Werkzeug + Unix sockets

Monkey-patching Werkzeug WSGI server to use Unix sockets instead of TCP sockets.

Why?

Because I was tired of having to deal with looking for free TCP ports for my Flask development servers. Using Unix sockets is much simpler and fun.

How?

Here's a quick guide to using Werkzeug + Unix sockets in a Flask app.

First, install the module:

$ pip install git+git://github.com/tomekwojcik/werkzeug_plus_unix_sockets.git

Then, adapt your app to use it:

from flask import Flask

app = Flask(__name__)


@app.route('/')
def app_index():
    return 'Hello, World!'

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.debug = True

    try:
        from werkzeug_unix_sock import patch_werkzeug
    except ImportError:
        app.run() # Falling back to TCP socket.
    else:
        patch_werkzeug()
        app.run('/tmp/unix_sock_demo.app.sock') # Using Unix socket.

Finally, you'll have to adapt your nginx config:

server {
    server_name unix_sock_demo.app;
    listen      127.0.0.1:80;

    location / {
        proxy_pass  http://unix:/tmp/unix_sock_demo.app.sock:;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
    }
}

Restart nginx, start your app and test it:

bilbo ~ $ http -v GET http://unix_sock_demo.app/
GET / HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, compress
Host: unix_sock_demo.app
User-Agent: HTTPie/0.7.2



HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Length: 13
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Date: Sun, 05 Jan 2014 12:49:30 GMT
Server: nginx/1.4.2

Hello, World!

Will it work with my Flask app?

It works with mine Flask apps, so it should work with yours, too. I can't guarantee anything, though. I tested it with a few Flask apps of mine, each one using Werkzeug==0.9.4.

Since this is an ugly hack all I can say that your mileage may vary.

Anything else?

This hack was done by Tomek Wójcik. Since it borrows code from Werkzeug, it's licensed under the BSD license.