Python flask app routing in cpanel: can only access root url

Question

I have a python app set up in cPanel. I have set the app URL to backend and when I query mydomain.com/backend/ it gives back the app's root view (which is just an html "hello there").

The rest of the endpoints are the ones I need but I get back a 404 on every other URL

@app.route('/')
def hello_world():
  logger.debug("Hi there")
  return "<h1 style='color:red'>Hi there</h1>"

@app.route('/test', methods=['POST','GET'])
def test():
    logger.info("Got test request")
    return {'ok' : 'success!'}

mydomain.com/backend/ --> Hi there
mydomain.com/backend/test --> 404
mydomain.com/backend/<any_other> --> 404

I would bet there's some other service returning the 404 before reaching the script. I could not find any reference to backend/ in the public_html/.htaccess. Dependencies are ok (no package complains).

My privileges on the server are very limited. Any pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Ps found a similar question with no answers

Answer 1

Add the following rules to your .htaccess in the directory of your application url

RewriteEngine on  
RewriteRule ^http://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [END,NE]

that solved this issue for me

Answer 2

A member of our team worked this out by adding a new subdomain and setting the url there.

So instead of mydomain.com/backend the app is running now at backend.mydomain.com/backend and working just fine.

Cheers

Answer 3

You will need to modify the .htaccess file to achieve this. Since your application is in mydomain.com/backend/ when apache doesn't find it gives 404. To avoid this you need to use like the following which redirects all the requests to your app. Flask will handle the rest.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /backend/ [L]