π Flask REST API Setup: A Step-by-Step Tutorial
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
π Introduction #
In this tutorial, we’ll walk through setting up a basic Flask REST API. We’ll cover the essential steps, from installing dependencies to creating routes for CRUD operations.
π οΈ Step 1: Install Dependencies #
To start, you’ll need to install Flask and Flask-RESTful. Use pip to install them:
pip install flask flask-restful
π Step 2: Create a New Flask App #
Create a new file called app.py and add the following code:
from flask import Flask
from flask_restful import Api
app = Flask(__name__)
api = Api(app)
@app.route('/')
def home():
return "Welcome to my API!"
if __name__ == '__main__':
app.run(debug=True)
This sets up a basic Flask app with a single route.
π§ Step 3: Define Your API Endpoints #
Let’s create a simple API for managing books. We’ll define endpoints for CRUD operations: from flask_restful import Resource, reqparse
Sample in-memory data store #
books = [
{"id": 1, "title": "Book 1", "author": "Author 1"},
{"id": 2, "title": "Book 2", "author": "Author 2"}
]
class BookList(Resource):
def get(self):
return books
def post(self):
parser = reqparse.RequestParser()
parser.add_argument("title", type=str, required=True)
parser.add_argument("author", type=str, required=True)
args = parser.parse_args()
new_book = {
"id": len(books) + 1,
"title": args["title"],
"author": args["author"]
}
books.append(new_book)
return new_book, 201
class Book(Resource):
def get(self, book_id):
book = next((book for book in books if book["id"] == book_id), None)
if book is None:
return {"error": "Book not found"}, 404
return book
def put(self, book_id):
book = next((book for book in books if book["id"] == book_id), None)
if book is None:
return {"error": "Book not found"}, 404
parser = reqparse.RequestParser()
parser.add_argument("title", type=str)
parser.add_argument("author", type=str)
args = parser.parse_args()
book["title"] = args.get("title", book["title"])
book["author"] = args.get("author", book["author"])
return book
def delete(self, book_id):
book = next((book for book in books if book["id"] == book_id), None)
if book is None:
return {"error": "Book not found"}, 404
books.remove(book)
return {"message": "Book deleted"}
api.add_resource(BookList, "/books")
api.add_resource(Book, "/books/<int\:book_id>")
Endpoint Summary #
- BookListGET/booksRetrieve all books
- BookListPOST/booksCreate a new book
- BookGET/books/<book_id>Retrieve a single book
- BookPUT/books/<book_id>Update a book
- BookDELETE/books/<book_id>Delete a book
βΆοΈ Step 4: Run Your API #
Run your API using: python app.py You can now interact with your API using tools like curl or a REST client.
π Example Use Cases #
Get all bookscurl http://localhost:5000/books Create a new book
curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"title": "New Book", "author": "New Author"}' http://localhost:5000/booksGet a single bookcurl http://localhost:5000/books/1Update a bookcurl -X PUT -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"title": "Updated Book"}' http://localhost:5000/books/1Delete a bookcurl -X DELETE http://localhost:5000/books/1
π― Conclusion #
This tutorial provides a basic setup for a Flask REST API. You can build upon this example to create more complex APIs with additional features like: