What is microblog?

miguelgrinberg/microblog — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-26

★ 4,767PythonAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5Setup · moderate

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Microblog))
    What it is
      Flask tutorial companion
      2024 edition code
      Step-by-step learning
    Features
      User authentication
      Short posts
      Follow system
      Email support
    Tech
      Python
      Flask
      Database
    Audience
      Flask beginners
      Web dev learners
      Tutorial followers

mindmap root((Microblog)) What it is Flask tutorial companion 2024 edition code Step-by-step learning Features User authentication Short posts Follow system Email support Tech Python Flask Database Audience Flask beginners Web dev learners Tutorial followers

Click or tap to explore — scroll the page freely

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Follow the Flask Mega-Tutorial chapter by chapter using this code as a reference to check your own implementation

USE CASE 2

Use the project as a starter template for a simple social app with user auth, posts, and follow functionality

USE CASE 3

Study how Flask handles authentication, database migrations, email sending, and deployment in a complete working project

USE CASE 4

Learn Python web development by reading a finished, well-structured application that was explained step by step

What is it built with?

PythonFlask

How does it compare?

	miguelgrinberg/microblog	diafygi/acme-tiny	jerbouma/financetoolkit
Stars	4,767	4,767	4,767
Language	Python	Python	Python
Setup difficulty	moderate	moderate	easy
Complexity	2/5	3/5	2/5
Audience	developer	ops devops	data

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Designed to be used alongside the Flask Mega-Tutorial, standalone setup requires reading the tutorial documentation for configuration steps.

So what is it?

Microblog is a sample web application built in Python using the Flask web framework. It exists as the companion code for a long-running tutorial series called the Flask Mega-Tutorial, written by Miguel Grinberg. The tutorial walks through building a real working web application step by step, covering topics like user authentication, database storage, forms, email, and deployment. The application itself is a simple microblogging platform where users can register, log in, write short posts, and follow other users. It is intentionally modest in scope so that each chapter of the tutorial can focus on teaching one concept at a time without the application becoming overwhelming to follow. This repository contains the 2024 edition of the code, which is the most recent version. Earlier editions from 2018 and 2021 are available in a separate repository for anyone following an older version of the tutorial. The original version of the code dates back to 2012. The README is minimal and points directly to the tutorial for instructions. The repository is meant to be read alongside the written guide rather than used as a standalone project. It is a popular learning resource for developers who want a practical, real-world introduction to building web applications with Python and Flask.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

I am following the Flask Mega-Tutorial and the user login chapter is not working. Here is my error: [error]. What should my __init__.py and routes.py look like at this stage based on miguelgrinberg/microblog?

Prompt 2

How do I add a REST API endpoint to the microblog Flask app so a mobile client can post and retrieve messages as JSON?

Prompt 3

Show me how to deploy the miguelgrinberg/microblog app to a Linux VPS with Nginx, Gunicorn, and PostgreSQL instead of SQLite.

Prompt 4

I want to extend the microblog follow system to support topic subscriptions. How do I add a Topic model and update the feed query in Flask-SQLAlchemy?

Frequently asked questions