CodeCraftHub – Course Management REST API

Welcome to CodeCraftHub 💻✨
This project is a simple Flask-based REST API that helps you manage courses using basic CRUD operations.

It is designed especially for beginners who want to learn:

• How REST APIs work

• How to use Flask

• How to store data in JSON files

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📌 1. Project Overview

CodeCraftHub is a backend API that allows users to:

• Add new courses

• View all courses

• Get details of a specific course

• Update course information

• Delete courses

All data is stored locally in a file called courses.json.

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✨ 2. Features

• ✅ Simple REST API using Flask

• ✅ Full CRUD functionality

• ✅ JSON file-based storage (no database needed)

• ✅ Auto-generated course IDs

• ✅ Input validation (date format, status values)

• ✅ Error handling (missing fields, invalid data, etc.)

• ✅ Beginner-friendly structure

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⚙️ 3. Installation Instructions

Follow these steps carefully 👇

Step 1: Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/codecrafthub.git
cd codecrafthub

Step 2: Create a virtual environment (recommended)

python -m venv venv

Step 3: Activate the virtual environment

Windows:

venv\Scripts\activate

Mac/Linux:

source venv/bin/activate

Step 4: Install dependencies

pip install flask

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▶️ 4. How to Run the Application

Start the Flask server:

python app.py

You should see output like:

Running on http://127.0.0.1:5000/

Your API is now live 🎉

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🔗 5. API Endpoints Documentation

📌 Base URL

http://127.0.0.1:5000

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➕ Create a Course

POST /api/courses

Request Body:

{
  "name": "Flask Basics",
  "description": "Learn Flask step by step",
  "target_date": "2026-04-10",
  "status": "Not Started"
}

Response:

{
  "id": 1,
  "name": "Flask Basics",
  "description": "...",
  "target_date": "2026-04-10",
  "status": "Not Started",
  "created_at": "2026-03-28T12:00:00"
}

---

📖 Get All Courses

GET /api/courses

---

🔍 Get Single Course

GET /api/courses/{id}

Example:

GET /api/courses/1

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✏️ Update Course

PUT /api/courses/{id}

Request Body:

{
  "name": "Flask Advanced",
  "description": "Deep dive into Flask",
  "target_date": "2026-05-01",
  "status": "In Progress"
}

---

❌ Delete Course

DELETE /api/courses/{id}

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📌 Allowed Status Values

• Not Started

• In Progress

• Completed

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🧪 6. Testing Instructions

You can test the API using:

🔹 Postman

• Select method (GET, POST, etc.)

• Enter URL

• Add JSON body for POST/PUT

• Click Send

🔹 cURL (Terminal)

Example:

curl -X GET http://127.0.0.1:5000/api/courses

---

⚠️ 7. Troubleshooting Common Issues

❌ Flask not installed

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'flask'

👉 Run:

pip install flask

---

❌ Port already in use

Address already in use

👉 Change port in app.py:

app.run(debug=True, port=5001)

---

❌ Invalid status error

👉 Make sure status is one of:

• Not Started

• In Progress

• Completed

---

❌ File errors

👉 Ensure:

• courses.json exists (auto-created on first run)

• App has permission to read/write files

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📁 8. Project Structure

codecrafthub/
│
├── app.py           # Main Flask application
├── courses.json     # Data storage file (auto-created)
├── README.md        # Project documentation
└── venv/            # Virtual environment (optional)

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🎯 Final Notes

This project is perfect if you are:

• Learning backend development

• Exploring REST APIs

• Practicing Flask basics

Once you're comfortable, you can upgrade this project by:

• Adding a database (SQLite, MongoDB)

• Adding authentication

• Deploying to cloud (Hugging Face, Render, etc.)

---

✨ 9. Source Code

from flask import Flask, jsonify, request import json import os from datetime import datetime

app = Flask(name)

DATA_FILE = 'courses.json'

def load_courses(): if not os.path.exists(DATA_FILE): with open(DATA_FILE, 'w') as f: json.dump([], f) return []

try:
    with open(DATA_FILE, 'r') as f:
        return json.load(f)
except json.JSONDecodeError:
    return []

def save_courses(courses): try: with open(DATA_FILE, 'w') as f: json.dump(courses, f, indent=2) return True except Exception as e: return False

def get_next_id(courses): if not courses: return 1 return max(course['id'] for course in courses) + 1

@app.route('/api/courses', methods=['GET']) def get_all_courses(): courses = load_courses() return jsonify({ 'success': True, 'count': len(courses), 'courses': courses }), 200

@app.route('/api/courses/int:course_id', methods=['GET']) def get_course(course_id): courses = load_courses() course = next((c for c in courses if c['id'] == course_id), None)

if course:
    return jsonify({'success': True, 'course': course}), 200
return jsonify({'success': False, 'error': 'Course not found'}), 404

@app.route('/api/courses', methods=['POST']) def add_course(): data = request.get_json()

# Validate required fields
required_fields = ['name', 'description', 'target_date', 'status']
for field in required_fields:
    if field not in data:
        return jsonify({
            'success': False,
            'error': f'Missing required field: {field}'
        }), 400

# Validate status
valid_statuses = ['Not Started', 'In Progress', 'Completed']
if data['status'] not in valid_statuses:
    return jsonify({
        'success': False,
        'error': f'Status must be one of: {", ".join(valid_statuses)}'
    }), 400

courses = load_courses()

new_course = {
    'id': get_next_id(courses),
    'name': data['name'],
    'description': data['description'],
    'target_date': data['target_date'],
    'status': data['status'],
    'created_at': datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
}

courses.append(new_course)
save_courses(courses)

return jsonify({
    'success': True,
    'message': 'Course added successfully',
    'course': new_course
}), 201

@app.route('/api/courses/int:course_id', methods=['PUT']) def update_course(course_id): data = request.get_json() courses = load_courses()

course_index = next((i for i, c in enumerate(courses) if c['id'] == course_id), None)

if course_index is None:
    return jsonify({'success': False, 'error': 'Course not found'}), 404

# Update fields if provided
course = courses[course_index]
if 'name' in data:
    course['name'] = data['name']
if 'description' in data:
    course['description'] = data['description']
if 'target_date' in data:
    course['target_date'] = data['target_date']
if 'status' in data:
    course['status'] = data['status']

save_courses(courses)

return jsonify({
    'success': True,
    'message': 'Course updated successfully',
    'course': course
}), 200

@app.route('/api/courses/int:course_id', methods=['DELETE']) def delete_course(course_id): courses = load_courses() course_index = next((i for i, c in enumerate(courses) if c['id'] == course_id), None)

if course_index is None:
    return jsonify({'success': False, 'error': 'Course not found'}), 404

deleted_course = courses.pop(course_index)
save_courses(courses)

return jsonify({
    'success': True,
    'message': 'Course deleted successfully',
    'deleted_course': deleted_course
}), 200

if name == 'main': print("CodeCraftHub API is starting...") print(f"Data will be stored in: {os.path.abspath(DATA_FILE)}") print("API will be available at: http://localhost:5000") app.run(debug=True, host='0.0.0.0', port=5000)