FastAPI
Python web framework for building APIs from type hints, with automatic validation and interactive OpenAPI docs; MIT licensed.
FastAPI (0.162.0, Oct 2026, ~104k stars) is a Python framework for building web APIs. You declare endpoints with standard Python type hints, and it validates requests, serialises responses and generates interactive OpenAPI docs automatically. Install with uv add "fastapi[standard]" or pip, then run fastapi dev; Python 3.10+ on Windows, macOS or Linux. MIT, no API keys or paid plans needed. FastAPI Cloud, from the same team, is optional hosting with a free Hobby plan and a paid Pro plan. It is a framework, not a finished app: you write the code and choose the database and server setup.
The facts
| Question | Answer | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on my machine? | Yes. Yes, a Python library you run on your own machine or servers; optional hosted deploys on FastAPI Cloud or any cloud provider | github.com | Checked 9 days ago |
| Code licence | Open source. MIT | github.com | Checked 12 days ago |
| Commercial use | Yes. Yes, MIT | github.com | Checked 9 days ago |
| Paid services needed? | Optional. None required; FastAPI Cloud, from the same team, is optional hosting with a free Hobby plan and a paid Pro plan | fastapicloud.com | Checked 9 days ago |
| Hardware | Pure Python, no GPU; no CPU or RAM minimum documented; the deployment docs suggest several worker processes to use multiple CPU cores | fastapi.tiangolo.com | Checked 9 days ago |
| Operating systems | Windows, macOS and Linux; the package is marked OS Independent (Python 3.10+) and CI tests on Ubuntu, Windows and macOS | github.com | Checked 9 days ago |
| Setup effort | Easy, install uv then uv add "fastapi[standard]" (or pip install in a virtual environment) and run fastapi dev | github.com | Checked 9 days ago |
Each fact has its own date. Unknown means nobody has published it. We read their documentation; we didn’t install it. Running it yourself costs your hardware, electricity and setup time. Report a correction.
No licence changes since we started watching. Licence changes: follow FastAPI and we email you if its terms change.
Agent skills
FastAPI publishes 1 skill for coding agents such as Claude Code, Cursor and Codex, installed about 14,400 times in total. Some may be for the project’s own developers rather than its users.
| Most installed | Installs | Security scans |
|---|---|---|
| fastapi | 14,400 | 3 pass |
npx skills add fastapi/fastapi
From skills.sh, checked yesterday. Installs show popularity, not quality or safety: read a skill before you install it. How we count these.
Stars over time
Building history +120 this week; not enough baseline history. Stars show attention, not quality. Where these numbers come from.