The Full Stack FastAPI Template: Your Next Project Starter

If you've ever stared at a blank terminal wondering how to wire up FastAPI, React, PostgreSQL, and Docker without losing your mind, this template is exactly what you need. It’s not a toy demo or a half-baked scaffold — it’s production-grade, maintained by the creator of FastAPI himself.

What It Does

This is a complete full-stack template that gives you:

• FastAPI backend with async SQLAlchemy, Pydantic models, and automatic OpenAPI docs
• React frontend (TypeScript) with routing, auth, and clean component structure
• PostgreSQL database with Alembic migrations already configured
• Docker Compose setup to run everything together with one command
• Authentication (JWT-based login, signup, password reset)
• CI/CD ready (GitHub Actions workflows included)

It's basically a "starter project" that skips the boring wiring and puts you straight into building features.

Why It’s Cool

This isn't just another boilerplate glued together with duct tape. Here’s what stands out:

• Author credibility — Built and maintained by tiangolo, the same person who made FastAPI. You know the patterns are right.
• No magic — Every file is straightforward. You can open backend/app/api/ and see standard FastAPI routers. The frontend is a standard Vite + React setup. No hidden complexity.
• Clean separation — Backend and frontend are completely independent. You can swap out React for something else or replace the database without touching other layers.
• Production features — Includes CORS, environment variable management, email sending utilities, and proper async database sessions. Not just "works locally" code.
• Active maintenance — Regular updates, clear changelog, and responsive issues. This isn't abandoned after the initial commit.

How to Try It

Getting started is dead simple:

1. Clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/tiangolo/full-stack-fastapi-template.git
cd full-stack-fastapi-template

1. Copy the environment example:

cp .env.example .env

1. Start everything with Docker:

docker compose up -d

That's it. Your backend runs on http://localhost:8000, frontend on http://localhost:5173, and you get auto-generated Swagger docs at /docs. The migrations run automatically on first startup.

If you want to run without Docker, the README has detailed instructions for local development with virtualenv and Node.

Final Thoughts

This is one of those templates you keep coming back to. Every time I start a SaaS project, an internal tool, or even a hobby app, I clone this repo first. It saves you from the nightmare of setting up authentication, database connections, and deployment configs from scratch.

Is it opinionated? Yes. But that's a feature, not a bug. The patterns are proven, the code is clean, and you can always override what you don't like. If you're building anything with FastAPI and React, just start here.

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