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title Run in a Docker container
description Use the Docker container image in Microsoft Container Registry to run Data API builder locally or in an Azure hosting service.
author seesharprun
ms.author sidandrews
ms.reviewer jerrynixon
ms.service data-api-builder
ms.topic how-to
ms.date 06/11/2025

Run Data API builder in a Docker container

Data API builder (DAB) is published as a container image to the Microsoft Container Registry. Any Docker host can pull down the container image and run DAB with minimal configuration. This guide uses the container image and a local configuration file to quickly host and run DAB without the need to install any extra tooling.

Prerequisites

Create sample data

For this short guide, a simple table with a few rows of data is sufficient to demonstrate how to use DAB in a Docker container. To simplify things further, we use SQL Server for Linux in a Docker container image.

  1. Pull the mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest container image.

    docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest

  2. Run the container image publishing the 1433 port and setting the sa account password to a unique password that you use throughout this guide.

    docker run \
    --name mssql \
    --publish 1433:1433 \
    --detach \
    --env "ACCEPT_EULA=Y" \
    --env "MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD=<your-password>" \
    mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest

    [!IMPORTANT] This is a simple fictiuous password for this guide. In the real world, you would use a different authentication mechanism and ideally a different account.

  3. Connect to the SQL server using your preferred client or tool. The connection string is Server=localhost,1433;User Id=sa;Password=<your-password>;TrustServerCertificate=true;.

  4. Create a new database named Library if it doesn't already exist.

    IF NOT EXISTS(SELECT name FROM sys.databases WHERE name = 'Library')
BEGIN
    CREATE DATABASE Library;
END
GO

USE Library

  5. Create a table named Books with id, title, year, and pages columns.

    DROP TABLE IF EXISTS dbo.Books;

CREATE TABLE dbo.Books
(
    id int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
    title nvarchar(1000) NOT NULL,
    [year] int null,
    [pages] int null
)
GO

  6. Insert four sample book rows into the Books table.

    INSERT INTO dbo.Books VALUES
    (1000, 'Practical Azure SQL Database for Modern Developers', 2020, 326),
    (1001, 'SQL Server 2019 Revealed: Including Big Data Clusters and Machine Learning', 2019, 444),
    (1002, 'Azure SQL Revealed: A Guide to the Cloud for SQL Server Professionals', 2020, 528),
    (1003, 'SQL Server 2022 Revealed: A Hybrid Data Platform Powered by Security, Performance, and Availability', 2022, 506)
GO

  7. Test your data with a simple SELECT * query.

    SELECT * FROM dbo.Books

Create configuration file

Create a configuration file that maps to the table created in the previous steps. This configuration file describes to DAB how to map REST and GraphQL endpoints to your actual data.

  1. Create a file named dab-config.json.

    [!TIP] This is the default filename for configuration files. By using the default filename, you avoid having to specify the configuration file when running the container.

  2. Add this JSON content to your file. This configuration creates a single entity named book mapped to the existing dbo.Books table.

    {
  "$schema": "https://github.com/Azure/data-api-builder/releases/latest/download/dab.draft.schema.json",
  "data-source": {
    "database-type": "mssql",
    "connection-string": "Server=host.docker.internal\\mssql,1433;Initial Catalog=Library;User Id=sa;Password=<your-password>;TrustServerCertificate=true;"
  },
  "runtime": {
    "rest": {
      "enabled": true
    },
    "graphql": {
      "enabled": true
    }
  },
  "entities": {
    "book": {
      "source": "dbo.Books",
      "permissions": [
        {
          "actions": [
            "read"
          ],
          "role": "anonymous"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Pull and run the Docker container image

Run DAB using the Docker container image hosted on Microsoft Container Registry. When running the container image, mount a directory so DAB can read the configuration file.

  1. Pull the mcr.microsoft.com/azure-databases/data-api-builder Docker container image.

    docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/azure-databases/data-api-builder

  2. Run the container publishing the 5000 port and bind mounting the dab-config.json file.

    docker run \
    --name dab \
    --publish 5000:5000 \
    --detach \
    --mount type=bind,source=$(pwd)/dab-config.json,target=/App/dab-config.json,readonly \
    mcr.microsoft.com/azure-databases/data-api-builder

  3. Use a web browser to navigate to http://localhost:5000/api/book. The output should be a JSON array of book items from the REST API endpoint.

    {
  "value": [
    {
      "id": 1000,
      "title": "Practical Azure SQL Database for Modern Developers",
      "year": 2020,
      "pages": 326
    },
    {
      "id": 1001,
      "title": "SQL Server 2019 Revealed: Including Big Data Clusters and Machine Learning",
      "year": 2019,
      "pages": 444
    },
    {
      "id": 1002,
      "title": "Azure SQL Revealed: A Guide to the Cloud for SQL Server Professionals",
      "year": 2020,
      "pages": 528
    },
    {
      "id": 1003,
      "title": "SQL Server 2022 Revealed: A Hybrid Data Platform Powered by Security, Performance, and Availability",
      "year": 2022,
      "pages": 506
    }
  ]
}

    [!NOTE] This guide uses a HTTP connection. When running a Data API builder container in Docker, you'll see that only the HTTP endpoint is mapped. If you want your Docker container to support HTTPS for local development, you need to provide your own SSL/TLS certificate and private key files required for SSL/TLS encryption and expose the HTTPS port. A reverse proxy can also be used to enforce that clients connect to your server over HTTPS to ensure that the communication channel is encrypted before forwarding the request to your container.

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