flask/docs/server.rst

.. _server:

Development Server
==================

.. currentmodule:: flask

Starting with Flask 1.0 there are multiple built-in ways to run a
development server.  The best one is the ``flask`` command line utility
but you can also continue using the :meth:`Flask.run` method.

Command Line
------------

The ``flask`` command line script (:ref:`cli`) is strongly recommende for
development because it provides a superior reload experience due to how it
loads the application.  The basic usage is like this::

    $ flask -a my_application --debug run

This will enable the debugger, the reloader and then start the server on 
*http://localhost:5000/*.

The individual features of the server can be controlled by passing more
arguments to the ``run`` option.  For instance the reloader can be
disabled::

    $ flask -a my_application --debug run --no-reload

In Code
-------

The alternative way to start the application is through the
:meth:`Flask.run` method.  This will immediately launch a local server
exactly the same way the ``flask`` script does.

Example::

    if __name__ == '__main__':
        app.run()

This works well for the common case but it does not work well for
development which is why from Flask 1.0 onwards the ``flask`` method is
recommended.  The reason for this is that due to how the reload mechanism
works there are some bizarre side-effects (like executing certain code
twice, sometimes crashing without message or dieing when a syntax or
import error happens).

It is however still a perfectly valid method for invoking a non automatic
reloading application.