Zillabase

Zillabase is a Firebase alternative re-imagined for real-time data and asynchronous workloads. It combines a stack of streaming-native open-source tools to automatically generate an event-driven backend, complete with real-time data models, user functions, security, and APIs (both RESTFul and Async ones).

How it Works

Event-driven architectures and real-time data streaming can be daunting, especially for application developers. Zillabase brings a Firebase-like experience to event-driven development by abstracting away complexity through SQL and automatically generated AsyncAPIs. 

The high-level Zillabase user-flow is:

1. Define your data model with SQL

2. Zillabase automatically generates REST and SSE (Server Sent Events) APIs 

3. Add business logic via user-defined Java or Python functions

4. Add authentication via OAuth 2.0 and JWTs

While Zillabase relies on SQL for data modeling, there is no actual SQL database present in the stack. Instead, Zillabase maintains materialized views and tables in Apache Kafka. From the outside, Zillabase looks and behaves like a Postgres database, under the covers though, all data is persisted as streams across Kafka topics. This makes Zillabase asynchronous, highly responsive, and ready for real-time data processing.

Architecture

Zillabase is a combination of open-source tools and runs via docker compose.

• Zilla is a multi-protocol edge and service proxy that turns Kafka streams into APIs

• Apache Kafka is a data streaming system used for data persistence and integration

• RisingWave is a SQL-based stream processing engine used to configure Apache Kafka and execute functions

• Keycloak is used for identity and access management

• Apicurio is an API registry used for storing generated Zillabase AsyncAPIs

• Karapace is a schema registry used for storing Kafka schemas

Getting Started

Install and launch

    brew tap aklivity/tap 
    brew install zillabase

    # list all zillabase commands
    zillabase

    # launch zillabase
    zillabase start

    # teardown zillabase
    zillabase stop

Building your first app

Zillabase documentation is in the works. In the meantime, the examples directory includes two sample Zillabase applications that can be used as scaffolding for your first application. 

1. StreamPayAI: A Venmo-like payment application with real-time AI-powered fraud detection

2. PetStore: The quintessential OpenAPI/Swagger Petstore demo, but fully event-driven

Join the Community

Star the repo and watch "releases" to get notified of major updates. Engage in technical discussions, ask questions, and meet other users in the Aklivity Slack Community.