Flask Snippets

import sys
import os.path


def install_secret_key(app, filename='secret_key'):
    """Configure the SECRET_KEY from a file
    in the instance directory.

    If the file does not exist, print instructions
    to create it from a shell with a random key,
    then exit.

    """
    filename = os.path.join(app.instance_path, filename)
    try:
        app.config['SECRET_KEY'] = open(filename, 'rb').read()
    except IOError:
        print 'Error: No secret key. Create it with:'
        if not os.path.isdir(os.path.dirname(filename)):
            print 'mkdir -p', os.path.dirname(filename)
        print 'head -c 24 /dev/urandom >', filename
        sys.exit(1)

$ ./run.py
Error: No secret key. Create it with:
mkdir -p /home/simon/exampleapp/instance
head -c 24 /dev/urandom > /home/simon/exampleapp/instance/secret_key
# Copy-and-paste the two commands
$ ./run.py 
 * Running on http://127.0.0.1:5000/
 * Restarting with reloader