py4Web Framework - Creating Application

We can create a py4web application easily using Dashboard −

Dashboard provides following options −

• Minimal − a simple minimalistic pyweb application.

• Scaffold − more advance application with support for database, session, authentication etc. using vue.js

• Clone − from github repository as a .git or .zip file

• Upload − from local machine, as a .zip file to create an application using existing application.

Creating Application using Command Line

An App is a python module, so we can simply create a folder under apps directory and place an optional __init__.py file.

(myenv) D:\Projects\python\myenv\apps>mkdir firstApp

(myenv) D:\Projects\python\myenv\apps>echo '' > __init__.py

(myenv) D:\Projects\python\myenv\apps>cd firstapp

(myenv) D:\Projects\python\myenv\apps\firstApp>dir
 Volume in drive D is New Volume
 Volume Serial Number is B8D7-1C9E

 Directory of D:\Projects\python\myenv\apps\firstApp

13-03-2026  14:41    <DIR>          .
13-03-2026  14:41    <DIR>          ..
               0 File(s)              0 bytes
               2 Dir(s)  176,391,516,160 bytes free

(myenv) D:\Projects\python\myenv\apps\firstApp>

Now if you run the py4web using py4web run apps command, you can check the firstApp application under dashboard.

(myenv) D:\Projects\python\myenv>py4web run apps
...

Output

Open dashboard and verify the firstApp is listed.

Adding static pages

To add static pages, simply create a static folder under the application folder, in our case, firstApp. Any page created under static directory is automatically published.

(myenv) D:\Projects\python\myenv>cd apps

(myenv) D:\Projects\python\myenv\apps>cd firstApp

(myenv) D:\Projects\python\myenv\apps\firstApp>mkdir static

(myenv) D:\Projects\python\myenv\apps\firstApp>echo 'Hello World' > static/hello.txt

Output

Open http://localhost:8000/firstApp/static/hello.txt and verify the output −.

Hello World

Adding dynamic pages

To add dynamic page, we need to create a python file which returns a string. For example, edit the __init__.py file.

from py4web import action

@action('index')
def page():
    return "Hello World"

Output

Open http://localhost:8000/firstApp and verify the output −.

Hello World