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responder/docs/source/index.rst
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kennethreitz 4f02016ed6 Add comprehensive docstrings, expand API reference, upgrade to Starlette 1.0
- Add docstrings to all undocumented public methods across API, Request,
  Response, Router, Route, BackgroundQueue, and related classes
- Expand api.rst with autodoc sections for RouteGroup, BackgroundQueue,
  QueryDict, and RateLimiter
- Update starlette dependency to >=1.0
- Drop Python 3.9 support (required by Starlette 1.0), minimum is now 3.10
- Bump version to 3.4.0

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-03-22 21:37:36 -04:00

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Responder
=========
A familiar HTTP Service Framework for Python.
.. code:: python
import responder
api = responder.API()
@api.route("/{greeting}")
async def greet_world(req, resp, *, greeting):
resp.text = f"{greeting}, world!"
if __name__ == '__main__':
api.run()
Powered by `Starlette`_, `uvicorn`_, and good intentions. The ``async`` is optional.
The Idea
--------
If you've ever used `Flask`_, the routing will look familiar. If you've
used `Falcon`_, the request/response pattern will click immediately. And
if you've used `Requests`_ — well, you'll feel right at home.
Responder takes these ideas and brings them together. Every view receives
a request and a response. You read from one and write to the other. No
return values, no special response classes, no boilerplate.
- ``resp.text`` sends text. ``resp.html`` sends HTML. ``resp.media`` sends JSON.
- ``resp.file("path")`` serves a file. ``resp.content`` sends raw bytes.
- ``req.headers`` is case-insensitive. ``req.params`` holds query parameters.
- ``resp.status_code``, ``req.method``, ``req.url`` — the familiar ones.
Set ``resp.media`` to a dict and the right thing happens. If the client
asks for YAML, it gets YAML. Content negotiation is automatic.
Responder and `FastAPI`_ are siblings — both built on Starlette, both
born around the same time, both part of the push that made ASGI the
future of Python web services. FastAPI went deep on type annotations
and automatic validation. Responder went for simplicity and a mutable
request/response pattern. Both projects are better for the other
existing. Use whichever feels right.
This is a passion project. It exists because building a web framework
from scratch is one of the best ways to understand how the web works.
It's a great fit for personal projects, prototyping, teaching, research,
and anyone who values a clean API over a sprawling ecosystem. If you
need battle-tested infrastructure at scale, FastAPI and Django will
serve you well. If you want something small, expressive, and fun to
work with — welcome.
What You Get
------------
One ``pip install``, batteries included:
- Mount Flask, Django, or any WSGI/ASGI app at a subroute.
- Gzip compression, HSTS, CORS, and trusted host validation.
- Before-request hooks that can short-circuit for auth guards.
- A test client for fast, in-process testing with pytest.
- Route parameters with f-string syntax and type convertors.
- Lifespan context managers for startup and shutdown logic.
- Custom exception handlers for clean error responses.
- `GraphQL`_ with Graphene and a built-in GraphiQL IDE.
- File serving with automatic content-type detection.
- Sync and async views — ``async`` is always optional.
- Class-based views with ``on_get``, ``on_post``, ``on_request``.
- A pleasant API with a single import statement.
- OpenAPI schema generation with Swagger UI.
- A production `uvicorn`_ server, ready to deploy.
- HTTP method filtering for REST APIs.
- Signed cookie-based sessions.
- Background tasks in a thread pool.
- WebSocket support.
Installation
------------
.. code-block:: shell
$ uv pip install responder
Python 3.10 and above. That's it.
.. toctree::
:maxdepth: 2
:caption: User Guide
quickstart
tour
deployment
testing
api
cli
.. toctree::
:maxdepth: 2
:caption: Tutorials
tutorial-rest
tutorial-sqlalchemy
tutorial-auth
tutorial-websockets
tutorial-middleware
tutorial-flask
guide-config
.. toctree::
:maxdepth: 1
:caption: Project
changes
Sandbox <sandbox>
backlog
.. _Starlette: https://www.starlette.io/
.. _uvicorn: https://www.uvicorn.org/
.. _Flask: https://flask.palletsprojects.com/
.. _Falcon: https://falconframework.org/
.. _FastAPI: https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/
.. _GraphQL: https://graphql.org/
.. _Requests: https://requests.readthedocs.io/