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Streamlit × SmallStack

You bring the frontend.
SmallStack brings the rest — day one.

This inventory dashboard is a few hundred lines of Python. The backend it talks to isn't a bare API — it's a whole operations console: auth, admin, docs, uptime, backups, search, deploy. You didn't build any of it, and you can consume all of it from Python — server-side, with the token never touching a browser.

YOUR FRONTEND
Streamlit
ReactSvelteSolidanything

fetch JSON · hold a token · render

REST · JSON
one bearer token
DJANGO SMALLSTACK
The backend, fully staffed
REST APIAPI DocsAdminStatusActivityBackupsSearchExplorerUsersTokensMCPRunbooks

One declaration. Every surface lights up.

A single CRUDView emits HTML admin pages, a REST API, OpenAPI docs, and MCP tools — from one model.

apps/inventory/views.py
from apps.smallstack.crud import CRUDView
from .models import Item

class ItemView(CRUDView):
    model = Item
    fields = ["name", "sku", "quantity", "unit_price", "status"]
    search_fields = ["name", "sku"]
    enable_api = True   # → REST + OpenAPI docs
    enable_mcp = True   # → AI tools at /mcp
✓ Admin CRUD page ✓ /api/inventory/items/ ✓ Swagger + ReDoc ✓ MCP tool ✓ Search index

What ships on day one

Not a starter kit you finish — a running operations platform your frontend plugs into.

Auto REST API
CRUD, search, filter, expand, paginate, aggregate — from one flag.
Live API docs
Swagger & ReDoc generated from your models. No YAML to hand-write.
Themed admin
Dashboard, CRUD pages, 5 palettes × light/dark — day one.
Activity log
Every request tracked and auditable, with zero setup.
Status + public page
Uptime monitoring and a shareable /status page out of the box.
Backups
Scheduled SQLite snapshots with retention, one command.
Full-text search
sqlite-fts5 search across your models, indexed automatically.
Data explorer
Browse every registered model in the UI — no queries.
Users & tokens
Auth, user management, and self-service API tokens included.
MCP server
AI tools + OAuth 2.0 at /mcp — Claude connects with no glue.
Runbooks & help
Versioned runbooks and a bundled markdown docs system.
Kamal + Docker
Dockerfile, compose, and Kamal deploy with automatic SSL.

One interface, or a potpourri

FastAPI has the better async story — genuinely. But to reach this much operational surface you assemble and maintain a dozen packages yourself. SmallStack hands it to you in one.

With SmallStack

One codebase. One admin. One deploy. Consistent, tested, day 1.

  • Auth, admin, REST + OpenAPI
  • Uptime + public status page
  • Activity log & audit trail
  • Backups, search, explorer
  • Kamal deploy + automatic SSL
  • MCP / AI tools included
Roll it yourself

Pick, wire, and maintain each piece — and hope they agree.

Auth + token libAdmin frameworkOpenAPI generatorBackground task queueUptime / heartbeat monitorStatus pageBackup + retention scriptsSearch engine wiringFull-text indexingUser management UIDeploy toolingTLS / certbotDocker plumbing

Ready to build it?

Build it — the Streamlit tutorial → Swagger API docs ↗ ReDoc ↗ Data explorer ↗ Public status ↗

Part of the SmallStack frontend suite — the same inventory app is built in React, Svelte, Solid, and Streamlit, each against this one backend.