Using the Request Directly¶

Up to now, you have been declaring the parts of the request that you need with their types.

Taking data from:

• The path as parameters.
• Headers.
• Cookies.
• etc.

And by doing so,FastAPI is validating that data, converting it and generating documentation for your API automatically.

But there are situations where you might need to access theRequest object directly.

Details about theRequest object¶

AsFastAPI is actuallyStarlette underneath, with a layer of several tools on top, you can use Starlette'sRequest object directly when you need to.

It would also mean that if you get data from theRequest object directly (for example, read the body) it won't be validated, converted or documented (with OpenAPI, for the automatic API user interface) by FastAPI.

Although any other parameter declared normally (for example, the body with a Pydantic model) would still be validated, converted, annotated, etc.

But there are specific cases where it's useful to get theRequest object.

Use theRequest object directly¶

Let's imagine you want to get the client's IP address/host inside of yourpath operation function.

For that you need to access the request directly.

fromfastapiimportFastAPI,Requestapp=FastAPI()@app.get("/items/{item_id}")defread_root(item_id:str,request:Request):client_host=request.client.hostreturn{"client_host":client_host,"item_id":item_id}

By declaring apath operation function parameter with the type being theRequestFastAPI will know to pass theRequest in that parameter.

Request documentation¶

You can read more details about theRequest object in the official Starlette documentation site.