docs/daprdocs/content/en/getting-started/get-started-api.md

type	title	linkTitle	weight
docs	Use the Dapr API	Use the Dapr API	30

After running the dapr init command in the [previous step]({{}}), your local environment has the Dapr sidecar binaries as well as default component definitions for both state management and a message broker (both using Redis). You can now try out some of what Dapr has to offer by using the Dapr CLI to run a Dapr sidecar and try out the state API that will allow you to store and retrieve a state. You can learn more about the state building block and how it works in [these docs]({{< ref state-management >}}).

You will now run the sidecar and call the API directly (simulating what an application would do).

Step 1: Run the Dapr sidecar

One of the most useful Dapr CLI commands is [dapr run]({{< ref dapr-run.md >}}). This command launches an application together with a sidecar. For the purpose of this tutorial you'll run the sidecar without an application.

Run the following command to launch a Dapr sidecar that will listen on port 3500 for a blank application named myapp:

dapr run --app-id myapp --dapr-http-port 3500

With this command, no custom component folder was defined, so Dapr uses the default component definitions that were created during the init flow (these can be found under $HOME/.dapr/components on Linux or MacOS and under %USERPROFILE%\.dapr\components on Windows). These tell Dapr to use the local Redis Docker container as a state store and message broker.

Step 2: Save state

We will now update the state with an object. The new state will look like this:

[
  {
    "key": "name",
    "value": "Bruce Wayne"
  }
]

Notice, the object contained in the state has a key assigned with the value name. You will use the key in the next step.

Run the command shown below to store the new state.

{{< tabs "HTTP API (Bash)" "HTTP API (PowerShell)">}} {{% codetab %}}

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '[{ "key": "name", "value": "Bruce Wayne"}]' http://localhost:3500/v1.0/state/statestore

{{% /codetab %}}

{{% codetab %}}

Invoke-RestMethod -Method Post -ContentType 'application/json' -Body '[{ "key": "name", "value": "Bruce Wayne"}]' -Uri 'http://localhost:3500/v1.0/state/statestore'

{{% /codetab %}}

{{< /tabs >}}

Step 3: Get state

Now get the object you just stored in the state by using the state management API with the key name:

{{< tabs "HTTP API (Bash)" "HTTP API (PowerShell)">}}

{{% codetab %}} With the same Dapr instance running from above run:

curl http://localhost:3500/v1.0/state/statestore/name

{{% /codetab %}}

{{% codetab %}} With the same Dapr instance running from above run:

Invoke-RestMethod -Uri 'http://localhost:3500/v1.0/state/statestore/name'

{{% /codetab %}}

{{< /tabs >}}

Step 4: See how the state is stored in Redis

You can look in the Redis container and verify Dapr is using it as a state store. Run the following to use the Redis CLI:

docker exec -it dapr_redis redis-cli

List the redis keys to see how Dapr created a key value pair (with the app-id you provided to dapr run as a prefix to the key):

keys *

1) "myapp||name"

View the state value by running:

hgetall "myapp||name"

1) "data"
2) "\"Bruce Wayne\""
3) "version"
4) "1"

Exit the redis-cli with:

exit

{{< button text="Next step: Define a component >>" page="get-started-component" >}}