This is a reference application that you can use to get your next Litestar application running quickly.
It contains most of the boilerplate required for a production web API with features like:
- Latest Litestar configured with best practices
- Integration with SQLAlchemy 2.0, SAQ (Simple Asynchronous Queue), Structlog, and Granian
- Extends built-in Litestar click CLI
- Frontend integrated with Vite and includes Jinja2 templates that integrate with Vite websocket/HMR support
- Multi-stage Docker build using a minimal Python 3.12 runtime image.
- Optional Multi-stage Distroless Docker build.
- Pre-configured user model that includes teams and associated team roles
- Examples of using guards for superuser and team-based auth.
- Examples using raw SQL for more complex queries
Take what you need and adapt it to your own projects
To quickly get a development environment running, run the following:
make install
. .venv/bin/activate
cp .env.local.example .env
make start-infra # this starts a database and redis instance only
# this will start the SAQ worker, Vite development process, and Litestar
uv run app run
# to stop the database and redis, run
make stop-infra
docker compose up
We have documented the process to help you get the repository up and running. Check out the documentation for more information.
Command Examples
❯ app
Usage: app [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
Litestar CLI.
╭─ Options ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ --app TEXT Module path to a Litestar application (TEXT) │
│ --app-dir DIRECTORY Look for APP in the specified directory, by adding │
│ this to the PYTHONPATH. Defaults to the current │
│ working directory. │
│ (DIRECTORY) │
│ --help -h Show this message and exit. │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
Using Litestar app from env: 'app.asgi:app'
Loading environment configuration from .env
╭─ Commands ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ assets Manage Vite Tasks. │
│ database Manage SQLAlchemy database components. │
│ info Show information about the detected Litestar app. │
│ routes Display information about the application's routes. │
│ run Run a Litestar app. │
│ schema Manage server-side OpenAPI schemas. │
│ sessions Manage server-side sessions. │
│ users Manage application users and roles. │
│ version Show the currently installed Litestar version. │
│ workers Manage background task workers. │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
Alembic integration is built directly into the CLI under the database
command.
❯ app database
Using Litestar app from env: 'app.asgi:create_app'
Usage: app database [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
Manage SQLAlchemy database components.
╭─ Options ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ --help -h Show this message and exit. │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
╭─ Commands ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ downgrade Downgrade database to a specific revision. │
│ init Initialize migrations for the project. │
│ make-migrations Create a new migration revision. │
│ merge-migrations Merge multiple revisions into a single new revision. │
│ show-current-revision Shows the current revision for the database. │
│ stamp-migration Mark (Stamp) a specific revision as current without │
│ applying the migrations. │
│ upgrade Upgrade database to a specific revision. │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
❯ app database upgrade
Using Litestar app from env: 'app.asgi:create_app'
Starting database upgrade process ───────────────────────────────────────────────
Are you sure you you want migrate the database to the "head" revision? [y/n]: y
2023-10-01T19:44:13.536101Z [debug ] Using selector: EpollSelector
2023-10-01T19:44:13.623437Z [info ] Context impl PostgresqlImpl.
2023-10-01T19:44:13.623617Z [info ] Will assume transactional DDL.
2023-10-01T19:44:13.667920Z [info ] Running upgrade -> c3a9a11cc35d, init
2023-10-01T19:44:13.774932Z [debug ] new branch insert c3a9a11cc35d
2023-10-01T19:44:13.783804Z [info ] Pool disposed. Pool size: 5 Connections
in pool: 0 Current Overflow: -5 Current Checked out connections: 0
2023-10-01T19:44:13.784013Z [info ] Pool recreating
❯ app worker
Using Litestar app from env: 'app.asgi:create_app'
Usage: app worker [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
Manage application background workers.
╭─ Options ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ --help -h Show this message and exit. │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
╭─ Commands ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ run Starts the background workers. │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
To run the application through Granian (HTTP1 or HTTP2) using the standard Litestar CLI, you can use the following:
❯ app run --help
Using Litestar app from env: 'app.asgi:app'
Loading environment configuration from .env
Usage: app run [OPTIONS]
Run a Litestar app.
The app can be either passed as a module path in the form of <module
name>.<submodule>:<app instance or factory>, set as an environment variable
LITESTAR_APP with the same format or automatically discovered from one of
these canonical paths: app.py, asgi.py, application.py or app/__init__.py.
When auto-discovering application factories, functions with the name
``create_app`` are considered, or functions that are annotated as returning a
``Litestar`` instance.
╭─ Options ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ --port -p INTEGER Serve under this port │
│ (INTEGER) │
│ [default: 8000] │
│ --wc,--web-concurrency… -W INTEGER RANGE The number of processes │
│ [1<=x<=7] to start. │
│ (INTEGER RANGE) │
│ [default: 1; 1<=x<=7] │
│ --threads INTEGER RANGE [x>=1] The number of threads. │
│ (INTEGER RANGE) │
│ [default: 1; x>=1] │
│ --blocking-threads INTEGER RANGE [x>=1] The number of blocking │
│ threads. │
│ (INTEGER RANGE) │
│ [default: 1; x>=1] │
│ --threading-mode THREADMODES Threading mode to use. │
│ (THREADMODES) │
│ --http HTTPMODES HTTP Version to use │
│ (HTTP or HTTP2) │
│ (HTTPMODES) │
│ --opt Enable additional event │
│ loop optimizations │
│ --backlog INTEGER RANGE [x>=128] Maximum number of │
│ connections to hold in │
│ backlog. │
│ (INTEGER RANGE) │
│ [default: 1024; x>=128] │
│ --host -H TEXT Server under this host │
│ (TEXT) │
│ [default: 127.0.0.1] │
│ --ssl-keyfile FILE SSL key file (FILE) │
│ --ssl-certificate FILE SSL certificate file │
│ (FILE) │
│ --create-self-signed-c… If certificate and key │
│ are not found at │
│ specified locations, │
│ create a self-signed │
│ certificate and a key │
│ --http1-buffer-size INTEGER RANGE Set the maximum buffer │
│ [x>=8192] size for HTTP/1 │
│ connections │
│ (INTEGER RANGE) │
│ [default: 417792; │
│ x>=8192] │
│ --http1-keep-alive/--n… Enables or disables │
│ HTTP/1 keep-alive │
│ [default: │
│ http1-keep-alive] │
│ --http1-pipeline-flush… Aggregates HTTP/1 │
│ flushes to better │
│ support pipelined │
│ responses │
│ (experimental) │
│ --http2-adaptive-windo… Sets whether to use an │
│ adaptive flow control │
│ for HTTP2 │
│ --http2-initial-connec… INTEGER Sets the max │
│ connection-level flow │
│ control for HTTP2 │
│ (INTEGER) │
│ --http2-initial-stream… INTEGER Sets the │
│ `SETTINGS_INITIAL_WIND… │
│ option for HTTP2 │
│ stream-level flow │
│ control │
│ (INTEGER) │
│ --http2-keep-alive-int… OPTIONAL Sets an interval for │
│ HTTP2 Ping frames │
│ should be sent to keep │
│ a connection alive │
│ (OPTIONAL) │
│ --http2-keep-alive-tim… INTEGER Sets a timeout for │
│ receiving an │
│ acknowledgement of the │
│ HTTP2 keep-alive ping │
│ (INTEGER) │
│ --http2-max-concurrent… INTEGER Sets the │
│ SETTINGS_MAX_CONCURREN… │
│ option for HTTP2 │
│ connections │
│ (INTEGER) │
│ --http2-max-frame-size INTEGER Sets the maximum frame │
│ size to use for HTTP2 │
│ (INTEGER) │
│ --http2-max-headers-si… INTEGER Sets the max size of │
│ received header frames │
│ (INTEGER) │
│ --http2-max-send-buffe… INTEGER Set the maximum write │
│ buffer size for each │
│ HTTP/2 stream │
│ (INTEGER) │
│ --url-path-prefix TEXT URL path prefix the app │
│ is mounted on │
│ (TEXT) │
│ --debug -d Run app in debug mode │
│ --pdb,--use-pdb -P Drop into PDB on an │
│ exception │
│ --respawn-failed-worke… Enable workers respawn │
│ on unexpected exit │
│ --reload -r Reload server on │
│ changes │
│ --help -h Show this message and │
│ exit. │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯