--- title: Why You Shouldn't Build Your Own REST API description: What’s the story behind the DreamFactory Services Platform? We make applications ourselves on cloud platforms like Salesforce, Windows Azure, and AWS. image: https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/team-ben-May-07-2024-08-15-48-6708-AM.jpg --- [![DreamFactory logo](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/64ed8da8a866be7a702fbae0/68d51994d3678214b54acb60_dreamfactory-navbar-logo.svg)](https://www.dreamfactory.com/) Products & Services [AI Data Gateway](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/overview) [Overview Why DreamFactory exists](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/overview) [Data Gov, Comp, Security Policy enforcement at the API layer](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/ai-data-governance) [Standard API Layer One contract for every backend](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/standard-api-layer) [API Gateway Functionality Routing, auth, rate limits, observability](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/api-gateway-functionality) [Deployment & Integration Self-hosted, cloud, hybrid](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/on-premise-deployment-and-integration) [Developer Productivity Auto-generated, never hand-coded](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/ai-development-accelerated) [AI App Architectures Patterns for RAG, agents, MCP](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/enterprise-ai-architectures) AI Data Models [AIOpenAI](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/openai) [GGoogle Gemini](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/google-gemini) [CAnthropic Claude](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/anthropic-claude-landing) [LMeta Llama](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/meta-llama) [MMistral AI](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/mistral) [CoCohere](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/cohere) Services and support [Quickstart Service Packages Expert-led Quickstarts to production](https://www.dreamfactory.com/services-and-support/quickstart-services-packages) API Management [Generate & Manage REST APIs From any database, in seconds](https://www.dreamfactory.com/api-management/generate-rest-apis) [Features Security, scripting, self-hosted & more](https://www.dreamfactory.com/api-management/features) [API Generation The complete guide to auto-generated APIs](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/a-complete-guide-to-api-generation) [API Management Concepts, tools, and best practises](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/what-is-api-management-a-brief-overview-of-api-management-concepts-and-tools?_gl=1*jl0njh*_gcl_au*MjQzMjgwMTc3LjE3ODIzMjI3MzY) Use Cases AI Use Cases [AI Data Access Secure, governed reads for your LLMs](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/ai-data-access) [MCP Server Drop-in Model Context Protocol](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/mcp-server) [Legacy Modernization Wrap mainframes with REST](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/legacy-modernization) [Data Governance Audit every call, enforce every policy](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/data-governance) [Customer Case Studies](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies) [Energy Modernization](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/energy-snowflake-modernization) [Government Modernization](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/government-mainframe-oracle-modernization) [Government Business Intelligence](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/government-sql-server-bi-analyst-queries) [Manufacturing Modernization](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/steel-manufacturing-sap-erp-modernization) [Financial Services Investor Portal](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/financial-services-sql-server-investor-portal) [Non-Profit Partner Data Sharing](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/non-profit-sql-server-partner-data-sharing) [Professional Services Exec Dashboards](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/professional-services-erp-dashboards) [Education HR and External Data Sharing](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/education-student-hr-sql-server-mysql-external-data-sharing) Industries Industries #### [Healthcare HIPAA-grade APIs across EHR, claims, and labs.](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/healthcare) #### [Financial Services Portfolios, partners, and portals on one layer.](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/financial-services) #### [Government Modernize mainframes without re-platforming.](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/government) #### [Manufacturing SAP, MES, and shop-floor data, governed.](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/manufacturing) #### [Spotlight How enterprises run on DreamFactory From healthcare to energy to finance — governance baked into every endpoint. Browse case studies →](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies) Connectors SQL Database [SQL SQL Server](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/sql-server) [OR Oracle](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/oracle) [PG PostgreSQL](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/postgresql) [My MySQL](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/mysql) NoSQL & Docs [Dy DynamoDB](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/dynamodb) [Do DocumentDB](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/azure-documentdb) [Mo MongoDB](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/mongodb) [Cb CouchDB](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/couch-db) Cloud Warehouses [S3 S3](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/amazon-s3) [Ab Azureblob](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/azure-blob) [FS FTP/SFTP](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/ftp-sftp) [LS Local Storage](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/local-storage) C & SaaS [Sf Salesforce](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/salesforce) [API REST / SOAP](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/soap-to-rest) [See all 30+ connectors](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors) [Blog](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/) [FREE 30 Minute Demo](https://www.dreamfactory.com/demo) [![DreamFactory logo](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/64ed8da8a866be7a702fbae0/68d51994d3678214b54acb60_dreamfactory-navbar-logo.svg)](https://www.dreamfactory.com/) ![hamburger](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/dreamfactory/images/megamenu/menu-hamburger.svg) ![close](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/dreamfactory/images/megamenu/close-menu.svg) Back to main menu Products & Services Use Cases Industries Connectors [Blog](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/) [FREE 30 Minute Demo](https://www.dreamfactory.com/demo) [AI Data Gateway](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/overview) [Overview Why DreamFactory exists](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/overview) [Data Gov, Comp, Security Policy enforcement at the API layer](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/ai-data-governance) [Standard API Layer One contract for every backend](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/standard-api-layer) [API Gateway Functionality Routing, auth, rate limits, observability](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/api-gateway-functionality) [Deployment & Integration Self-hosted, cloud, hybrid](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/on-premise-deployment-and-integration) [Developer Productivity Auto-generated, never hand-coded](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/ai-development-accelerated) [AI App Architectures Patterns for RAG, agents, MCP](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/enterprise-ai-architectures) AI Data Models [AIOpenAI](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/openai) [GGoogle Gemini](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/google-gemini) [CAnthropic Claude](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/anthropic-claude-landing) [LMeta Llama](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/meta-llama) [MMistral AI](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/mistral) [CoCohere](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/cohere) Services and support [Quickstart Service Packages Expert-led Quickstarts to production](https://www.dreamfactory.com/services-and-support/quickstart-services-packages) AI Data Models [Generate & Manage REST APIs From any database, in seconds](https://www.dreamfactory.com/api-management/generate-rest-apis) [Features Security, scripting, self-hosted & more](https://www.dreamfactory.com/api-management/features) [API Generation The complete guide to auto-generated APIs](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/a-complete-guide-to-api-generation) [API Management Concepts, tools, and best practises](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/what-is-api-management-a-brief-overview-of-api-management-concepts-and-tools?_gl=1*jl0njh*_gcl_au*MjQzMjgwMTc3LjE3ODIzMjI3MzY) AI Use Cases [AI Data Access Secure, governed reads for your LLMs](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/ai-data-access) [MCP Server Drop-in Model Context Protocol](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/mcp-server) [Legacy Modernization Wrap mainframes with REST](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/legacy-modernization) [Data Governance Audit every call, enforce every policy](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/data-governance) [Customer Case Studies](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies) [Energy Modernization](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/energy-snowflake-modernization) [Government Modernization](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/government-mainframe-oracle-modernization) [Government Business Intelligence](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/government-sql-server-bi-analyst-queries) [Manufacturing Modernization](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/steel-manufacturing-sap-erp-modernization) [Financial Services Investor Portal](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/financial-services-sql-server-investor-portal) [Non-Profit Partner Data Sharing](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/non-profit-sql-server-partner-data-sharing) [Professional Services Exec Dashboards](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/professional-services-erp-dashboards) [Education HR and External Data Sharing](https://www.dreamfactory.com/case-studies/education-student-hr-sql-server-mysql-external-data-sharing) Industries #### [Healthcare HIPAA-grade APIs across EHR, claims, and labs.](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/healthcare) #### [Financial Services Portfolios, partners, and portals on one layer.](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/financial-services) #### [Government Modernize mainframes without re-platforming.](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/government) #### [Manufacturing SAP, MES, and shop-floor data, governed.](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/manufacturing) SQL Database [SQL SQL Server](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/sql-server) [OR Oracle](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/oracle) [PG PostgreSQL](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/postgresql) [My MySQL](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/mysql) NoSQL & Docs [Dy DynamoDB](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/dynamodb) [Do DocumentDB](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/azure-documentdb) [Mo MongoDB](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/mongodb) [Cb CouchDB](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/couch-db) Cloud Warehouses [S3 S3](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/amazon-s3) [Ab Azureblob](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/azure-blob) [FS FTP/SFTP](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/ftp-sftp) [LS Local Storage](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/local-storage) C & SaaS [Sf Salesforce](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/salesforce) [API REST / SOAP](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/soap-to-rest) [See all 30+ connectors](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors) [![back arrow](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/dreamfactory/images/orange-arrow.svg) Blog](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/) # Why You Shouldn't Build Your Own REST API by Terence Bennett ![calendar icon](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/dreamfactory/images/calendar-icon.svg) July 6, 2018 Table of contents RECOMMENDED ARTICLES - [A Complete Guide to API Generation](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/a-complete-guide-to-api-generation) - [10 Best API Management Tools](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/what-is-api-management-a-brief-overview-of-api-management-concepts-and-tools) - [Creating a Microsoft SQL Server API in Less Than 5 minutes with DreamFactory](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/creating-a-microsoft-sql-server-api-in-less-than-5-minutes-with-dreamfactory) - [Hasura vs. DreamFactory: A Comprehensive Comparison](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hasura-vs-dreamfactory) - [Build A Snowflake REST API in Less Than 5 Minutes](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/generate-a-snowflake-rest-api-in-less-than-5-minutes) ![BenBusse](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/team-ben-May-07-2024-08-15-48-6708-AM.jpg?width=86&height=57&name=team-ben-May-07-2024-08-15-48-6708-AM.jpg) What’s the story behind the DreamFactory [Services Platform](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/the-reusable-rest-api-platform-strategy/)? We make applications ourselves on cloud platforms like [Salesforce](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/instantly-create-a-salesforce-rest-api/), Windows Azure, and AWS. Every new application we created for our customers required the same manual steps: - Set up backend databases, schema, and file storage - Create a [user management system](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/what-is-api-management-a-brief-overview-of-api-management-concepts-and-tools/) with secure authentication - Design and create backend services for data, files, and external APIs - Write our own [REST API to access](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/what-is-api-access/) all these services - Integrate the frontend application with these backend services - Test all of that [integration end-to-end](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/api-integration/) Ouch! All that time spent creating the backend services and API took away valuable time creating the actual application that customers would be using everyday. We searched for an open source solution that could solve this problem. Alas, it didn’t exist. So we decided to build it. We realized that other app developers faced the exact same problems and could benefit from our work. So it made perfect sense to open source it. Many of our customers are large enterprises with sophisticated requirements, especially around [security](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/how-to-secure-rest-apis-api-keys-vs-oauth/). The platform had to satisfy several goals: 1. Dramatically simplify life for frontend developers. The platform should eliminate the need to write any server-side code. 2. Support HTML5 and native mobile applications running on performance and bandwidth-constrained phones and tablets. 3. Provide a comprehensive palette of backend services and a unified REST API to power sophisticated, data-driven applications at scale. 4. Provide world-class security that large enterprises could adopt. 5. Provide open source flexibility. A developer or sys admin should be able to install the DreamFactory software package in the cloud or on premise. The unified REST API mentioned in goal 3 above is a key feature of the platform. Now you don’t have to write your own REST API. It’s automatically created for every backend service that your application needs. The API includes 123 standard GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE calls for: - /user – 11 API calls for user authentication, registration, profiles, and sessions - /system – 45 API calls for managing apps, app groups, email, roles, services, and users - /app – 16 API calls for application containers, files, and folders - /db – 8 API calls for database CRUD operations - /doc – 16 API calls for document containers, files, and folders - /email – 1 API call to send email - /lib – 16 API calls for lib containers, files, and folders - /schema – 10 API calls for managing schema And every time you add a new service, the corresponding REST API for that service is automatically created and documented. For example, say you connect to a MongoDB database with DreamFactory. ![updateservice](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/updateservice.png?width=580&height=549&name=updateservice.png) The new API ‘/mongo’ is automatically created and documented. Presto, now you have a REST API to access your remote MongoDB database from the client! ![mongodb](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/mongodb.png?width=582&height=456&name=mongodb.png) Before you start building anything, spend 5 minutes browsing the API. The API is documented with an awesome tool called Swagger. Swagger lets you try out live API calls right in your browser.  It’s interactive, so you can quickly learn the capabilities of the API without writing a line of application code. Try it out! You can browse the API in two places: [on our website](https://www.dreamfactory.com/developers/live_API) and in the API Documentation tab of the admin console. ![apidocumentationtab](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/apidocumentationtab.png?width=239&height=501&name=apidocumentationtab.png) Also check out Jason’s recent blog post on [getting started with the DreamFactory API](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/Getting-Started-with-the-DreamFactory-API/). Have fun with the API and let us know what you think! TAGS: [MySQL,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/mysql) [SQL Server,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/sql-server) [API Management,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/api-management-2) [Services,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/services) [Redshift,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/redshift) [REST,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/rest) [AWS,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/aws) [DreamFactory,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/dreamfactory) [API Automation,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/api-automation) [Data Sources,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/data-sources) [API Design,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/api-design) [SOAP,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/soap) [Database,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/database) [Authentication,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/authentication) [API](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/api) ![Terence Bennett](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/1624046620145.jpg?width=100&height=100&name=1624046620145.jpg) Terence Bennett Terence Bennett, CEO of DreamFactory, has a wealth of experience in government IT systems and Google Cloud. His impressive background includes being a former U.S. Navy Intelligence Officer and a former member of Google's Red Team. Prior to becoming CEO, he served as COO at DreamFactory Software. Stay Connected with The Connector Newsletter! Subscribe to stay up-to-date with DreamFactory's latest product updates, API best practices, and tech humor in your inbox. 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All rights reserved. [Terms of Use](https://www.dreamfactory.com/terms-of-use) [Privacy Policy](https://www.dreamfactory.com/privacy-policy) [LLMs](https://www.dreamfactory.com/llms.txt) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Terence Bennett", "url" : "https://blog.dreamfactory.com/author/terencebennett" }, "dateModified" : "2024-05-07T08:25:15.553Z", "datePublished" : "2018-07-06T11:19:26.000Z", "headline" : "Why You Shouldn't Build Your Own REST API", "image" : [ "https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/team-ben-May-07-2024-08-15-48-6708-AM.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.dreamfactory.com/why-you-shouldn-t-build-your-own-rest-api", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/DreamFactory%20-%20Orange%20-%20Transparent-1.png" } } } ```