App Manifest

Define the resources for your app

The manifest for your Modus app allows you to configure the exposure and resources for your functions at runtime. You define the manifest in the modus.json file within the root of directory of your app.

Structure

Endpoints

Expose your functions for integration into your frontend or federated API

Connections

Establish connectivity for external endpoints and model hosts

Models

Define inference services for use in your functions

Collections

Define sets of text data to enable natural language search

Base manifest

A simple manifest, which exposes a single GraphQL endpoint with a bearer token for authentication, looks like this:

modus.json

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.hypermode.com/modus.json",
  "endpoints": {
    "default": {
      "type": "graphql",
      "path": "/graphql",
      "auth": "bearer-token"
    }
  }
}

Endpoints

Endpoints make your functions available outside of your Modus app. The endpoints object in the app manifest allows you to define these endpoints for integration into your frontend or federated API.

Each endpoint requires a unique name, specified as a key containing only alphanumeric characters and hyphens.

Only a GraphQL endpoint is available currently, but the modular design of Modus allows for the introduction of additional endpoint types in the future.

GraphQL endpoint

This endpoint type supports the GraphQL protocol to communicate with external clients. You can use a GraphQL client, such as urql or Apollo Client, to interact with the endpoint.

Example:

modus.json

{
  "endpoints": {
    "default": {
      "type": "graphql",
      "path": "/graphql",
      "auth": "bearer-token"
    }
  }
}

type

string

required

Always set to "graphql" for this endpoint type.

path

string

required

The path for the endpoint. Must start with a forward slash /.

auth

string

required

The authentication method for the endpoint. Options are "bearer-token" or "none". See Authentication for additional details.

Connections

Connections establish connectivity and access to external services. They’re used for HTTP and GraphQL APIs, database connections, and externally hosted AI models. The connections object in the app manifest allows you to define these hosts, for secure access from within a function.

Each connection requires a unique name, specified as a key containing only alphanumeric characters and hyphens.

Each connection has a type property, which controls how it’s used and which additional properties are available. The following table lists the available host types:

Type	Purpose	Functions Namespaces
http	Connect to an HTTP(S) web server	http, graphql, models
postgresql	Connect to a PostgreSQL database	postgresql
dgraph	Connect to a Dgraph database	dgraph

Don’t include secrets directly in the manifest!

If your connection requires authentication, you can include placeholders in connection properties which resolve to their respective secrets at runtime. Set the actual secrets via the Hypermode Console, where they’re securely stored until needed.

HTTP connection

This connection type supports the HTTP and HTTPS protocols to communicate with external hosts. You can use the HTTP APIs in the Modus SDK to interact with the host.

This connection type is also used for GraphQL APIs and to invoke externally hosted AI models.

Example:

modus.json

{
  "connections": {
    "openai": {
      "baseUrl": "https://api.openai.com/",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer {{API_KEY}}"
      }
    }
  }
}

type

string

required

Always set to "http" for this connection type.

baseUrl

string

required

Base URL for connections to the host. Must end with a trailing slash and may contain path segments if necessary.

Example: "https://api.example.com/v1/"

endpoint

string

required

Full URL endpoint for connections to the host.

Example: "https://models.example.com/v1/classifier"

You must include either a baseUrl or an endpoint, but not both.

• Use baseUrl for connections to a host with a common base URL.
• Use endpoint for connections to a specific URL.

Typically, you’ll use the baseUrl field. However, some APIs, such as graphql.execute, require the full URL in the endpoint field.

headers

object

If provided, requests on the connection include these headers. Each key-value pair is a header name and value.

Values may include variables using the {{VARIABLE}} template syntax, which resolve at runtime to secrets provided for each connection, via the Hypermode Console.

Examples

This example specifies a header named Authorization that uses the Bearer scheme. A secret named AUTH_TOKEN provides the token:

"headers": {
  "Authorization": "Bearer {{AUTH_TOKEN}}"
}

This example specifies a header named X-API-Key provided by a secret named API_KEY:

"headers": {
  "X-API-Key": "{{API_KEY}}"
}

You can use a special syntax for hosts that require HTTP basic authentication. In this example, secrets named USERNAME and PASSWORD combined and then are base64-encoded to form a compliant Authorization header value:

"headers": {
  "Authorization": "Basic {{base64(USERNAME:PASSWORD)}}"
}

queryParameters

object

If provided, requests on the connection include these query parameters, appended to the URL. Each key-value pair is a parameter name and value.

Values may include variables using the {{VARIABLE}} template syntax, which resolve at runtime to secrets provided for each connection, via the Hypermode Console.

Example

This example specifies a query parameter named key provided by a secret named API_KEY:

"queryParameters": {
  "key": "{{API_KEY}}"
}

PostgreSQL connection

This connection type supports connecting to PostgreSQL databases. You can use the PostgreSQL APIs in the Modus SDK to interact with the database.

Example:

modus.json

{
  "connections": {
    "my-database": {
      "type": "postgresql",
      "connString": "postgresql://{{PG_USER}}:{{PG_PASSWORD}}@db.example.com:5432/data?sslmode=require"
    }
  }
}

type

string

required

Always set to "postgresql" for this connection type.

connString

string

required

The connection string for the PostgreSQL database.

Values may include variables using the {{VARIABLE}} template syntax, which resolve at runtime to secrets provided for each connection, via the Hypermode Console.

The connection string in the preceding example includes:

• A username and password provided by secrets named PG_USER & PG_PASSWORD
• A host named db.example.com on port 5432
• A database named data
• SSL mode set to require - which is highly recommended for secure connections

Refer to the PostgreSQL documentation for more details on connection strings.

Managed PostgreSQL providers often provide a pre-made connection string for you to copy. Check your provider’s documentation for details.

For example, if using Neon, refer to the Neon documentation.

Dgraph connection

This connection type supports connecting to Dgraph databases. You can use the Dgraph APIs in the Modus SDK to interact with the database.

Example:

modus.json

{
  "connections": {
    "my-dgraph": {
      "type": "dgraph",
      "grpcTarget": "frozen-mango.grpc.eu-central-1.aws.cloud.dgraph.io:443",
      "key": "{{DGRAPH_API_KEY}}"
    }
  }
}

type

string

required

Always set to "dgraph" for this connection type.

grpcTarget

string

required

The gRPC target for the Dgraph database.

key

string

required

The API key for the Dgraph database.

Models

AI models are a core resource for inferencing. The models object in the app manifest allows you to easily define models, whether hosted by Hypermode or another host.

Each model requires a unique name, specified as a key, containing only alphanumeric characters and hyphens.

modus.json

{
  "models": {
    "text-generator": {
      "sourceModel": "meta-llama/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct",
      "provider": "hugging-face",
      "connection": "hypermode"
    }
  }
}

sourceModel

string

required

Original relative path of the model within the provider’s repository.

provider

string

Source provider of the model. hugging-face is currently the only supported option.

connection

string

required

Connection for the model instance.

• Specify "hypermode" for models that Hypermode hosts.
• Otherwise, specify a name that matches a host defined in the connections section of the manifest.

When using hugging-face as the provider and hypermode as the connection, Hypermode automatically facilitates the connection to an instance of a shared or dedicated instance of the model. Your project’s functions securely access the hosted model, with no further configuration required. For more details, see hosted models.

Collections

Collections simplify the usage of vector embeddings to build natural language search features. The collections object allows you to define indexed data types that are automatically embedded and searchable based on the search method you define.

Each collection requires a unique name, specified as a key, containing only alphanumeric characters and hyphens.

For more detail on implementing collections, see Search.

modus.json

{
  "collections": {
    "myProducts": {
      "searchMethods": {
        "searchMethod": {
          "embedder": "myEmbedder",
          "index": {
            "type": "sequential"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

searchMethods

object

required

Search methods define a pair of an embedder and index to make available for searching the data in your collection.

embedder

string

required

The function name to embed text added to the collection.

index

string

If provided, describes the index mechanism used by the search method. type: specifies the type of the index. For example, sequential (default).