# Configuring the HTTP API ## [Using Rasa’s HTTP API](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/user-guide/configuring-http-api/#using-rasa-s-http-api) Note The instructions below are relevant for configuring how a model is run within a Docker container or for testing the HTTP API locally. If you want to deploy your assistant to users, see [Deploying Your Rasa Assistant](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/user-guide/how-to-deploy/#deploying-your-rasa-assistant). You can run a simple HTTP server that handles requests using your trained Rasa model with: ``` rasa run -m models --enable-api --log-file out.log ``` All the endpoints this API exposes are documented in [HTTP API](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/api/http-api/#http-api). The different parameters are: - `-m`: the path to the folder containing your Rasa model, - `--enable-api`: enable this additional API, and - `--log-file`: the path to the log file. Rasa can load your model in three different ways: 1. Fetch the model from a server (see [Fetching Models from a Server](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/user-guide/configuring-http-api/#fetching-models-from-a-server)), or 2. Fetch the model from a remote storage (see [Cloud Storage](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/user-guide/cloud-storage/#cloud-storage)). 3. Load the model specified via `-m` from your local storage system, Rasa tries to load a model in the above mentioned order, i.e. it only tries to load your model from your local storage system if no model server and no remote storage were configured. Warning Make sure to secure your server, either by restricting access to the server (e.g. using firewalls), or by enabling an authentication method: [Security Considerations](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/user-guide/configuring-http-api/#server-security). Note If you are using custom actions, make sure your action server is running (see [Start an Action Server](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/user-guide/command-line-interface/#run-action-server)). If your actions are running on a different machine, or you aren’t using the Rasa SDK, make sure to update your `endpoints.yml` file. Note If you start the server with an NLU-only model, not all the available endpoints can be called. Be aware that some endpoints will return a 409 status code, as a trained Core model is needed to process the request. Note By default, the HTTP server runs as a single process. You can change the number of worker processes using the `SANIC_WORKERS` environment variable. It is recommended that you set the number of workers to the number of available CPU cores (check out the [Sanic docs](https://sanic.readthedocs.io/en/latest/sanic/deploying.html#workers) for more details). This will only work in combination with the `RedisLockStore` (see [Lock Stores](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/api/lock-stores/#lock-stores)). ### [Fetching Models from a Server](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/user-guide/configuring-http-api/#fetching-models-from-a-server) You can configure the HTTP server to fetch models from another URL: ``` rasa run --enable-api --log-file out.log --endpoints my_endpoints.yml ``` The model server is specified in the endpoint configuration (`my_endpoints.yml`), where you specify the server URL Rasa regularly queries for zipped Rasa models: ``` models: url: http://my-server.com/models/default@latest wait_time_between_pulls: 10 # [optional](default: 100) ``` Note If you want to pull the model just once from the server, set `wait_time_between_pulls` to `None`. Note Your model server must provide zipped Rasa models, and have `{"ETag": }` as one of its headers. Rasa will only download a new model if this model hash has changed. Rasa sends requests to your model server with an `If-None-Match` header that contains the current model hash. If your model server can provide a model with a different hash from the one you sent, it should send it in as a zip file with an `ETag` header containing the new hash. If not, Rasa expects an empty response with a `204` or `304` status code. An example request Rasa might make to your model server looks like this: ``` $ curl --header "If-None-Match: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e" http://my-server.com/models/default@latest ``` ### [Fetching Models from a Remote Storage](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/user-guide/configuring-http-api/#fetching-models-from-a-remote-storage) You can also configure the Rasa server to fetch your model from a remote storage: ``` rasa run -m 20190506-100418.tar.gz --enable-api --log-file out.log --remote-storage aws ``` The model will be downloaded and stored in a temporary directory on your local storage system. For more information see [Cloud Storage](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/user-guide/cloud-storage/#cloud-storage). ## [Configuring SSL / HTTPS](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/user-guide/configuring-http-api/#configuring-ssl-https) By default the Rasa server is using HTTP for its communication. To secure the communication with SSL, you need to provide a valid certificate and the corresponding private key file. You can specify these files as part of the `rasa run` command: ``` rasa run --ssl-certificate myssl.crt --ssl-keyfile myssl.key ``` If you encrypted your keyfile with a password during creation, you need to add this password to the command: ``` rasa run --ssl-certificate myssl.crt --ssl-keyfile myssl.key --ssl-password mypassword ``` ## [Security Considerations](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/user-guide/configuring-http-api/#security-considerations) We recommend to not expose the Rasa Server to the outside world, but rather connect to it from your backend over a private connection (e.g. between docker containers). Nevertheless, there are two authentication methods built in: **Token Based Auth:** Pass in the token using `--auth-token thisismysecret` when starting the server: ``` rasa run \ -m models \ --enable-api \ --log-file out.log \ --auth-token thisismysecret ``` Your requests should pass the token, in our case `thisismysecret`, as a parameter: ``` $ curl -XGET localhost:5005/conversations/default/tracker?token=thisismysecret ``` **JWT Based Auth:** Enable JWT based authentication using `--jwt-secret thisismysecret`. Requests to the server need to contain a valid JWT token in the `Authorization` header that is signed using this secret and the `HS256` algorithm. The user must have `username` and `role` attributes. If the `role` is `admin`, all endpoints are accessible. If the `role` is `user`, endpoints with a `sender_id` parameter are only accessible if the `sender_id` matches the user’s `username`. ``` rasa run \ -m models \ --enable-api \ --log-file out.log \ --jwt-secret thisismysecret ``` Your requests should have set a proper JWT header: ``` "Authorization": "Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzdWIiOiIxMjM0NTY3ODkwIiwibmFtZSI6IkpvaG4gRG9lIiIsIWF0IjoxNTE2MjM5MDIyfQ.qdrr2_a7Sd80gmCWjnDomOGl8eZFVfKXA6jhncgRn-I" ``` ## [Endpoint Configuration](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/user-guide/configuring-http-api/#endpoint-configuration) To connect Rasa to other endpoints, you can specify an endpoint configuration within a YAML file. Then run Rasa with the flag `--endpoints `. For example: ``` rasa run \ --m \ --endpoints .yml ``` Note You can use environment variables within configuration files by specifying them with `${name of environment variable}`. These placeholders are then replaced by the value of the environment variable. ### [Connecting a Tracker Store](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/user-guide/configuring-http-api/#connecting-a-tracker-store) To configure a tracker store within your endpoint configuration, see [Tracker Stores](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/api/tracker-stores/#tracker-stores). ### [Connecting an Event Broker](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/user-guide/configuring-http-api/#connecting-an-event-broker) To configure an event broker within your endpoint configuration, see [Event Brokers](https://legacy-docs-v1.rasa.com/1.10.21/api/event-brokers/#event-brokers). 👋 I can help you get started with Rasa and answer your technical questions.