HTTP API that parses Postcode Address File records into correctly formatted address lines

Parses Postcode Address File records into correctly formatted address recognised by Royal Mail according to its Clear Addressing Guidelines.

Produces consistent address lines, a post town line and a postcode line via HTTP

Features

• Exposes UK Clear Addressing as a HTTP service
• Deployable as a docker container or node.js application

Links

• Github Repository
• UK Clear Addressing Project
• NPM Package
• More information on Postcode Address File data attributes
• PAF Programmer's Guide

Getting Started

HTTP API Usage

This API responds to POST requests to /parse with a JSON payload representing a PAF Record

POST /parse

Request

POST /parse

{
  "postcode": "WS11 5SB",
  "post_town": "CANNOCK",
  "thoroughfare": "Pye Green Road",
  "building_name": "Flower House 189A",
  "organisation_name": "S D Alcott Florists",
}

Response

{
  "query": {
    "postcode": "WS11 5SB",
    "post_town": "CANNOCK",
    "thoroughfare": "Pye Green Road",
    "building_name": "Flower House 189A",
    "organisation_name": "S D Alcott Florists",
    "building_number": "",
    "sub_building_name": "",
    "dependant_locality": "",
    "double_dependant_locality": "",
    "dependant_thoroughfare": "",
    "po_box": "",
    "department_name": "",
  },
  "formatted": {
    "postcode": "WS11 5SB",
    "post_town": "CANNOCK",
    "line_1": "S D Alcott Florists",
    "line_2": "Flower House",
    "line_3": "189a Pye Green Road",
    "premise": "Flower House, 189a"
  }
}

Available Payload Attributes

{
  building_number: string | number;
  building_name: string;
  sub_building_name: string;
  dependant_locality: string;
  double_dependant_locality: string;
  thoroughfare: string;
  dependant_thoroughfare: string;
  po_box: string;
  post_town: string;
  postcode: string;
  department_name: string;
  organisation_name: string;
}

Deploy

Deploy as a docker container

Using the docker CLI

docker pull ideal-postcoes/paf-api:latest

docker run -p 8909:8909 ideal-postcodes/paf-api

Alternatively with docker-compose

git clone https://github.com/ideal-postcodes/paf-api && cd paf-api

docker-compose up -d

Deploy as a node.js process

Requires node.js 8 or above

git clone https://github.com/ideal-postcodes/paf-api && cd paf-api && npm install

npm start # Traffic served on 8909

Configuration

The following environment variables can be passed to the application.

PORT=8080 # Sets the port to listen on

Licence

MIT