Solid REST Browser

treat a browser's localStorage as a mini Solid server

This library supports the use of the app:// scheme to create and access resources and containers stored in a browser's localStorage (and eventually indexedDB and other kinds of storage) using the same methods as a Solid pod. Using this library, apps may read and write configuration preferences and other data within the user's browser using rdflib, query-ldflex, and any library that uses solid-auth-client's fetch. It can also serve as a mini-pod allowing users with no pod and no web-server to interact with Solid apps as though they had a pod. Most calls will return what you expect from a Solid server, including, on fetch of a folder, a Turtle representation of a container and the resources it contains.

The library should work in all modern browsers and runs fine on iPhone and Android.

See a live demo!

Installation and Usage

Just include the library and solid-auth-client in script tags, then use rdflib, query-ldflex or any other Solid library's methods to access app:// URLs the same as you would https:// URLs. All methods should work except those that require PATCH (e.g. rdflib's UpdateManager).

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]">
</script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]">
</script>
// import rdflib or other Solid libraries here
// use most of the Solid library's methods with app:// URLs ...

IMPORTANT : solid-auth-client has the hook to use this library but it hasn't been npm'd yet so this library will need to be used directly until it propagates; see the (demo code)[./index.html) for examples of using it directly with rdflib.

Storage and Naming Conventions

Each app origin (protocol+domain+port) has its own siloed localStorage and can not see or change the localStorage of other apps. For purposes of this library, localhost:// and file:// origins work the same as remote origins.

Here is how URLs will be treated :

URL = scheme + storageType + resourcePath

scheme = app://

storageType = "ls" for localStorage
              "id" for indexedDB (not yet implemented)
              ... possible others

resourcePath = the path to the container or resource

The root container for any app is

app://ls/

But an app at originX will be looking at app://ls/ within originX's localStorage silo whereas an app at originY will be looking at a different app://ls/ in its own silo.

Important : Container names must always end in slash.

copyright © 2019, Jeff Zucker, may be freely used with an MIT license.