public media.md

Host company website with Flask: object-stored public media

Summary

Deploy a company website built with Flask on Ample using the public media library pattern. Compute runs the app in an isolated microVM behind a public HTTPS URL, a managed PostgreSQL 16 database is auto-provisioned and injected as DATABASE_URL, a private S3-compatible bucket holds objects with credentials delivered as encrypted environment variables, and a published bucket serves public assets from the CDN host. Verified on Flask: an object written to a published bucket with an immutable Cache-Control header, a mapping row, and the CDN URL serving it publicly.

Infrastructure requirements

Prerequisites

Exact tested configuration

Steps

  1. Build and start. pip install into .ample/python from requirements.txt, then waitress from app.py reading PORT on the python-3.12 template. The server must bind 0.0.0.0 on PORT.
  2. Implement the pattern on PostgreSQL. The fixture's module implements public media library: an object written to a published bucket with an immutable Cache-Control header, a mapping row, and the CDN URL serving it publicly. Copy the approach into your schema; keep migrations idempotent and run them with --release-command.
  3. Wire object storage. Create the bucket(s), then pass endpoint, region, bucket and keys as --env values. Use path-style addressing. Keep private data in an unpublished bucket. Publish only the bucket that serves public assets and reference its CDN URL.
  4. Deploy. Run the synchronous deploy once and read the result (exit 0 live, 1 failed, 2 blocked). Re-running with no change is a no-op.
    ample deploy . --name <app-name> --public --start "python3 app.py" --env S3_ENDPOINT=... --env S3_REGION=... --env S3_BUCKET=... --env S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID=... --env S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=... --env CDN_PUBLIC_URL=...
  5. Verify. Fetch the live URL and the pattern self-test route(s) (/p/public-media-library) from the example; then run your own checks. On failure read ample logs <deployment_id> --kind build then --kind runtime.
    ample logs <deployment_id> --kind build

Tested examples

Success checks

Limitations

Cost estimate

Estimated 10.00 USD per month (size prices from pricing.toml at build revision a1b8c38919e59cd035ebabaced73cf84ece24371).

Verification evidence

Input schema

{
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "properties": {
    "env": {
      "description": "Encrypted environment variables (bucket credentials, secrets)",
      "items": {
        "pattern": "^[A-Z][A-Z0-9_]*=.*$",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "maxItems": 50,
      "type": "array"
    },
    "name": {
      "description": "App name",
      "maxLength": 63,
      "minLength": 1,
      "pattern": "^[a-z0-9-]+$",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "path": {
      "description": "Project directory or ample.toml service",
      "maxLength": 512,
      "minLength": 1,
      "type": "string"
    },
    "release_command": {
      "description": "Migration command run before activation",
      "maxLength": 512,
      "type": "string"
    },
    "start": {
      "description": "Start command (Python apps pass one explicitly)",
      "maxLength": 512,
      "type": "string"
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "env",
    "name",
    "path",
    "start"
  ],
  "type": "object"
}

Next actions