },
    {
      "identifier": "Dave",
      "isLocal": true
    }
  ]
}

Please note that the order of the party objects in the response is not guaranteed to match the order of the passed party identifiers.

Where

  • identifier – a stable unique identifier of a DAML party,
  • displayName – optional human readable name associated with the party. Might not be unique,
  • isLocal – true if party is hosted by the backing participant.

Response with Unknown Parties Warning

  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
  "result": [
    {
      "identifier": "Alice",
      "displayName": "Alice & Co. LLC",
      "isLocal": true
    }
  ],
  "warnings": {
    "unknownParties": ["Erin"]
  },
  "status": 200
}

The result might be an empty JSON array if none of the requested parties is known.

Fetch All Known Parties

  • URL: /v1/parties
  • Method: GET
  • Content: <EMPTY>

HTTP Response

The response is the same as for the POST method above.

Allocate a New Party

This endpoint is a JSON API proxy for the Ledger API’s AllocatePartyRequest. For more information about party management, please refer to Provisioning Identifiers part of the Ledger API documentation.

HTTP Request

  • URL: /v1/parties/allocate
  • Method: POST
  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
  "identifierHint": "Carol",
  "displayName": "Carol & Co. LLC"
}

Please refer to AllocateParty documentation for information about meaning of the fields.

All fields in the request are optional, this means that empty JSON object is a valid request to allocate a new party:

{}

HTTP Response

{
  "result": {
    "identifier": "Carol",
    "displayName": "Carol & Co. LLC",
    "isLocal": true
  },
  "status": 200
}

List All DALF Packages

HTTP Request

  • URL: /v1/packages
  • Method: GET
  • Content: <EMPTY>

HTTP Response

{
  "result": [
    "c1f1f00558799eec139fb4f4c76f95fb52fa1837a5dd29600baa1c8ed1bdccfd",
    "733e38d36a2759688a4b2c4cec69d48e7b55ecc8dedc8067b815926c917a182a",
    "bfcd37bd6b84768e86e432f5f6c33e25d9e7724a9d42e33875ff74f6348e733f",
    "40f452260bef3f29dede136108fc08a88d5a5250310281067087da6f0baddff7",
    "8a7806365bbd98d88b4c13832ebfa305f6abaeaf32cfa2b7dd25c4fa489b79fb"
  ],
  "status": 200
}

Where result is the JSON array containing package IDs of all loaded DALFs.

Download a DALF Package

HTTP Request

  • URL: /v1/packages/<package ID>
  • Method: GET
  • Content: <EMPTY>

Note that package ID is specified in the URL.

HTTP Response, status: 200 OK

  • Transfer-Encoding: chunked
  • Content-Type: application/octet-stream
  • Content: <DALF bytes>

The content (body) of the HTTP response contains raw DALF package bytes, without any encoding. Note that the package ID specified in the URL is actually the SHA-256 hash of the downloaded DALF package and can be used to validate the integrity of the downloaded content.

HTTP Response with Error, any status different from 200 OK

Any status different from 200 OK will be in the format specified below.

  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
    "errors": [
        "io.grpc.StatusRuntimeException: NOT_FOUND"
    ],
    "status": 500
}

Upload a DAR File

HTTP Request

  • URL: /v1/packages
  • Method: POST
  • Content-Type: application/octet-stream
  • Content: <DAR bytes>

The content (body) of the HTTP request contains raw DAR file bytes, without any encoding.

HTTP Response, status: 200 OK

  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
    "result": 1,
    "status": 200
}

HTTP Response with Error

  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Content:
{
    "errors": [
        "io.grpc.StatusRuntimeException: INVALID_ARGUMENT: Invalid argument: Invalid DAR: package-upload, content: [}]"
    ],
    "status": 500
}

Streaming API

WARNING: the WebSocket endpoints described below are in alpha, so are subject to breaking changes, including all request and response elements demonstrated below or otherwise implemented by the API. We welcome feedback about the API on our issue tracker or on our forum or on Slack.

Please keep in mind that the presence of /v1 prefix in the the WebSocket URLs does not mean that the endpoint interfaces are stabilized.

Two subprotocols must be passed with every request, as described in Passing token with WebSockets.

JavaScript/Node.js example demonstrating how to establish Streaming API connection:

const wsProtocol = "daml.ws.auth";
const tokenPrefix = "jwt.token.";
const jwt =
  "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJodHRwczovL2RhbWwuY29tL2xlZGdlci1hcGkiOnsibGVkZ2VySWQiOiJNeUxlZGdlciIsImFwcGxpY2F0aW9uSWQiOiJmb29iYXIiLCJhY3RBcyI6WyJBbGljZSJdfX0.VdDI96mw5hrfM5ZNxLyetSVwcD7XtLT4dIdHIOa9lcU";
const subprotocols = [`${tokenPrefix}${jwt}`, wsProtocol];

const ws = new WebSocket("ws://localhost:7575/v1/stream/query", subprotocols);

ws.addEventListener("open", function open() {
  ws.send(JSON.stringify({templateIds: ["Iou:Iou"]}));
});

ws.addEventListener("message", function incoming(data) {
  console.log(data);
});

Please note that Streaming API does not allow multiple requests over the same WebSocket connection. The server returns an error and disconnects if second request received over the same WebSocket connection.

Error and Warning Reporting

Errors and warnings reported as part of the regular on-message flow: ws.addEventListener("message", ...).

Streaming API error messages formatted the same way as synchronous API errors.

Streaming API reports only one type of warnings – unknown template IDs, which is formatted as:

{"warnings":{"unknownTemplateIds":<JSON Array of template ID strings>>}}

Error and Warning Examples:

{"warnings": {"unknownTemplateIds": ["UnknownModule:UnknownEntity"]}}

{
  "errors":["JsonReaderError. Cannot read JSON: <{\"templateIds\":[]}>. Cause: spray.json.DeserializationException: search requires at least one item in 'templateIds'"],
  "status":400
}

{
  "errors":["Multiple requests over the same WebSocket connection are not allowed."],
  "status":400
}

{
  "errors":["Could not resolve any template ID from request."],
  "status":400
}

Contracts Query Stream

  • URL: /v1/stream/query
  • Scheme: ws
  • Protocol: WebSocket

Endpoint is in alpha as described above.

List currently active contracts that match a given query, with continuous updates.

application/json body must be sent first, formatted according to the Query language:

{"templateIds": ["Iou:Iou"]}

Multiple queries may be specified in an array, for overlapping or different sets of template IDs:

[
    {"templateIds": ["Iou:Iou"], "query": {"amount": {"%lte": 50}}},
    {"templateIds": ["Iou:Iou"], "query": {"amount": {"%gt": 50}}},
    {"templateIds": ["Iou:Iou"]}
]

An optional offset returned by a prior query (see output examples below) may be specified before the above, as a separate body. It must be a string, and if specified, the stream will begin immediately after the response body that included that offset:

{"offset": "5609"}

The output is a series of JSON documents, each payload formatted according to DAML-LF JSON Encoding:

{
    "events": [{
        "created": {
            "observers": [],
            "agreementText": "",
            "payload": {
                "observers": [],
                "issuer": "Alice",
                "amount": "999.99",
                "currency": "USD",
                "owner": "Alice"
            },
            "signatories": ["Alice"],
            "contractId": "#1:0",
            "templateId": "eb3b150383a979d6765b8570a17dd24ae8d8b63418ee5fd20df20ad2a1c13976:Iou:Iou"
        },
        "matchedQueries": [1, 2]
    }]
}

where matchedQueries indicates the 0-based indices into the request list of queries that matched this contract.

Every events block following the end of contracts that existed when the request started includes an offset. The stream is guaranteed to send an offset immediately at the beginning of this “live” data, which may or may not contain any events; if it does not contain events and no events were emitted before, it may be null or a string; otherwise, it will be a string. For example, you might use it to turn off an initial “loading” indicator:

{
    "events": [],
    "offset": "2"
}

To keep the stream alive, you’ll occasionally see messages like this, which can be safely ignored if you do not need to capture the last seen ledger offset:

{"events":[],"offset":"5609"}

where offset is the last seen ledger offset.

After submitting an Iou_Split exercise, which creates two contracts and archives the one above, the same stream will eventually produce:

{
    "events": [{
        "archived": {
            "contractId": "#1:0",
            "templateId": "eb3b150383a979d6765b8570a17dd24ae8d8b63418ee5fd20df20ad2a1c13976:Iou:Iou"
        }
    }, {
        "created": {
            "observers": [],
            "agreementText": "",
            "payload": {
                "observers": [],
                "issuer": "Alice",
                "amount": "42.42",
                "currency": "USD",
                "owner": "Alice"
            },
            "signatories": ["Alice"],
            "contractId": "#2:1",
            "templateId": "eb3b150383a979d6765b8570a17dd24ae8d8b63418ee5fd20df20ad2a1c13976:Iou:Iou"
        },
        "matchedQueries": [0, 2]
    }, {
        "created": {
            "observers": [],
            "agreementText": "",
            "payload": {
                "observers": [],
                "issuer": "Alice",
                "amount": "957.57",
                "currency": "USD",
                "owner": "Alice"
            },
            "signatories": ["Alice"],
            "contractId": "#2:2",
            "templateId": "eb3b150383a979d6765b8570a17dd24ae8d8b63418ee5fd20df20ad2a1c13976:Iou:Iou"
        },
        "matchedQueries": [1, 2]
    }],
    "offset": "3"
}

If any template IDs are found not to resolve, the first element of the stream will report them:

{"warnings": {"unknownTemplateIds": ["UnknownModule:UnknownEntity"]}}

and the stream will continue, provided that at least one template ID resolved properly.

Aside from "created" and "archived" elements, "error" elements may appear, which contain a string describing the error. The stream will continue in these cases, rather than terminating.

Some notes on behavior:

  1. Each result array means “this is what would have changed if you just polled /v1/query iteratively.” In particular, just as polling search can “miss” contracts (as a create and archive can be paired between polls), such contracts may or may not appear in any result object.
  2. No archived ever contains a contract ID occurring within a created in the same array. So, for example, supposing you are keeping an internal map of active contracts keyed by contract ID, you can apply the created first or the archived first, forwards, backwards, or in random order, and be guaranteed to get the same results.
  3. Within a given array, if an archived and created refer to contracts with the same template ID and contract key, the archived is guaranteed to occur before the created.
  4. Except in cases of #3, within a single response array, the order of created and archived is undefined and does not imply that any element occurred “before” or “after” any other one.
  5. You will almost certainly receive contract IDs in archived that you never received a created for. These are contracts that query filtered out, but for which the server no longer is aware of that. You can safely ignore these. However, such “phantom archives” are guaranteed to represent an actual archival on the ledger, so if you are keeping a more global dataset outside the context of this specific search, you can use that archival information as you wish.

Fetch by Key Contracts Stream

  • URL: /v1/stream/fetch
  • Scheme: ws
  • Protocol: WebSocket

Endpoint is in alpha as described above.

List currently active contracts that match one of the given {templateId, key} pairs, with continuous updates.

application/json body must be sent first, formatted according to the following rule:

[
    {"templateId": "<template ID 1>", "key": <key 1>},
    {"templateId": "<template ID 2>", "key": <key 2>},
    ...
    {"templateId": "<template ID N>", "key": <key N>}
]

Where:

Example:

[
    {"templateId": "Account:Account", "key": {"_1": "Alice", "_2": "abc123"}},
    {"templateId": "Account:Account", "key": {"_1": "Alice", "_2": "def345"}}
]

The output stream has the same format as the output from the Contracts Query Stream. We further guarantee that for every archived event appearing on the stream there has been a matching created event earlier in the stream, except in the case of missing contractIdAtOffset fields in the case described below.

You may supply an optional offset for the stream, exactly as with query streams. However, you should supply with each {templateId, key} pair a contractIdAtOffset, which is the contract ID currently associated with that pair at the point of the given offset, or null if no contract ID was associated with the pair at that offset. For example, with the above keys, if you had one "abc123" contract but no "def345" contract, you might specify:

[
    {"templateId": "Account:Account", "key": {"_1": "Alice", "_2": "abc123"},
     "contractIdAtOffset": "#1:0"},
    {"templateId": "Account:Account", "key": {"_1": "Alice", "_2": "def345"},
     "contractIdAtOffset": null}
]

If every contractIdAtOffset is specified, as is so in the example above, you will not receive any archived events for contracts created before the offset unless those contracts are identified in a contractIdAtOffset. By contrast, if any contractIdAtOffset is missing, archived event filtering will be disabled, and you will receive “phantom archives” as with query streams.