The latest articles on DEV Community by Aravinda Krishnan (@aravinda_krishnan). https://dev.to/aravinda_krishnan https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4194350%2Fc6134b95-21db-4c93-857a-c3f0e8ce01a3.png https://dev.to/aravinda_krishnan en Aravinda Krishnan Sun, 25 Oct 2026 03:07:03 +0000 https://dev.to/aravinda_krishnan/building-a-content-distribution-platform-with-fastapi-and-python-31m9 https://dev.to/aravinda_krishnan/building-a-content-distribution-platform-with-fastapi-and-python-31m9 <h1> Building a Content Distribution Platform with FastAPI and Python </h1> <p>Publishing content across multiple platforms can quickly become repetitive. Each platform has its own API, authentication requirements, request formats, and error-handling behavior.</p> <p>I built IncuBrix Distribution to explore how a single API can coordinate content publishing across multiple destinations.</p> <h2> The architecture </h2> <p>The backend uses FastAPI and Pydantic for request handling and validation, SQLAlchemy for database persistence, and Alembic for database migrations. A connector-based architecture separates platform-specific publishing logic from the core workflow.</p> <h2> Six connector types </h2> <ul> <li>Discourse</li> <li>Lemmy</li> <li>DEV.to</li> <li>Ghost</li> <li>Generic HMAC-signed webhooks</li> <li>Assisted publishing</li> </ul> <h2> The publishing workflow </h2> <p>A client submits content through the API. The application creates a publishing job, applies configured rules, validates the destination, invokes the appropriate connector, and records the outcome. Clients can then query the job status.</p> <p>Idempotency keys help prevent duplicate job creation for repeated requests. Simulation mode allows connector workflows to be tested without sending real publishing requests.</p> <h2> Testing and security </h2> <p>The project includes automated tests, API authentication, encrypted credential storage, and configurable simulation mode. Testing simulated responses is useful, but real platform publishing must also be verified independently.</p> <h2> What I'm learning </h2> <p>This project has helped me work through the practical challenges of API integrations, asynchronous job processing, database migrations, credential security, and designing independently testable components.</p> <p>The goal is to make content distribution more consistent while keeping each platform's integration isolated and maintainable.</p> python fastapi webdev automation