Running as an akka-http server

To expose an endpoint as an akka-http server, first add the following dependency:

"com.softwaremill.sttp.tapir" %% "tapir-akka-http-server" % "0.17.18"

This will transitively pull some Akka modules in version 2.6. If you want to force your own Akka version (for example 2.5), use sbt exclusion. Mind the Scala version in artifact name:

"com.softwaremill.sttp.tapir" %% "tapir-akka-http-server" % "0.17.18" exclude("com.typesafe.akka", "akka-stream_2.12")

Now import the object:

import sttp.tapir.server.akkahttp.AkkaHttpServerInterpreter

The AkkaHttpServerInterpreter objects contains methods such as: toRoute, toRouteRecoverErrors and toDirective.

Using toRoute and toRouteRecoverErrors

The toRoute method requires the logic of the endpoint to be given as a function of type:

I => Future[Either[E, O]]

The toRouteRecoverErrors method recovers errors from failed futures, and hence requires that E is a subclass of Throwable (an exception); it expects a function of type I => Future[O].

For example:

import sttp.tapir._
import sttp.tapir.server.akkahttp.AkkaHttpServerInterpreter
import scala.concurrent.Future
import akka.http.scaladsl.server.Route

def countCharacters(s: String): Future[Either[Unit, Int]] = 
  Future.successful(Right[Unit, Int](s.length))

val countCharactersEndpoint: Endpoint[String, Unit, Int, Any] = 
  endpoint.in(stringBody).out(plainBody[Int])
  
val countCharactersRoute: Route = AkkaHttpServerInterpreter.toRoute(countCharactersEndpoint)(countCharacters)

Note that the second argument to toRoute is a function with one argument, a tuple of type I. This means that functions which take multiple arguments need to be converted to a function using a single argument using .tupled:

import sttp.tapir._
import sttp.tapir.server.akkahttp._
import scala.concurrent.Future
import akka.http.scaladsl.server.Route

def logic(s: String, i: Int): Future[Either[Unit, String]] = ???
val anEndpoint: Endpoint[(String, Int), Unit, String, Any] = ???  
val aRoute: Route = AkkaHttpServerInterpreter.toRoute(anEndpoint)((logic _).tupled)

Using toDirective

The toDirective method splits parsing the input and encoding the output. The directive provides the input parameters, type I, and a function that can be used to encode the output.

For example:

import sttp.tapir._
import sttp.tapir.server.akkahttp.AkkaHttpServerInterpreter
import scala.concurrent.Future
import akka.http.scaladsl.server.Route

def countCharacters(s: String): Future[Either[Unit, Int]] = 
  Future.successful(Right[Unit, Int](s.length))

val countCharactersEndpoint: Endpoint[String, Unit, Int, Any] = 
  endpoint.in(stringBody).out(plainBody[Int])
  
val countCharactersRoute: Route = AkkaHttpServerInterpreter.toDirective(countCharactersEndpoint).tapply { 
  case (input, completion) => completion(countCharacters(input))
}

Combining directives

The tapir-generated Route/Directive captures from the request only what is described by the endpoint. Combine with other akka-http directives to add additional behavior, or get more information from the request.

For example, wrap the tapir-generated route in a metrics route, or nest a security directive in the tapir-generated directive.

Edge-case endpoints, which require special logic not expressible using tapir, can be implemented directly using akka-http. For example:

import sttp.tapir._
import sttp.tapir.server.akkahttp.AkkaHttpServerInterpreter
import akka.http.scaladsl.server._

case class User(email: String)
def metricsDirective: Directive0 = ???
def securityDirective: Directive1[User] = ???
val tapirEndpoint: Endpoint[String, Unit, Unit, Any] = endpoint.in(path[String]("input"))

val myRoute: Route = metricsDirective {
  securityDirective { user =>
    AkkaHttpServerInterpreter.toRoute(tapirEndpoint) { input => 
      ??? 
      /* here we can use both `user` and `input` values */
    }
  }
}

Note that Routes can only be nested within other directives. Directives can nest in other directives and can also contain nested directives. For example:

import akka.http.scaladsl.server.Directive0
import akka.http.scaladsl.server.Directives.Authenticator
import akka.http.scaladsl.server.Directives.authenticateBasic
import akka.http.scaladsl.server.Route
import sttp.tapir._
import sttp.tapir.server.akkahttp.AkkaHttpServerInterpreter

import scala.concurrent.Future

def countCharacters(s: String): Future[Either[Unit, Int]] =
  Future.successful(Right[Unit, Int](s.length))

val countCharactersEndpoint: Endpoint[String, Unit, Int, Any] =
  endpoint.in(stringBody).out(plainBody[Int])

case class User(email: String)
val authenticator: Authenticator[User] = ???
def authorizationDirective(user: User, input: String): Directive0 = ???

val countCharactersRoute: Route =
  authenticateBasic("realm", authenticator) { user =>
    AkkaHttpServerInterpreter.toDirective(countCharactersEndpoint).tapply { 
      case (input, completion) =>
        authorizationDirective(user, input) {
          completion(countCharacters(input))
        }
    }
  }

Streaming

The akka-http interpreter accepts streaming bodies of type Source[ByteString, Any], as described by the AkkaStreams capability. Both response bodies and request bodies can be streamed. Usage: streamBody(AkkaStreams)(schema, format).

The capability can be added to the classpath independently of the interpreter through the "com.softwaremill.sttp.shared" %% "akka" dependency.

Web sockets

The interpreter supports web sockets, with pipes of type Flow[REQ, RESP, Any]. See web sockets for more details.

akka-http does not expose control frames (Ping, Pong and Close), so any setting regarding them are discarded, and ping/pong frames which are sent explicitly are ignored. Automatic pings can be instead enabled through configuration.

Server Sent Events

The interpreter supports SSE (Server Sent Events).

For example, to define an endpoint that returns event stream:

import akka.stream.scaladsl.Source
import sttp.model.sse.ServerSentEvent
import sttp.tapir._
import sttp.tapir.server.akkahttp.{AkkaHttpServerInterpreter, serverSentEventsBody}

import scala.concurrent.Future

val sseEndpoint = endpoint.get.out(serverSentEventsBody)

val routes = AkkaHttpServerInterpreter.toRoute(sseEndpoint)(_ =>
  Future.successful(Right(Source.single(ServerSentEvent(Some("data"), None, None, None))))
)

Configuration

The interpreter can be configured by providing an implicit AkkaHttpServerOptions value and status mappers, see server options for details.

Defining an endpoint together with the server logic

It’s also possible to define an endpoint together with the server logic in a single, more concise step. See server logic for details.