Build a Full REST API in 10 Minutes with Xano

As a developer, I spend way too much time on the boring stuff.

Even with AI, and even with boilerplates. Setting up Docker containers. Configuring JWT middleware. Writing the same CRUD endpoints for the thousandth time. Wrestling with deployment pipelines that break mysteriously at 2 AM.

Every hour I spend on auth scaffolding and deployment pipelines is an hour I'm not spending on the actual product. The thing that matters. The reason I started building in the first place.

Don't get me wrong. We can build all of this from scratch. The question is whether we should.

That's exactly why I use Xano. It's a backend-as-a-service platform that handles the infrastructure so I can focus on the logic that actually differentiates my product.

Today, I'm going to walk you through building a fully authenticated task management API from scratch in 10 minutes. No Docker. No deployment headaches. No server setup required.

(Need to back up a step? Learn more about API best practices first!)

The problem developers actually have

Most backend development isn't creative problem-solving. It's repetitive infrastructure work.

You need a database. You need CRUD endpoints. You need authentication. You need API documentation. You need hosting and scaling.

These aren't differentiating features. They're the basis for modern applications. Yet we spend days building them from scratch, every single time.

The traditional stack looks something like this:

• Express.js server
• Postgres database
• JWT authentication with Passport.js
• Manual API documentation
• Docker containerization
• CI/CD pipeline setup
• AWS/Heroku deployment configuration

With AI, this is still several hours of setup before you can even test, to only still have to fix errors that surfaced during setup. That's too long spending time on what's already solved!

What Xano actually is (and isn't)

Xano helps you cut down on all this. Right out of the box, you get:

• A managed Postgres database
• Visual API builder
• Built-in authentication and authorization
• File storage and task scheduling
• Auto-generated API documentation
• Hosting and auto-scaling
• An MCP and agentic development driven system

And all of this runs on enterprise-grade infrastructure that's already hardened and battle-tested. Whether you're in VSCode, Claude Code, or some other system, you're using the tried-and-true Xano infrastructure.

What it's not: Xano is not a standard no-code tool. The visual tooling removes repetitive infrastructure work while preserving engineering capability. You can write custom functions, build complex business logic, and integrate with any external system you need. Plus, the visual layer gives you the ability to quickly validate any AI-generated code that you want to de-risk before putting in production.

It also supports agentic development natively—whether you're building with AI or building systems that AI agents operate against.

Honestly, Xano feels less like a tool and more like having a senior DevOps engineer handling infrastructure so you can focus on building what actually differentiates your product.

Why developers are choosing Xano over rolling their own

Short answer: It’s faster and easier. Here’s why:

• Instant CRUD generation: Instead of writing boilerplate endpoints, you define your data model and get GET/POST/PUT/DELETE endpoints automatically. With proper validation, error handling, and documentation.
• Built-in auth and middleware: No more configuring Passport.js or writing custom JWT middleware. Authentication, sessions, and permissions are handled by the platform.
• Auto-generated API documentation: Every endpoint gets Swagger documentation automatically. No more manually maintaining API docs that go stale the moment you ship.
• Zero DevOps: No Docker containers to manage. No CI/CD pipelines to debug. No surprise AWS bills. The platform handles scaling, monitoring, and uptime.

Let me show you what this looks like in practice.

Tutorial: Build a task management API from scratch

We're going to build a complete task management API with:

• User registration and authentication
• CRUD operations for tasks
• User-specific task isolation
• Full API documentation

And we’re going to do it in 5-10 minutes.

Step 1: Set up your workspace

1. Sign up for a free Xano account at xano.com.
2. Create a new project called "Task Manager API"
3. You'll land in the Database tab—this is where we'll start.

Step 2: Grab authentication token for agentic development

1. Generate a Xano authentication token from your Instance settings. Set expiration to Never. Enable All Scopes.
2. In the same panel, copy your SSE URL for MCP development.
3. Inside your IDE, prompt your agent to configure the MCP server using your SSE URL and your authentication token
4. When prompted, select the workspace we created earlier.

Now, it's time to create our tables.

We'll want to specify at least TWO tables for this project: Users and Tasks.

1. To your agent of choice, let the system know we're going to be building a task management system with Xano.
2. Explain what you're attempting to achieve with this task management system. In this prompt, we'll keep it simple to build bit by bit. First, we'll create our tables. Here’s your prompt: “I want to use Xano's MCP to create a task management system. This system will use a users table and a tasks table. Create the tables.”
3. Follow any onscreen prompts, letting the agent communicate with the MCP server to design and implement the tables.
4. If you'd like, open up the Xano platform to verify visually that the tables have been created!

Step 3: Build the API endpoints

1. Now, with another prompt, we can create the supporting API endpoints. Here’s your prompt: “Using Xano's MCP, please now create the CRUD endpoints for these tables. Help create all the create, read, update, and delete endpoints for tasks and users. Ensure that Users also have endpoints for logging in, signing up, and for viewing their profile.”
2. Follow any onscreen prompts and let the agent use the MCP tool to write the endpoints into Xano's platform.
3. Inside Xano, click on the APIs tab to verify visually that the API groups have been created, and that the business logic looks appropriate.

While you can view these files inside your IDE or within Claude Code, Xano offers a visual validation layer to ensure that each endpoint is doing what you want it to be doing, without the need to read written syntax.

Step 4: Add authentication

The beautiful thing about Xano is that authentication is mostly handled automatically.

1. If you didn't select it in the Workspace creation flow, a quick prompt to the agent can ensure authentication is set across the platform and on any and all API endpoints. Here’s your prompt: “Ensure the User's table is authenticated, and that all API endpoints require a user to be authorized for them to access.”
2. Follow any onscreen prompts, and now we have a Users table, a Tasks table, and authentication for our application.
3. Again, feel free to verify visually that your API endpoints are now locked down. You’ll see an authentication lock on the API endpoints for visual confirmation!

Step 5: Test with built-in API documentation

Xano automatically generates Swagger documentation for your API.

Whether you're within your IDE, or the Xano platform itself, this information is easily accessible.

Inside the Xano platform:

1. Click on the API tab and open up any API groups that you or the agent created.
2. Click on the Documentation tab in the top toolbar.
3. You'll be directed to your Swagger docs.
4. You'll see all your endpoints with request/response examples
5. Use the built-in testing interface to:
   • Create a user account via /auth/signup
   • Login via /auth/login (copy the auth token)
   • Create, read, update, and delete tasks

Step 6: Your API is live!

That's it. Your API is automatically deployed and accessible via:

https://your-workspace-id.xano.io/api:canonical_url/tasks

You can test it with curl:

# Create a user
curl -X POST https://your-workspace-id.xano.io/api:canonical_url/auth/signup \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email": "test@example.com", "password": "password123"}'

# Login and get token
curl -X POST https://your-workspace-id.xano.io/api:canonical_url/auth/login \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email": "test@example.com", "password": "password123"}'

# Create a task (use the token from login)
curl -X POST https://your-workspace-id.xano.io/api:canonical_url/tasks \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN_HERE" \
  -d '{"title": "My first task", "description": "Built with Xano!"}'

What we just built

In about 10 minutes, we created:

• A fully authenticated REST API
• User registration and login system
• Secure task CRUD operations with user isolation
• Automatic API documentation
• Production-ready hosting and scaling

Compare that to the traditional approach:

• Setting up Express.js server: 1-2 hours
• Configuring Postgres and migrations: 1-2 hours
• Implementing JWT auth with Passport.js: 1-2 hours
• Writing CRUD endpoints with validation: 1-2 hours
• Setting up deployment pipeline: 2-4 hours
• Writing API documentation: 1-2 hours

Total traditional approach: 7-12 hours minimum

Xano approach: 10 minutes

The math speaks for itself.

Why this matters

This is optimizing for building and shipping.

On one hand, it's about speed. But on the other, it's about intentional focus on building the product while spending less time on the infrastructure.

When you're not spending days on infrastructure, you can spend that time on:

• Understanding your users better
• Understanding your users better
• Building features that actually matter
• Iterating based on real feedback
• Growing your business

The infrastructure will always be there. The market opportunity might not be.

For more on building APIs with Xano, check out the below video.

Ready to build your API?

Xano offers a generous free tier that's perfect for prototyping and small projects. You can build and deploy a complete API without touching a credit card.

Try Xano free and see how much faster you can ship when the infrastructure isn't your problem.

Your future self will thank you for not reinventing the wheel.