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Kundli API in a React Native app

Show a birth chart and current dasha in React Native, with the API key safely on your backend.

This guide builds a kundli screen in React Native (Expo or bare): the user's planets with sign, degree and house, plus their current Vimshottari dasha. It takes two LifeAstroAPI calls, 20 credits per new user.

1. Why a backend is required

A React Native bundle can be unpacked, so an API key inside the app is public. Put a tiny backend between the app and LifeAstroAPI. Below is a complete one in Express using the official Node SDK (npm install lifeastroapi express).

// server.js — your backend (Node 18+). The API key stays here.
import express from 'express';
import { LifeAstro } from 'lifeastroapi';

const app = express();
const astro = new LifeAstro({ apiKey: process.env.LIFEASTRO_API_KEY });

// Birth chart + current dasha in one round trip for the app.
app.get('/kundli', async (req, res) => {
  const { date, time, tz, lat, lon } = req.query;
  const birth = { date, time, tz, lat: Number(lat), lon: Number(lon) };
  try {
    const [chart, dasha] = await Promise.all([
      astro.chart.planets(birth),            // 10 credits
      astro.dasha.vimshottariCurrent(birth), // 10 credits
    ]);
    res.json({ planets: chart.planets, maha: dasha.maha, antar: dasha.antar });
  } catch (e) {
    res.status(502).json({ error: String(e) });
  }
});

// Place search for the birth-place picker (returns lat, lon, IANA timezone).
app.get('/places', async (req, res) => {
  res.json(await astro.geo.search({ q: String(req.query.q ?? ''), limit: 8 }));
});

app.listen(3000);

2. What the API returns

planets lists the nine grahas, Sun to Ketu. Each entry looks like this (Sun for a sample birth on 15 Jan 1990, 10:30, Mumbai):

{
  "id": "sun",
  "name": "Sun",
  "sidereal_lon": 271.0633,
  "sign_index": 9,
  "deg_in_sign": 1.0633,
  "dms_in_sign": "01°03'47\"",
  "house": 12,
  "nakshatra_idx": 20,
  "pada": 2,
  "nak_lord": "Sun",
  "speed": 1.0183,
  "is_retro": false
}

sign_index is 0 for Mesha through 11 for Meena, house is counted from the lagna, and is_retro marks retrograde motion. The current-dasha call returns maha, antar and deeper levels, each with lord, start_local and end_local.

3. The React Native screen

// KundliScreen.tsx — React Native. Talks only to YOUR backend.
import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import { FlatList, Text, View } from 'react-native';

const SIGNS = ['Mesha', 'Vrishabha', 'Mithuna', 'Karka', 'Simha', 'Kanya',
  'Tula', 'Vrishchika', 'Dhanu', 'Makara', 'Kumbha', 'Meena'];

type Planet = { id: string; name: string; sign_index: number;
  dms_in_sign: string; house: number; pada: number; is_retro: boolean };

export function KundliScreen() {
  const [planets, setPlanets] = useState<Planet[]>([]);
  const [dasha, setDasha] = useState('');

  useEffect(() => {
    const q = new URLSearchParams({ date: '1990-01-15', time: '10:30',
      tz: 'Asia/Kolkata', lat: '19.076', lon: '72.8777' });
    fetch('https://your-backend.example.com/kundli?' + q)
      .then((r) => r.json())
      .then((d) => {
        setPlanets(d.planets);
        setDasha(d.maha.lord + ' / ' + d.antar.lord + ' until ' + d.antar.end_local.slice(0, 10));
      });
  }, []);

  return (
    <View style={{ padding: 16 }}>
      <Text style={{ fontSize: 16, marginBottom: 8 }}>Current dasha: {dasha}</Text>
      <FlatList
        data={planets}
        keyExtractor={(p) => p.id}
        renderItem={({ item: p }) => (
          <Text>
            {p.name}{p.is_retro ? ' (R)' : ''} — {SIGNS[p.sign_index]} {p.dms_in_sign}, house {p.house}
          </Text>
        )}
      />
    </View>
  );
}

4. Birth-place picker

Users type a city; call your /places route (which wraps /v1/geo/search) and store the chosen latitude, longitude and timezone with the birth date and time. Those five values are all every chart endpoint needs.

5. Make it fast and cheap

• Save the chart in your database the first time; it never changes for the same birth data.
• Recompute only the current dasha, and only when its end_local has passed.
• For a full kundli add /v1/chart/ascendant, /v1/chart/divisional/D9 and /v1/chart/ashtakvarga; see the birth chart guide.
• Need a shareable PDF? The report endpoints return a finished kundli PDF.