FastAPI Development Patterns

This skill provides production-ready FastAPI patterns emphasizing async operations, clean architecture, and scalable API design.

Project Structure (Domain-Driven)

Organize FastAPI projects by feature domains for scalability:

app/
├── main.py                 # FastAPI app entry point
├── config.py               # Settings with Pydantic
├── dependencies.py         # Shared dependencies
├── domains/
│   ├── users/
│   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   ├── router.py       # API routes
│   │   ├── models.py       # Beanie documents
│   │   ├── schemas.py      # Pydantic request/response
│   │   ├── service.py      # Business logic
│   │   └── dependencies.py # Domain-specific deps
│   ├── products/
│   └── orders/
├── core/
│   ├── security.py         # Auth utilities
│   ├── exceptions.py       # Custom exceptions
│   └── middleware.py       # Custom middleware
├── infrastructure/
│   ├── database.py         # MongoDB/Beanie setup
│   ├── cache.py            # Redis integration
│   └── storage.py          # S3 file storage
└── tests/

Application Factory Pattern

Create the FastAPI app using a factory for testability:

from fastapi import FastAPI
from contextlib import asynccontextmanager

@asynccontextmanager
async def lifespan(app: FastAPI):
    # Startup: Initialize connections
    await init_database()
    await init_cache()
    yield
    # Shutdown: Cleanup
    await close_database()
    await close_cache()

def create_app() -> FastAPI:
    app = FastAPI(
        title="API Service",
        version="1.0.0",
        lifespan=lifespan
    )

    # Register routers
    app.include_router(users_router, prefix="/api/v1")
    app.include_router(products_router, prefix="/api/v1")

    # Add middleware
    app.add_middleware(RequestLoggingMiddleware)

    return app

app = create_app()

Async Route Patterns

Basic CRUD Endpoint

from fastapi import APIRouter, HTTPException, status, Depends
from typing import List

router = APIRouter(prefix="/users", tags=["users"])

@router.get("/", response_model=List[UserResponse])
async def list_users(
    skip: int = 0,
    limit: int = 100,
    service: UserService = Depends(get_user_service)
) -> List[UserResponse]:
    """List all users with pagination."""
    return await service.get_all(skip=skip, limit=limit)

@router.get("/{user_id}", response_model=UserResponse)
async def get_user(
    user_id: str,
    service: UserService = Depends(get_user_service)
) -> UserResponse:
    """Get user by ID."""
    user = await service.get_by_id(user_id)
    if not user:
        raise HTTPException(
            status_code=status.HTTP_404_NOT_FOUND,
            detail=f"User {user_id} not found"
        )
    return user

@router.post("/", response_model=UserResponse, status_code=status.HTTP_201_CREATED)
async def create_user(
    data: UserCreate,
    service: UserService = Depends(get_user_service)
) -> UserResponse:
    """Create new user."""
    return await service.create(data)

Dependency Injection

Service Dependencies

from fastapi import Depends
from functools import lru_cache

@lru_cache()
def get_settings() -> Settings:
    return Settings()

async def get_db() -> AsyncGenerator[Database, None]:
    db = Database()
    try:
        yield db
    finally:
        await db.close()

def get_user_service(
    db: Database = Depends(get_db),
    settings: Settings = Depends(get_settings)
) -> UserService:
    return UserService(db, settings)

Auth Dependencies

from fastapi import Depends, HTTPException, status
from fastapi.security import HTTPBearer, HTTPAuthorizationCredentials

security = HTTPBearer()

async def get_current_user(
    credentials: HTTPAuthorizationCredentials = Depends(security),
    auth_service: AuthService = Depends(get_auth_service)
) -> User:
    token = credentials.credentials
    user = await auth_service.validate_token(token)
    if not user:
        raise HTTPException(
            status_code=status.HTTP_401_UNAUTHORIZED,
            detail="Invalid authentication credentials"
        )
    return user

def require_roles(*roles: str):
    async def role_checker(user: User = Depends(get_current_user)):
        if not any(role in user.roles for role in roles):
            raise HTTPException(
                status_code=status.HTTP_403_FORBIDDEN,
                detail="Insufficient permissions"
            )
        return user
    return role_checker

Exception Handling

Custom Exceptions

from fastapi import Request
from fastapi.responses import JSONResponse

class AppException(Exception):
    def __init__(self, status_code: int, detail: str, error_code: str = None):
        self.status_code = status_code
        self.detail = detail
        self.error_code = error_code

class NotFoundError(AppException):
    def __init__(self, resource: str, identifier: str):
        super().__init__(
            status_code=404,
            detail=f"{resource} with id {identifier} not found",
            error_code="RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND"
        )

@app.exception_handler(AppException)
async def app_exception_handler(request: Request, exc: AppException):
    return JSONResponse(
        status_code=exc.status_code,
        content={
            "error": exc.detail,
            "error_code": exc.error_code,
            "path": str(request.url)
        }
    )

Header-Based API Versioning

from fastapi import Header, HTTPException

async def get_api_version(
    accept: str = Header(default="application/vnd.api.v1+json")
) -> str:
    if "v2" in accept:
        return "v2"
    elif "v1" in accept:
        return "v1"
    return "v1"  # Default

@router.get("/resource")
async def get_resource(
    version: str = Depends(get_api_version)
):
    if version == "v2":
        return {"data": "v2 response", "version": 2}
    return {"data": "v1 response"}

Request/Response Schemas

from pydantic import BaseModel, Field, EmailStr
from datetime import datetime
from typing import Optional

class UserBase(BaseModel):
    email: EmailStr
    name: str = Field(..., min_length=1, max_length=100)

class UserCreate(UserBase):
    password: str = Field(..., min_length=8)

class UserUpdate(BaseModel):
    email: Optional[EmailStr] = None
    name: Optional[str] = Field(None, min_length=1, max_length=100)

class UserResponse(UserBase):
    id: str
    created_at: datetime
    updated_at: datetime

    class Config:
        from_attributes = True

Additional Resources

Reference Files

For detailed patterns and advanced techniques, consult:

• references/middleware-patterns.md - Custom middleware implementations
• references/testing-patterns.md - Pytest async testing strategies
• references/performance.md - Optimization and profiling

Example Files

Working examples in examples/:

• examples/crud_router.py - Complete CRUD router
• examples/service_pattern.py - Service layer implementation
• examples/dependencies.py - Dependency injection examples