![](https://hackernoon.com/hn-images/1*WpUuwCQZWhVzP3X0Gibaqw.png)

In this tutorial I will illustrate how you can build your own **RESTful API** in **Go** and **MongoDB**. All the code used in this demo can be found on my [Github](https://github.com/mlabouardy/movies-restapi).

**1 — API Specification**

The **REST API service** will expose endpoints to manage a store of movies. The operations that our endpoints will allow are:

![](https://hackernoon.com/hn-images/0*HU6ti25J9Y_hJQjl.)

**2 — Fetching Dependencies**

Before we begin, we need to get the packages we need to setup the API:

> go get github.com/BurntSushi/toml gopkg.in/mgo.v2 github.com/gorilla/mux

*   [**toml**](https://github.com/BurntSushi/toml) : Parse the configuration file (**MongoDB** server & credentials)
*   [**mux**](https://github.com/gorilla/mux) : Request router and dispatcher for matching incoming requests to their respective handler
*   [**mgo**](https://github.com/go-mgo/mgo) : **MongoDB** driver

**3 — API structure**

Once the dependencies are installed, we create a file called “**app.go**“, with the following content:

The code above creates a controller for each endpoint, then expose an **HTTP** **server** on port **3000**.

Note: We are using **GET**, **POST**, **PUT**, and **DELETE** where appropriate. We are also defining parameters that can be passed in

To run the server in local, type the following command:

> go run app.go

If you point your browser to [**http://localhost:3000/movies**](http://localhost:3000/movies), you should see:

![](https://hackernoon.com/hn-images/0*qm349VkFrJOIOhA2.)

**4 — Model**

Now that we have a minimal application, it’s time to create a basic **Movie** model. In **Go**, we use **struct** keyword to create a model:

Next, we will create the **Data Access Object** to manage database operations.

**5 — Data Access Object**

**5.1 — Establish Connection**

The **connect()** method as its name implies, establish a connection to **MongoDB database.**

**5.2 — Database Queries**

The implementation is relatively straighforward and just includes issuing right method using **db.C(COLLECTION)** object and returning the results. These methods can be implemented as follows:

**6 — Setup API Endpoints**

**6.1 — Create a Movie**

Update the **CreateMovieEndpoint** method as follows:

It decodes the request body into a **movie** object, assign it an **ID**, and uses the **DAO** **Insert** method to create a **movie** in database.

Let’s test it out:

With [**Postman**](https://www.getpostman.com/):

![](https://hackernoon.com/hn-images/0*2jQa17u6vC0tvJbm.)

With **cURL**

> curl -sSX POST -d ‘{“name”:”dunkirk”,”cover\_image”:”[https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w640/cUqEgoP6kj8ykfNjJx3Tl5zHCcN.jpg](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w640/cUqEgoP6kj8ykfNjJx3Tl5zHCcN.jpg)", “description”:”world war 2 movie”}’ [http://localhost:3000/movies](http://localhost:3000/movies) | jq ‘.’

**6.2 — List of Movies**

The code below is self explanatory:

It uses **FindAll** method of **DAO** to fetch list of movies from database.

Let’s test it out:

With [**Postman**](https://www.getpostman.com/):

![](https://hackernoon.com/hn-images/0*kO9iTOKL0kKa3L-l.)

With **cURL**:

> curl -sSX GET [http://localhost:3000/movies](http://localhost:3000/movies) | jq ‘.’

**6.3 — Find a Movie**

We will use the **mux** library to get the parameters that the users passed in with the request:

Let’s test it out:

With [**Postman**](https://www.getpostman.com/):

![](https://hackernoon.com/hn-images/0*LILL9i7HPAdhhkGe.)

With **cURL**:

> curl -sSX GET [http://localhost:3000/movies/599570faf0429b4494cfa5d4](http://localhost:3000/movies/599570faf0429b4494cfa5d4) | jq ‘.’

**6.4 — Update an existing Movie**

Update the **UpdateMovieEndPoint** method as follows:

Let’s test it out:

With [**Postman**](https://www.getpostman.com/):

![](https://hackernoon.com/hn-images/0*XU-Q4mnOOJam76Yu.)

With **cURL**:

> curl -sSX PUT -d ‘{“name”:”dunkirk”,”cover\_image”:”[https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w640/cUqEgoP6kj8ykfNjJx3Tl5zHCcN.jpg](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w640/cUqEgoP6kj8ykfNjJx3Tl5zHCcN.jpg)", “description”:”world war 2 movie”}’ [http://localhost:3000/movies](http://localhost:3000/movies) | jq ‘.’

**6.5 — Delete an existing Movie**

Update the **DeleteMovieEndPoint** method as follows:

Let’s test it out:

With [**Postman**](https://www.getpostman.com/):

![](https://hackernoon.com/hn-images/0*utDTGRWvGBTMkx71.)

With **cURL**:

> curl -sSX DELETE -d ‘{“name”:”dunkirk”,”cover\_image”:”[https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w640/cUqEgoP6kj8ykfNjJx3Tl5zHCcN.jpg](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w640/cUqEgoP6kj8ykfNjJx3Tl5zHCcN.jpg)", “description”:”world war 2 movie”}’ [http://localhost:3000/movies](http://localhost:3000/movies) | jq ‘.’

Taking this further ? On my upcoming posts, I will show you how :

*   Write **Unit Tests** in **Go** for each Endpoint
*   Build a UI in **Angular 4**
*   Setup a **CI/CD** with **CircleCI**
*   Deploy the stack on **AWS** and much more …

So stay tuned !

Build RESTful API in Go and MongoDB

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@mlabouardy

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