diff --git a/server/api/utils.py b/server/api/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28127e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/api/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import datetime
+import MySQLdb
+import random
+import string
+
+from werkzeug.security import generate_password_hash, check_password_hash
+
+host = "localhost"
+user = "root"
+
+conn = MySQLdb.connect()
+
+def get_connection():
+    global conn
+    if not conn:
+        conn = MySQLdb.connect(host=host, user=user)
+    return conn
+
+def hash_password(s):
+    return generate_password_hash(s)
+
+def check_password(hashed_password, try_password):
+    return check_password_hash(hashed_password, try_password)
+
+def generate_string(length):
+    return "".join([random.choice(string.letters + string.digits) for x in range(length)])
+
+def unix_time_millis(dt):
+    epoch = datetime.datetime.utcfromtimestamp(0)
+    return (dt - epoch).total_seconds() * 1000.0
+
+def get_time_since_epoch():
+    return unix_time_millis(datetime.datetime.now())