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responder/docs/source/cli.rst
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kennethreitz 3d5f3c7e93 Improve documentation across the board (#602)
## Summary

- **Deployment guide**: health check endpoint, Docker Compose example,
Caddy reverse proxy config, Procfile pattern, production checklist
- **API reference**: quick usage examples for every class (API, Request,
Response, RouteGroup, BackgroundQueue, RateLimiter, status helpers)
- **Feature tour**: new Pydantic validation and content negotiation
sections, expanded MessagePack docs
- **Testing guide**: rate limiting and mounted WSGI app test examples,
Werkzeug 3.1.7 tip
- **Middleware tutorial**: pure ASGI middleware example (no
BaseHTTPMiddleware dependency)
- **CLI guide**: environment variables section (PORT, SECRET_KEY)
- **Homepage**: updated feature list with SSE, rate limiting, Pydantic,
content negotiation, route groups
- **Backlog**: removed already-implemented items, added current ideas

+362 lines of docs, no code changes.

## Test plan
- [x] `make html` builds cleanly with no warnings
- [x] All 199 tests pass

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

---------

Signed-off-by: Kenneth Reitz <me@kennethreitz.org>
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Co-authored-by: Andreas Motl <andreas.motl@panodata.org>
2026-03-24 15:51:55 -04:00

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Command Line Interface
======================
Responder installs a ``responder`` command that lets you launch
applications from the terminal. You can point it at a Python module,
a local file, or even a URL — and it will find your ``API`` instance
and start serving.
Launching from a Module
-----------------------
The most common way to run a Responder application in production. Use
Python's standard dotted module path::
$ responder run acme.app
This imports ``acme.app`` and looks for an attribute called ``api``
(a ``responder.API`` instance). It's the same import system Python
uses everywhere — your ``PYTHONPATH`` and virtual environment are
respected.
Launching from a File
---------------------
During development, you often have a single file you want to run::
$ responder run helloworld.py
This loads the file directly and starts the server. Quick and easy for
prototyping and single-file applications.
You can test it with a simple HTTP request::
$ curl http://127.0.0.1:5042/hello
hello, world!
Launching from a URL
--------------------
Responder can fetch and run a Python file from any URL — great for
demos, sharing examples, and running code from GitHub::
$ responder run https://github.com/kennethreitz/responder/raw/refs/heads/main/examples/helloworld.py
This also works with ``github://`` URLs and any filesystem protocol
supported by `fsspec <https://filesystem-spec.readthedocs.io/>`_::
$ responder run github://kennethreitz:responder@/examples/helloworld.py
Cloud storage is supported too — Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud
Storage, S3, HDFS, SFTP, and more. Install ``fsspec[full]`` for all
protocols::
$ uv pip install 'fsspec[full]'
Custom Instance Names
---------------------
By default, Responder looks for an attribute called ``api``. If your
application uses a different name, specify it with a colon::
$ responder run acme.app:service
$ responder run myapp.py:application
For URLs, use a fragment::
$ responder run https://example.com/app.py#service
Environment Variables
---------------------
Responder automatically reads the ``PORT`` environment variable at
runtime:
- ``PORT`` — bind to ``0.0.0.0`` on this port (cloud platform convention)
When ``PORT`` is set, the server binds to all interfaces automatically.
This is how cloud platforms like Fly.io, Railway, and Heroku inject the
listen port.
For other settings like ``SECRET_KEY``, read them in your application
code and pass them to ``responder.API()``::
import os
api = responder.API(secret_key=os.environ["SECRET_KEY"])
Building Frontend Assets
-------------------------
If your project includes a JavaScript frontend with a ``package.json``,
the ``build`` subcommand runs ``npm run build``::
$ responder build
$ responder build /path/to/frontend