How to Host a Flask App on Replit

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Use this interactive demo to learn how to host a Flask app on Replit.

Notes:

• You need a Replit account and a working Flask project. If you haven't built one yet, see How to Create a Flask App on Replit first.
• This method keeps your app alive within an active Replit session. For permanent 24/7 uptime, see How to Deploy a Flask App on Replit instead.
  

1. Sign in at replit.com and open your Flask project from the dashboard.
2. In your workspace, click New Tab and select Shell to open a terminal session.
3. In the Shell, run your app using the command python main.py Flask starts and displays a local URL - usually http://0.0.0.0:5000.
   Note: You may see a development server warning in the output - this is expected and won't affect functionality for hosting purposes.
4. To keep the app running after detaching from the session, start a new screen by typing screen -S [flaskapp] and pressing Enter, then run python main.py inside it.
5. Detach from the screen session by pressing Ctrl+A, then D. Your Flask app continues running in the background.
6. Open the Webview tab in your workspace to preview your running app, or copy the project URL from the browser address bar to share it.