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how-to-run-from-source.md

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title Build and run source code
description Use advanced Git commands and the source code from GitHub to manually build and run Data API builder.
author seesharprun
ms.author sidandrews
ms.reviewer jerrynixon
ms.service data-api-builder
ms.topic how-to
ms.date 06/11/2025

Build and run Data API builder from source code

Data API builder (DAB) is an open-source project hosted on GitHub. At any time, you can download the source code, modify the code, and run the project directly from source. This guide includes all the steps necessary to build the project directly from its source code.

Prerequisites

Fork and clone the repository

Get started by creating your own fork of the azure/data-api-builder GitHub repository. This fork allows you to persist your own changes. If you so choose, you can always open a pull request and suggest the changes to the upstream repository.

  1. Navigate to https://github.com/azure/data-api-builder/fork.

  2. Create a fork of the repository in your own account or organization. Wait for the forking operation to complete before continuing.

  3. Open a new terminal.

  4. Clone the fork.

    git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/data-api-builder.git

    [!TIP] Alternatively, you can open the fork or the original repository as a GitHub Codespace.

  5. Build the src/Azure.DataApiBuilder.sln solution.

    dotnet build src/Azure.DataApiBuilder.sln

Run the engine

The Azure.DataApiBuilder solution includes multiple projects. To run the tool from source, run the Azure.DataApiBuilder.Service project passing in a configuration file.

  1. In the root directory, create a new file named dab-config.json.

    [!TIP] The .gitignore file automatically ignores any DAB configuration files.

  2. Add the following content to the configuration file.

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

    [!IMPORTANT] This is a sample configuration that assumes you have a SQL Server available on your local machine. If you do not, you can run a Docker container for SQL Server with your sample data. For more information, see creating sample data.

  3. Run the src/Service/Azure.DataApiBuilder.Service.csproj project. Use the --ConfigFileName argument to specify the configuration file created in the previous step.

    dotnet run --project src/Service/Azure.DataApiBuilder.Service.csproj --ConfigFileName ../../dab-config.json

    [!TIP] The Data API builder engine will try to load the configuration from the dab-config.json file in the same folder, if present. If there is no dab-config.json file, the engine will start anyway but it will not be able to serve anything.

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