---
url: /docs/fundamentals/data/routes.md
description: >-
  Create HTTP endpoints in Luna Park to expose server-side logic to your
  interface.
---

# Routes

A **route** is an HTTP endpoint defined in Luna Park. It wraps server-side logic (database queries, computations, transformations) and exposes it to the interface, which can call it like a function.

## Creating a route

In the **Explorer**, right-click and pick **New > Route**. Its settings are in the **Inspector**:

* **Method**: `GET`, `POST`, `PUT`, or `DELETE`.
* **Path**: the endpoint path. By default it matches the route name (a `get-articles` route is exposed at `/api/get-articles`). Add parameters with `:`, for example `/articles/:id`.
* **Route Input** and **Route Output**: the types of the data received and returned.
* **Guards**: access rules checked before the route runs (see [below](#guards)).

## Anatomy of a route

A route's graph runs from an **input** node to an **output** node. In between, you wire the logic: DB nodes, operations, conditions, etc.

### Input

The input node exposes the data received by the route on optional anchors:

* `headers`: HTTP headers (auth, content-type...).
* `body`: request body (typical for `POST` and `PUT`).
* `query`: query string parameters (`?id=5&limit=10`).
* `params`: path parameters (`/articles/:id`).

Define the shape of `headers`, `body`, and `query` in **Route Input**. `params` follows the path.

You pull what you need and pass it to the downstream nodes. For example, an `id` coming from `params` can feed a `DB Find By Id`.

Plugins can add inputs: the [Users plugin](./auth) adds the connected `user`, for example.

### Output

The output node receives what the route sends back to the caller. Whatever you plug into its anchor becomes the HTTP response body. Its type is set in **Route Output**.

A route can have several output nodes, one per branch (found / not found, for example).

### Errors

To answer with an HTTP error, use the `Error` node: pick a code (`400` Bad Request, `401` Unauthorized, `404` Not Found...) and a message. Execution stops there.

### Cookies

Read and write cookies with the `Get Cookie`, `Set Cookie`, and `Clear Cookie` nodes. Cookies are signed with the **Cookie salt** of **Backend Settings**.

## Guards

Routes are public by default. A **guard** checks each request before the route runs and rejects the unauthorized ones. Add one in the **Guards** section of the Inspector.

Guards are provided by plugins. The [Users plugin](./auth) provides **Authenticated** (only logged-in users) and **Permission** (only users whose roles grant a permission).

## Testing a route

Routes run inside the editor: when the interface calls one in **Preview** mode, the route executes against the editor's database, and its logs appear in the console.

## Calling a route from the interface

Every time you create a route, Luna Park automatically generates a node named after it (`get-articles`, `create-user`...). You use it directly inside a frontend component's graph: its output holds the response, ready to wire into the interface (for example a `Template` to loop over it).

## Guided example: display a list of articles

This example starts from an `articles` table (see [Database](./database#preparing-the-articles-table) to create it), creates a `get-articles` route that reads it, and renders the results in the interface.

### 1. Create the `get-articles` route

1. Create a route named `get-articles`.
2. In its properties, pick the `GET` method.
3. In the route's graph, add a **DB Find** node on the `articles` table.
4. Wire the **DB Find** output to the route output.
5. Set the output `Response` to an `Array` of `Object`.

### 2. Call the route from the interface

1. In the page, create an `articles` variable typed as `Array` of `Object` with a `title` field (string). This way only the titles show up in the interface, without `id`, `created_at`, or `updated_at`.

2. In the graph, add an `On Mounted` node to trigger the call on page load, then add the `get-articles` node and wire its output to `Set articles`.

3. Add a `Template` component (`For` loop) in the interface and bind it to the `articles` variable.

4. Inside the template, create a `Block`, then add a variable bound to `Template[].value.title` to display each article's title.