FastAPI Flashcards

Posted on by uplatzblog

This page gives you a quick, practical overview of FastAPI—a modern
Python API framework known for speed, type hints, and a great developer experience.
You’ll see where it fits in a production stack and how to start using it today.

In short, the framework sits on ASGI, pairs beautifully with Starlette and Pydantic, and encourages clean,
typed endpoints. Moreover, it auto-generates interactive docs from your route definitions, which helps teams
move from prototype to production with fewer surprises.

FastAPI architecture: ASGI stack with Starlette routing and Pydantic validation
Typical stack: ASGI server, Starlette for routing, and Pydantic for data validation.

If you need to expose your AI or data services quickly, this framework keeps things simple:
define models, add routes, and deploy with an ASGI server. For an end-to-end example, see our guide on
deploying a Python API with Uvicorn and Docker.
In addition, the official documentation covers patterns, security, and performance tuning.

FastAPI OpenAPI Swagger UI auto-generated from typed routes
Interactive docs appear automatically via OpenAPI and Swagger UI.

Scroll to the flashcards for a compact refresher. Then, use the links at the end to explore more examples and templates.

⚡ FastAPI Flashcards
🚀 What is it?
A modern, high-performance web framework for building typed APIs in Python.
🔍 Why is it fast?
It runs on ASGI, uses async I/O, and builds on Starlette for ultra-low latency.
📘 What does Pydantic do?
It validates and parses data using Python type annotations and models.
📦 How do you install it?
Run pip install fastapi and add uvicorn[standard] for a production-grade server.
🔁 What is Uvicorn?
An ASGI server that serves your application with asynchronous workers.
🧪 How do you test endpoints?
Use TestClient with pytest or unittest to verify routes and schemas.
🧾 What about docs?
OpenAPI specs and Swagger UI are generated automatically from typed route declarations.
🔐 How do you add auth?
Implement OAuth2 or JWT with the Security utilities; add role checks for authorization.
📂 Where do routes live?
Declare them with @app.get(), @app.post(), etc., or use APIRouter modules.
🌐 Can it serve static files?
Yes—mount directories using Starlette’s StaticFiles helper.

To get started, create a minimal app, add Pydantic models for requests and responses, and enable async where it matters.
Next, containerise with Docker and run behind a process manager such as Gunicorn with Uvicorn workers. Finally, monitor
latency, error rates, and throughput before you scale.

Read our step-by-step guide:
Deploying a Python API with Uvicorn and Docker.
For official tutorials and references, visit the
FastAPI documentation.