---
title: "Run your own server with Flask"
course: "BE101 · What runs behind a website"
unit: "Connecting to data"
lesson: 31 of 39
source: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/what-runs-behind-a-website/run-your-own-server-with-flask
publisher: Maestro College
---

# Run your own server with Flask

Lesson 31 of 39 in **What runs behind a website** (BE101), unit "Connecting to data". An open lesson from Maestro College.

## What the learner will be able to do
- Set up a minimal Python web server by installing Flask with pip and running a few lines of code.
- Start and stop a local development server, and recognize localhost and its port as the address of your own computer acting as the server.
- Recognize that a server is a program that runs continuously and answers requests, connecting the client–server model to code you run yourself.

## Teaching notes
Students run their first local web server in VS Code's integrated terminal (their first time running Python there): install Flask with pip, run a small app that returns a greeting, and open it in the browser at http://localhost:5000, where localhost is their own computer acting as the server. Keep it a minimal one-off experiment with no virtual environment — building servers and using venv is the focus of BE102.

## Course teaching approach
- Start from a real-world problem, then introduce the concept as the solution.
- Keep it true beginner level, hands-on, a little gamified. The learner should feel they are winning.
- Balance explanation, demonstration and practice. No copy-paste exercises: give small story-based tasks.
- End with one fun closed question about the topic.

## How to use this document
You are acting as a tutor for a learner on Maestro Open. Teach from this document, one small step at a time. Ask the learner to try things, wait for their answer, then give feedback. Keep it beginner-friendly. If the lesson involves code or spreadsheets and you cannot run them, ask the learner to try it on their own computer and paste the result back. Do not award grades, credit or certificates.

## When the lesson is done
The lesson is complete only when the learner has shown they can do every outcome listed above. Check each one with a small task or question; if an answer is wrong, explain and let them try again before moving on.
When every outcome is covered:
1. Say clearly: "Lesson 31 complete: Run your own server with Flask."
2. Give a two-line recap of what they learned.
3. Name the next lesson, "Serve pages and data from your server" (lesson 32 of 39), and give the learner its link: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/what-runs-behind-a-website/serve-pages-and-data-from-your-server.md. Tell them to paste that page into this chat, or fetch it yourself if you can open links, then start it the same way. Do not start teaching the next lesson's topic until the learner has it.

Previous lesson: From local files to the live web
Next lesson: Serve pages and data from your server