Simple blog api using python flask and markdown

I have a blog generated by Hugo, and I require access to its content through a REST API. Due to Hugo’s nature as a static site generator and not a server, it lacks a native feature for exposing a REST API.

Upon further investigation, I found that I can develop a Python script using the Flask framework to create a JSON-compatible REST API for accessing my blog’s content. While it may seem unconventional to use Flask instead of generating a JSON file directly in Hugo, I view this as an opportunity to enhance my proficiency in Python.

To implement a REST API for your Hugo-generated blog using Python and Flask, you’ll need a few prerequisites. Here’s a list to guide you:

1. Python: Ensure the you have python running on your system. you can download and install the lastes version of python from the official Python website
2. PIP (Python package installer): verify that pip is also installed along with python.

Steps:

1. create new python scripts let call it app.py
2. install flask, python-frontmatter, and python-slugify

$ pip install flask
$ pip install python-frontmatter
$ pip install python-slugify

3. Write the flask code

from flask import Flask, jsonify
import os
from pathlib import Path
import frontmatter
from frontmatter.default_handlers import YAMLHandler
from slugify import slugify
from json import dumps


app = Flask(__name__)

# path to article
article_path = "content/article"

def get_articles():
    articles = []
    for file_path in Path(article_path).rglob("*.md"):
        with open(file_path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as file:
            article = frontmatter.load(file, handler=YAMLHandler())
            articles.append({
                "title": article.get("title"),
                "content": article.content,
                "summary": article.get("summary", default=""),
                "slug": "/%s/%s" % ("article",slugify(article.get("title")))
            })

    return articles

@app.route("/api/articles", methods=["GET"])
def api_articles():
    articles = get_articles()
    return jsonify(articles)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run(debug=True)

This code create a simple flask apps at /api/articles that return blog content in json format

4. Run the code

$ python app.py