Flask server for my personal site

Background

This is the default server running at https://ayo.ayco.io. Its main responsibility is serving static files generated with Astro SSG which I maintain in a separate project. The generated files from that project will populate a dist directory in here, which will then be served as-is.

Additional features are:

1. attach /threads flask blueprint behind /threads route
2. perf monitoring and error tracking with sentry.io

Important

The overall architecture is still experimental. The way I decoupled the dynamic tiny apps here (e.g., /threads, and ori) is good, but an improvement in this project still needs to be made with regards to managing a common app configuration that the blueprints consume, packaging the software components into modules for better distribution & adoption, and providing various deployment options.

Development

1. Set up your Debian (for other environments, search for counterpart instructions)

   # update repositories
   $ sudo apt update
   
   # install python stuff
   $ sudo apt install python3-pip python3-dev build-essential libssl-dev libffi-dev python3-setuptools python3-venv
   

2. Install dependencies

   # clone the project
   $ git clone git@git.sr.ht:~ayoayco/ayco.io-flask
   
   # go into the project directory
   $ cd ayco.io-flask
   
   # create python environment:
   $ python3 -m venv .venv
   
   # activate python env:
   $ . .venv/bin/activate
   
   # install dependencies:
   (.venv)$ python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
   
   # create configuration from example config file
   (.venv)$ cp ./example_config.json ./config.json
   
   # rejoice!
   

3. To start development, run the following:

   (.venv)$ flask --app web.py --debug run
   

   Note: On a Mac, the default port 5000 is used by AirDrop & Handoff; you may have to turn those off

4. Populate a dist directory with static files (e.g., *.html for pages). Currently I generate static files in a separate Astro site project -- see instructions on how to set it up separately, run the build script and copy the dist here.

5. After development session, deactivate the python env

   (.venv)$ deactivate
   

Deployment

For deployment, the recommended setup is with production server gunicorn and reverse proxy nginx. See the DigitalOcean tutorial (their website uses cookies).