Pasaka Swahili Bible API

This is a blazing-fast Swahili Bible API built for developers who need scripture access in milliseconds. Whether you're working on a mobile app, website, or chatbot, the Pasaka API delivers Bible content quickly and efficiently.

Features

• Ultra-fast RESTful API built with Rust and Axum
• Access to all books, chapters, and verses from the Swahili Bible
• Powerful search by keyword
• API Key secured endpoints
• Swagger UI documentation

Testing the API (Swagger)

You can explore all endpoints via Swagger. To authorize:

1. Click the "Authorize" button
2. Enter your API key in this format:

x-api-key: your_api_key_here

Using the API via curl

Example:

curl -H "x-api-key: pasaka_api_7a782fcd-da06-455xxxxxx" \
https://your-api-domain.com/books/66/1/1

Response:

{
  "data": {
    "verse_number": "1",
    "verse_text": "Ufunuo wa Yesu Kristo, aliopewa na Mungu awaonyeshe watumwa wake mambo ambayo kwamba hayana budi kuwako upesi..."
  },
  "success": true
}

Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/books	Get Entire Bible
GET	/books/{book_id}	Get info about a specific book
GET	/books/{book_id}/{chapter}	Get a chapter from a book
GET	/books/{book_id}/{chapter}/{verse}	Get a specific verse
GET	/search?query={text}	Search verses by keyword
POST	/auth/register	Register new user
POST	/auth/login	Login & get token

Authentication

All Bible data routes are protected by API Key. Add header in requests:

x-api-key: your_api_key

You’ll receive your API key upon registration or request one manually.

Running it as a Barua Function

The same repository deploys to Barua Functions: paste nassdaq/pasaka-api, and it is compiled to WebAssembly (wasm32-wasip1) with the whole Bible built in. A function has no network and no filesystem, so there is no Postgres, no registration and no API key there: the public URL is the API, and a request is just the body you send it.

Body	Returns
(empty)	all books, id and name
books/1	a book with all its chapters
books/1/1	a chapter
books/66/1/1	a verse
{"book":"66","chapter":"1","verse":"1"}	the same, as JSON
{"query":"Mungu ni upendo"} or any other text	search
{"full":true}	every book with every verse (5 MB)

curl https://fn.barua.app/pasaka-api -d books/66/1/1
curl https://fn.barua.app/pasaka-api -d 'Mungu ni upendo'

Answers have the same shape as the HTTP API: {"success":true,"data":…} or {"success":false,"error":"…"}.

To build the module yourself:

cargo build --release --target wasm32-wasip1
# target/wasm32-wasip1/release/pasaka-api.wasm

How the data is stored

build.rs turns src/data/swahili_bible.json into a compile-time index (one string of verse text plus offset tables), so both the server and the function carry the Bible inside the binary and read nothing at run time. cargo test checks the lookups and the function's request handling.

Credits

Full credit to contributors who provided clean, usable Swahili Bible JSON data, enabling this API to exist.

Tech Stack

• Rust
• Axum
• API Key Security
• Swagger + Utoipa
• Tests included
• Fast JSON search

Contributing

PRs, ideas, and contributions are welcome:

1. Fork the repo
2. Clone and build with cargo run
3. Make your changes
4. Open a pull request

Licence

This project is open-source and available under the Jesus License.