I have a function that collects data from an api every 60 seconds. I want to be able to start and stop this function by making request to Python Flask app. The app is deployed on a VPS server, but what I noticed is that thread would just automatically stops after some time. If I send “start” request thread would start working again.
So, my questions are:

1. Is it a good approach I am using?
2. How do I make thread running until ‘stop’ request is received?

Here is my code:

# Thread that runs the main function
thread = None
stop_thread = True

def main():
    print("Starting the application...")
    try:
        while stop_thread is False:
            try:
                conn = connect_to_db()
                    # Some API interaction here
                    conn.commit()
            except Exception as e:
                print(f"An error occurred: {e}")
                conn.rollback()
            finally:
                conn.close()
            time.sleep(60)  # Sleep for 60 seconds
    finally:
        conn.close()

@app.route("/start", methods=["POST"])
def start():
    global thread
    global stop_thread

    if thread is None:
        stop_thread = False
        thread = threading.Thread(target=main)
        thread.start()
        return jsonify({"status": "started"})
    return jsonify({"status": "already started"})

@app.route("/stop", methods=["POST"])
def stop():
    global thread
    global stop_thread

    if thread is not None:
        stop_thread = True
        thread.join()
        thread = None
        return jsonify({"status": "stopped"})
    return jsonify({"status": "not started"})

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run(debug=True)

Currently I am creating separate thread when request to the “/start” endpoint is received. Inside my function I have while loop that checks global boolean flag. So, the idea is:

1. Accept “start” request
2. Change global flag to true
3. Start fetching function in a separate thread
4. Fetch data from api while flag is true.
5. Accept “stop” request
6. Change global flag, join thread.

I do not want it to be some kind of cron job because I want to be able to control data fetching process from a client side later.