# Typical Project Setup

Now that you have installed the required software, it's time to create a basic FastAPI project. In this section, we'll guide you through creating a new project, configuring your development tools, and setting up a basic API structure.

Because FastAPI apps can be more complex (and Health Universe is primarily a deployment, not a development environment), it is best to have a local development environment that is linked to your GitHub repository.

### Step 1: Create a GitHub Repository

Go to GitHub and create a new public repository. At this time, the repo must be public in order for Health Universe to be able to deploy your project.

### Step 2: Clone Your Repository or Use Our Template

1. **Clone Your Repository**
   * `git clone https://github.com/<your_account>/<your_repo_name>.git`
2. **Use Our Template**
   * Start with our [FastAPI Template](https://github.com/Health-Universe/fastapi-template-demo), designed to work seamlessly with the Health Universe Navigator interface. It’s highly recommended, as it’s easy to customize and already optimized for deployment.
   * Click the green **“Use this template”** button (top right).
   * Select **“Create a new repository”**.
   * Give your new repository a name (e.g., `tool-bmi-calculator`).
   * Click **“Create repository from template”**.
   * Once it's created, **clone** your new repo to your local machine OR modify the script within Github.

### Step 3: Set Up a Virtual Environment

Setting up a virtual environment for your Health Universe projects is required as it creates the requirements.txt file needed to specify your application's dependencies. To create a virtual environment, follow these steps:

1. Open a terminal and navigate to your desired project directory.
2. Create a new virtual environment with the following command:

   ```css
   python -m venv .env
   ```
3. Activate the virtual environment:
   * **Windows**:

     ```
     .env\Scripts\activate
     ```
   * **macOS and Linux**:

     ```bash
     source .env/bin/activate
     ```

Once activated, your terminal should display the environment name, e.g., `(venv)`.

### Step 4: Install FastAPI, Uvicorn, etc.

FastAPI is a high-performance framework for building APIs. Uvicorn is the ASGI server used to run FastAPI apps.. To install them, run the following command in your terminal:

```
pip install fastapi uvicorn pydantic python-multipart httpx
```

Wait for the installation to complete. FastAPI, Uvicorn, etc is now installed on your system and ready for use in your Health Universe projects.

### Step 5: Edit App.py

Let's build a simple "Hello, World!" style API with input validation using **Pydantic**.

Open `main.py` in your editor and add:

```python
from fastapi import FastAPI
from pydantic import BaseModel

# Input schema using Pydantic
class GreetRequest(BaseModel):
    name: str

# Create the app
app = FastAPI()

@app.get("/")
def read_root():
    return {"message": "Welcome to Health Universe!"}

@app.post("/greet")
def greet_user(request: GreetRequest):
    return {"message": f"Hello, {request.name}!"}
```

Save the `main.py` file.

### Step 6: Run the FastAPI App

To run your "Hello, World!" FastAPI app, open the terminal, navigate to your project directory, and run the following command:

```arduino
uvicorn main:app --reload
```

Then open your browser and go to:

* <http://127.0.0.1:8000> to view the root endpoint.
* <http://127.0.0.1:8000/docs> to test your API using Swagger UI.
* To stop the app, press `Ctrl+C` in the terminal.

### Step 7: Run pip freeze

From your terminal, run:

```
pip freeze > requirements.txt
```

This command will save all your project's dependencies into a requirements.txt file. This file is read by the Health Universe cloud to know what libraries your app will require.

### Step 8: Commit Your Code and Push to GitHub

### Step 9: Deploy Your App on Health Universe


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.healthuniverse.com/overview/building-apps-in-health-universe/developing-your-health-universe-app/working-in-fastapi/typical-project-setup.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.