flash-init.md

flash init

Create a new Flash project with a ready-to-use template structure.

Overview

The flash init command scaffolds a new Flash project with everything you need to get started: example GPU and CPU worker files using Endpoint, a load-balanced HTTP endpoint, and the project structure that Flash expects. It's the fastest way to go from zero to a working distributed application.

Note: This command only creates local files. It doesn't interact with Runpod or create any cloud resources. Cloud resources (apps, environments, endpoints) are created later when you run flash deploy.

When to use this command

• Starting a new Flash project from scratch
• Learning how Flash projects are structured
• Creating a boilerplate to customize for your use case

After initialization:

1. Copy .env.example to .env and add your RUNPOD_API_KEY
2. Run flash dev to start the local development server
3. Customize the workers for your use case
4. Deploy with flash deploy when ready

Usage

flash init [PROJECT_NAME] [OPTIONS]

Arguments

• PROJECT_NAME (optional): Name of the project directory to create
  • If omitted or ., initializes in current directory

Options

• --force, -f: Overwrite existing files

Examples

# Create new project directory
flash init my-project

# Initialize in current directory
flash init .

# Overwrite existing files
flash init my-project --force

What It Creates

my-project/
├── gpu_worker.py        # GPU worker with @Endpoint function
├── cpu_worker.py        # CPU worker with @Endpoint function
├── lb_worker.py         # Load-balanced HTTP endpoint with routes
├── .env
├── pyproject.toml       # Python dependencies (uv/pip compatible)
└── README.md

Next Steps

cd my-project
uv sync                          # or: pip install -r requirements.txt
# Add RUNPOD_API_KEY to .env
flash dev

Visit http://localhost:8888/docs for interactive API documentation.