Flask REST API Starter
A flexible Python Flask REST API starter kit with testing, postgreSQL integration and example data model.
Getting started:
Step 1: Clone the repository and cd into the root directory
Step 2: Install and start PostgreSQL (I use Postgres.app but any local PostgreSQL server should work)
Step 3 - Option 1:
Create a .env file with the following contents:
source venv/bin/activate
export FLASK_APP="run.py"
export SECRET="super-secret-long-security-phrase"
export FLASK_ENV="development"
export DATABASE_URL="postgresql://localhost/flask_db"
Then run the following on the command line to start the virtual environment and add the environment variables at the same time:
source .env
Step 3 - Option 2:
start the virtual environment by running the following in your terminal:
source venv/bin/activate
After the virtual environment has started you need to add some basic environment varables by running the following:
export FLASK_APP="run.py"
export SECRET="super-secret-long-security-phrase"
export FLASK_ENV="development"
export DATABASE_URL="postgresql://localhost/flask_db"
Step 4:
From inside the virtual environment run the following to install the packages you need to run the application:
pip install -r requirements.txt
Step 5:
Lastly, create two databases, one is for the app and the other is for unit testing (we are using postgres for the database)
createdb flask_db
createdb test_db
Then run:
flask db upgrade
Note: check the Flask-Migrate documentation to understand other commands used to manage database and schema migrations.
Starting the application
Run flask run to start the application on your localhost.
Running the tests
The tests reside in the tests folder and each test name should begin with a test_ such as test_post.py
python -m unittest
The results should look like this:
.....
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 5 tests in 0.197s
OK