Setting Up FastAPI for Starters

In any software development work, it is always important to first know the business requirement of the project and the appropriate framework, tools, and deployment platform to use before pursuing the task. Frameworks that are easy to understand and use, seamless during coding, and within standards are always picked because of the integrity they provide to solve problems without risking too much development time. And a promising Python framework called FastAPI, created by Sebastian Ramirez, provides experienced developers, experts, and enthusiasts the best option for building REST APIs and microservices.

But before proceeding to the core details of building microservices using FastAPI, it is best to first learn the building blocks of this framework, such as how it captures clients’ requests, how it builds the rules for each HTTP method, and how it manages HTTP responses. Learning the basic components is always essential to know the strengths and weaknesses of the framework and to what extent we can apply FastAPI to solve different enterprise-grade and microservices-related problems.

Thus, in this chapter, we’re going to have a walkthrough of the basic features of FastAPI by covering the following main topics:

• The setup of the development environment
• Initialization and configuration of FastAPI
• Design and implementation of the REST APIs
• Managing user requests and server response
• Handling form parameters
• Handling cookies