Sandhill's Bootstrap Process

The bootstrap process is how Sandhill initializes itself and starts running, and is done before any requests are able to be served. This whole process takes only a few seconds and runs automatically.

Bootstrap Steps

1. The Flask application is created
2. Core bootstrap functionality initiated
   • Include instance/ path for templates and static path routes
   • Load the sandhill.cfg config file
   • Configure logging
3. Load code from both core Sandhill and the site instance (in that order for each item)
   • Bootstrap files in bootstrap/
   • Command files from commands/
   • Template filters from filters/
   • Context functionality from context/
4. Load routes from instance/config/routes/

Adding Instance Bootstrap Code

Adding code specific to your instance into Sandhill is as simple as placing your code into one of the appropriate directories:

• instance/bootstrap/
• instance/commands/
• instance/filters/
• instance/context/

There is technically no difference between the above directories other than the order in which they are loaded. Any Python (.py) file located in the above directories will be auto-loaded upon Sandhill's start.

Adding or editing a Python file located in the above after Sandhill has started will not be loaded until Sandhill is restarted.

Core Sandhill Bootstrap Files

If you're curious, have a look at the bootstrap source code of Sandhill over at the API reference page.