Introduction to Bitabase

Bitabase is a powerful, flexible database system designed to be accessed entirely over HTTP using a REST API. Whether you're building data-driven applications or want to create custom functions and data views, Bitabase puts you in the driver’s seat. In this guide, we cover the high-level concepts and architecture behind Bitabase.

What Is Bitabase?

At its core, Bitabase is built around two key concepts:

• The Model – This represents the schema, file structure, and metadata of your data. It is how you define folders, collections, markdown files, views, functions, and other types of “files” in your database. Essentially, the model is your blueprint—it defines where your data and assets live and how they relate.
• The Base – This represents the actual content or operations. When you’re adding raw data, executing functions, or querying views, you are working with Bitabase’s base. In other words, the base handles the active data layer (for instance, the items inside a collection) separate from the metadata structure defined by the model.

What Is a Bucket?

A bucket in Bitabase is an isolated container or workspace for your data. Think of it like a personal database or a project folder—each bucket is owned by a specific user and contains both the model (metadata about your files, collections, and structure) and the base (your actual data and objects). Every request to Bitabase includes a bucket identifier, ensuring that users access only their own data.

How Do You Communicate with Bitabase?

Bitabase is accessed over HTTP via a REST API. This means you can interact with it using familiar HTTP methods such as GET, PUT, and DELETE.

• When you PUT or DELETE in the model endpoints, you are updating or removing metadata—the structure of your “file system.”
• When you PUT or DELETE in the base endpoints, you are working with the actual content (e.g., updating a document inside a collection).

This clean separation ensures that changes to your data structure are managed independently of your data content, making your application more robust and easier to maintain.

Event Streaming Made Simple

One of Bitabase’s powerful features is event streaming. When you perform GET operations, you have the option to enable streaming (by adding a simple query parameter). With event streaming:

• Your application can “listen” for real-time updates on a document or a collection.
• Bitabase sends events (such as PUT or DELETE) as they occur, allowing for dynamic interfaces and real-time collaborative applications.
• With a few simple query params, you can switch between a one-time snapshot of your data or a live-updating stream.

Putting It All Together

In Bitabase, you first create a bucket that contains your model and base data. You then define your data’s structure using the model endpoints, which organize your files, folders, and collections. Finally, you add or update actual data using the base endpoints—and if you need real-time updates, you simply enable streaming.

• Developers can easily manage data organization separately from the actual data.
• The use of standard HTTP protocols means you can integrate Bitabase with virtually any web technology you know.

Next Steps

This introduction gives you a bird’s-eye view of how Bitabase works. In upcoming guides, we’ll dive deeper into each topic:

• Detailed walkthroughs for creating and managing buckets
• How to define your data model (folders, collections, and more)
• How to work with the base to insert, update, and query your content
• Advanced configuration of event streaming to build real-time apps

Welcome to Bitabase—the future of streamlined, RESTful databases!