API design & gRPC
REST best practices, protobuf, API versioning, and backward-compatible service contracts.
How to handle CORS preflight OPTIONS requests in Python
Create a mock HTTP server with a CORS preflight OPTIONS handler that returns the correct headers for browser-based API requests.
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
class CORSRequestHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def _send_cors_headers(self):
self.send_header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "*")
self.send_header("Access-Control-Allow-Methods", "GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS")
self.send_head…
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…
How to mock a REST POST endpoint in Python
Create a simple mock REST server that responds to POST requests with a 201 status and a JSON body.
import json
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
class MockHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def do_POST(self):
content_length = int(self.headers.get("Content-Length", 0))
body = self.rfile.read(content_length) if content_length else b"{}"
try:
data = json…
Implement If-Match Precondition Update in Python
A mock resource store that uses the If-Match header's ETag to guard updates, preventing overwrites from stale clients.
from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import Optional
@dataclass
class Resource:
id: str
version: int = 1
data: str = ""
etag: str = "etag-1"
class MockResourceStore:
def __init__(self):
self.resources = {}
def update(self, resource_id: str, new_data: str, if_match: Optiona…
Return Proper HTTP Status Codes Table in Python
Mock HTTP status code table with proper numeric and textual representations, including formatted status lines and a filtered table view.
# Mock HTTP status code table with proper numeric and textual representations
codes = {
200: "OK",
201: "Created",
204: "No Content",
301: "Moved Permanently",
302: "Found",
304: "Not Modified",
400: "Bad Request",
401: "Unauthorized",
403: "Forbidden",
404: "Not Found",
50…
Serve Swagger UI with Python's built-in HTTP server
Hosts a self-contained Swagger UI with a mock OpenAPI spec using only Python's standard library HTTP server.
from http.server import HTTPServer, SimpleHTTPRequestHandler
import os
import tempfile
SWAGGER_HTML = """<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Mock Swagger UI</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://unpkg.com/swagger-ui-dist@4/swagger-ui.css">
</head>
<body>
<div id="swagger-ui"></div>
<script src…
Version API by Accept Header with Vendor Media Types in Python
Build a mock HTTP server that routes to API versions by parsing vendor-specific Accept headers in Python.
from http.client import HTTPMessage
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
class VendorVersionHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def do_GET(self):
accept = self.headers.get("Accept", "")
version = "v1"
if "application/vnd.myapi.v2+json" in accept:
version = "…
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API design & gRPC — Python code examples
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