DataStax announced a new JSON API for Astra DB – the popular database-as-a-service built on the open source Apache Cassandra – delivering on one of the most highly requested user features, and providing a seamless experience for Javascript developers building AI applications.
Available via the open source data API gateway, Stargate, the new JSON API lets JavaScript developers easily leverage Astra DB as a vector database for their large language model (LLM), AI assistant, and real-time generative AI projects. It provides a naturally integrated way to work with Astra DB as a document database and now has compatibility with Mongoose, the most popular open source object data modeling library for MongoDB. This makes it simple for JavaScript developers – the largest community of developers in the world – to build generative AI applications with vector search, using the library they know and love.
The Astra DB vector database is designed for building real-world, production-level AI applications with real-time data. With simultaneous search and update on distributed data and streaming workloads, Astra DB provides ultra-low latency and highly relevant results that eliminate redundancies. This creates more responsive, more accurate production generative AI applications that reduce hallucinations with real-time data updates, and increase responsiveness with concurrent queries and updates.
With the JSON API, JavaScript developers are no longer required to have a deep understanding of Cassandra Query Language (CQL) to work with Astra DB and Cassandra. Instead, they can continue to write in the language they’re familiar with to quickly develop AI applications – a necessity in the current leading-edge business environment.
“Traditionally, in order for developers to use Astra DB they had to have familiarity with CQL, a powerful but sometimes intimidating programming language,” said Ed Anuff, chief product officer, DataStax. “With the introduction of the JSON API, we’re democratizing access to Astra DB’s capabilities, making it more intuitive and accessible for the more than 13 million global JavaScript developers. With Astra DB’s new vector search capabilities, virtually any developer can now use Astra DB to build powerful generative AI applications using real-time data.”
“There is increasing demand for databases to wear multiple hats in serving the enterprise, involving both broader operational capability and better analytics,” said Carl Olofson, research vice president for
data management software, IDC. “Such enhancements include easy and practical support for vector search in support of a range of generative AI functions, and incorporate those functions in both operational and analytical contexts. The flexibility of Cassandra lends itself to such enhancements, and this new JSON API for Astra DB is right in line with the emerging needs of DataStax developers.”
