School Management API

A backend and DevOps learning project that simulates a real-world school management system. It started as a simple SQLite prototype and evolved into a Dockerized Flask API connected to Azure Database for PostgreSQL, complete with automated CI/CD and test coverage reporting.

📺 Demos

Flask API in Production

Watch a Flask REST API in action, deployed on Azure Web App with Docker, using ACR for images, Azure PostgreSQL for data, and Nginx to hide the long Azure URL behind a simple endpoint...

👉 Watch the Demo

Infrastructure as Code with Terraform

See how Terraform provisions the same Azure backend (PostgreSQL + Web App) declaratively, replacing manual portal clicks with versioned, repeatable code. This demo covers terraform plan, apply, and real-time validation in the Azure Portal.

⚠️ Not used in production
The live School Management API is deployed via GitHub Actions + Docker + GHCR, not Terraform.
This setup is ephemeral — created for demo and destroyed afterward.

👉 Watch the Terraform Demo

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🧰 Tech Stack

📘 Documentation & Notes

• Architecture Overview: High-level system design and data flow
• DevOps Practices: CI/CD setup, Docker use, Azure integration
• Learning Notes: Key lessons, decisions, and trade-offs from the project

🧠 Why I Built This

I built this project to gain real backend engineering experience beyond tutorials — focusing on how systems evolve from local development to cloud deployment.

Goals

• Design clean, modular REST APIs for multiple entities
• Implement CRUD + archiving logic to preserve data history
• Write maintainable and testable backend logic
• Practice containerization using multi-stage Docker builds
• Build automated CI/CD pipelines for linting, testing, and coverage reporting
• Deploy to the cloud with Azure Database for PostgreSQL

DevOps & Automation

• Continuous integration via GitHub Actions
• Ruff for formatting and linting
• Pytest for unit and integration testing
• Coverage reports automatically posted in pull requests

⚙️ What It Does

• Exposes RESTful endpoints for students, instructors, courses, enrollments, and more
• Supports full CRUD + soft-delete (archive) logic
• Uses PostgreSQL (Dockerized locally, Azure-managed in production)
• Fully containerized for consistent deployment
• Includes automated tests for routes and business logic

🌍 Environment Overview

This project is designed to simulate real development and deployment environments:

Environment	Description
Local (Direct)	Run Flask API with your local Python env and PostgreSQL. Fastest for debugging.
Local (Dockerized)	Use Docker Compose to spin up Flask API + PostgreSQL. Reproducible, isolated environment.
Production (Azure)	Deployed Flask API connected to Azure Database for PostgreSQL. Provides reliability, backups, scalability.

🧪 Running Locally

1. Local Development (Direct)

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt
# Run app
python run.py

(Optionally, install PostgreSQL locally and configure your .env.)

2. Local Development (Dockerized) - Recommended

make up      # start API + DB containers via Docker Compose
./api_client.sh read students
make down    # stop containers
make down V=1  # clear volumes if needed

3. Production (Azure)

• Deploy Docker image via ACR to Azure Web App
• Connect to Azure Database for PostgreSQL
• Update environment variables and run init scripts (scripts/init_azure_db.sh)

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� API Highlights

Includes a helper Bash script api_client.sh to simplify testing via command line.

./api_client.sh read students
./api_client.sh create instructors
./api_client.sh archive courses

Resource	GET	POST	PUT	PATCH (Archive)
Students	✔	✔	✔	✔
Instructors	✔	✔	✔	✔
Courses	✔	✔	✔	✔
Enrollments	✔	✔	✔	✔
Programs	✔	✔	✔	✔
Departments	✔	✔	✔	✔
Assignments	✔	✔	✔	✔
Terms	✔	✔	✔	✔

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🧾 Summary

This project evolved from a simple CRUD API into a production-ready backend with:

• Dockerized PostgreSQL
• Automated CI/CD
• Cloud deployment on Azure

It represents a practical journey through backend design, DevOps practices, and system evolution — the way real-world services grow.