What is restless?

Restless is a lightweight toolkit for building REST APIs in Python. Instead of trying to handle every possible scenario automatically, it gives you a simple foundation and lets you write the actual logic yourself, making it easy to understand exactly what your API does. If you're building a web service that needs to expose data, restless helps you create the standard HTTP endpoints (like GET for retrieving data, POST for creating, PUT for updating, DELETE for removing) without the overhead of a full-featured framework. It works alongside popular Python web frameworks like Django, Flask, or Pyramid, meaning you can integrate it into projects you're already working with. The output is JSON by default, but you can customize it if needed. The typical workflow is straightforward: you define a resource class that represents the thing you're exposing (like a blog post), specify which fields should be included when the data is returned, and then write simple methods for each operation. For example, a method called list() handles getting all posts, detail(pk) handles getting a single post by ID, create() handles making a new one, update(pk) modifies an existing one, and delete(pk) removes it. Then you wire it up to your web framework's routing, and you're done. The appeal of this approach is simplicity. Rather than learning dozens of configuration options and hooks, you just write the Python code that does what you actually need. It's designed for developers who prefer explicit, readable code over automatic magic. If you're prototyping quickly, need full control over your API logic, or just want something minimal that doesn't make assumptions about your database setup, restless fits that bill well.