Local SWA app needs DAB API on "data-api/api". When deployed it calls just "api"

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Local SWA app needs DAB API on "data-api/api". When deployed it calls just "api"

Maarten van de Bospoort 15

Now that Database Connection will be retired per 11/1, we decided to host DAB in an Azure Container App. We got it to work but there is a difference between running locally and deployed to Azure.

When I run DAB locally on port 5000 in one terminal, my SWA app can connect to it if the path starts with "/data-api/api". When the SWA app is deployed to Azure, the DAB API needs to be called with "/api". Am I missing a setting somewhere?

We could hack a workaround but we'd rather not.

Thanks!

P.S. For what it's worth, there are only examples for using the retired database connections feature with SWA. There is no sample I can find that shows calling a container hosted DAB.

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Answer 1

Vimal Lalani 1,740 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Maarten van de Bospoort

Thank you for posting your question on Microsoft Q&A.

You’re not missing a setting. It is expected behavior based on how Azure Static Web Apps (SWA) routes requests to Data API Builder (DAB).

When using SWA Database Connections, DAB endpoints are always hosted under the /data-api base path. The DAB REST path (default /api) is appended to it, so your requests should look like:

GET /data-api/api/<entity>

Learn more – DAB troubleshooting guide -
Learn more – SWA Database Connections overview -
Quickstart: Use Data API builder with Azure SQL and Azure Container Apps

The /api route (without /data-api) is reserved for Azure Functions APIs in Static Web Apps. If /api/... works in your deployed environment, you are most likely calling a Functions endpoint, not DAB.

In short:

/data-api/api → for DAB (Database Connections)

/api → for Azure Functions or standalone APIs

Hope this clarifies the routing difference.

Feel free to post back if you need further help.

Maarten van de Bospoort 15 Reputation points

2025-10-21T00:23:21.8833333+00:00
Thanks! In the Azure portal for the Static Web App under APIs, I am pointing to the endpoint of an Azure Container app (which hosts DAB). That works as long as I call with just 'api'.

But that means I have two different paths to call: one for local development and one for deployment (see my original question). I am hacking around it by using an env variable.

const isLocal = import.meta.env.DEV; const API_PREFIX = isLocal ? '/data-api/api' : '/api'; USERS: API_PREFIX +'/users',

The local environment is calling my API as if it is using Database Connections (meaning with data-api). I removed the staticwebapp.database.config.json file, so it knows I am not using that.
Vimal Lalani 1,740 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-21T05:35:25.04+00:00

Hi @Maarten van de Bospoort
Yes, in Azure the Container App acts as the API and is accessed via /api. Locally, if you use SWA Database Connections, the path is /data-api/api.
To keep it consistent, could try to run SWA CLI with --api-location http://localhost:5000 so local also uses /api.?

I hope this helps! Please feel free to let me know if you need any further assistance

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Local SWA app needs DAB API on "data-api/api". When deployed it calls just "api"

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