feature suggestions #1332

aryaniyaps · 2021-11-07T06:59:50Z

aryaniyaps
Nov 7, 2021

I would like to thank starlette maintainers for this great library, first. It reminds me of express in many ways and is exactly what I was looking for in the python ecosystem for a long time. It does it's job well and allows to utilize modern python features as well.

I would like to provide a few suggestions on the starlette API, which might help improve the developer experience! :)

modular apps with routers

frameworks like flask make it really easy to make modular applications. Flask has a "Blueprint" abstraction that makes it easier to split routes into multiple files. Starlette already has a router abstraction at it's core, so IMO adding the following methods/ features on it would make it easier to create modular apps.

# starlette/routing.py

class Router:
    def add_router(router: Router) -> None:
        """Includes the routes in the given router, into the current router instance."""
        pass

# starlette/applications.py

class Starlette:
    def add_router(router: Router) -> None:
        """Includes the routes in the given router, into the app's router instance."""
        self.router.add_router(router=router)

By adding the ability to add router instances on top of others, we can make our apps modular like:

# myapp/main.py

from starlette.applications import Starlette

from myapp.users.routes import user_router
from myapp.notes.routes import note_router

app = Starlette()
app.add_router(user_router)
app.add_router(note_router)

# myapp/users/routes.py

from starlette.routing import Router

user_router = Router(prefix="/users")

@user_router.get("")
async def get_users():
    pass

# myapp/notes/routes.py

from starlette.routing import Router

note_router = Router(prefix="/notes")

@note_router.get("")
async def get_notes():
    pass

It would also be helpful to have the ability to pass URL prefixes to router instances.
This way, we could easily define routes with a decorator-based approach.

I would love to work on these features, and also hear your thoughts/ opinions on this!