Enhancing Your Flask API: Implementing OPTIONS, Handling Requests, Limits, and Retries

In the previous article, we built a simple Flask API that connects to a PostgreSQL database, retrieves sensor data, and allows users to insert new data. Now, let’s take it a step further by enhancing the API with advanced features such as:

1. Handling OPTIONS requests: Useful for CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) preflight requests.
2. Implementing rate limiting: To control how frequently users can access your API.
3. Adding retry logic: To handle transient failures gracefully.
4. Managing errors: Catching common errors such as exceeding rate limits or internal server issues.
5. Adding new GET methods like statistics: Allowing users to gather insights from the sensor data.

Introduction to Python Flask: A Data Engineer’s Guide to Building a Web App

These enhancements will make your API more robust, secure, and production-ready.

What Are OPTIONS in API Calls?