Flask API Demo Blog

A simple RESTful API for a To-Do application built with Flask, featured on my blog.

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Please, Read the article: Create a Flask API with Python - Blog AstronautMarkus

Table of Contents

• Features
• Requirements
• Installation
• Configuration
• Database Setup
• Running the Application
• API Endpoints
• Usage
• License

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Features

• JWT Authentication
• CRUD operations for to-do items
• Input validation & error handling
• MySQL database integration (Flask-SQLAlchemy)
• CORS support
• Environment variable management (python-dotenv)
• Gunicorn for production deployment
• SMTP server integration for email functionality

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Requirements

• Python 3.12+
• MySQL database
• pip (Python package installer)
• virtualenv (recommended)
• SMTP server

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Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/astronautmarkus/flask-api-demo-blog.git
   cd flask-api-demo-blog

2. Create and activate a virtual environment (recommended)

   python -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install dependencies

   pip install -r requirements.txt

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Configuration

Create a .env file in the root directory with the following variables:

SECRET_KEY=mysecretkey

DB_HOST=localhost
DB_PORT=3306
DB_USER=user
DB_PASSWORD=password
DB_NAME=flask_api_db

JWT_SECRET_KEY=myjwtsecretkey

MAIL_SERVER=smtp.gmail.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=your_email@gmail.com
MAIL_PASSWORD=your_email_password
MAIL_USE_TLS=True
MAIL_USE_SSL=False

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Database Setup

Initialize the database:

python app/scripts/create_db.py --reset

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Running the Application

• Development mode

  python app.py

• Production mode (Gunicorn)

  gunicorn -w 4 -b 0.0.0.0:8000 wsgi:app

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API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
POST	/auth/register	Register a new user	No
POST	/auth/login	Login and obtain a JWT token	No
GET	/tasks	Get all to-do items	No
POST	/tasks	Create a new to-do item	Yes
GET	/tasks/<id>	Get a specific to-do item by ID	No
PUT	/tasks/<id>	Update a specific to-do item by ID	No
DELETE	/tasks/<id>	Delete a specific to-do item by ID	No
GET	/users	Get all users (admin only)	No
GET	/users/<id>	Get a specific user by ID (admin only)	Yes
PUT	/users/<id>	Update a specific user by ID (admin only)	No
DELETE	/users/<id>	Delete a specific user by ID (admin only)	No

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Note: I know it's inconsistent to put Auth only on some things, instead of protecting everything, but in the Blog it's only put on some to explain how the middleware that protects them works, thank you for your understanding.

Usage

Access the API using tools like Postman or curl.

• Base URL:
  • Development: http://localhost:5000
  • Production: http://0.0.0.0:8000

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License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.