a very simple flask server that we used for what-the-fat

In order to run the backend, you'll need access to a shell and Python 3 installed on your system.

$ git clone https://github.com/malsf21/what-the-fat-server.git
$ cd what-the-fat-server
$ pip3 install -r requirements.txt
$ python3 server.py
* Serving Flask app "server" (lazy loading)
* Environment: production
  WARNING: This is a development server. Do not use it in a production deployment.
  Use a production WSGI server instead.
* Debug mode: on
* Running on http://127.0.0.1:5000/ (Press CTRL+C to quit)

I've configured this repo to deploy as a Heroku app, using gunicorn. You can test if the server works locally with:

$ gunicorn -w 4 server:app

This is a better webserver than Flask's development server. Then, it's up to you on how you want to use the production server - if you're not using something like Heroku, I'd probably recommend using nginx and uwsgi, as this blog post explains.

If you do want to use Heroku and deploy your instance of the app, it's pretty simple. Create a Heroku account, install the Heroku CLI, and the log in. Then, you just need to run:

heroku create what-the-fat-server # or whatever name you want
git push heroku master