Directory Structure

Understanding how Fastman organizes your code.

Feature Pattern (Default)

The feature pattern uses vertical slices—each feature contains everything it needs.

my-api/
├── app/
│   ├── core/                    # Shared infrastructure
│   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   ├── config.py            # Settings from environment
│   │   ├── database.py          # SQLAlchemy session
│   │   └── dependencies.py      # FastAPI dependencies
│   │
│   ├── features/                # Feature modules
│   │   ├── user/
│   │   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   │   ├── models.py        # User SQLAlchemy model
│   │   │   ├── schemas.py       # User Pydantic schemas
│   │   │   ├── service.py       # User business logic
│   │   │   └── router.py        # User API endpoints
│   │   │
│   │   └── post/
│   │       ├── models.py
│   │       ├── schemas.py
│   │       ├── service.py
│   │       └── router.py
│   │
│   └── main.py                  # App entry point
│
├── public/                      # Static files (HTML, images, CSS, JS)
├── database/
│   ├── migrations/              # Alembic migrations
│   │   └── versions/
│   └── seeders/                 # Database seeders
│
├── tests/
│   ├── factories/               # Model factories
│   └── test_*.py                # Test files
│
├── .env                         # Default / local override (gitignored)
├── .env.develop                 # Development settings
├── .env.staging                 # Staging settings
├── .fastmanrc                   # Project shape + env lock (gitignored)
├── alembic.ini                  # Migration config
└── pyproject.toml               # Dependencies

API Pattern

The API pattern groups code by HTTP resource:

my-api/
├── app/
│   ├── api/
│   │   ├── v1/
│   │   │   ├── users.py
│   │   │   └── posts.py
│   │   └── v2/
│   ├── models/
│   ├── schemas/
│   └── services/
├── public/                      # Static files
├── tests/
└── ...

Layer Pattern

The layer pattern separates by technical concern:

my-api/
├── app/
│   ├── controllers/
│   ├── models/
│   ├── repositories/
│   ├── schemas/
│   └── services/
├── public/                      # Static files
├── tests/
└── ...

Key Files

File	Purpose
app/main.py	Application factory, router mounting, static files
app/core/config.py	Pydantic settings, loads env file by ENVIRONMENT
app/core/database.py	SQLAlchemy engine and session
public/	Static files served at /public (HTML, images, CSS, JS)
alembic.ini	Database migration configuration
.env	Fallback / local override (gitignored)
.env.develop	Development environment settings
.env.staging	Staging environment settings
.fastmanrc	Project shape (pattern, db, package manager) and persisted env lock

note

There is no .env.production. Production secrets should be injected by your deployment platform (AWS SSM, Vault, Kubernetes Secrets, etc.) rather than scaffolded into a committed file. See the deployment guide for details.