API Implementation History¶

This is the historical build record for the self-hosted Flask API, organized by implementation week. It is separate from the Endpoint Reference. For the current, authoritative endpoint list and parameters, always use the reference; for releases, see the Changelog.

Research programme history is described in Research history; intended investigations are in Research directions. Implementation milestones and test counts are recorded below by development week.

The original weekly notes report “14 endpoints.” The current source defines 12 GET routes, listed in the endpoint reference; framework-provided static routes and HTTP methods are separate from that count. Historical test totals below refer to their recorded runs.

Implementation Status¶

Week 1: Foundation ✅ COMPLETE¶

✅ API directory structure created
✅ Configuration management (development, production, testing)
✅ Flask extensions (CORS, Caching, Rate Limiting)
✅ Flask app factory pattern
✅ Metadata service layer with caching
✅ Scorecard service layer (works with pandas DataFrames)
✅ Health check routes
✅ Standard response formatting and error handling
✅ Request validators
✅ API requirements file
✅ Environment configuration template
✅ Development and production entry points

Week 2: Core APIs ✅ COMPLETE¶

✅ Documents API (list with filters, detail)
✅ Scorecard API (summary, country detail, statistics)
✅ Caching decorators (15min documents, 1hr scorecard)
✅ Request validation for all parameters
✅ Pagination support (configurable page size)
✅ Sorting support (any field, asc/desc)
✅ 104 test cases written (100% pass rate)
✅ All 14 endpoints working and tested

Week 3: Extended APIs ✅ COMPLETE¶

✅ Tags API (frequency analysis, version management)
GET /api/tags (with filters)
GET /api/tags/versions
✅ Timeline API (temporal analysis)
GET /api/timeline/tags (year × tag matrix)
✅ Export API (CSV downloads)
GET /api/export (list formats)
GET /api/export/:format (download CSV)
✅ SPDX license headers in CSV exports
✅ 31 test cases written for Week 3 endpoints
✅ All 14 endpoints now working (76 total tests passing)

Week 4: Authentication & Rate Limiting ✅ COMPLETE¶

✅ API key authentication middleware
@require_api_key decorator for protected endpoints
@optional_api_key for flexible authentication
X-API-Key header validation
Development mode auto-allow for testing
✅ Rate limiting implementation
Dynamic limits based on authentication status
Public: 100 requests/hour default
Authenticated: 1000 requests/hour default
Custom limits for expensive operations (exports: 20/200 per hour)
Search operations: 200/2000 per hour
✅ Flask-Limiter integration
Custom rate limit key function (API key or IP)
Redis storage for production
Memory storage for development
✅ Applied to key endpoints
Documents list with search rate limits
Export downloads with strict limits
Optional authentication throughout
✅ 28 test cases for authentication and rate limiting
✅ All 104 tests passing (100% success rate)

Week 5: Production Ready ✅ COMPLETE¶

✅ Docker deployment
Multi-stage Dockerfile with security best practices
docker-compose.yml with Redis and Nginx
Health checks and non-root user
✅ Nginx configuration
Reverse proxy setup
SSL/TLS configuration
Security headers
Gzip compression
✅ Production deployment guide
Complete setup instructions
Docker and manual deployment options
SSL certificate setup (Let's Encrypt)
Monitoring and logging configuration
Security checklist
Troubleshooting guide
✅ Configuration management
Environment-based settings
Production validation
API key management
✅ Ready for production deployment

API Features¶

✅ Standard JSON response format
✅ Error handling with custom exceptions
✅ File modification time caching for metadata
✅ Pandas DataFrame support for scorecard data
✅ Environment-based configuration
✅ CORS support for frontend integration
✅ Rate limiting ready (in-memory for dev, Redis for prod)
✅ Logging with configurable levels