Backend Development Course using FastAPI

This is a course example project based on FastAPI with database integration and other essential features. This project aims to help learners understand how to build a complete FastAPI application.

Dependencies

This project uses the following key packages:

• FastAPI: Modern, fast web framework for building APIs with Python

  • High performance, easy to use, and fully compatible with OpenAPI (Swagger) and JSON Schema
  • Used for creating REST APIs with automatic documentation

• SQLAlchemy: SQL toolkit and ORM

  • Provides a full suite of well-known enterprise-level persistence patterns
  • Used for database operations and model definitions

• Alembic: Database migration tool

  • Handles database schema changes and version control
  • Recommended over Base.metadata.create_all() for proper migration management

• Pydantic: Data validation using Python type annotations

  • Enforces type hints at runtime and provides user-friendly errors
  • Used for request/response models and configuration management

• Python-jose: JavaScript Object Signing and Encryption implementation

  • Provides JWT token handling capabilities
  • Used for authentication and authorization

• Passlib: Password hashing library

  • Handles secure password storage
  • Used for user authentication

Setup and Installation

1. Install pipenv if you haven't already:

pip install -U pipenv

2. Install project dependencies and create a virtual environment:

pipenv install

About Virtual Environments

A virtual environment is an isolated Python environment that keeps project dependencies separate from your system Python installation. When you use pipenv:

• It creates a dedicated virtual environment for your project
• Manages project-specific dependencies without affecting other projects
• Ensures consistent development environments across different machines
• Prevents conflicts between different projects' package versions
• Makes it easier to track and reproduce your project's exact environment

To activate the virtual environment:

pipenv shell

Important Notes

Database Migrations

⚠️ Warning: Do not use Base.metadata.create_all(bind=engine) for database schema management. Here's why:

• When you modify models.py or configure env.py, the server will automatically create the database before you attempt to add a new migration version
• This prevents Alembic from properly generating create_table and other migration commands
• The automatically created database structure may become out of sync with migration history

Instead, use Alembic for database migrations:

# Generate migration
pipenv run alembic revision --autogenerate -m "description"

# Apply migration
pipenv run alembic upgrade head

Start FastAPI

$ pipenv run fastapi dev app/main.py

Contact

For questions or suggestions, please reach out via Issues or email at gloomcheng@gmail.com.