Flask Blog Application

Overview

A clean and user-friendly blog web application built with Flask. It supports user authentication, admin-protected blog post management, rich text content editing, and commenting. The backend uses PostgreSQL and is optimized for deployment on Render.com.

Live Site

You can visit the live deployed application here: https://shubham-flask-blog.onrender.com/

Features

• User registration and secure login with hashed passwords (PBKDF2 SHA-256)
• Admin-only access to create, edit, and delete blog posts
• Rich text editing for blog content via CKEditor integration
• Commenting system for authenticated users
• User avatars via Gravatar
• Responsive interface powered by Bootstrap 5
• Easy switch between SQLite (local dev) and PostgreSQL (production)
• Secure environment variable management for secrets and database URLs

Technology Stack

• Python 3.12
• Flask 2.2.x framework
• Flask-Login for user session management
• Flask-WTF & WTForms for forms and validation
• Flask-CKEditor for rich text editing
• Flask-Bootstrap 5 for responsive UI
• SQLAlchemy ORM with PostgreSQL (psycopg driver)
• Render.com for cloud hosting and managed PostgreSQL
• Gunicorn as the production WSGI server

Installation and Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/shubhamjaju03/flask-blog.git
   cd flask-blog

2. Create and activate a virtual environment:

   python -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate    # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install Python dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Set up environment variables:

   • SECRET_KEY for Flask session security
   • DB_URI for PostgreSQL connection string (use internal Render URL when deployed)

5. Initialize the database schema:

   flask shell
   >>> from main import db
   >>> db.create_all()
   >>> exit()

6. Run the app locally:

   flask run

Deployment Guidelines

• Provision a PostgreSQL instance on Render.
• Supply DB_URI with the internal database URL for low latency.
• Set the Flask SECRET_KEY securely in Render environment variables.
• Deploy the app with Gunicorn.
• Monitor logs and environment variables via the Render dashboard.

Usage

• Register and login users.
• Admin user (default user ID 1) can manage blog posts.
• Authenticated users can comment on posts.
• Blog posts support title, subtitle, image URL, and formatted content.
• Comments display user avatars using Gravatar.

Project Structure

• main.py — primary Flask app and route definitions
• forms.py — form classes using Flask-WTF
• templates/ — Jinja2 templates for rendering HTML
• static/ — stylesheets, images, and JavaScript assets
• requirements.txt — pinned Python dependencies

Notes

• Admin restriction is based on user ID 1 by default; customize as necessary.
• Passwords are securely hashed with salt and multiple iterations.
• The app gracefully supports local SQLite and PostgreSQL backends.
• Use Render’s internal Postgres URL for best performance and security.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

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