Getting Started#

Keywords: installation, setup, create project, CLI, folder structure, interactive CLI, dev server, running locally, sqlite

Asok is a zero-dependency Python framework designed for speed, security, and a unified development experience through intuitive file-based routing and native client-side reactivity.

Installation#

By default, Asok has zero external dependencies and works out of the box with SQLite.

# Default installation (SQLite, zero dependencies)
pip install asok

# Optional backends & capabilities (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, Async)
pip install "asok[postgres]"        # Standard (requires system libpq)
pip install "asok[postgres-binary]" # Binarized (no system dependencies, great for dev)
pip install "asok[mysql]"
pip install "asok[redis]"
pip install "asok[async]"

# Combined optional extras (e.g. Postgres + Redis)
pip install "asok[postgres-binary,redis]"

💡 Note for VS Code Users: For the best developer experience, we highly recommend installing the official Asok VS Code Extension. It provides native autocompletion, reactive snippets, and integrated CLI commands directly in your editor.

Create a project#

Asok features a smart interactive CLI. Just run the create command and it will guide you through the setup:

asok create myapp
# ? Add Tailwind CSS support? [y/N]: y
# ? Add Admin interface? [y/N]: y
# ? Add Image Optimization (WebP)? [y/N]: y

If you prefer to skip questions, use flags: asok create myapp --tailwind --admin --image.

Run the server:

asok dev

Open http://127.0.0.1:8000 — your app is running with live browser reload. Edit any file and the browser refreshes automatically.

Want a different port? Use asok dev -p 3000. If the port is busy, Asok finds the next free one automatically.

Project structure#

myapp/
├── .env                        # Environment variables
├── src
│   ├── components               # Reactive (Live) Components
│   ├── locales                  # Translation files (en.json, fr.json)
│   │   ├── en.json
│   │   └── fr.json
│   ├── middlewares              # Middleware handlers
│   ├── models                   # Database models
│   │   └── user.py
│   ├── pages                    # Routes (file-based)
│   │   ├── page.html (or .asok)
│   │   └── page.py
│   └── partials                 # Shared assets
│       ├── css
│       │   └── base.css
│       ├── html
│       │   └── base.html
│       ├── images
│       │   └── logo.svg
│       ├── js
│       │   └── base.js
│       └── uploads
└── wsgi.py                   # Entry point

How it works#

1. A request arrives at /contact
2. Asok looks for src/pages/contact/page.py (or page.html / page.asok)
3. It calls the render(request) function
4. Your function returns HTML via request.html('page.html')
5. Asok sends the response

That's it. No decorators, no app.route(), no configuration file. Your folder structure is your routing.

Minimal example#

# src/pages/page.py
from asok import Request

def render(request: Request):
    return request.html('page.html')

<!-- src/pages/page.html -->
<h1>Hello, Asok!</h1>

Configuration#

All config goes in .env:

DEBUG=true
SECRET_KEY=change-me-in-production

Access in code:

request.env('SECRET_KEY')
request.env('DEBUG')  # Returns True (auto-cast)

What's included (zero dependencies)#

Everything runs on the Python standard library by default. No pip install is needed beyond asok itself unless you opt-in to PostgreSQL, MySQL, or Redis backends.