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Quick Start

This guide will walk you through creating your first FastAPI project with FastAPI Smith.

Running FastAPI Smith

Simply run the command:

fastapi-smith

You'll be greeted with an interactive prompt that will guide you through the setup process.

Configuration Prompts

1. Project Basics

First, you'll be asked about your project details:

? Project name: my-awesome-api
? Project description: My awesome FastAPI project
? Author name: Your Name
? Author email: you@example.com
? Python version: 3.12

2. Database Setup

Choose your database and ORM:

? Database type: PostgreSQL
? ORM: SQLAlchemy 2.0
? Include Alembic migrations? Yes

3. Authentication

Select your authentication method:

? Authentication type: JWT
? Include user registration endpoints? Yes

4. Additional Features

Choose optional features:

? Include admin panel? Yes (SQLAdmin)
? Caching: Redis
? Task queue: Celery
? Logging library: Loguru
? Include Sentry error tracking? No

5. Development Tools

Configure your development environment:

? Package manager: uv
? Linting: Ruff
? Type checker: mypy (strict)
? Include pre-commit hooks? Yes

6. Deployment

Set up deployment options:

? Include Docker files? Yes
? Include docker-compose? Yes
? Set up GitHub Actions CI/CD? Yes
? Deploy to AWS ECS? No

7. Confirmation

Review your choices and confirm:

╭─────────────────── Configuration Summary ───────────────────╮
│ Project: my-awesome-api                                     │
│ Database: PostgreSQL with SQLAlchemy 2.0                    │
│ Auth: JWT                                                   │
│ Admin: SQLAdmin                                             │
│ Caching: Redis                                              │
│ Tasks: Celery                                               │
│ ...                                                         │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

? Proceed with project generation? Yes

Project Generated!

Once confirmed, FastAPI Smith will generate your project:

✓ Creating project structure...
✓ Generating configuration files...
✓ Creating database models...
✓ Setting up authentication...
✓ Configuring admin panel...
✓ Creating Docker files...
✓ Setting up CI/CD...

Project created successfully! 🎉

Running Your Project

cd my-awesome-api
uv sync
uv run uvicorn app.main:app --reload

With pip

cd my-awesome-api
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -e .
uvicorn app.main:app --reload

With Docker

cd my-awesome-api
docker-compose up --build

Viewing Your API

Once running, visit:

Next Steps

Congratulations! You now have a running FastAPI application. Here's what to do next:

  1. Set up the database: 

    # Copy environment template
cp .env.example .env

# Edit .env with your database credentials
# Then run migrations
uv run alembic upgrade head

  2. Create your first endpoint - See the Project Structure guide

  3. Add models and schemas - Learn about Database Configuration

  4. Set up authentication - Check the Authentication Guide

  5. Deploy to production - Follow the Docker Deployment guide

Example Project

Want to see what a generated project looks like? Check out our example repository.

Getting Help

If you run into issues: