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Pipelex API Documentation

Welcome to the Pipelex API documentation. The API provides programmatic access to the Pipelex system.

What the API Offers

The API currently allows you to:

  1. Create a Pipelex pipeline from natural language descriptions
  2. Run any Pipelex pipeline with flexible inputs
  3. Validate any Pipelex pipeline to ensure correctness

Deployment

The Pipelex API is currently available for local deployment only. You can deploy it yourself using our Docker image: pipelex/pipelex-api

1. Configure Environment

Create a .env file with your API keys:

# Required: API key to authenticate requests to this API server
API_KEY=your-api-key-here

# Required: Pipelex Gateway API key to access all LLMs
PIPELEX_GATEWAY_API_KEY=your-pipelex-gateway-api-key

You can get a free Pipelex Gateway API key ($20 of free credits) here https://app.pipelex.com

For complete API key configuration, see the API Key Configuration section in the main Pipelex repository.

2. Run with Docker

Option A: Using Docker Run (Recommended)

docker run --name pipelex-api -p 8081:8081 \
  -e API_KEY=your-api-key-here \
  -e PIPELEX_GATEWAY_API_KEY=your-pipelex-gateway-api-key \
  pipelex/pipelex-api:latest

Option B: Using Docker Compose

docker-compose up

Option C: Build Locally

docker build -t pipelex-api .
docker run --name pipelex-api -p 8081:8081 \
  -e API_KEY=your-api-key-here \
  -e PIPELEX_GATEWAY_API_KEY=your-pipelex-gateway-api-key \
  pipelex-api

3. Verify

curl http://localhost:8081/health

Base URL

Once deployed locally, the API is available at:

http://localhost:8081/api/v1

Authentication

The API supports two authentication methods:

API Key Authentication (Default)

By default, the API uses static API key authentication. Include your API key in the Authorization header:

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

The API key is configured via the API_KEY environment variable when deploying the server.

JWT Authentication (Optional)

For production deployments requiring user-specific tokens, JWT authentication is available.

To enable JWT authentication:

  1. Set the USE_JWT=true environment variable
  2. Set the JWT_SECRET_KEY environment variable with your secret key
docker run --name pipelex-api -p 8081:8081 \
  -e USE_JWT=true \
  -e JWT_SECRET_KEY=your-jwt-secret-key \
  -e PIPELEX_GATEWAY_API_KEY=your-pipelex-gateway-api-key \
  pipelex/pipelex-api:latest

JWT Requirements:

  • Tokens must be signed with the HS256 algorithm
  • Tokens must contain an email field in the payload
  • Pass the JWT in the Authorization header: Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN

API Endpoints

The Pipelex API provides three main capabilities:

1. Pipe Builder

Generate pipelines from natural language descriptions and create executable Python code.

  • Build Pipeline - Generate PLX content from a brief description
  • Generate Runner Code - Create Python code to execute a pipeline

Learn more →

2. Pipe Run

Execute pipelines with flexible input formats, either synchronously or asynchronously.

  • Execute Pipeline - Run a pipeline and wait for completion
  • Start Pipeline - Start a pipeline execution without waiting

Learn more →

3. Pipe Validate

Validate PLX content to ensure pipelines are correctly defined before execution.

  • Validate PLX - Parse, validate, and dry-run pipelines

Learn more →