Flask Core Knowledge

Full Reference: See advanced.md for Flask-SocketIO WebSocket patterns, authentication, room management, namespaces, and broadcasting from external code.

Basic Setup

from flask import Flask, jsonify, request, abort

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/users', methods=['GET'])
def get_users():
    return jsonify(users)

@app.route('/users/<int:user_id>', methods=['GET'])
def get_user(user_id):
    user = find_user(user_id)
    if not user:
        abort(404)
    return jsonify(user)

@app.route('/users', methods=['POST'])
def create_user():
    data = request.get_json()
    user = create_user_in_db(data)
    return jsonify(user), 201

Blueprints

from flask import Blueprint

users_bp = Blueprint('users', __name__, url_prefix='/api/users')

@users_bp.route('/')
def list_users():
    return jsonify(get_all_users())

# In app.py
app.register_blueprint(users_bp)

Key Extensions

Application Factory

from flask import Flask
from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
from flask_cors import CORS

db = SQLAlchemy()

def create_app(config_name='production'):
    app = Flask(__name__)
    app.config.from_object(config[config_name])

    db.init_app(app)
    CORS(app, origins=app.config['CORS_ORIGINS'])

    from .routes import users_bp, health_bp
    app.register_blueprint(users_bp, url_prefix='/api/users')
    app.register_blueprint(health_bp)

    register_error_handlers(app)
    return app

Configuration

import os

class Config:
    SECRET_KEY = os.environ.get('SECRET_KEY')
    SQLALCHEMY_TRACK_MODIFICATIONS = False
    SQLALCHEMY_ENGINE_OPTIONS = {
        'pool_size': 10,
        'pool_recycle': 3600,
        'pool_pre_ping': True,
    }

class ProductionConfig(Config):
    DEBUG = False
    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = os.environ.get('DATABASE_URL')
    SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = True
    SESSION_COOKIE_HTTPONLY = True

Error Handling

from flask import jsonify

class APIError(Exception):
    def __init__(self, message, status_code=400):
        self.message = message
        self.status_code = status_code

def register_error_handlers(app):
    @app.errorhandler(APIError)
    def handle_api_error(error):
        return jsonify({'error': error.message}), error.status_code

    @app.errorhandler(404)
    def not_found(error):
        return jsonify({'error': 'Resource not found'}), 404

    @app.errorhandler(500)
    def internal_error(error):
        return jsonify({'error': 'Internal server error'}), 500

Health Checks

health_bp = Blueprint('health', __name__)

@health_bp.route('/health')
def health():
    return jsonify({'status': 'healthy'})

@health_bp.route('/ready')
def ready():
    try:
        db.engine.execute('SELECT 1')
        return jsonify({'status': 'ready', 'database': 'connected'})
    except Exception as e:
        return jsonify({'status': 'not ready'}), 503

Testing

import pytest
from app import create_app, db

@pytest.fixture
def app():
    app = create_app('testing')
    with app.app_context():
        db.create_all()
        yield app
        db.drop_all()

@pytest.fixture
def client(app):
    return app.test_client()

def test_create_user(client):
    response = client.post('/api/users/', json={
        'name': 'John', 'email': 'john@example.com'
    })
    assert response.status_code == 201

When NOT to Use This Skill

• Django projects - Django provides more batteries-included features
• FastAPI with type validation - FastAPI has built-in Pydantic validation
• Async-first applications - Flask is sync-based
• Built-in admin required - Django admin is more comprehensive

Anti-Patterns

Quick Troubleshooting

Production Checklist

• Application factory pattern
• Environment-based config
• Structured JSON logging
• Request ID tracing
• Database connection pooling
• Health/readiness endpoints
• Global error handlers
• Gunicorn with workers
• pytest fixtures for testing
• CORS properly configured

Monitoring Metrics

Reference Documentation

• Blueprints
• Extensions