# Extending OpenAPI

There are some cases where you might need to modify the generated OpenAPI schema.

In this section you will see how.

## The normal process

The normal (default) process, is as follows.

A `FastAPI` application (instance) has an `.openapi()` method that is expected to return the OpenAPI schema.

As part of the application object creation, a _path operation_ for `/openapi.json` (or for whatever you set your `openapi_url`) is registered.

It just returns a JSON response with the result of the application's `.openapi()` method.

By default, what the method `.openapi()` does is check the property `.openapi_schema` to see if it has contents and return them.

If it doesn't, it generates them using the utility function at `fastapi.openapi.utils.get_openapi`.

And that function `get_openapi()` receives as parameters:

- `title`: The OpenAPI title, shown in the docs.
- `version`: The version of your API, e.g. `2.5.0`.
- `openapi_version`: The version of the OpenAPI specification used. By default, the latest: `3.1.0`.
- `summary`: A short summary of the API.
- `description`: The description of your API, this can include markdown and will be shown in the docs.
- `routes`: The routes from the application, taken from `app.routes`. FastAPI uses them to collect the registered _path operations_, including those from included routers.

:::callout{intent="tip" title="Technical Details"}
`app.routes` is a lower-level route tree. It can include route candidates that FastAPI uses internally for included routers, not only final `APIRoute` objects.

You can still pass `app.routes` to `get_openapi()`. FastAPI will traverse that route tree to collect the effective path operations.
:::

:::callout{intent="note"}
The parameter `summary` is available in OpenAPI 3.1.0 and above, supported by FastAPI 0.99.0 and above.
:::

## Overriding the defaults

Using the information above, you can use the same utility function to generate the OpenAPI schema and override each part that you need.

For example, let's add [ReDoc's OpenAPI extension to include a custom logo](https://github.com/Redocly/redoc/blob/main/docs/redoc-vendor-extensions.md#x-logo).

### Normal **FastAPI**

First, write all your **FastAPI** application as normally:

```python
from fastapi import FastAPI
from fastapi.openapi.utils import get_openapi

app = FastAPI()


@app.get("/items/")
async def read_items():
    return [{"name": "Foo"}]


def custom_openapi():
    if app.openapi_schema:
        return app.openapi_schema
    openapi_schema = get_openapi(
        title="Custom title",
        version="2.5.0",
        summary="This is a very custom OpenAPI schema",
        description="Here's a longer description of the custom **OpenAPI** schema",
        routes=app.routes,
    )
    openapi_schema["info"]["x-logo"] = {
        "url": "https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/img/logo-margin/logo-teal.png"
    }
    app.openapi_schema = openapi_schema
    return app.openapi_schema


app.openapi = custom_openapi
```

### Generate the OpenAPI schema

Then, use the same utility function to generate the OpenAPI schema, inside a `custom_openapi()` function:

```python
from fastapi import FastAPI
from fastapi.openapi.utils import get_openapi

app = FastAPI()


@app.get("/items/")
async def read_items():
    return [{"name": "Foo"}]


def custom_openapi():
    if app.openapi_schema:
        return app.openapi_schema
    openapi_schema = get_openapi(
        title="Custom title",
        version="2.5.0",
        summary="This is a very custom OpenAPI schema",
        description="Here's a longer description of the custom **OpenAPI** schema",
        routes=app.routes,
    )
    openapi_schema["info"]["x-logo"] = {
        "url": "https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/img/logo-margin/logo-teal.png"
    }
    app.openapi_schema = openapi_schema
    return app.openapi_schema


app.openapi = custom_openapi
```

### Modify the OpenAPI schema

Now you can add the ReDoc extension, adding a custom `x-logo` to the `info` "object" in the OpenAPI schema:

```python
from fastapi import FastAPI
from fastapi.openapi.utils import get_openapi

app = FastAPI()


@app.get("/items/")
async def read_items():
    return [{"name": "Foo"}]


def custom_openapi():
    if app.openapi_schema:
        return app.openapi_schema
    openapi_schema = get_openapi(
        title="Custom title",
        version="2.5.0",
        summary="This is a very custom OpenAPI schema",
        description="Here's a longer description of the custom **OpenAPI** schema",
        routes=app.routes,
    )
    openapi_schema["info"]["x-logo"] = {
        "url": "https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/img/logo-margin/logo-teal.png"
    }
    app.openapi_schema = openapi_schema
    return app.openapi_schema


app.openapi = custom_openapi
```

### Cache the OpenAPI schema

You can use the property `.openapi_schema` as a "cache", to store your generated schema.

That way, your application won't have to generate the schema every time a user opens your API docs.

It will be generated only once, and then the same cached schema will be used for the next requests.

```python
from fastapi import FastAPI
from fastapi.openapi.utils import get_openapi

app = FastAPI()


@app.get("/items/")
async def read_items():
    return [{"name": "Foo"}]


def custom_openapi():
    if app.openapi_schema:
        return app.openapi_schema
    openapi_schema = get_openapi(
        title="Custom title",
        version="2.5.0",
        summary="This is a very custom OpenAPI schema",
        description="Here's a longer description of the custom **OpenAPI** schema",
        routes=app.routes,
    )
    openapi_schema["info"]["x-logo"] = {
        "url": "https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/img/logo-margin/logo-teal.png"
    }
    app.openapi_schema = openapi_schema
    return app.openapi_schema


app.openapi = custom_openapi
```

### Override the method

Now you can replace the `.openapi()` method with your new function.

```python
from fastapi import FastAPI
from fastapi.openapi.utils import get_openapi

app = FastAPI()


@app.get("/items/")
async def read_items():
    return [{"name": "Foo"}]


def custom_openapi():
    if app.openapi_schema:
        return app.openapi_schema
    openapi_schema = get_openapi(
        title="Custom title",
        version="2.5.0",
        summary="This is a very custom OpenAPI schema",
        description="Here's a longer description of the custom **OpenAPI** schema",
        routes=app.routes,
    )
    openapi_schema["info"]["x-logo"] = {
        "url": "https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/img/logo-margin/logo-teal.png"
    }
    app.openapi_schema = openapi_schema
    return app.openapi_schema


app.openapi = custom_openapi
```

### Check it

Once you go to http://127.0.0.1:8000/redoc you will see that you are using your custom logo (in this example, **FastAPI**'s logo):

<img src="../img/tutorial/extending-openapi/image01.png" alt="">

## Related pages

- [About](./about-index.md)
- [Advanced User Guide](./advanced-user-guide-index.md)
- [Deployment](./deployment-index.md)
- [FastAPI](./fastapi-index.md)
- [FastAPI Docs](../index.md)
- [Features](./features-index.md)
- [How To - Recipes](./how-to-recipes-index.md)
- [Learn](./learn-index.md)
- [More](./more-index.md)
- [OpenAPI](./openapi-index.md)

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