List all available routes in Flask, along with corresponding functions' docstrings

Question

I'm writing a small API, and wanted to print a list of all available methods along with the corresponding "help text" (from the function's docstring). Starting off from this answer, I wrote the following:

from flask import Flask, jsonify

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/api', methods = ['GET'])
def this_func():
    """This is a function. It does nothing."""
    return jsonify({ 'result': '' })

@app.route('/api/help', methods = ['GET'])
    """Print available functions."""
    func_list = {}
    for rule in app.url_map.iter_rule():
        if rule.endpoint != 'static':
            func_list[rule.rule] = eval(rule.endpoint).__doc__
    return jsonify(func_list)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run(debug=True)

Is there a better -- safer -- way of doing this? Thanks.

Why `"%s" % rule.endpoint` instead of just `rule.endpoint` or maybe `str(rule.endpoint)`? — John Zwinck, Jun 22 '13 at 11:08
You're right: `rule.endpoint` works, too. Thanks. Will edit the example above. — iandexter, Jun 22 '13 at 11:12

score 35 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 24 '13 at 04:12

There is app.view_functions. I think that is exactly what you want.

from flask import Flask, jsonify

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/api', methods = ['GET'])
def this_func():
    """This is a function. It does nothing."""
    return jsonify({ 'result': '' })

@app.route('/api/help', methods = ['GET'])
def help():
    """Print available functions."""
    func_list = {}
    for rule in app.url_map.iter_rules():
        if rule.endpoint != 'static':
            func_list[rule.rule] = app.view_functions[rule.endpoint].__doc__
    return jsonify(func_list)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run(debug=True)

This will only show one endpoint if you have the same endpoint for [POST, GET, DELETE, PUT] — user1911091, Apr 10 '22 at 16:00

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 06 '18 at 22:42

Here's mine:

@app.route("/routes", methods=["GET"])
def getRoutes():
    routes = {}
    for r in app.url_map._rules:
        routes[r.rule] = {}
        routes[r.rule]["functionName"] = r.endpoint
        routes[r.rule]["methods"] = list(r.methods)

    routes.pop("/static/<path:filename>")

    return jsonify(routes)

Gives:

{
    "/": {
        "functionName": "index",
        "methods": [
            "HEAD",
            "OPTIONS",
            "GET"
        ]
    },
    "/gen": {
        "functionName": "generateJobs",
        "methods": [
            "HEAD",
            "OPTIONS",
            "GET"
        ]
    },
    "/jobs": {
        "functionName": "getJobs",
        "methods": [
            "HEAD",
            "OPTIONS",
            "GET"
        ]
    },
    "/jobs/submit": {
        "functionName": "postJob",
        "methods": [
            "POST",
            "OPTIONS"
        ]
    },
    "/jobs/update/<id>": {
        "functionName": "updateJob",
        "methods": [
            "POST",
            "OPTIONS"
        ]
    },
    "/routes": {
        "functionName": "getRoutes",
        "methods": [
            "HEAD",
            "OPTIONS",
            "GET"
        ]
    }
}

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 19 '15 at 08:36

from flask import Flask, jsonify

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/api/help', methods=['GET'])
def help():
    endpoints = [rule.rule for rule in app.url_map.iter_rules() 
                 if rule.endpoint !='static']
    return jsonify(dict(api_endpoints=endpoints))

if __name__ == '__main__':
       app.run(debug=True)

List all available routes in Flask, along with corresponding functions' docstrings

3 Answers3