diff --git a/src/main/api.zig b/src/main/api.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..79d7f19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/api.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+const std = @import("std");
+
+const db = @import("./db.zig");
+
+pub const models = @import("./models.zig");
+pub const free = db.free;
+pub const Id = []const u8;
+
+pub fn CreateInfo(comptime T: type) type {
+    const t_fields = std.meta.fields(T);
+    var fields: [t_fields.len - 1]std.builtin.Type.StructField = undefined;
+    var count = 0;
+
+    inline for (t_fields) |f| {
+        if (std.mem.eql(u8, f.name, "id")) continue;
+
+        fields[count] = f;
+        count += 1;
+    }
+
+    return @Type(.{ .Struct = .{
+        .layout = .Auto,
+        .fields = &fields,
+        .decls = &[0]std.builtin.Type.Declaration{},
+        .is_tuple = false,
+    } });
+}
+
+fn reify(comptime T: type, id: Id, val: CreateInfo(T)) T {
+    var result: T = undefined;
+    result.id = id;
+    inline for (std.meta.fields(CreateInfo(T))) |f| {
+        @field(result, f.name) = @field(val, f.name);
+    }
+    return result;
+}
+
+const ApiServer = struct {
+    db: db.Database,
+    last_id: u64 = 0,
+
+    pub fn init(alloc: std.mem.Allocator) !ApiServer {
+        return ApiServer{
+            .db = try db.Database.init(alloc),
+        };
+    }
+
+    fn genId(self: *ApiServer, alloc: std.mem.Allocator) ![]const u8 {
+        self.last_id += 1;
+        return std.fmt.allocPrint(alloc, "{}", .{self.last_id});
+    }
+
+    pub fn createNote(self: *ApiServer, info: CreateInfo(models.Note), alloc: std.mem.Allocator) !models.Note {
+        const id = try self.genId(alloc);
+
+        const note = reify(models.Note, id, info);
+        try self.db.putNote(note);
+
+        return id;
+    }
+
+    pub fn getNote(self: *ApiServer, id: Id, alloc: std.mem.Allocator) !?models.Note {
+        return self.db.getNote(id, alloc);
+    }
+};
diff --git a/src/main/main.zig b/src/main/main.zig
index 3623047..7af76b9 100644
--- a/src/main/main.zig
+++ b/src/main/main.zig
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 const std = @import("std");
 const builtin = @import("builtin");
 const http = @import("http");
-const db = @import("./db.zig");
+const api = @import("./api.zig");
 const models = @import("./models.zig");
 
 // this thing is overcomplicated and weird. stop this
@@ -49,18 +49,18 @@ fn respondJson(ctx: *http.server.Context, status: http.Status, value: anytype, a
 fn createNote(srv: *RequestServer, ctx: *http.server.Context, _: RouteArgs) !void {
     const body = ctx.request.body orelse return respondJson(ctx, .bad_request, .{ .@"error" = "no note body provided" }, srv.alloc);
     var tokens = std.json.TokenStream.init(body);
-    const note = try std.json.parse(models.Note, &tokens, .{ .allocator = srv.alloc });
+    const note = try std.json.parse(api.CreateInfo(models.Note), &tokens, .{ .allocator = srv.alloc });
     defer std.json.parseFree(models.Note, note, .{ .allocator = srv.alloc });
 
-    try srv.db.putNote(note);
+    try srv.api.createNote(note);
 
     try respondJson(ctx, .created, note, srv.alloc);
 }
 
 fn getNote(srv: *RequestServer, ctx: *http.server.Context, args: RouteArgs) !void {
     const id = args.get("id") orelse return error.NotFound;
-    const note = (try srv.db.getNote(id, srv.alloc)) orelse return error.NotFound;
-    defer db.free(srv.alloc, note);
+    const note = (try srv.api.getNote(id, srv.alloc)) orelse return error.NotFound;
+    defer api.free(srv.alloc, note);
 
     try respondJson(ctx, .ok, note, srv.alloc);
 }
@@ -71,12 +71,12 @@ fn healthcheck(srv: *RequestServer, ctx: *http.server.Context, _: RouteArgs) !vo
 
 const RequestServer = struct {
     alloc: std.mem.Allocator,
-    db: db.Database,
+    api: api.ApiServer,
 
     fn init(alloc: std.mem.Allocator) !RequestServer {
         return RequestServer{
             .alloc = alloc,
-            .db = try db.Database.init(alloc),
+            .api = try api.ApiServer.init(alloc),
         };
     }