Sphere Engine overview

What is Sphere Engine?

Sphere Engine is a set of APIs and software components that enable creating coding assessment solutions and online code execution environments.

Sphere Engine allows for remote execution of computer programs in a secure run-time environment. Programs can be executed in one of many supported programming languages, including C++, C#, Go, Haskell, Java, Kotlin, Node.js, PHP, Python, Ruby, Scala or Swift (full list of supported programming languages.)

Sphere Engine can be used in many areas, including:

  • education (learning to program),
  • e-learning courses (interactive examples and exercises),
  • internal training,
  • recruitment (verification of IT skills),
  • software documentation and SDKs,
  • competitive programming,
  • hackathons and programming contests,
  • other applications that require a run-time environment.

Important: For full access to Sphere Engine APIs and configuration options please register for a Sphere Engine account by filling in the sign-up form. After completing the registration form, please activate your account using the link sent to your email.

What modules does it consist of?

Sphere Engine is divided into three modules:

  • Compilers - allowing for executing computer programs,
  • Problems - enabling automatic verification of the correctness of computer programs in the context of a programming problem,
  • Containers - allowing for executing complex, multi-component programming projects.

Find out more in our modules comparison table.

What are the methods of integration?

All modules support integration with either of the three independent methods:

  • Widget integration - a quick and easy method of integration, recommended for the extension of existing projects,
  • RESTful API - a highly configurable way of integration, recommended for building dedicated applications from scratch,
  • Webhooks - designed to deliver a reliable and efficient method for event communication, a perfect complementation of both aforementioned methods.

Which API version should I use?

For the Compilers and the Problems modules we recommend using the latest API v4. For the Containers module the latest version of API is 1.1. The history of API changes is maintained in the separate document.

How to obtain Sphere Engine API tokens?

After logging in to the Sphere Engine client panel, go to the API Tokens section to obtain your API tokens.

How to give feedback and where to look for support?

If you have any feedback regarding this documentation or the product, please send us an email.

For support please contact our technical team.