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Tessera DB Tutorial: Connect a REST API Source with Bearer Auth
Pull rows from any JSON-returning endpoint, with bearer / basic / header auth and a configurable rows path for nested response shapes.
PAR2 Labs
August 29, 2026
3 min
REST sources are the simplest connector to set up. If you can hit the endpoint with curl, Tessera can mirror it.
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Before you start
Tier
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The REST API connector is an Enterprise feature, alongside the PostgreSQL connector.
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Step 1: Pick an endpoint
The endpoint should return either a JSON array or a JSON object with an array inside it. Endpoints that return a single object per request work too — Tessera treats that as a one-row response.
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Step 2: Open the wizard
In the admin dashboard, go to Data Sources, add a new source, and choose the REST API connector.
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Step 3: Choose an auth scheme
Bearer — paste a token; Tessera sends it as a bearer credential.
Basic — provide a username and password for HTTP basic auth.
Custom header — supply a header name and value (for example an API-key header your service expects).
The rows arrive as hyperedges, indexed across all five dimensions.
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Step 4: Set the rows path (if needed)
If your endpoint wraps the array in an object, tell the connector where to find it — the name of the field that holds the array. If the array is already at the root, leave it blank. Nested locations are written with dots.
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Step 5: Map endpoints (optional)
To turn fields into graph relationships, mark which fields are endpoints and give each a role. A field like a user id is a good candidate — mapping it makes every row link to that user in the graph rather than just carrying the id as a flat value.
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Step 6: Save and sync
Save the source, then run a sync. The rows arrive as hyperedges, indexed across all five dimensions. The history panel shows how long the sync took, how many rows arrived, and any errors.
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Common gotchas
Auth failures usually mean the scheme doesn't match. Confirm the same credential works from curl first.
If the API paginates server-side, a single sync fetches one page — combine it with incremental sync and the right cursor field to walk forward through the pages.
Line-delimited JSON responses are accepted natively.
Key Takeaways
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Picked an endpoint that returns a JSON array, an object wrapping one, or a single object.
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Configured bearer, basic or custom-header auth, and a rows path for nested responses.
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Optionally mapped fields such as a user id as graph endpoints.
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Saved and synced the source, with rows arriving as hyperedges across all five dimensions.
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