🖼️ flask-image-storage

🔍 Overview

flask-image-storage is a lightweight, secure backend for temporary image storage. Uploaded images are encrypted on the server and assigned a unique hash for retrieval. Images expire after 5 minutes, ensuring privacy and efficient resource management. The service uses Flask for the API and PostgreSQL for database management.

🚀 Getting Started

⚡ Quick Start

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone <repository_url>
   cd flask-image-storage

2. Set the required environment variables:

   export POSTGRES_USER=<myuser>
   export POSTGRES_PASSWORD=<mypassword>

3. Start the service with Docker Compose:

   docker compose up

4. Add API-keys to the database [OPTIONAL]:

   #Inside your database in the docker database container:
   INSERT INTO api_key (api_key, name, timestamp) VALUES ('abcdefg', 'test_user', NOW()); 

🛠️ Development Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone <repository_url>
   cd flask-image-storage

2. Install the required Python packages:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Start a PostgreSQL container:

   docker run -d --name my_postgres_container \
       -e POSTGRES_USER=<myuser> \
       -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=<mypassword> \
       -e POSTGRES_DB=images \
       -p 5432:5432 postgres

4. Set the environment variables:

   export POSTGRES_USER=<myuser>
   export POSTGRES_PASSWORD=<mypassword>
   export HOST=<myhost>

5. Apply database migrations:

   flask db upgrade

6. Add API-keys to the database [OPTIONAL]:

   #Inside your database in the docker database container:
   INSERT INTO api_key (api_key, name, timestamp) VALUES ('abcdefg', 'test_user', NOW()); 

7. Start the development server:

   python3 app.py

🔗 API Endpoints

📤 POST /upload

• Description: Uploads an image, encrypts and stores it in the database, and returns a unique hash for retrieval. If there is no API-key in the database you don't have to provide one. Otherwise you have to add one to the request header. Also triggers cleanup of expired images.
• Request Example:

  # No API-key:
  curl -X POST -F "[email protected]" http://127.0.0.1:5000/upload

  # With API-key:
  curl -X POST -F "[email protected]" -H "api-key: abcdefg" http://127.0.0.1:5000/upload

📥 GET /image/<image_hash>

• Description: Retrieves an image by its unique hash. If the hash corresponds to an expired or non-existent image, an error is returned. Also triggers cleanup.
• Usage Example:

  curl http://127.0.0.1:5000/image/<image_hash>

🧹 GET /cleanup

• Description: Deletes all expired images from the database. This endpoint is called automatically during image uploads or retrievals.