FastAPI Patterns
Production-oriented patterns for FastAPI services.
When to Use
- Building or reviewing a FastAPI app.
- Splitting routers, schemas, dependencies, and database access.
- Writing async endpoints that call a database or external service.
- Adding authentication, authorization, OpenAPI docs, tests, or deployment settings.
- Checking a FastAPI PR for copy-pasteable examples and production risks.
How It Works
Treat the FastAPI app as a thin HTTP layer over explicit dependencies and service code:
main.pyowns app construction, middleware, exception handlers, and router registration.schemas/owns Pydantic request and response models.dependencies.pyowns database, auth, pagination, and request-scoped dependencies.services/orcrud/owns business and persistence operations.tests/overrides dependencies instead of opening production resources.
Prefer small routers and explicit response_model declarations. Keep raw ORM objects, secrets, and framework globals out of response schemas.
Project Layout
Application Factory
Use a factory so tests and workers can build the app with controlled settings.
Do not use allow_origins=["*"] with allow_credentials=True; browsers reject that combination and Starlette disallows it for credentialed requests.
Pydantic Schemas
Keep request, update, and response models separate.
Response models must never include password hashes, access tokens, refresh tokens, or internal authorization state.
Dependencies
Use dependency injection for request-scoped resources.
Avoid creating sessions, clients, or credentials inline inside route handlers.
Async Endpoints
Keep route handlers async when they perform I/O, and use async libraries inside them.
Use httpx.AsyncClient for external HTTP calls from async handlers. Do not call requests in an async route.
Error Handling
Centralize domain exceptions and keep response shapes stable.
OpenAPI Customization
Assign the custom OpenAPI callable to app.openapi; do not just call the function once.
Testing
Override the dependency used by Depends, not an internal helper that route handlers never reference.
Security Checklist
- Hash passwords with
argon2-cffi,bcrypt, or a current passlib-compatible hasher. - Validate JWT issuer, audience, expiry, and signing algorithm.
- Keep CORS origins environment-specific.
- Put rate limits on auth and write-heavy endpoints.
- Use Pydantic models for all request bodies.
- Use ORM parameter binding or SQLAlchemy Core expressions; never build SQL with f-strings.
- Redact tokens, authorization headers, cookies, and passwords from logs.
- Run dependency audit tooling in CI.
Performance Checklist
- Configure database connection pooling explicitly.
- Add pagination to list endpoints.
- Watch for N+1 queries and use eager loading intentionally.
- Use async HTTP/database clients in async paths.
- Add compression only after checking payload size and CPU tradeoffs.
- Cache stable expensive reads behind explicit invalidation.
Examples
Use these examples as patterns, not as project-wide templates:
- Application factory: configure middleware and routers once in
create_app. - Schema split:
UserCreate,UserUpdate, andUserResponsehave different responsibilities. - Dependency override: tests override
get_dbdirectly. - OpenAPI customization: assign
app.openapi = custom_openapi.
See Also
- Agent:
fastapi-reviewer - Command:
/fastapi-review - Skill:
python-patterns - Skill:
python-testing - Skill:
api-design

