Moesif Middleware for Python WSGI-based Frameworks

by Moesif, the API analytics and API monetization platform.

With Moesif middleware for Python WSGI-based frameworks, you can automatically log API calls and send them to Moesif for API analytics and monitoring.

If you're new to Moesif, see our Getting Started resources to quickly get up and running.

Overview

This middleware allows you to integrate Moesif's API analytics and API monetization features with minimal configuration into APIs that are built on Python WSGI-based (Web Server Gateway Interface) frameworks.

WSGI (Web Server Gateway Interface) is a standard (PEP 3333) that describes how a web server communicates with web applications. Many Python Frameworks are build on top of WSGI, such as Flask, Bottle, and Pyramid.

Prerequisites

Before using this middleware, make sure you have the following:

• An active Moesif account
• A Moesif Application ID

Get Your Moesif Application ID

After you log into Moesif Portal, you can get your Moesif Application ID during the onboarding steps. You can always access the Application ID any time by following these steps from Moesif Portal after logging in:

1. Select the account icon to bring up the settings menu.
2. Select Installation or API Keys.
3. Copy your Moesif Application ID from the Collector Application ID field.

Install the Middleware

Install with pip using the following command:

pip install moesifwsgi

Configure the Middleware

See the available configuration options to learn how to configure the middleware for your use case.

How to Use

Flask

Wrap your wsgi_app with the Moesif middleware.

from moesifwsgi import MoesifMiddleware

moesif_settings = {
    'APPLICATION_ID': 'YOUR_MOESIF_APPLICATION_ID',
    'LOG_BODY': True,
    # ... For other options see below.
}

app.wsgi_app = MoesifMiddleware(app.wsgi_app, moesif_settings)

Replace YOUR_MOESIF_APPLICATION_ID with your Moesif Application ID.

For an example with Flask, see the /examples/flask folder of this repository.

Bottle

Wrap your Bottle application with the Moesif middleware:

from moesifwsgi import MoesifMiddleware

app = bottle.Bottle()

moesif_settings = {
    'APPLICATION_ID': 'YOUR_MOESIF_APPLICATION_ID',
    'LOG_BODY': True,
    # ... For other options see below.
}

bottle.run(app=MoesifMiddleware(app, moesif_settings))

Replace YOUR_MOESIF_APPLICATION_ID with your Moesif Application ID.

For an example with Bottle, see the /examples/bottle folder of this repository.

Pyramid

from pyramid.config import Configurator
from moesifwsgi import MoesifMiddleware

if __name__ == '__main__':
    config = Configurator()
    config.add_route('hello', '/')
    config.scan()
    app = config.make_wsgi_app()

    # configure your moesif settings
    moesif_settings = {
        'APPLICATION_ID': 'YOUR_MOESIF_APPLICATION_ID',
        'LOG_BODY': True,
        # ... For other options see below.
    }
    # Put middleware
    app = MoesifMiddleware(app, moesif_settings)

    server = make_server('0.0.0.0', 8080, app)
    server.serve_forever()

Replace YOUR_MOESIF_APPLICATION_ID with your Moesif Application ID.

Other WSGI Frameworks

If you are using a framework that is built on top of WSGI, it should work just by adding the Moesif middleware. Please read the documentation for your specific framework on how to add middlewares.

Optional: Capturing Outgoing API Calls

In addition to your own APIs, you can also start capturing calls out to third party services through by setting the CAPTURE_OUTGOING_REQUESTS option:

from moesifwsgi import MoesifMiddleware
from flask import Flask

moesif_settings = {
    'APPLICATION_ID': 'YOUR_MOESIF_APPLICATION_ID',
    'LOG_BODY': True,
    'CAPTURE_OUTGOING_REQUESTS': False
}

app = Flask(__name__)

app.wsgi_app = MoesifMiddleware(app.wsgi_app, moesif_settings)

For configuration options specific to capturing outgoing API calls, see Options For Outgoing API Calls.

Troubleshoot

For a general troubleshooting guide that can help you solve common problems, see Server Troubleshooting Guide.

Other troubleshooting supports:

• FAQ
• Moesif support email

Solve Timezone Issue with Docker

When using Docker with Ubuntu-based image, events may not be captured if the image fails to find any timezone configuration. To solve this issue, add the following line to your Dockerfile:

ENV TZ=UTC

Otherwise, you can add RUN apt-get install tzdata in the Dockerfile.

Repository Structure

.
├── BUILDING.md
├── examples/
├── images/
├── LICENSE
├── MANIFEST.in
├── moesifwsgi/
├── README.md
├── requirements.txt
├── setup.cfg
└── setup.py

Configuration options

The following sections describe the available configuration options for this middleware. You can set these options in a Python dictionary and then pass that as a parameter when you create the middleware instance. See the examples/ folder for better understanding.

Notice the following about the configuration options:

• The app is the original WSGI app instance.
• The environ is a WSGI environ.

Moesif also adds the following keys to environ:

• environ['moesif.request_body']: a JSON object or base64 encoded string if couldn't parse the request body as JSON

• environ["moesif.response_body_chunks"]: a response body chunks

• environ["moesif.response_headers"]: a dictionary representing the response headers

APPLICATION_ID

Data type
String

A string that identifies your application in Moesif.

SKIP

Data type	Parameters	Return type
Function	(app, environ)	Boolean

Optional.

A function that takes a WSGI application and an environ object, and returns True if you want to skip this particular event.

IDENTIFY_USER

Data type	Parameters	Return type
Function	(app, environ, response_headers)	String

Optional, but highly recommended.

A function with the following arguments:

• A WSGI application
• An environ object
• An optional parameter for response headers

Returns returns a string that represents the user ID used by your system.

Moesif identifies users automatically. However, due to the differences arising from different frameworks and implementations, provide this function to ensure user identification properly.

IDENTIFY_COMPANY

Data type	Parameters	Return type
Function	(app, environ, response_headers)	String

Optional.

A function with the following arguments:

• A WSGI application
• An environ object
• An optional parameter for response headers

Returns a string that represents the company ID for this event.

GET_METADATA

Data type	Parameters	Return type
Function	(app, environ)	Dictionary

Optional.

A function that takes a WSGI application and an environ object, and returns a dictionary.

This function allows you to add custom metadata that Moesif can associate with the event. The metadata must be a simple Python dictionary that can be converted to JSON.

For example, you may want to save a virtual machine instance ID, a trace ID, or a resource ID with the request.

GET_SESSION_TOKEN

Data type	Parameters	Return type
Function	(app, environ)	String

Optional.

A function that takes a WSGI application and an environ, and returns a string that represents the session token for this event.

Similar to users and companies, Moesif tries to retrieve session tokens automatically. But if it doesn't work for your service, provide this function to help identify sessions.

MASK_EVENT_MODEL

Data type	Parameters	Return type
Function	(EventModel)	EventModel

Optional.

A function that takes the final Moesif event model and returns an event model with desired data removed.

The return value must be a valid eventt model required by Moesif data ingestion API. For more information about the EventModel object, see the Moesif Python API documentation.

DEBUG

Data type
Boolean

Optional.

Set to True to print debug logs if you're having integration issues.

LOG_BODY

Data type	Default
Boolean	True

Optional.

Whether to log request and response body to Moesif.

EVENT_QUEUE_SIZE

Data type	Default
int	1000_000

Optional.

The maximum number of event objects queued in memory pending upload to Moesif. For a full queue, additional calls to MoesifMiddleware returns immediately without logging the event. Therefore, set this option based on the event size and memory capacity you expect.

EVENT_WORKER_COUNT

Data type	Default
int	2

Optional.

The number of worker threads to use for uploading events to Moesif.

If you have a large number of events being logged, increasing this number can improve upload performance.

BATCH_SIZE

Data type	Default
int	100

An optional field name that specifies the maximum batch size when sending to Moesif.

EVENT_BATCH_TIMEOUT

Data type	Default
int	1

Optional.

Maximum time in seconds to wait before sending a batch of events to Moesif when reading from the queue.

AUTHORIZATION_HEADER_NAME

Data type	Default
String	authorization

Optional.

A request header field name used to identify the User in Moesif. It also supports a comma separated string. Moesif checks headers in order like "X-Api-Key,Authorization".

AUTHORIZATION_USER_ID_FIELD

Data type	Default
String	sub

Optional.

A field name used to parse the user from authorization header in Moesif.

BASE_URI

Data type
String

Optional.

A local proxy hostname when sending traffic through secure proxy. Remember to set this field when using secure proxy. For more information, see Secure Proxy documentation..

Options For Outgoing API Calls

The following options apply to outgoing API calls. These are calls you initiate using the Python Requests library to third parties like Stripe or to your own services.

Several options use request and response as input arguments. These correspond to the Requests library's request or response objects.

If you are not using WSGI, you can import moesifpythonrequest directly.

CAPTURE_OUTGOING_REQUESTS

Data type	Default
Boolean	False

Set to True to capture all outgoing API calls.

GET_METADATA_OUTGOING

Data type	Parameters	Return type
Function	(req, res)	Dictionary

Optional.

A function that enables you to return custom metadata associated with the logged API calls.

Takes in the Requests request and response objects as arguments.

We recommend that you implement a function that returns a dictionary containing your custom metadata. The dictionary must be a valid one that can be encoded into JSON. For example, you may want to save a virtual machine instance ID, a trace ID, or a resource ID with the request.

SKIP_OUTGOING

Data type	Parameters	Return type
Function	(req, res)	Boolean

Optional.

A function that takes a Requests request and response objects, and returns True if you want to skip this particular event.

IDENTIFY_USER_OUTGOING

Data type	Parameters	Return type
Function	(req, res)	String

Optional, but highly recommended.

A function that takes Requests request and response objects, and returns a string that represents the user ID used by your system.

While Moesif tries to identify users automatically, different frameworks and your implementation might vary. So we highly recommend that you accurately provide a user ID using this function.

IDENTIFY_COMPANY_OUTGOING

Data type	Parameters	Return type
Function	(req, res)	String

Optional.

A function that takes Requests request and response objects, and returns a string that represents the company ID for this event.

GET_SESSION_TOKEN_OUTGOING

Data type	Parameters	Return type
Function	(req, res)	String

Optional.

A function that takes Requests request and response objects, and returns a string that corresponds to the session token for this event.

Similar to user IDs, Moesif tries to get the session token automatically. However, if you setup differs from the standard, this function can help tying up events together and help you replay the events.

LOG_BODY_OUTGOING

Data type	Default
Boolean	True

Optional.

Set to False to remove logging request and response body.

Examples

See the examples/ directory for example applications using Flask, Falcon, and Bottle frameworks.

Here's a Flask example:

def identify_user(app, environ, response_headers=dict()):
    # Your custom code that returns a user id string
    return "12345"

def identify_company(app, environ, response_headers=dict()):
    # Your custom code that returns a company id string
    return "67890"

def should_skip(app, environ):
    # Your custom code that returns true to skip logging
    return "health/probe" in environ.get('PATH_INFO', '')

def get_token(app, environ):
    # If you don't want to use the standard WSGI session token,
    # add your custom code that returns a string for session/API token
    return "XXXXXXXXXXXXXX"

def mask_event(eventmodel):
    # Your custom code to change or remove any sensitive fields
    if 'password' in eventmodel.response.body:
        eventmodel.response.body['password'] = None
    return eventmodel

def get_metadata(app, environ):
    return {
        'datacenter': 'westus',
        'deployment_version': 'v1.2.3',
    }

moesif_settings = {
    'APPLICATION_ID': 'YOUR_MOESIF_APPLICATION_ID',
    'DEBUG': False,
    'LOG_BODY': True,
    'IDENTIFY_USER': identify_user,
    'IDENTIFY_COMPANY': identify_company,
    'GET_SESSION_TOKEN': get_token,
    'SKIP': should_skip,
    'MASK_EVENT_MODEL': mask_event,
    'GET_METADATA': get_metadata,
    'CAPTURE_OUTGOING_REQUESTS': False
}

app.wsgi_app = MoesifMiddleware(app.wsgi_app, moesif_settings)

The following examples demonstrate how to add and update customer information.

Update A Single User

To create or update a user profile in Moesif, use the update_user() function.

api_client = MoesifAPIClient("Your Moesif Application Id").api

# Only user_id is required.
# Campaign object is optional, but useful if you want to track ROI of acquisition channels
# See https://www.moesif.com/docs/api#users for campaign schema
# metadata can be any custom object
user = {
  'user_id': '12345',
  'company_id': '67890', # If set, associate user with a company object
  'campaign': {
    'utm_source': 'google',
    'utm_medium': 'cpc', 
    'utm_campaign': 'adwords',
    'utm_term': 'api+tooling',
    'utm_content': 'landing'
  },
  'metadata': {
    'email': 'john@acmeinc.com',
    'first_name': 'John',
    'last_name': 'Doe',
    'title': 'Software Engineer',
    'sales_info': {
        'stage': 'Customer',
        'lifetime_value': 24000,
        'account_owner': 'mary@contoso.com'
    },
  }
}

update_user = api_client.update_user(user)

The metadata field can contain any customer demographic or other info you want to store. Moesif only requires the user_id field.

For more information, see the function documentation in Moesif Python API Reference.

Update Users in Batch

To update a list of users in one batch, use the update_users_batch() function.

api_client = MoesifAPIClient("Your Moesif Application Id").api

userA = {
  'user_id': '12345',
  'company_id': '67890', # If set, associate user with a company object
  'metadata': {
    'email': 'john@acmeinc.com',
    'first_name': 'John',
    'last_name': 'Doe',
    'title': 'Software Engineer',
    'sales_info': {
        'stage': 'Customer',
        'lifetime_value': 24000,
        'account_owner': 'mary@contoso.com'
    },
  }
}

userB = {
  'user_id': '54321',
  'company_id': '67890', # If set, associate user with a company object
  'metadata': {
    'email': 'mary@acmeinc.com',
    'first_name': 'Mary',
    'last_name': 'Jane',
    'title': 'Software Engineer',
    'sales_info': {
        'stage': 'Customer',
        'lifetime_value': 48000,
        'account_owner': 'mary@contoso.com'
    },
  }
}
update_users = api_client.update_users_batch([userA, userB])

The metadata field can contain any customer demographic or other info you want to store. Moesif only requires the user_id field.

For more information, see the function documentation in Moesif Python API Reference.

Update A Single Company

To update a single company, use the update_company() function.

api_client = MoesifAPIClient("Your Moesif Application Id").api

# Only company_id is required.
# Campaign object is optional, but useful if you want to track ROI of acquisition channels
# See https://www.moesif.com/docs/api#update-a-company for campaign schema
# metadata can be any custom object
company = {
  'company_id': '67890',
  'company_domain': 'acmeinc.com', # If domain is set, Moesif will enrich your profiles with publicly available info 
  'campaign': {
    'utm_source': 'google',
    'utm_medium': 'cpc', 
    'utm_campaign': 'adwords',
    'utm_term': 'api+tooling',
    'utm_content': 'landing'
  },
  'metadata': {
    'org_name': 'Acme, Inc',
    'plan_name': 'Free',
    'deal_stage': 'Lead',
    'mrr': 24000,
    'demographics': {
        'alexa_ranking': 500000,
        'employee_count': 47
    },
  }
}

update_company = api_client.update_company(company)

The metadata field can contain any company demographic or other information you want to store. Moesif only requires the company_id field. For more information, see the function documentation in Moesif Python API Reference.

Update Companies in Batch

To update a list of companies in one batch, use the update_companies_batch() function.

api_client = MoesifAPIClient("Your Moesif Application Id").api

companyA = {
  'company_id': '67890',
  'company_domain': 'acmeinc.com', # If domain is set, Moesif will enrich your profiles with publicly available info 
  'metadata': {
    'org_name': 'Acme, Inc',
    'plan_name': 'Free',
    'deal_stage': 'Lead',
    'mrr': 24000,
    'demographics': {
        'alexa_ranking': 500000,
        'employee_count': 47
    },
  }
}

companyB = {
  'company_id': '09876',
  'company_domain': 'contoso.com', # If domain is set, Moesif will enrich your profiles with publicly available info 
  'metadata': {
    'org_name': 'Contoso, Inc',
    'plan_name': 'Free',
    'deal_stage': 'Lead',
    'mrr': 48000,
    'demographics': {
        'alexa_ranking': 500000,
        'employee_count': 53
    },
  }
}

update_companies = api_client.update_companies_batch([companyA, companyB])

The metadata field can contain any company demographic or other information you want to store. Moesif only requires the company_id field. For more information, see the function documentation in Moesif Python API Reference.

How to Get Help

If you face any issues using this middleware, try the troubheshooting guidelines. For further assistance, reach out to our support team.

Explore Other Integrations

Explore other integration options from Moesif:

• Server integration options documentation
• Client integration options documentation