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The Membrane API works with data in JSON format. When you need to work with binary data (uploading or downloading files), the data is stored in a separate storage and a URI to access it is provided in JSON.

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Files Endpoint

For convenience, integration engine provides a special /files endpoint that accepts binary files and returns a pre-signed URL to access them. You can use it to:
  • Download files from external apps: you can use the /files endpoint in connector code or your custom code, then return the URL to access them in the output.
  • Upload files to external apps: you can use the /files endpoint in your code and pass the URL to the input of the code running in the engine.

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Expiration

Files are stored in the engine storage and are available for a limited time. In our cloud version, the files will be available for 1 hour.
In self-hosted version, this time may vary based on how your storage is configured and can last up to 7 days.

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Custom Code Example

Here is an example of a custom code that can run in the engine and download a large file from an external app: 
import axios from 'axios'

export default async function myCustomFunction({ externalApiClient, engineApiClient }) {
  // externalApiClient: makes authenticated requests to the connected app
  // engineApiClient: makes requests to Membrane's internal API (e.g., file storage)
  const fileResponse = await externalApiClient.makeApiRequest({
    path: '/files/export.csv',
    method: 'get',
    responseType: 'stream', // We recommend using streams to work with large files to avoid memory issues
    returnFullResponse: true, // Return full response to get headers and pass them on to the next request
  })

  const response = await engineApiClient.post('/files', fileResponse.data, {
    headers: {
      'Content-Length': fileResponse.headers['content-length'],
      'Content-Type': fileResponse.headers['content-type'],
    },
    // Without this, we load the whole file into memory (which can be several GB).
    // https://github.com/axios/axios/issues/1045
    maxRedirects: 0,
  })

  return {
    fileUri: response.downloadUri,
  }
}