How to Create a REST API Server with Python, Flask, and MongoDB

In this tutorial, we will go through the steps to create a REST API server using Python, Flask, and MongoDB. REST (Representational State Transfer) is an architectural style for designing networked applications. It allows different software platforms to communicate with each other over a network by using a simple set of rules and conventions.

Step 1: Install Required Libraries

To get started, make sure you have Python and pip installed on your system. Then, use pip to install Flask and PyMongo, which are the libraries we will be using for this project.

pip install Flask
pip install pymongo

Step 2: Set Up MongoDB

Next, you will need to have MongoDB installed on your system. You can download and install MongoDB from their official website. Once MongoDB is set up, start the MongoDB server and create a database for your project.

Step 3: Create a Flask App

Create a new file called app.py and import the necessary libraries. Then, create a new instance of Flask and set up the connection to the MongoDB database.

from flask import Flask
from flask_pymongo import PyMongo

app = Flask(__name__)
app.config["MONGO_URI"] = "mongodb://localhost:27017/mydatabase"
mongo = PyMongo(app)

Step 4: Create Endpoints

Now, you can define the endpoints for your API. For example, you can create endpoints for getting all items, getting a specific item, adding a new item, updating an item, and deleting an item.

@app.route('/items', methods=['GET'])
def get_items():
    # implementation for getting all items

@app.route('/items/', methods=['GET'])
def get_item(id):
    # implementation for getting a specific item

@app.route('/items', methods=['POST'])
def add_item():
    # implementation for adding a new item

@app.route('/items/', methods=['PUT'])
def update_item(id):
    # implementation for updating an item

@app.route('/items/', methods=['DELETE'])
def delete_item(id):
    # implementation for deleting an item

Step 5: Run the Server

Finally, you can run the Flask app to start the API server. You can do this by running the following command in your terminal:

python app.py

Now, you have created a REST API server using Python, Flask, and MongoDB. You can test the API endpoints using a tool like Postman or curl.