# A Modern Feathers.js Stack on IBM i: Real-Time APIs on DB2

> Real-time WebSockets, REST APIs, and a Vite React frontend running directly on IBM i using Feathers.js and a custom Knex adapter for DB2.

- Author: Brian Kimball
- Published: 2023-08-27
- Tags: development, reactjs, feathersjs, typescript, ibmi
- Canonical: https://brian-kimball.com/blog/feathers-ibm/
- Markdown: https://brian-kimball.com/blog/feathers-ibm/index.md

[Github Repo](https://github.com/bskimball/feathers-ibm)

## Preface

This project demonstrates a modern full-stack application on IBM i, featuring a Feathers.js backend and a Vite-powered SPA frontend. I also used it to test my custom Knex adapter for DB2 on i, [knex-ibmi](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@bdkinc/knex-ibmi). The frontend and backend communicate via WebSockets for real-time updates.

## Technical Decisions

**Backend**

The backend uses TypeScript and [Feathers.js](https://feathersjs.com/), a toolkit for creating applications with authentication, WebSockets (Socket.io), and REST APIs (Koa). It interacts with the DB2 database using [Knex](https://knexjs.org/), a powerful SQL query builder that works well with TypeScript.

To connect Knex with DB2 for i, I developed the [knex-ibmi](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@bdkinc/knex-ibmi) package. This configuration lets us scaffold services and hooks via the CLI, enabling modern real-time applications directly on IBM i.

**Frontend**

The frontend is a Single Page Application (SPA) built with TypeScript, Vite, and [React](https://react.dev/). Since Server-Side Rendering (SSR) wasn't required, I chose [Vite](https://vitejs.dev/) for bundling. The UI uses [shadcn/ui](https://ui.shadcn.com/), combining [Tailwind CSS](https://tailwindcss.com/) for styling and [Radix UI](https://www.radix-ui.com/primitives/docs/overview/introduction) for accessible components.

**Development**

The frontend and backend reside in separate directories for easier management. During development, I run their respective dev servers in separate terminal windows.