asok 0.5.3

A minimalist Python web framework with minimal external dependencies.

Full-stack Python. Zero runtime dependencies.

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Asok is a batteries-included Python web framework built entirely on the standard library. It gives you routing, ORM, templates, admin interface, REST and GraphQL APIs, WebSockets, background tasks, and SSG/ISR — all from a single pip install, with nothing else required at runtime.

Built for developers who want a complete stack without assembling one.

🌐 Documentation · 💬 Discord · 🎥 Tutorials

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When to choose Asok

	Flask	Django	Asok
Runtime dependencies	~6	~20+ transitive	0
ORM built-in	✗	✓	✓
Admin interface	✗	✓	✓
File-based routing	✗	✗	✓
GraphQL built-in	✗	✗	✓
WebSockets built-in	✗	✗	✓
Reactive components	✗	✗	✓
SSG / ISR	✗	✗	✓
Auto OpenAPI docs	✗	✗	✓
Background tasks	✗	✗	✓

Choose Asok when you want a full stack out of the box, dependency auditability matters (security-critical environments, embedded deployments, strict supply chain policies), or you're a solo developer or small team who doesn't want to assemble and maintain a stack of integrations.

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A complete app in one file

# wsgi.py
from asok import Asok, Field, Model, Admin

app = Asok(__name__)

class Post(Model):
    title   = Field.String(nullable=False)
    body    = Field.Text()
    author  = Field.String()

admin = Admin(app)

# src/pages/page.py
from asok import Request
from models.post import Post

def render(request: Request):
    posts = Post.query().order_by("-id").limit(10).get()
    return request.render("page.html", posts=posts)

That's a working app with database, admin interface, and a paginated index page. Run it:

pip install asok
asok create my-blog && cd my-blog
asok migrate
asok dev

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Live Interactivity & Reactivity (No Client JS Needed)

Asok provides two built-in options for building interactive frontends, both operating on Zero-Eval Security (strict CSP compliance, no 'unsafe-eval' required).

1. Live Stateful Components (Real-time WebSockets)

Create reactive, server-side components that synchronize state automatically over WebSockets using the @exposed decorator.

# src/components/counter.py
from asok import Component
from asok.component import exposed

class Counter(Component):
    """Reusable UI component for Counter."""
    count = 0

    @exposed
    def increment(self):
        self.count += 1

    def render(self):
        return self.html("counter.html")

<!-- src/components/counter.html -->
<div>
    <h3>Count: {{ count }}</h3>
    <button ws-click="increment">Add 1</button>
</div>

<!-- In any page template (e.g., src/pages/page.html) -->
{{ component('Counter', count=10) }}

2. Client-Side Reactive Directives

For offline or local state updates, use native lightweight reactive directives directly in your HTML markup (~5KB client runtime, zero build step):

<div asok-state="{ count: 0 }">
  <h3>Count: <span asok-text="count"></span></h3>
  <button asok-on:click="count++">Add 1</button>
</div>

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Features

Routing & Templates

• File-based routing — src/pages/blog/[slug]/page.py maps to /blog/hello-world
• Dynamic parameters — [id], [slug:slug], catch-all patterns
• Template engine — Jinja-compatible with inheritance, macros, and auto-escaping
• HTML streaming — chunked responses for instant TTFB

ORM

• Multi-database — SQLite (default), PostgreSQL, MySQL with connection pooling
• Relations — HasMany, BelongsTo, BelongsToMany, MorphTo, self-referencing
• Migrations — automatic schema diffing, rollback, multi-DB
• Security — parameterized queries, column whitelisting, mass-assignment protection, encrypted fields (Fernet AES-256)
• Password fields — PBKDF2-SHA256 with 600,000 iterations

API

• REST — decorator-based routes with automatic OpenAPI 3.0 generation and live Swagger UI
• GraphQL — schema auto-generated from ORM models, playground in development, WS subscriptions
• API versioning — URL-based and header-based, deprecation sunset headers
• Bearer token auth — HMAC-signed, configurable expiry

Real-time

• WebSockets — rooms, presence tracking, typing indicators, direct messages
• Live components — server-driven reactive UI over WebSockets
• Client reactivity — asok-state, asok-on:click, asok-text directives (~3KB, no build step)

Admin interface

• Auto-generated CRUD for every model
• Role-based access control (RBAC)
• Two-factor authentication (TOTP + backup codes)
• Audit logs, inline editing, advanced filters
• Fully customizable templates

Infrastructure

• WSGI + ASGI — run on Gunicorn or Uvicorn
• Background tasks — thread pool (local) or Redis queue (asok worker) with HMAC-signed job envelopes
• Caching — in-memory, Redis, fragment caching
• Sessions — HMAC-signed, Redis-backed, HttpOnly + SameSite=Strict
• Static site generation — SSG for static routes, ISR with background cache warming
• Islands architecture — selective hydration for performance-critical pages
• Email — SMTP with templates, async dispatch via Redis
• S3 storage — AWS S3 integration with automatic mime-type detection

Security (audited)

• CSRF protection with auto-rotation and HMAC validation
• Content Security Policy with per-request nonces
• HSTS, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, Permissions-Policy
• HTML and SVG sanitizer (two-pass whitelist)
• Path traversal prevention on file uploads
• SQL injection protection (parameterized queries + identifier validation)
• Rate limiting (per-IP, per-user, configurable windows)
• GraphQL mutations blocked by default without GRAPHQL_AUTHORIZE

Developer experience

• CLI — asok create, asok dev, asok migrate, asok make model, asok build
• Production build — bytecode compilation, JS/CSS minification, WebP conversion
• Testing — built-in test client, TestClient, fixture helpers
• Developer toolbar — request inspector, query analyzer, cache stats in-browser
• i18n — {{ __('key') }} with JSON locale files, translation management UI
• Extensions — community plugin system with secure path sandboxing
• VSCode extension — syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, route navigation

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Installation

pip install asok

Asok has zero runtime dependencies. SQLite works out of the box. Add extras only if you need them:

pip install "asok[postgres]"        # PostgreSQL
pip install "asok[mysql]"           # MySQL
pip install "asok[redis]"           # Redis (caching, sessions, background tasks)
pip install "asok[async]"           # ASGI / async support
pip install "asok[postgres,redis]"  # Combined

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Quick start

asok create my-project
cd my-project
asok dev

Open http://localhost:8000. Edit src/pages/page.html to start.

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Project structure

my-project/
├── src/
│   ├── components/       # Reactive components
│   ├── locales/          # Translations (en.json, fr.json, ...)
│   ├── middlewares/      # Request interceptors
│   ├── models/           # ORM models
│   ├── pages/            # Routes (page.py + page.html)
│   └── partials/         # css, js, images, uploads
└── wsgi.py               # Entry point

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Production

# WSGI
gunicorn wsgi:app

# ASGI
uvicorn asgi:app

Required environment variables:

DEBUG=false
SECRET_KEY=your-64-character-key   # generate: python -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex(32))"
APP_URL=https://yourdomain.com
DATABASE_URL=sqlite:///data/prod.db

Generate a deployment config:

asok deploy   # outputs Gunicorn + Nginx + SystemD configs
asok build    # optimized production build (bytecode + minification)

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Roadmap

Version	Status	Focus
v0.4.0	✅ Released (June 2026)	GraphQL, extensions, SSG/ISR, advanced WebSockets
v0.5.0	✅ Released (June 2026)	Security hardening, GraphQL auth, signed Redis jobs, offline GraphiQL
v0.5.1	✅ Released (June 2026)	CLI and database connection patch updates
v1.0.0	📋 Q3 2026	Stable API, monitoring, multi-tenancy, CDN pipeline

Full details in ROADMAP.md.

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Contributing

git clone https://github.com/asok-framework/asok.git
cd asok
python -m venv venv && source venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
python -m pytest

• Report a bug
• Suggest a feature
• Read the contributing guide
• Join Discord

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License

MIT — see LICENSE.