pipenv FLASK_APP problems pointing inside folder

I've been trying to follow a few tutorials and start a flask project inside a pipenv environment. I can't seem to point my export FLASK_APP=<-app.py location-> to the right location.

I start the project with pipenv install flask I verified that python is working inside the environment:

If I put the app.py in the main VENV folder, I can point to it with export FLASK_APP=app.py and run pipenv run flask run and everything works fine.

I then create a folder called flask, with __init__.py and app.py.

I then try and export the FLASK_APP and run pipenv run flask run

export FLASK_APP=/flask/app.py does not work

export FLASK_APP=./flask/app.py does not work

export FLASK_APP=$VIRTUAL_ENV/../flask/app.py does not work

I can't even see the folder when I look in $VIRTUAL_ENV/. I just see bin/ include/ lib/ src/

This has got to be something simple that I am missing. Any thoughts?

• don't put anything in virtual environment folder
• think of virtual environment folder as a black box managed by pip and pipenv commands.

here are steps to create flask app in pipenv

1. mkdir <project_root> make new folder for project
2. cd <test_flask_app> go into new folder
3. pipenv --three create new virtual environment using with python 3
4. pipenv shell activate pipenv virtual environment
5. pipenv install flask install flask
6. mkdir <python_code_root> create folder for all python code (see here for example python project https://github.com/kennethreitz/samplemod)

7. create simple flask app file <python_code_root>/app.py (taken from http://flask.pocoo.org/)

   from flask import Flask
   app = Flask(__name__)
   
   @app.route("/")
   def hello():
       return "Hello World!"
   

   the expected project folder should look like

   .
   ├── Pipfile
   ├── Pipfile.lock
   └── <python_code_root>
       └── app.py
   

8. export FLASK_APP=<python_code_root>/app.py export variable

9. flask run start flask app
10. in browser go to http://localhost:5000/

---

Note that pipenv --three generates the python virtual env folder in a random hashed folder. You're not supposed to manually edit/add anything in this folder.

When I run pipenv --three the output is:

   Creating a virtualenv for this project…
   Pipfile:
   /Users/grahamcrowell/Documents/test_flask_app/Pipfile
   Using /usr/local/bin/python3 (3.7.1) to create virtualenv…
   ✔ Complete 
   Using base prefix '/usr/local/Cellar/python/3.7.1/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7'
   New python executable in /Users/grahamcrowell/.local/share/virtualenvs/test_flask_app-l4aYsVUB/bin/python3.7
   Also creating executable in /Users/grahamcrowell/.local/share/virtualenvs/test_flask_app-l4aYsVUB/bin/python
   Installing setuptools, pip, wheel...done.
   Running virtualenv with interpreter /usr/local/bin/python3
   Virtualenv location:        /Users/grahamcrowell/.local/share/virtualenvs/test_flask_app-l4aYsVUB
   Creating a Pipfile for this project…