lexiconalyze

This app was created to demonstrate the process of building an API using R's Plumber framework and consuming it with a JavaScript front end.

The Svelte front end is deployed at nmill092.github.io/plumber-lexiconalyze. The API has been deployed onto a DigitalOcean droplet with the help of the R package plumberDeploy.

To run the app locally, you will first run the API and then point your front end at it.

Running the API

Change your working directory to api/.

Install the plumber package by running install.packages("plumber") in an R console. Open plumber.R. If using RStudio, you can run the API by clicking "Run API" at the top of your editor window. Otherwise, you can run the API programmatically using the following command: plumber::plumb("plumber.R") %>% plumber::pr_run(). Optionally, you can add a port argument to specify a port on which the API should listen for requests. Otherwise, Plumber will randomly select an open port. See ?pr_run for more details.

Once the API starts, check your R console and make note of the API's base URL (127.0.0.1:xxxx aka localhost:xxxx). You can test the API using the Swagger UI, Postman, cURL, or another tool.

Running the front end

Change your working directory to ui/.

IMPORTANT STEP: At the root of ui/, create a .env file and add your API's base URL as follows (no curly braces):

VITE_API_BASE={YOUR API BASE URL GOES HERE}

Make sure your working directory is set to ui/; then open a terminal and run npm install && npm run dev.