[](https://crates.io/crates/fts-server)
[](https://docs.rs/fts-server)
[](https://crates.io/crates/fts-server)
[](https://crates.io/crates/fts-server)
[](https://flowtrading.forwardmarketdesign.com/)
# Flow Trading Service (FTS)
This crate is part of a [collection of crates](https://github.com/forward-market-design/flow-trading-service) that together implement *flow trading* as proposed
by [Budish, Cramton, et al](https://cramton.umd.edu/papers2020-2024/budish-cramton-kyle-lee-malec-flow-trading.pdf),
in which trade occurs continuously over time via regularly-scheduled batch auctions.
The different crates in this workspace are as follows:
- **[fts_core]**: Defines a set of data primitives and operations but defers the implementations of these operations, consistent with a so-called "hexagonal architecture" approach to separating responsibilities.
- **[fts_solver]**: Provides a reference solver for the flow trading quadratic program.
- **[fts_server]**: A REST API HTTP server for interacting with the solver and persisting state across auctions.
- **[fts_demo]**: An implementation of the core data operations using SQLite, suitable for exploration of flow trading-based marketplaces such as a forward market.
[fts_core]: ../fts-core/README.md
[fts_solver]: ../fts-solver/README.md
[fts_server]: ../fts-server/README.md
[fts_demo]: ../fts-demo/README.md
# FTS Server
This crate provides a REST API for the core flow trading operations. Building
the sibling crate `fts-demo` will generate an OpenAPI schema. A running server will host this schema at http://localhost:8080/rapidoc.
## On the use of JSON and HTTP
It is true that JSON is a significantly flawed choice for (de)serialization of
bid data. It is also true that a RESTful API over HTTP is questionable, at
best, with respect to building a trading platform. On the other hand, these
choices allow for virtually any programming environment to easily interface
with the server, as well as open the door to rich, web-based clients.
Given that this project is primarily intended to *motivate* the use of flow trading, especially in the context of forward markets, these trade-offs are more than reasonable. With that said, the design of flow trading specifically discourages high-frequency execution, so the performance overhead of these trade-offs are also largely irrelevant.
## Authorization
In the interest of simplicity, endpoints that process bid data (or execute administrative actions) expect HTTP requests to contain the `Authorization` header with a JWT bearer token. The `sub:` claim of this token must be the bidder's UUID. To authorize an administrative action, this token must contain the custom claim `admin: true`. It is left to the operator to securely authenticate and generate these tokens.
## API Endpoints and Data Types
Please refer to the automatically generated OpenAPI schema for up-to-date documentation of the endpoints. Note that any endpoint expecting a datetime type expects an RFC3339-compliant string.