Without a data validation system, you would have to do all the checks by hand, in code.

These features are what Marshmallow was built to provide. It is a great library, and I have used it a lot before.

# External Links and Articles

**FastAPI** has a great community constantly growing.

There are many posts, articles, tools, and projects, related to **FastAPI**.

Here's an incomplete list of some of them.

!!! tip

<img src="/img/tutorial/security/image02.png">

!!! note
    It doesn't matter what you type in the form, it won't work yet. But we'll get there.

This is of course not the frontend for the final users, but it's a great automatic tool to document interactively all your API.

It can be used by the frontend team (that can also be yourself).

It can be used by third party applications and systems.

async def update_item(item_id: str):
    if item_id != "plumbus":
        raise HTTPException(
            status_code=403, detail="You can only update the item: plumbus"
        )

As part of that, I needed to investigate, test and use many alternatives.

The history of **FastAPI** is in great part the history of its predecessors.

As said in the section [Alternatives](alternatives.md){.internal-link target=_blank}:

<blockquote markdown="1">

**FastAPI** wouldn't exist if not for the previous work of others.

async def update_item(item_id: str):
    if item_id != "plumbus":
        raise HTTPException(
            status_code=403, detail="You can only update the item: plumbus"
        )

async def update_item(item_id: str):
    if item_id != "plumbus":
        raise HTTPException(
            status_code=403, detail="You can only update the item: plumbus"
        )

So, the thief won't be able to try to use that password in another system (as many users use the same password everywhere, this would be dangerous).

## Install `passlib`

PassLib is a great Python package to handle password hashes.

It supports many secure hashing algorithms and utilities to work with them.

The recommended algorithm is "Bcrypt".

So, install PassLib with Bcrypt:

<div class="termy">

Up to now, you have been using common data types, like:

* `int`
* `float`
* `str`
* `bool`

But you can also use more complex data types.

And you will still have the same features as seen up to now:

* Great editor support.
* Data conversion from incoming requests.
* Data conversion for response data.
* Data validation.
* Automatic annotation and documentation.

## Other data types

That means that any value read in Python from an environment variable will be a `str`, and any conversion to a different type or validation has to be done in code.

## Pydantic `Settings`

Fortunately, Pydantic provides a great utility to handle these settings coming from environment variables with <a href="https://docs.pydantic.dev/latest/usage/pydantic_settings/" class="external-link" target="_blank">Pydantic: Settings management</a>.