Protobi REST API, Node.js SDK, and CLI

This package provides three ways to interact with the Protobi REST API:

1. Command-Line Interface (CLI) - For scripting and automation
2. Node.js Library - For programmatic access from Node.js
3. REST API - Direct HTTP access from any language/platform

Documentation

• CLI Guide - Complete command-line interface documentation
• JavaScript API - Node.js library method reference
• REST API - Direct HTTP endpoint documentation

Installation

npm install github:protobi/protobi-javascript-api

---

Command-Line Interface (CLI)

The Protobi CLI enables scripting and automation of data operations.

Quick Start

1. Configure credentials (one-time setup):

   # Create local config file
   cp .protobi.json.example .protobi.json
   # Edit and add your API key

   Or set environment variables:

   export PROTOBI_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"
   export PROTOBI_HOST="https://app.protobi.com"

2. Use the CLI:

   # Download data
   protobi dataset download --datasetId <id> --table main --output data.csv
   
   # Upload data
   protobi dataset upload --datasetId <id> --table main --file data.csv
   
   # Download project configuration
   protobi dataset get-elements --datasetId <id> --output elements.json
   
   # Upload project configuration
   protobi dataset upload-elements --datasetId <id> --file elements.json

CLI Configuration

Configuration cascade (lowest to highest priority):

1. Global config: ~/.protobi.json
2. Local config: ./.protobi.json or ./config.json
3. Environment variables: PROTOBI_API_KEY, PROTOBI_HOST, PROTOBI_DATASET_ID
4. Command-line flags: --apiKey, --host, --datasetId

Example .protobi.json:

{
  "apiKey": "your-api-key-here",
  "host": "https://app.protobi.com",
  "datasetId": "default-dataset-id",
  "table": "main"
}

CLI Commands

Dataset Download

protobi dataset download \
  --datasetId <id> \
  --table <key> \
  --output data.csv \
  --format csv|json

Dataset Upload

protobi dataset upload \
  --datasetId <id> \
  --table <key> \
  --file data.csv

Get Elements (Download Configuration)

protobi dataset get-elements \
  --datasetId <id> \
  --output elements.json

Upload Elements (Upload Configuration)

protobi dataset upload-elements \
  --datasetId <id> \
  --file elements.json

Output Modes

• Default: Human-readable output with colors and spinners
• JSON: Machine-readable output with --json flag
• Quiet: Suppress output with --quiet flag

Scripting Example

#!/bin/bash
# Batch download data from multiple datasets

for DATASET_ID in dataset1 dataset2 dataset3; do
  protobi dataset download \
    --datasetId "$DATASET_ID" \
    --table main \
    --output "data_${DATASET_ID}.csv"
done

For detailed CLI documentation, see wiki/usage.md.

API Reference

The API supports operations for:

• Datasets - Create, clone, list, permissions
• Data Tables - Upload, download, manage tables
• Elements - Project configuration, questions, labels
• Tasks - Monitor async operations

See docs/api-spec.json for the complete OpenAPI specification (internal reference)

---

REST API

Authentication

Authenticate either by secure cookie or API Key.
To login via API key, append ?apiKey=<YOUR_API_KEY> to the URL as a query parameter.

Your API key can be obtained at https://app.protobi.com/account
(or if you have Protobi Enterprise, use https://yourdomain.protobi.com/account ).

Keep the API confidential, it provides access to your projects as if you had logged in.

Download data file

• Method: GET
• URL: https://app.protobi.com/v3/datasets/:datasetId/data/:key/:type
• @param: datasetId unique identifier for dataset
• @param: key data key, e.g. 'main'
• @param: type, e.g. csv, sav, or raw to return the original file.
• Returns: Data file in CSV text format

Example (jQuery):

  $.ajax({
        type: "GET",
        url: "/api/v3/dataset/<DATASETID>/data/<FILEKEY>?apiKey=<APIKEY>",
        success: function (csv, status, xhr) {
            ...
        },
        error: function (xhr, status, err) {
            ...
        }
  })

Upload data file

• Method: POST
• URL: https://app.protobi.com/v3/datasets/:datasetId/data/:key/:type
• @param: datasetId unique identifier for dataset
• @param: key data key, e.g. 'main'

Send the data as form data under attribute file with subattributes filename and content-type. To upload CSV data, use content-type: "text/csv". To upload SAV data, use content-type: "'application/octet-stream'"

Example

    var boundary = '-----------------------------7da24f2e50046'//arbitrary
    $.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        url: "/api/v3/dataset/<DATASETID>/data/<FILEKEY>?apiKey=<APIKEY>",
        contentType: "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary
        data: boundary + '\r\n'
          + 'Content-Disposition: form-data; name="file";'
          + 'filename="' + filename + '"\r\n'
          + 'Content-type: text/csv\r\n\r\n'
          + csv + '\r\n'
          + boundary,
        success: function (data, status, xhr) {
            ...
        },
        error: function (xhr, status, err) {
            ...
        }
    });

Download elements

• Method: GET
• URL: https://app.protobi.com/v3/datasets/:datasetId/element
• @param: datasetId unique identifier for dataset
• Returns: Elements configuration in JSON format

Example (jQuery):

  $.ajax({
        type: "GET",
        dataType: "json",
        url: "/api/v3/dataset/<DATASETID>/element",
        success: function (csv, status, xhr) {
            ...
        },
        error: function (xhr, status, err) {
            ...
        }
  })

Example (Node.js)

Upload elements

• Method: POST
• URL: https://app.protobi.com/v3/datasets/:datasetId/element
• @param: datasetId unique identifier for dataset
• Returns: Elements configuration in JSON format

Example (jQuery):

  $.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        url: "/api/v3/dataset/<DATASETID>/element",
        dataType: "json",
        contentType: 'application/json',
        data: JSON.stringify(elements),
        success: function (data, status, xhr) {
            ...
        },
        error: function (xhr, status, err) {
            ...
        }
  })

Node.js API

In Node.js require the library and initialize it for a specific host and API key

var ProtobiAPI = require('./js/protobi-javascript-api')

var PROTOBI_URL = "https://app.protobi.com"
var PROTOBI_API_KEY = "c1001580-56f4-400e-a210-212d03309e80"

var protobiAPI = new ProtobiAPI(PROTOBI_URL, PROTOBI_API_KEY)

Node.js API

/**
 * Save array of Element objects to a project
 * @param elements
 * @param datasetId
 * @param callback
 */
uploadElements: function ( elements, datasetId, callback) {...},


/**
 * Retrieve project configuration as an array of elements
 * @param datasetId
 * @param elements
 * @param callback
 */
getElements: function (datasetId, elements, callback) {...},

/**
 * Upload csv string to project data entry as a data file,
 * @method upload_csv
 */
uploadCsv: function (csv, datasetId, dataKey, filename, callback) {...},

/**
 * Download csv string to project data entry as a data file,
 * @method upload_csv
 */

downloadCsv: function (url, callback) {...},

uploadData: function (rows, datasetId, dataKey,  filename, callback) { ... },

/**
 * Download
 * @param datasetId
 * @param dataKey
 * @param rows
 * @param filename
 * @param callback function(err, rows)
 */
getData: function (datasetId, dataKey, callback) {...},

Node.js API examples

Upload elements

var elements = [
   {
        key: "$root",
        children: ["fruit","color"]
   },
   {
        key: "fruit",
        title: "Name of fruit",
        type: "string"
   },
   {
        key: "color",
        title: "Color",
        type: "string"
   }
}

protobiAPI.uploadElements(elements, PROTOBI_PROJECT_ID, function (err) {
  if (err) return callback(err);
  console.log("ELEMENTS uploaded")   
})

Upload data

// example data
var data = [
   { fruit: "Apple", "color": "red",
     fruit: "Banana", "color": "yellow",
     fruit: "Cherry", "color": "red",
     fruit: "Date", "color": "brown"
   }
]


protobiAPI.uploadData(data, PROTOBI_PROJECT_ID, "main", null, function (err) {
  if (err) return callback(err);
  console.log("DATA uploaded")
})

Update

All functions return a Promise if no callback method is specified. This allows functions to be used with async await.