kneeko/snippets

A key-value store application with human-readable keys using Google App Engine.

Snippets

A simple key-value store application with human-readable keys using Google App Engine.

Setup

Install Google App Engine SDK for Python.

Create a new project in the console.

Clone the repository and deploy to your new project.

appcfg.py update . --application your_project_id

Usage

This application is intended to be a straight-forward way to store arbitrary data as part of another program.

Storing data

We can store data by making an HTTP POST request which returns a human-readable key in plaintext.

$ curl -X -POST --data "arbitrary data" https://your_project_id.appspot.com
24-graceful-crocodiles-meandered-sadly

Retrieving data

We can retrieve data by making an HTTP GET request which returns our data in plaintext.

$ curl https://your_project_id.appspot.com/24-graceful-crocodiles-meandered-sadly
arbitrary data

Extras

We can specify a key using the path of the request. The request will fail if the key is already in use.

$ curl -X -POST --data "more arbitrary data" https://your_project_id.appspot.com/some-specific-key
some-specific-key

You can get a list of all the stored keys delineated by newline. This is useful for manually looking at the data coming in, but not much else.

$ curl https://your_project_id.appspot.com/list
24-graceful-crocodiles-meandered-sadly
some-specific-key

In app.yaml there are some parameters you can set.

env_variables:
    EXPIRE_SNIPPETS: False
    EXPIRATION_TIME_IN_DAYS: 31
    MAX_BYTES_PER_SNIPPET: 1048576
    ALLOW_UUID_OVERRIDE: True
    READS_PER_MINUTE: 60
    WRITES_PER_MINUTE: 10
    LISTS_PER_MINUTE: 10

• You can set the maximum size of the data. The default is 1MB.
• You can enable expiration and set the expiration time. A cron will run every 24 hours and delete key-value pairs that exceed the expiration time.
• You can configure rate limiting by IP address. This alone won't be enough to stop someone determined. Instead use Google App Engine's built in DoS protection.
• You can disable the ability to specify a key. If you disable this, all requests with a specified key will fail.