Flask

Two of the three kits are Flask apps: one Python process, one database file to begin with, and a set of admin pages that is the product. Local Lab has 9 blueprints and 257 routes, 134 of them in the admin. Launch Lab has 10 blueprints and about the same again. Both use the same extensions: SQLAlchemy for the database, Flask-Migrate for schema changes, Flask-Login for accounts, Flask-WTF for CSRF on every form, Flask-Limiter for rate limits and Authlib for Google sign-in.

Flask was chosen because a directory or a launch platform is mostly pages, forms and a database, and Flask does that with almost nothing in the way. There is no build step to run before a page works, no framework upgrade to chase, and the whole app runs on a 5 dollar host under Gunicorn. It is the boring choice, and the sites it runs have been earning for years.

Both kits refuse to start in production without a real SECRET_KEY, because that key also protects the Stripe, email and Google credentials stored in the admin. Both ship a first-run setup wizard, a coming-soon mode, security headers and branded error pages.

Worth knowing#

• Local Lab's search is a plain SQL ILIKE, and its background work (geocoding, the Places scraper) runs in threads inside the web process. There is no Redis, Celery or search engine to run, which is the point.

• Launch Lab runs its scheduled jobs through one cron line (flask jobs run), listed with a Run now button in Admin, System.