Example server (Express)

A reference Express server implementing the full FlowDrop REST API — the recommended backend to develop a client against.

The example Express server is the fastest way to get a working backend, and the recommended one while you’re building a FlowDrop client. It’s a reference implementation of the full FlowDrop REST API — node types, categories, port config, and full workflow CRUD — with CORS enabled and seed data built in, so the editor has real nodes to place the moment you connect.

In-memory only — not for production.

The example server keeps everything in memory, so workflows you create are lost when it restarts. It’s built for local development.

Run it

The server lives in the FlowDrop repo at apps/example-server-express:

cd apps/example-server-express
npm install
npm run dev

It starts on http://localhost:7104, serving the API under http://localhost:7104/api/flowdrop. Open the root URL in a browser for a browsable index of every endpoint. Set a different port with the PORT environment variable:

PORT=8080 npm run dev

Connect your editor

Point your client at the API base — no authentication required:

import { createEndpointConfig } from '@flowdrop/flowdrop/core';

const endpointConfig = createEndpointConfig('http://localhost:7104/api/flowdrop');

That’s all the wiring the editor needs — see the Quick start for mounting it in your framework.

Endpoints

The server implements the full FlowDrop contract. All paths are relative to the /api/flowdrop base.

Method	Path	Description
GET	/health	Server health and uptime
GET	/system/config	Client bootstrap config
GET	/nodes	List node types (?category, ?search, ?limit, ?offset)
GET	/nodes/:id	Get a single node type
GET	/categories	List node categories
GET	/port-config	Port data types and compatibility rules
GET	/workflows	List workflows (?search, ?tags, ?sort, ?order)
POST	/workflows	Create a workflow
GET	/workflows/:id	Get a workflow
PUT	/workflows/:id	Update a workflow
DELETE	/workflows/:id	Delete a workflow

Next steps

Quick start

Install FlowDrop and mount the editor against this server.

Build your own backend

Implement the same REST contract on your own stack for production.