FastAPI Framework Guide

Applies to: FastAPI 0.100+, Pydantic v2, SQLAlchemy 2.0 Language: Python 3.10+ Type: Async API Framework

Overview

FastAPI is a modern, high-performance web framework for building APIs with Python based on standard type hints. Built on Starlette (web) and Pydantic (validation).

Use FastAPI when:

• Building REST APIs or GraphQL backends
• Need native async/await support
• Want automatic OpenAPI documentation
• Need high performance (comparable to Node.js/Go)
• Want strong type validation with Pydantic

Consider alternatives when:

• Need full-stack with templates (consider Django)