Running

Now we are ready to start up pygeoapi.

pygeoapi serve

The pygeoapi serve command starts up an instance using Flask as the default server. pygeoapi can be served via Flask WSGI or Starlette ASGI.

Since pygeoapi is a Python API at its core, it can be served via numerous web server scenarios.

Note

Changes to either of the pygeoapi or OpenAPI configurations requires a server restart (configurations are loaded once at server startup for performance).

Flask WSGI

Web Server Gateway Interface (WSGI) is a standard for how web servers communicate with Python applications. By having a WSGI server, HTTP requests are processed into threads/processes for better performance. Flask is a WSGI implementation which pygeoapi utilizes to communicate with the core API.

HTTP request <--> Flask (pygeoapi/flask_app.py) <--> pygeoapi API (pygeoapi/api.py)

The Flask WSGI server can be run as follows:

pygeoapi serve --flask
pygeoapi serve  # uses Flask by default

To integrate pygeoapi as part of another Flask application, use Flask blueprints:

from flask import Flask
from pygeoapi.flask_app import BLUEPRINT as pygeoapi_blueprint

app = Flask(__name__)

app.register_blueprint(pygeoapi_blueprint, url_prefix='/oapi')


@app.route('/')
def hello_world():
    return 'Hello, World!'

As a result, your application will be available at http://localhost:5000/ and pygeoapi will be available at http://localhost:5000/oapi

Starlette ASGI

Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface (ASGI) is standard interface between async-capable web servers, frameworks, and applications written in Python. ASGI provides the benefits of WSGI as well as asynchronous capabilities. Starlette is an ASGI implementation which pygeoapi utilizes to communicate with the core API in asynchronous mode.

HTTP request <--> Starlette (pygeoapi/starlette_app.py) <--> pygeoapi API (pygeoapi/api.py)

The Starlette ASGI server can be run as follows:

pygeoapi serve --starlette

To integrate pygeoapi as part of another Starlette application:

from starlette.applications import Starlette
from starlette.responses import PlainTextResponse
from starlette.routing import Route
from pygeoapi.starlette_app import app as pygeoapi_app


async def homepage(request):
    return PlainTextResponse('Hello, World!')

app = Starlette(debug=True, routes=[
    Route('/', homepage),
])

app.mount('/oapi', pygeoapi_app)

As a result, your application will be available at http://localhost:5000/ and pygeoapi will be available at http://localhost:5000/oapi

Running in production

Running pygeoapi serve in production is not recommended or advisable. Preferred options are described below.

See also

Docker for container-based production installations.

Apache and mod_wsgi

Deploying pygeoapi via mod_wsgi provides a simple approach to enabling within Apache.

To deploy with mod_wsgi, your Apache instance must have mod_wsgi enabled within Apache. At this point, set up the following Python WSGI script:

import os

os.environ['PYGEOAPI_CONFIG'] = '/path/to/my-pygeoapi-config.yml'
os.environ['PYGEOAPI_OPENAPI'] = '/path/to/my-pygeoapi-openapi.yml'

from pygeoapi.flask_app import APP as application

Now configure in Apache:

WSGIDaemonProcess pygeoapi processes=1 threads=1
WSGIScriptAlias /pygeoapi /path/to/pygeoapi.wsgi process-group=pygeoapi application-group=%{GLOBAL}

<Location /pygeoapi>
  Header set Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*"
</Location>

When running pygeoapi in a Python virtual environment, use directives similar to the below:

WSGIDaemonProcess pygeoapi processes=1 threads=1 python-home=/path/to/venv/pygeoapi
WSGIScriptAlias /pygeoapi /path/to/pygeoapi.wsgi process-group=pygeoapi application-group=%{RESOURCE}

Gunicorn

Gunicorn (for UNIX) is one of several Python WSGI HTTP servers that can be used for production environments.

HTTP request --> WSGI or ASGI server (gunicorn) <--> Flask or Starlette (pygeoapi/flask_app.py or pygeoapi/starlette_app.py) <--> pygeoapi API

Note

Gunicorn is as easy to install as pip3 install gunicorn

Note

For a complete list of WSGI server implementations, see the WSGI server list.

Gunicorn and Flask

Gunicorn and Flask is simple to run:

gunicorn pygeoapi.flask_app:APP

Note

For extra configuration parameters like port binding, workers, and logging please consult the Gunicorn settings.

Gunicorn and Starlette

Running Gunicorn with Starlette requires the Uvicorn which provides async capabilities along with Gunicorn. Uvicorn includes a Gunicorn worker class allowing you to run ASGI applications, with all of Uvicorn’s performance benefits, while also giving you Gunicorn’s fully-featured process management.

is simple to run from the command, e.g:

gunicorn pygeoapi.starlette_app:app -w 4 -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker

Note

Uvicorn is as easy to install as pip3 install uvicorn

Django

Django is a Python web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design. Assuming a Django install/enabled application:

pygeoapi serve --django

To integrate pygeoapi as part of another Django project in a pluggable way the truly impatient developers can see examples/django/sample_project/README.md for a complete Django application.

As a result, your Django application will be available at http://localhost:5000/ and pygeoapi will be available at http://localhost:5000/oapi

Summary

pygeoapi has many approaches for deploying depending on your requirements. Choose one that works for you and modify accordingly.

Note

Additional approaches are welcome and encouraged; see Contributing for more information on how to contribute to and improve the documentation