flask-restplus

What it is and what it does

Flask-RESTPlus is an extension for Flask that streamlines REST API development by providing decorators and utilities to define endpoints, validate requests, and automatically generate Swagger documentation. You define your API structure using decorators like @ns.route(), @ns.expect(), and @ns.marshal_with(), and the framework handles both request validation and OpenAPI spec generation.

The package has no external runtime dependencies, making it lightweight to install. However, it has been abandoned since 2019-08-12 with no active maintenance, meaning it will not receive updates for compatibility with newer Flask or Python versions. The last release (0.13.0) targets Python 2.7 or 3.4+, and the codebase is frozen at a point when Flask and the broader ecosystem were significantly different.

Use it for:

• Build a REST API with automatic Swagger UI documentation without writing separate spec files
• Add request validation and response marshalling to Flask endpoints using decorators
• Generate OpenAPI specifications automatically from your Flask route definitions
• Maintain a legacy REST API that was built with Flask-RESTPlus before the project was abandoned

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Flask-RESTPlus adds decorators and tools to Flask for building REST APIs with automatic Swagger documentation and request/response validation.

No. Flask-RESTPlus is abandoned and has not been maintained since 2019-08-12. While it has no known vulnerabilities and low install friction, the lack of updates means it will not work reliably with modern Flask versions or recent Python releases. Consider an actively maintained alternative.

Install

flask-restplus on PyPI

pip install flask-restplus

uv add flask-restplus

poetry add flask-restplus

Installing flask-restplus

Before you install

Low install friction with no runtime dependencies. However, the package is abandoned as of 2019-08-12 with no commits since 2023-03-22, meaning security updates and compatibility fixes are unlikely.

License in practice

BSD-3-Clause is permissive and allows commercial use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for most projects.

Quickstart

pip install flask-restplus

from flask import Flask
from flask_restplus import Api, Resource, fields

app = Flask(__name__)
api = Api(app, version='1.0', title='API')
ns = api.namespace('todos', description='TODO operations')

@ns.route('/')
class TodoList(Resource):
    def get(self):
        return []

Requires Flask; package targets Python 2.7 or 3.4+ but is no longer maintained

Verify before relying

• Whether Flask-RESTPlus remains compatible with current Flask versions and modern Python releases
• Status of project successors and whether migration is recommended
• Known incompatibilities with recent Python or Flask versions

Package facts

Evidence: flask_restplus-0.13.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: flask, restplus, rest, api, swagger, openapi

Tags

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