API design & gRPC
REST best practices, protobuf, API versioning, and backward-compatible service contracts.
How to Build Cursor Pagination with Next and Prev Tokens in Python
A minimal cursor pagination implementation that returns next and previous cursor tokens for navigating a dataset.
from pprint import pprint
def make_cursor(page):
return f"page:{page:04d}"
def parse_cursor(cursor):
_, page = cursor.split(":", 1)
return int(page)
def paginate(all_items, page_size, cursor=None):
start = parse_cursor(cursor) if cursor else 0
end = start + page_size
items = all_items[sta…How to Build a Batch Operations Multi-Status 207 Mock Server in Python
Build a mock HTTP server that accepts a batch of operations and returns HTTP 207 Multi-Status with per-operation status codes in JSON.
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
import json
class BatchHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def do_POST(self):
if self.path != "/batch":
self.send_response(404)
self.end_headers()
return
content_length = int(self.headers.get("Content-Leng…How to Build a Hypermedia Collection Resource in Python
Creates a paginated hypermedia collection resource with HATEOAS links and embedded items.
import json
import math
class HypermediaCollection:
"""A mock hypermedia collection resource."""
def __init__(self, items, base_url="/api/items"):
self.items = items
self.base_url = base_url
def to_dict(self, page=1, per_page=3):
total = len(self.items)
pages = math.ceil…How to Build a Mock REST GET Endpoint Handler in Python
Create a lightweight mock REST GET server in Python using the standard library, with a dict-based route registry that maps paths to handler functions and returns JSON responses with proper HTTP status codes.
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
import json
# Mock API handler registry
def handle_users():
return {"status": "ok", "data": [{"id": 1, "name": "Alice"}, {"id": 2, "name": "Bob"}]}
def handle_products():
return {"status": "ok", "data": [{"id": 101, "name": "Laptop", "price": 999.99}…How to Build an Idempotency-Key POST Handler in Python
Python HTTP server mock that accepts POST requests and deduplicates them using an Idempotency-Key header, returning the same response for repeated calls.
import hashlib
import json
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
from urllib.parse import urlparse
class MockAPI(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
responses = {}
def do_POST(self):
length = int(self.headers.get("Content-Length", 0))
body = self.rfile.read(length).decode("utf-8")
…How to Filter Query Parameters by Operator in Python
Parse a URL query string and keep only parameters with allowed comparison operators like eq, gt, and lt.
from urllib.parse import urlparse, parse_qs
def filter_operators(query_string, allowed=("eq", "gt", "lt")):
parsed = urlparse(query_string)
params = parse_qs(parsed.query)
filtered = {}
for key, values in params.items():
if "__" in key:
field, op = key.rsplit("__", 1)
i…How to Handle Retry-After Header in Python
Parse the Retry-After header from rate-limited API responses and implement retry logic with proper delays in Python.
```python
import time
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
class RetryAfterHandler:
def __init__(self, max_retries=3):
self.max_retries = max_retries
def get_retry_after_seconds(self, response_headers):
retry_after_value = response_headers.get("Retry-After")
if retry_after_value …How to Implement Content Negotiation with JSON and XML in Python
Build an HTTP server that returns JSON or XML responses based on the client's Accept header, with a 406 response for unsupported formats.
import json
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
class RequestHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def do_GET(self):
data = {"message": "Hello, world!"}
accept_header = self.headers.get("Accept", "")
if "application/json" in accept_hea…How to Implement ETag Optimistic Concurrency in Python
Build a lightweight in-memory resource store that uses MD5 hash ETags to prevent lost updates via optimistic concurrency control.
import hashlib
import json
class ResourceStore:
def __init__(self):
self.data = {}
self.etags = {}
def get(self, resource_id):
if resource_id not in self.data:
return None, None
return self.data[resource_id], self.etags[resource_id]
def put(self, resource_id, …How to Mock OAuth2 Bearer Token Auth Middleware in Python
Create a simple OAuth2 bearer token authentication middleware that verifies signed tokens and enforces scope-based access control.
import hmac
import time
import base64
import json
from functools import wraps
VALID_TOKENS = {"test_token_123": {"user": "alice", "scope": "read:posts"}}
def generate_token(username: str) -> str:
payload = {"user": username, "iat": int(time.time())}
encoded = base64.urlsafe_b64encode(json.dumps(payload).enc…How to Mock X-RateLimit Headers in Python
This code creates a local HTTP server that mimics rate limit headers (X-RateLimit-Limit, Remaining, Reset, Update) and returns 429 responses when the limit is exceeded.
import time
import threading
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
class RateLimitHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
RATE_LIMIT = 5 # max requests allowed
WINDOW_SECONDS = 60 # per time window
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
…How to Mock a 202 Accepted Long-Running Operation in Python
Build a mock HTTP server that returns a 202 Accepted response immediately and simulates a long-running operation in the background with threading.
import time
import threading
from http.server import HTTPServer, BaseHTTPRequestHandler
class MockHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def do_POST(self):
if self.path == "/long-running":
self.send_response(202)
self.send_header("Content-Type", "application/json")
self.end_h…How to Mock a Chunked Encoding Streaming Response in Python
Build a local mock HTTP server with Python's http.server that streams a chunked-encoded response with a 0.5s delay per chunk.
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, ThreadingHTTPServer
import time
class ChunkedHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
protocol_version = "HTTP/1.1"
def do_GET(self):
self.send_response(200)
self.send_header("Content-Type", "text/plain")
self.send_header("Transfer-Encoding", "c…How to Mock a Webhook Subscribe Callback URL in Python
Mock a webhook subscribe callback URL using Python's http.server to receive and parse POST requests sent by webhook providers.
import json
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
class WebhookHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def do_POST(self):
content_length = int(self.headers.get('Content-Length', 0))
payload = json.loads(self.rfile.read(content_length)) if content_length else {}
print…How to Parse Multipart Form Data in Python
Parse multipart/form-data uploads using the Python standard library's cgi module to extract both regular fields and file uploads.
import cgi
from io import BytesIO
def parse_multipart_form(headers, body_bytes):
content_type = headers.get("Content-Type", "")
content_length = int(headers.get("Content-Length", len(body_bytes)))
# Create a file-like object from bytes for cgi.FieldStorage
body_file = BytesIO(body_bytes)
…How to Validate Request Body JSON Against a Schema in Python
Build a lightweight schema validator to check required fields, types, string lengths, allowed values, and nested objects in a JSON request body.
import json
def validate_against_schema(data, schema, path=""):
errors = []
if not isinstance(data, dict):
errors.append(f"{path}: expected object, got {type(data).__name__}")
return errors
for field, rules in schema.items():
field_path = f"{path}.{field}" if path else field
…How to mock Server-Sent Events (SSE) in Python
A minimal HTTP server that streams Server-Sent Events to clients, perfect for testing and development.
from http.server import HTTPServer, BaseHTTPRequestHandler
import threading
import time
MESSAGES = iter([
"data: Hello world\n\n",
"data: Second message\n\n",
"event: custom\n",
"data: Custom event payload\n\n",
"data: Final message\n\n"
])
class SSEHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def do_GET…Browse by section
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API design & gRPC — Python code examples
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