Flask API Development Overview
Create efficient Flask APIs with blueprints for modular organization, SQLAlchemy for ORM, JWT authentication, comprehensive error handling, and proper request validation following REST principles.
When to Use Building RESTful APIs with Flask Creating microservices with minimal overhead Implementing lightweight authentication systems Designing API endpoints with proper validation Integrating with relational databases Building request/response handling systems Instructions 1. Flask Application Setup
app.py
from flask import Flask, request, jsonify from flask_cors import CORS from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy from flask_jwt_extended import JWTManager import os
app = Flask(name) app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = os.getenv('DATABASE_URL', 'sqlite:///app.db') app.config['JWT_SECRET_KEY'] = os.getenv('JWT_SECRET_KEY', 'dev-secret') app.config['JSON_SORT_KEYS'] = False
db = SQLAlchemy(app) jwt = JWTManager(app) CORS(app)
Request ID middleware
@app.before_request def assign_request_id(): import uuid request.request_id = str(uuid.uuid4())
Error handlers
@app.errorhandler(400) def bad_request(error): return jsonify({ 'error': 'Bad Request', 'message': str(error), 'request_id': request.request_id }), 400
@app.errorhandler(404) def not_found(error): return jsonify({ 'error': 'Not Found', 'message': 'Resource does not exist', 'request_id': request.request_id }), 404
@app.errorhandler(500) def internal_error(error): db.session.rollback() return jsonify({ 'error': 'Internal Server Error', 'request_id': request.request_id }), 500
if name == 'main': app.run(debug=os.getenv('ENV') != 'production')
- Database Models with SQLAlchemy
models.py
from datetime import datetime from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy from sqlalchemy.dialects.postgresql import UUID import uuid
db = SQLAlchemy()
class User(db.Model): tablename = 'users'
id = db.Column(UUID(as_uuid=True), primary_key=True, default=uuid.uuid4)
email = db.Column(db.String(255), unique=True, nullable=False, index=True)
password_hash = db.Column(db.String(255), nullable=False)
first_name = db.Column(db.String(100))
last_name = db.Column(db.String(100))
role = db.Column(db.String(20), default='user', index=True)
is_active = db.Column(db.Boolean, default=True)
created_at = db.Column(db.DateTime, default=datetime.utcnow, nullable=False)
updated_at = db.Column(db.DateTime, default=datetime.utcnow, onupdate=datetime.utcnow)
# Relationships
posts = db.relationship('Post', backref='author', lazy='dynamic', cascade='all, delete-orphan')
def __repr__(self):
return f'<User {self.email}>'
def set_password(self, password):
from werkzeug.security import generate_password_hash
self.password_hash = generate_password_hash(password)
def verify_password(self, password):
from werkzeug.security import check_password_hash
return check_password_hash(self.password_hash, password)
def to_dict(self):
return {
'id': str(self.id),
'email': self.email,
'first_name': self.first_name,
'last_name': self.last_name,
'role': self.role,
'created_at': self.created_at.isoformat()
}
class Post(db.Model): tablename = 'posts'
id = db.Column(UUID(as_uuid=True), primary_key=True, default=uuid.uuid4)
title = db.Column(db.String(255), nullable=False, index=True)
content = db.Column(db.Text, nullable=False)
published = db.Column(db.Boolean, default=False)
user_id = db.Column(UUID(as_uuid=True), db.ForeignKey('users.id'), nullable=False)
created_at = db.Column(db.DateTime, default=datetime.utcnow, nullable=False)
updated_at = db.Column(db.DateTime, default=datetime.utcnow, onupdate=datetime.utcnow)
def to_dict(self):
return {
'id': str(self.id),
'title': self.title,
'content': self.content,
'published': self.published,
'author_id': str(self.user_id),
'created_at': self.created_at.isoformat()
}
- Authentication and JWT
auth.py
from flask import request, jsonify from flask_jwt_extended import create_access_token, jwt_required, get_jwt_identity from functools import wraps from models import User, db
def authenticate_user(email, password): user = User.query.filter_by(email=email).first() if user and user.verify_password(password): return user return None
def login_required(f): @wraps(f) @jwt_required() def decorated_function(args, kwargs): identity = get_jwt_identity() user = User.query.get(identity) if not user or not user.is_active: return jsonify({'error': 'User not found or inactive'}), 401 request.current_user = user return f(args, **kwargs) return decorated_function
def admin_required(f): @wraps(f) @login_required def decorated_function(args, kwargs): if request.current_user.role != 'admin': return jsonify({'error': 'Admin access required'}), 403 return f(args, **kwargs) return decorated_function
routes/auth.py
from flask import Blueprint, request, jsonify from auth import authenticate_user, login_required from models import User, db from flask_jwt_extended import create_access_token
auth_bp = Blueprint('auth', name, url_prefix='/api/auth')
@auth_bp.route('/login', methods=['POST']) def login(): data = request.get_json() if not data or not data.get('email') or not data.get('password'): return jsonify({'error': 'Missing credentials'}), 400
user = authenticate_user(data['email'], data['password'])
if not user:
return jsonify({'error': 'Invalid credentials'}), 401
access_token = create_access_token(identity=str(user.id))
return jsonify({
'access_token': access_token,
'user': user.to_dict()
}), 200
@auth_bp.route('/register', methods=['POST']) def register(): data = request.get_json() if User.query.filter_by(email=data['email']).first(): return jsonify({'error': 'Email already exists'}), 409
user = User(email=data['email'], first_name=data.get('first_name'))
user.set_password(data['password'])
db.session.add(user)
db.session.commit()
return jsonify({'user': user.to_dict()}), 201
@auth_bp.route('/profile', methods=['GET']) @login_required def get_profile(): return jsonify({'user': request.current_user.to_dict()}), 200
- Blueprints for Modular API Design
routes/users.py
from flask import Blueprint, request, jsonify from auth import login_required, admin_required from models import User, db from sqlalchemy import or_
users_bp = Blueprint('users', name, url_prefix='/api/users')
@users_bp.route('', methods=['GET']) @login_required def list_users(): page = request.args.get('page', 1, type=int) limit = request.args.get('limit', 20, type=int) search = request.args.get('q', '', type=str)
query = User.query
if search:
query = query.filter(or_(
User.email.ilike(f'%{search}%'),
User.first_name.ilike(f'%{search}%')
))
paginated = query.paginate(page=page, per_page=limit)
return jsonify({
'data': [user.to_dict() for user in paginated.items],
'pagination': {
'page': page,
'limit': limit,
'total': paginated.total,
'pages': paginated.pages
}
}), 200
@users_bp.route('/
@users_bp.route('/
user = User.query.get(user_id)
if not user:
return jsonify({'error': 'User not found'}), 404
data = request.get_json()
if 'first_name' in data:
user.first_name = data['first_name']
if 'last_name' in data:
user.last_name = data['last_name']
db.session.commit()
return jsonify({'user': user.to_dict()}), 200
@users_bp.route('/
db.session.delete(user)
db.session.commit()
return '', 204
- Request Validation
validators.py
from flask import request, jsonify from functools import wraps
def validate_json(required_fields): def decorator(f): @wraps(f) def decorated_function(args, **kwargs): if not request.is_json: return jsonify({'error': 'Request body must be JSON'}), 400
data = request.get_json()
missing = [field for field in required_fields if field not in data]
if missing:
return jsonify({
'error': 'Missing required fields',
'missing_fields': missing
}), 400
return f(*args, **kwargs)
return decorated_function
return decorator
def validate_email(email): import re pattern = r'^[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+.[a-zA-Z]{2,}$' return re.match(pattern, email) is not None
Usage
@users_bp.route('', methods=['POST']) @validate_json('email', 'password', 'first_name') def create_user(): data = request.get_json() if not validate_email(data['email']): return jsonify({'error': 'Invalid email format'}), 400 # ... rest of logic
- Application Factory and Configuration
config.py
import os
class Config: SQLALCHEMY_TRACK_MODIFICATIONS = False JSON_SORT_KEYS = False
class DevelopmentConfig(Config): DEBUG = True TESTING = False SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = 'sqlite:///app.db'
class ProductionConfig(Config): DEBUG = False TESTING = False SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = os.getenv('DATABASE_URL') JWT_SECRET_KEY = os.getenv('JWT_SECRET_KEY')
class TestingConfig(Config): TESTING = True SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = 'sqlite:///:memory:'
factory.py
from flask import Flask from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy from flask_jwt_extended import JWTManager
def create_app(config_name='development'): app = Flask(name)
if config_name == 'production':
from config import ProductionConfig
app.config.from_object(ProductionConfig)
else:
from config import DevelopmentConfig
app.config.from_object(DevelopmentConfig)
db = SQLAlchemy(app)
jwt = JWTManager(app)
# Register blueprints
from routes.auth import auth_bp
from routes.users import users_bp
app.register_blueprint(auth_bp)
app.register_blueprint(users_bp)
return app
Best Practices ✅ DO Use blueprints for modular organization Implement proper authentication with JWT Validate all user input Use SQLAlchemy ORM for database operations Implement comprehensive error handling Use pagination for collection endpoints Log errors and important events Return appropriate HTTP status codes Implement CORS properly Use environment variables for configuration ❌ DON'T Store secrets in code Use global variables for shared state Ignore database transactions Trust user input without validation Return stack traces in production Use mutable default arguments Forget to handle database connection errors Implement authentication in route handlers Complete Example from flask import Flask, request, jsonify from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy from flask_jwt_extended import JWTManager, create_access_token
app = Flask(name) app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = 'postgresql://user:pass@localhost/db' db = SQLAlchemy(app) jwt = JWTManager(app)
class User(db.Model): id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True) email = db.Column(db.String, unique=True) password = db.Column(db.String)
@app.route('/api/login', methods=['POST']) def login(): data = request.json user = User.query.filter_by(email=data['email']).first() if user: token = create_access_token(identity=user.id) return jsonify({'token': token}), 200 return jsonify({'error': 'Invalid'}), 401
@app.route('/api/users', methods=['GET']) def get_users(): users = User.query.all() return jsonify([{'id': u.id, 'email': u.email} for u in users]), 200
if name == 'main': app.run()