This is the base file tree I use:

_ lib/
_ static/
\_ style.css
_ templates/
\_ index.html
_ main.py
_ appengine_config.py
_ app.yaml
_ requirements.txt

Ex: GitHub - katyanna/kblog

lib/, app.yaml and appengine_config.py are needed for the App Engine. The rest is basic Flask.

  • lib/

    You will need to have the libraries files in this paste for the deploy to work nicely. To install the required libs inside lib/, run:

$ pip install -t lib/ -r requirements.txt

  • appengine_config.py

    Where you can customize Python modules. You should define only the constants or hook functions you wish to override.

  • app.yaml

    It contains information about the application code. You can also put the url handlers in this file.

  • static / templates

    Where Flask will look for your .css and .html files respectively.

  • main.py

    Your python code.

  • requirements.py

    The list of libraries you’ll use.

Environment set up

1. Make sure you have Python 2.7.9 or later:

$ python -V

2. Download and install the Google App Engine SDK accordingly to this: Google Cloud SDK

3. Install the gcloud component that includes the extension for Python:

$ gcloud components install app-engine-python

4. Create a project:

$ gcloud create

Deploying the app

1. Test your application

$ dev_appserver.py $PWD

2. Deploy it

gcloud app deploy app.yaml --project projetct-id

My thoughts on App Engine

I didn’t enjoy it very much. Considering I’ve only worked with Heroku so far, I found App Engine to be much more complex than needed and inflexible. That’s my inexperienced opinion, if you have a thing or two to say in favor of App Engine, please comment so I can learn a little bit more.