Anantbhandarkar Make It Right Mir Backend Python Fastapi

/mir-backend-python-fastapi · Make It Right (FastAPI)

Bottom tier of the chain: mir-backend (generic gates) → mir-backend-python (CPython runtime model) → this (FastAPI/SQLAlchemy library mechanics). Run the gates first; load the Python runtime tier for the concurrency/process model; reach for this at Gate 5 (design mechanics), Gate 6 (implementation), and Gate 7 review. Runtime-level concerns (GIL, async-vs-sync, blocking the event loop, fork-safe pools, cold start) live in mir-backend-python — not here.

Stack assumed: FastAPI · SQLAlchemy 2.0 async (AsyncSession, asyncpg) · PostgreSQL · Alembic · Redis. If the project uses sync SQLAlchemy or a different DB, note the divergence before applying these.

The FastAPI footguns AI walks into most

These are the stack-specific cousins of the failure-mode catalog. Each is something async-FastAPI code gets wrong even when the logic is right.

1. Async session lifecycle — the #1 source of mystery bugs

• One AsyncSession per request, via a Depends dependency. Never a module-level/global session — it's not concurrency-safe and you'll get cross-request data bleed or InterfaceError.
• Never share one session across asyncio.gather tasks. A session is a single connection's unit of work; concurrent use corrupts it. Give each task its own session from the factory.
• Commit/rollback boundary belongs in the dependency or service, explicitly — don't rely on autocommit. expire_on_commit=False if you return ORM objects after commit, or you'll trigger lazy loads on detached instances.

2. The async N+1 — worse than sync, because lazy loads raise

• In async SQLAlchemy, accessing an unloaded relationship outside a session raises MissingGreenlet / DetachedInstanceError — it doesn't silently query. Eager-load with selectinload() / joinedload() in the query. AI routinely writes order.items in a loop and ships an N+1 (or a crash).

3. Sync driver in the async path (the FastAPI face of a runtime rule)

• The general "don't block the event loop" rule lives in mir-backend-python (runtime tier). Here, the FastAPI/SQLAlchemy specifics: use the async driver asyncpg (not psycopg2) with create_async_engine; for unavoidable blocking work use Starlette's run_in_threadpool (or define the route as plain def so Starlette runs it in a threadpool automatically). Don't put a sync Session behind an async def route.

4. Pydantic v2 is the boundary, not the security layer

• Validation ≠ authorization. A valid body can still be a request to mutate someone else's data.
• Mass assignment: never build an ORM object from model_dump() blindly — use a separate Create/Update schema that excludes id, is_admin, tenant_id, role. Use response_model to avoid leaking fields (password hashes, internal flags) on the way out.
• model_config with extra="forbid" on input schemas to reject unexpected fields.

5. Depends() auth — get the chain right

• Authentication (get_current_user) and authorization (does this user own this object?) are different dependencies. AI implements the first and forgets the second → IDOR. Object-level checks go in the path that loads the object, not just the route guard.
• Dependencies are cached per-request by default — fine, but don't put side effects in them expecting them to run twice.

6. BackgroundTasks is not a job queue

• BackgroundTasks runs in the same process after the response; if the process dies, the work is lost — no retries, no durability. Fine for best-effort (a fire-and-forget log). Not fine for "send the receipt email" or anything that must happen. For durable/at-least-once work use a real queue (Celery/RQ/arq + Redis) with idempotent handlers. This is where the at-least-once/idempotency rule from the core skill lands in FastAPI.

7. Redis for idempotency & locking — the right primitives

• Idempotency key: SET key result NX EX <ttl> — NX makes "first writer wins" atomic. Store the result so a retry returns the same response, not a second side effect.
• Distributed lock: SET lock token NX EX <ttl> with a token you check before releasing (don't delete someone else's lock). Remember Redis locks are best-effort, not a correctness guarantee under failover — for money, prefer a DB row lock and use Redis only to reduce contention.
• Cache stampede: on a cold popular key, N requests miss simultaneously → N DB hits. Use a short lock or SET NX sentinel so one request rebuilds while others wait/serve stale.

8. Transactions in async SQLAlchemy

• async with session.begin(): for an explicit tx block. Irreversible external effects (charge, email) go after commit, guarded by the idempotency key — never inside the tx, because a rollback can't un-send an email.
• Row lock for contended updates: select(...).with_for_update() inside the tx.
• Conditional UPDATE for state transitions: update(Order).where(Order.id==id, Order.status=="PENDING").values(status="PAID") and check rowcount — this makes concurrent transitions safe without a read-modify-write race.

Alembic migration safety

See references/alembic-migration-safety.md for the full expand/contract patterns. Headline rule: AI writes migrations as if the table is empty. It isn't. The migration-reviewer agent enforces this at Gate 7.

How this slots into the core pipeline

• Gate 5 (Design): when you state transaction boundaries and the idempotency mechanism, use the async-SQLAlchemy patterns above (session scope, with_for_update, conditional UPDATE, Redis key shape).
• Gate 6 (Implementation): code against references/fastapi-gotchas.md alongside the core codegen checklist.
• Gate 7 (Review): the reliability-reviewer should additionally check items 1–8 here; the migration-reviewer reads references/alembic-migration-safety.md.

References

• references/fastapi-gotchas.md — expanded code-level examples of the 8 footguns above (right vs wrong).
• references/alembic-migration-safety.md — expand/contract, batched backfill, CONCURRENTLY, NOT VALID then VALIDATE, rolling-deploy compatibility.

Edit boundary (what belongs here vs. the core)

This module holds ONLY one library's mechanics — FastAPI · Async SQLAlchemy 2.0 · Postgres · Alembic · Redis. Apply the 3-tier placement test before adding anything:

• True for Go/Node/Java too (idempotency, invariants, gates, risk register, observability principle)? → generic core (mir-backend).
• True for every Python framework on CPython (GIL, async-vs-sync, blocking the loop, fork-safe pools, cold start, asyncio task hygiene)? → runtime tier (mir-backend-python).
• A mechanical footgun of this library (async session scope, selectinload N+1, with_for_update, Pydantic boundaries, Alembic-on-populated-table, Redis SET NX)? → here.
• A different framework on Python (Django, Flask) → new mir-backend-python-<framework> module. A different runtime → its own tier. Never widen this one.

Full layered edit map: see mir-backend/SKILL.md → "Where these instructions live".

Source: anantbhandarkar/make-it-right — distributed by TomeVault.