Flask
This example assumes you have already created your own Territory. If you have not, please refer to this guide.
In this tutorial we will be deploying our example application to CitadelHosts. We will upload the images that define our application to our Smart Image Registry. Then we will define our custom application in CitadelHosts. Finally, we will deploy that application to our own Territory instance.
Our Example Application
This Flask example application was intended to highlight Flask and it's ability to help user's design and create microservices in a minimal and efficient manner. We built a SaaS Metrics Dashboard. The application delivers some high level metrics that would be pertinent to a SaaS startup, such as Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) and Churn Rate.
The application is available on GitHub at: https://github.com/LiamJFitzpatrick/citadel-flask-example.
Uploading Custom Images To Your Smart Registry
The example application contains a Dockerfile for the Flask backend and and a Dockerfile.worker for the Python worker. These files define everything that our application needs to run. For our example, we have walkthroughs for deploying using GitHub Actions to build and upload your images or you can follow along the guide to build and deploy your images from your local machine using Docker.
Using GitHub Actions
An example deploy workflow is provided below. This will build the necessary images and upload them to your CitadelHosts account. You can clone the example repository and then push the code to your own GitHub repository. Whenever changes are pushed to your GitHub repository they will be automatically sent to your CitadelHosts registry. This is great to be able to enable automatic deployments.
.github/workflows/deploy.yml
name: Build and Push Container Images
on:
push:
branches:
- develop
- main
- master
tags:
- 'v*'
env:
REGISTRY: registry.citadelhosts.com
FLASK_IMAGE_NAME: ${{ secrets.FLASK_IMAGE_NAME }}
WORKER_IMAGE_NAME: ${{ secrets.WORKER_IMAGE_NAME }}
jobs:
build-and-push:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
permissions:
contents: read
packages: write
steps:
- name: Checkout code
uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Set up Docker Buildx
uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
- name: Log in to private registry
uses: docker/login-action@v3
with:
registry: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}
username: ${{ secrets.REGISTRY_USERNAME }}
password: ${{ secrets.REGISTRY_PASSWORD }}
- name: Extract metadata for Flask app
id: flask-meta
uses: docker/metadata-action@v5
with:
images: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.FLASK_IMAGE_NAME }}
tags: |
type=ref,event=branch
type=ref,event=pr
type=semver,pattern={{version}}
type=semver,pattern={{major}}.{{minor}}
type=sha
- name: Extract metadata for Worker
id: worker-meta
uses: docker/metadata-action@v5
with:
images: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.WORKER_IMAGE_NAME }}
tags: |
type=ref,event=branch
type=ref,event=pr
type=semver,pattern={{version}}
type=semver,pattern={{major}}.{{minor}}
type=sha
- name: Build and push Flask app image
uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
with:
context: .
file: ./Dockerfile
push: true
tags: ${{ steps.flask-meta.outputs.tags }}
labels: ${{ steps.flask-meta.outputs.labels }}
cache-from: type=gha
cache-to: type=gha,mode=max
- name: Build and push Worker image
uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
with:
context: .
file: ./Dockerfile.worker
push: true
tags: ${{ steps.worker-meta.outputs.tags }}
labels: ${{ steps.worker-meta.outputs.labels }}
cache-from: type=gha
cache-to: type=gha,mode=max
This deploy workflow requires the following secrets in your repository:
- FLASK_IMAGE_NAME: This is the name that the Flask backend will have in your CitadelHosts registry.
- WORKER_IMAGE_NAME: This is the name that the worker will have in your CitadelHosts registry.
- REGISTRY_USERNAME: This is your CitadelHosts username.
- REGISTRY_PASSWORD: This is your CitadelHosts password.
Using Docker CLI
Getting and Building The Application
After you have cloned the repository, navigate into the newly created folder.
git clone https://github.com/LiamJFitzpatrick/citadel-flask-example.git
cd citadel-flask-example
Build the Flask backend image and the worker image.
docker build -t registry.citadelhosts.com/flask-example-backend:latest -f Dockerfile ./
docker build -t registry.citadelhosts.com/flask-example-worker:latest -f Dockerfile.worker ./
Authenticate your Docker CLI with the CitadelHosts.com Smart Image Registry. You will login using the same credentials you use to login to CitadelHosts.com.
docker login registry.citadelhosts.com
Push your newly built images to your registry.
docker push registry.citadelhosts.com/flask-example-backend:latest
docker push registry.citadelhosts.com/flask-example-worker:latest
Congrats! You have successfully uploaded the example application to your CitadelHosts account!
Defining Custom Applications
To define a custom application navigate to the Apps page and scroll down to the Create Application section (or click this link: https://citadelhosts.com/dashboard/apps#create-application).
This form allows you to define custom application configurations.
Step 1: Application Definition
The first step is to define the application. The table below shows suggested input values for our example.
| Label | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Flask Example | This is the name of your application and will appear in your App Library |
| Description | An example cloud-native Flask application. | A description for your custom application. |
Step 2: Container Definition
The second step is to define the containers that will make up our application. Our example application consists of 5 containers, so you can hit Add Container for 5 containers. The suggested inputs are summarized in the tables below.
Container 1 Definition: Flask Backend
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| Name: | backend |
| Start Order: | 4 |
| Image: | flask-example-backend:latest |
Container 2 Definition: Python worker
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| Name: | worker |
| Start Order: | 5 |
| Image: | flask-example-worker:latest |
Container 3 Definition: Valkey
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| Name: | valkey |
| Start Order: | 2 |
| Image: | Enter URL |
| docker.io/valkey/valkey:7-alpine |
Container 4 Definition: RustFS
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| Name: | rustfs |
| Start Order: | 1 |
| Image: | Enter URL |
| docker.io/rustfs/rustfs:latest |
Container 5 Definition: RabbitMQ
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| Name: | rabbitmq |
| Start Order: | 3 |
| Image: | Enter URL |
| docker.io/library/rabbitmq:3-management |
Step 3: Container Configuration
The final step in defining your custom application is going to be to configure ports, volumes, and environment variables for each of the containers that make up your application. The necessary configuration for our example application is summarized in the sections below.
backend Configuration
| Ports | |
|---|---|
| Container Port: | 5000 |
Environment Variables:
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| VALKEY_HOST | localhost |
| VALKEY_PORT | 6379 |
| S3_ENDPOINT | localhost:9000 |
| S3_ACCESS_KEY | minioadmin |
| S3_SECRET_KEY | minioadmin |
| S3_BUCKET_NAME | saas-metrics-uploads |
| S3_USE_SSL | false |
| RABBITMQ_HOST | localhost |
| RABBITMQ_PORT | 5672 |
| RABBITMQ_USER | guest |
| RABBITMQ_PASS | guest |
| RABBITMQ_QUEUE | metrics-processing |
| SECRET_KEY | devsecretkey |
worker Configuration
Environment Variables:
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| VALKEY_HOST | localhost |
| VALKEY_PORT | 6379 |
| S3_ENDPOINT | localhost:9000 |
| S3_ACCESS_KEY | minioadmin |
| S3_SECRET_KEY | minioadmin |
| S3_BUCKET_NAME | saas-metrics-uploads |
| S3_USE_SSL | false |
| RABBITMQ_HOST | localhost |
| RABBITMQ_PORT | 5672 |
| RABBITMQ_USER | guest |
| RABBITMQ_PASS | guest |
| RABBITMQ_QUEUE | metrics-processing |
valkey Configuration
Volume Mounts:
| Name | Container path |
|---|---|
| valkeydata | /data |
rustfs Configuration
Volume Mounts:
| Name | Container path |
|---|---|
| rustfsdata | /data |
Environment Variables:
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| RUSTFS_SECRET_KEY | minioadmin |
| RUSTFS_ACCESS_KEY | minioadmin |
rabbitmq Configuration
Volume Mounts:
| Name | Container path |
|---|---|
| rabbitmqdata | /var/lib/rabbitmq |
Environment Variables:
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_USER | guest |
| RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_PASS | guest |
Finishing Up
Now that you have defined your application in the form, you just need to hit Create. You have succesfully defined your own custom Flask application on CitadelHosts! This application is available just to your account and can be deployed to any Territory of your choosing.
Deploying Custom Applications
Deploying custom applications is just as easy as deploying pre-configured applications. All one has to do is select the Territory you would like to deploy the application on and hit Deploy! Start the app up and navigate to your access link to view your own custom application. Great work!