From Zero to FastAPI Hero: My HNG12 Stage 0 Adventure

From Zero to FastAPI Hero: My Backend Stage 0 Adventure

Hey there, fellow backend wizards and code crusaders!

Welcome to my behind-the-scenes journey into the HNG12 Stage 0 assignment. Today, I’m taking you on a rollercoaster ride through the creation of a sleek FastAPI application that does three cool things:

• Returns my registered HNG email
• Shows the current UTC datetime in ISO 8601 format
• Shares the GitHub URL of this awesome project

Grab your favorite beverage, and let’s dive in!

The Mission: What Was I Asked to Do?

The challenge was crystal clear: build a public API that serves up a neat JSON bundle containing:

• Email: (Yep, my registered HNG email!)
• Current Datetime: Freshly minted in UTC, right when you ask.
• GitHub URL: A link to where all the magic happens (i.e., the project repo).

I opted for Python and FastAPI because they make creating and deploying APIs feel like a walk in the park—with a few unexpected loop-de-loops for fun.

Rolling Up My Sleeves: Setting Up the API

I started by creating a virtual environment (because who doesn’t love a good sandbox to play in?), then installed FastAPI and Uvicorn. With my coding hat on and coffee in hand, I crafted the following masterpiece:

<span>from</span> <span>fastapi</span> <span>import</span> <span>FastAPI</span>  <span># Import our trusty web framework </span><span>from</span> <span>fastapi.middleware.cors</span> <span>import</span> <span>CORSMiddleware</span>  <span># For smooth cross-origin magic </span><span>from</span> <span>datetime</span> <span>import</span> <span>datetime</span><span>,</span> <span>timezone</span>  <span># To grab the current time in UTC </span>
<span>app</span> <span>=</span> <span>FastAPI</span><span>()</span>  <span># Creating our FastAPI app instance </span>
<span># Adding CORS middleware to handle all those cross-origin requests </span><span>app</span><span>.</span><span>add_middleware</span><span>(</span>
    <span>CORSMiddleware</span><span>,</span>
    <span>allow_origins</span><span>=</span><span>[</span><span>"</span><span>*</span><span>"</span><span>],</span>          <span># Open to all domains (tweak for production if needed) </span>    <span>allow_credentials</span><span>=</span><span>True</span><span>,</span>       <span># Cookies and authorization headers? Yes, please! </span>    <span>allow_methods</span><span>=</span><span>[</span><span>"</span><span>GET</span><span>"</span><span>],</span>        <span># We only need GET since we're all about simple retrieval </span>    <span>allow_headers</span><span>=</span><span>[</span><span>"</span><span>*</span><span>"</span><span>],</span>          <span># Let every header join the party </span><span>)</span>
<span>@app.get</span><span>(</span><span>"</span><span>/</span><span>"</span><span>)</span>  <span># The root endpoint of our API </span><span>def</span> <span>get_info</span><span>():</span>
    <span>return</span> <span>{</span>
        <span>"</span><span>email</span><span>"</span><span>:</span> <span>"</span><span>joseph.adamu.it@gmail.com</span><span>"</span><span>,</span>  <span># My registered HNG email </span>        <span>"</span><span>current_datetime</span><span>"</span><span>:</span> <span>datetime</span><span>.</span><span>now</span><span>(</span><span>timezone</span><span>.</span><span>utc</span><span>).</span><span>isoformat</span><span>(),</span>  <span># Fresh UTC datetime </span>        <span>"</span><span>github_url</span><span>"</span><span>:</span> <span>"</span><span>https://github.com/Joe-encodes/fastapi-project</span><span>"</span>  <span># Link to my GitHub repo </span>    <span>}</span>
<span>if</span> <span>__name__</span> <span>==</span> <span>"</span><span>__main__</span><span>"</span><span>:</span>  <span># Only run this if the script is executed directly </span>    <span>import</span> <span>uvicorn</span>  <span># Uvicorn: the lightweight Python web server that brings our API to life </span>    <span>uvicorn</span><span>.</span><span>run</span><span>(</span><span>app</span><span>,</span> <span>host</span><span>=</span><span>"</span><span>0.0.0.0</span><span>"</span><span>,</span> <span>port</span><span>=</span><span>8000</span><span>)</span>
<span>from</span> <span>fastapi</span> <span>import</span> <span>FastAPI</span>  <span># Import our trusty web framework </span><span>from</span> <span>fastapi.middleware.cors</span> <span>import</span> <span>CORSMiddleware</span>  <span># For smooth cross-origin magic </span><span>from</span> <span>datetime</span> <span>import</span> <span>datetime</span><span>,</span> <span>timezone</span>  <span># To grab the current time in UTC </span>
<span>app</span> <span>=</span> <span>FastAPI</span><span>()</span>  <span># Creating our FastAPI app instance </span>
<span># Adding CORS middleware to handle all those cross-origin requests </span><span>app</span><span>.</span><span>add_middleware</span><span>(</span>
    <span>CORSMiddleware</span><span>,</span>
    <span>allow_origins</span><span>=</span><span>[</span><span>"</span><span>*</span><span>"</span><span>],</span>          <span># Open to all domains (tweak for production if needed) </span>    <span>allow_credentials</span><span>=</span><span>True</span><span>,</span>       <span># Cookies and authorization headers? Yes, please! </span>    <span>allow_methods</span><span>=</span><span>[</span><span>"</span><span>GET</span><span>"</span><span>],</span>        <span># We only need GET since we're all about simple retrieval </span>    <span>allow_headers</span><span>=</span><span>[</span><span>"</span><span>*</span><span>"</span><span>],</span>          <span># Let every header join the party </span><span>)</span>

<span>@app.get</span><span>(</span><span>"</span><span>/</span><span>"</span><span>)</span>  <span># The root endpoint of our API </span><span>def</span> <span>get_info</span><span>():</span>
    <span>return</span> <span>{</span>
        <span>"</span><span>email</span><span>"</span><span>:</span> <span>"</span><span>joseph.adamu.it@gmail.com</span><span>"</span><span>,</span>  <span># My registered HNG email </span>        <span>"</span><span>current_datetime</span><span>"</span><span>:</span> <span>datetime</span><span>.</span><span>now</span><span>(</span><span>timezone</span><span>.</span><span>utc</span><span>).</span><span>isoformat</span><span>(),</span>  <span># Fresh UTC datetime </span>        <span>"</span><span>github_url</span><span>"</span><span>:</span> <span>"</span><span>https://github.com/Joe-encodes/fastapi-project</span><span>"</span>  <span># Link to my GitHub repo </span>    <span>}</span>

<span>if</span> <span>__name__</span> <span>==</span> <span>"</span><span>__main__</span><span>"</span><span>:</span>  <span># Only run this if the script is executed directly </span>    <span>import</span> <span>uvicorn</span>  <span># Uvicorn: the lightweight Python web server that brings our API to life </span>    <span>uvicorn</span><span>.</span><span>run</span><span>(</span><span>app</span><span>,</span> <span>host</span><span>=</span><span>"</span><span>0.0.0.0</span><span>"</span><span>,</span> <span>port</span><span>=</span><span>8000</span><span>)</span>
from fastapi import FastAPI  # Import our trusty web framework from fastapi.middleware.cors import CORSMiddleware  # For smooth cross-origin magic from datetime import datetime, timezone  # To grab the current time in UTC 
app = FastAPI()  # Creating our FastAPI app instance 
# Adding CORS middleware to handle all those cross-origin requests app.add_middleware(
    CORSMiddleware,
    allow_origins=["*"],          # Open to all domains (tweak for production if needed)     allow_credentials=True,       # Cookies and authorization headers? Yes, please!     allow_methods=["GET"],        # We only need GET since we're all about simple retrieval     allow_headers=["*"],          # Let every header join the party )

@app.get("/")  # The root endpoint of our API def get_info():
    return {
        "email": "joseph.adamu.it@gmail.com",  # My registered HNG email         "current_datetime": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),  # Fresh UTC datetime         "github_url": "https://github.com/Joe-encodes/fastapi-project"  # Link to my GitHub repo     }

if __name__ == "__main__":  # Only run this if the script is executed directly     import uvicorn  # Uvicorn: the lightweight Python web server that brings our API to life     uvicorn.run(app, host="0.0.0.0", port=8000)

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What’s happening here?

• FastAPI is our magic wand that turns code into a live API.
• CORS middleware ensures that our API is friendly and accessible from any domain (because sharing is caring).
• The get_info endpoint does all the heavy lifting by packaging my email, current UTC time, and GitHub link into a neat JSON gift.

Testing the Waters

After coding, I fired up the API locally with Uvicorn and tested it on my browser and with curl. Watching that JSON response pop up was like seeing a well-cooked dish come out of the oven—satisfying and oh-so-rewarding!

uvicorn main:app <span>--reload</span>
uvicorn main:app <span>--reload</span>
uvicorn main:app --reload

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Open your browser to http://127.0.0.1:8000 and feast your eyes on the magic.

Deployment: Taking It Live on Render

Once I confirmed everything was working perfectly on my local machine, I pushed the code to GitHub and connected the repository to Render. With a couple of settings tweaked:

• Build Command: pip install -r requirements.txt
• Start Command: uvicorn main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 10000

…and voilà! The API was deployed and accessible to the world.

Lessons, Laughter, and Learning

Here’s what I learned on this wild ride:

• FastAPI is a blast: It’s fast, fun, and super friendly for developers.
• CORS is crucial: Handling cross-origin requests ensures that your API is as open and accessible as you intend it to be.
• Deployment can be thrilling: Seeing your code go live is like watching your kid ride a bike for the first time—exhilarating and nerve-wracking all at once.

Wrapping Up

This HNG12 Stage 0 assignment wasn’t just about writing code—it was an adventure in problem-solving, deploying, and celebrating every small victory along the way. I hope my journey inspires you to embrace the fun in backend development and push your own limits.

Until next time, keep coding, stay curious, and may your API always return a happy 200 OK!

Connect With Me

• GitHub: Joe-encodes
• LinkedIn: Joseph Adamu
• Email: joseph.adamu.it@gmail.com

Happy coding, everyone!

原文链接：From Zero to FastAPI Hero: My HNG12 Stage 0 Adventure