I’m new to Python Flask, and when I run my web app using the Flask development server in VS Code, I keep seeing this in the terminal:
GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 404
What exactly is favicon.ico, and why is Flask returning a 404 error for it?
Do I need to create one or configure something to get rid of the error?
Just trying to understand if it’s something critical or can be ignored in development.
Browsers automatically try to fetch /favicon.ico even if you haven’t added one, it’s just part of the default behavior.
If Flask doesn’t find a file at that path, it returns a 404.
It’s harmless during development but if you want to avoid the warning altogether, just drop a small icon file named favicon.ico inside your static folder and link it like this in your HTML:
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<link rel="icon" href="{{ url_for('static', filename='favicon.ico') }}">
This tells the browser exactly where to look, and Flask won’t try to guess anymore.
If you’re not ready to design a real favicon yet, a quick workaround is to just add a dummy favicon.ico file.
It can be an empty file or even a 1x1 pixel image, just so the request doesn’t break.
Place it inside the static folder and Flask will serve it automatically.
No need to overthink it during dev. It silences the 404, and you won’t be distracted every time you reload the page.
Later, when you’re preparing for production, you can swap it with your actual site icon.
@anusha_gg Another approach I use, especially when I don’t care about favicons during early development, is to just suppress the warning entirely.
You can filter it out in your logging setup or simply ignore it, since Flask’s dev server doesn’t impact functionality with 404s on optional assets like this.
But if you’re curious from a UX perspective, having a favicon is a nice touch.
It helps when you have many tabs open and want to quickly identify your app.
So even in dev, it’s worth adding a placeholder just for that visual cue.