Flask-Gen

Flask-Gen is a command-line utility for Flask that simplifies the generation of full Flask projects and modular applications (blueprints). Inspired by Django’s “startproject” and “startapp” commands, it automatically sets everything up by generating a well-structured project with default settings, custom error pages, integration with databases (using Flask-SQLAlchemy and Flask-Migrate), and more.

Features

• Project Generation: Quickly generate a fresh Flask project with a standard directory structure (e.g., static, templates, and error pages).
• App (Blueprint) Creation: Rapidly create modular apps (blueprints) that can be directly included in your project.
• Django-Inspired Workflow: Leverage the convenience of app and project creation as in Django.
• Preconfigured Setup: Automates the creation of files such as config.py, extensions.py, and default error templates.
• Extensible: Simple to extend and customize as per your specific requirements.

Installation

Install Flask-Gen using pip (Python version 3.7 and above):

pip install flask-gen

Note: In the unlikely event that the package is not yet available on PyPI, it can be installed from a local clone by running:

pip install .

Usage

Flask-Gen operates in two modes:

1. Execute CLI Commands via flask-gen

These globally available commands enable you to construct a complete project or a modular application (blueprint).

Start a New Project

To begin a complete Flask project with a properly organized setup, use:

flask-gen project <project_name> [path]

Example:

flask-gen project my_flask_project .

This command accomplishes:

• Checking if a project already exists in the specified location.
• Setting up the necessary directory structure, e.g., core directories, template directories, static files, and error pages.
• Generating required files such as config.py, extensions.py, app.py, and a sample .env file.

Create a New Application (Blueprint)

To add a new modular application (blueprint) to an existing project or any directory, use:

flask-gen app <app_name> [path]

Example:

flask-gen app blog .

This command accomplishes:

• Ensuring an application with the same name does not already exist.
• Setting up the necessary directory structure, e.g., models/, routes/, and a dedicated templates directory.
• Generating required boilerplate files, such as a default route and a simple template.

2. Flask CLI Integration for Blueprint Creation

Flask-Gen also provides support for integration with Flask's built-in CLI for generating new blueprints (applications) in an existing project.

Key Points:

• This is meant for creating new applications, not full-fledged projects.
• Ensure that you are in the root directory of your Flask application (at the same level as app.py) before running this command.

To build a blueprint with Flask’s CLI integration, run:

flask gen app <app_name> [path]

Example:

flask gen app store 

It leverages Flask’s CLI framework, making it ideal for adding more blueprints in an existing project.

Project Structure

After running the project command, your directory should look like this:

my_flask_project/
├── config.py
├── extensions.py
├── app.py
├── requirements.txt
├── .env.example
└── core/
    ├── __init__.py       # Imports the create_app function from settings
    ├── settings.py       # Default settings with the create_app function
    ├── urls.py           # Placeholder for blueprint registration
    ├── templates/
    │   ├── base.html     # Base HTML template
    │   └── errors/
    │       ├── 404.html
    │       ├── 403.html
    │       └── 500.html
    └── static/
        └── styles.css    # Styles file for customization

When developing a new application (blueprint), the directory layout is as follows:

blog/
├── models/
├── routes/
│   ├── index.py        # Contains a sample route that renders a template
│   └── urls.py         # Registers the blueprint with a URL prefix
└── templates/
    └── blog/
        └── index.html  # Sample template for the blog app

Contributing

Your contributions are welcome. Submit issues or make a pull request in the GitHub repository. See the guidelines in the CONTRIBUTING.md file.

License

This software is released under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more information.