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SQLAlchemy ORM Skill

progressive_disclosure: entry_point: summary: "Python SQL toolkit and ORM with powerful query builder and relationship mapping" when_to_use: - "When building Python applications with databases" - "When needing complex SQL queries with type safety" - "When working with FastAPI/Flask/Django" - "When needing database migrations (Alembic)" quick_start: - "pip install sqlalchemy" - "Define models with declarative base" - "Create engine and session" - "Query with select() and commit()" token_estimate: entry: 70-85 full: 4500-5500

Core Concepts

SQLAlchemy 2.0 Modern API

SQLAlchemy 2.0 introduced modern patterns with better type hints, improved query syntax, and async support.

Key Changes from 1.x:

• select() instead of Query
• Mapped[T] and mapped_column() for type hints
• Explicit Session.execute() for queries
• Better async support with AsyncSession

Installation

# Core SQLAlchemy
pip install sqlalchemy

# With async support
pip install sqlalchemy[asyncio] aiosqlite  # SQLite
pip install sqlalchemy[asyncio] asyncpg    # PostgreSQL

# With Alembic for migrations
pip install alembic

# FastAPI integration
pip install fastapi sqlalchemy

Declarative Models (SQLAlchemy 2.0)

Basic Model Definition

from datetime import datetime
from typing import Optional
from sqlalchemy import String, DateTime, ForeignKey, func
from sqlalchemy.orm import DeclarativeBase, Mapped, mapped_column, relationship

# Base class for all models
class Base(DeclarativeBase):
    pass

# User model with type hints
class User(Base):
    __tablename__ = "users"

    # Primary key
    id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(primary_key=True)

    # Required fields
    email: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(255), unique=True, index=True)
    username: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(50), unique=True)
    hashed_password: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(255))

    # Optional fields
    full_name: Mapped[Optional[str]] = mapped_column(String(100))
    is_active: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(default=True)

    # Timestamps with server defaults
    created_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
        DateTime(timezone=True),
        server_default=func.now()
    )
    updated_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
        DateTime(timezone=True),
        server_default=func.now(),
        onupdate=func.now()
    )

    # Relationships
    posts: Mapped[list["Post"]] = relationship(back_populates="author")

    def __repr__(self) -> str:
        return f"User(id={self.id}, email={self.email})"

Relationships

One-to-Many:

class Post(Base):
    __tablename__ = "posts"

    id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(primary_key=True)
    title: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(200))
    content: Mapped[str]
    user_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(ForeignKey("users.id"))

    # Relationship with back_populates
    author: Mapped["User"] = relationship(back_populates="posts")
    tags: Mapped[list["Tag"]] = relationship(
        secondary="post_tags",
        back_populates="posts"
    )

Many-to-Many:

from sqlalchemy import Table, Column, Integer, ForeignKey

# Association table
post_tags = Table(
    "post_tags",
    Base.metadata,
    Column("post_id", Integer, ForeignKey("posts.id"), primary_key=True),
    Column("tag_id", Integer, ForeignKey("tags.id"), primary_key=True)
)

class Tag(Base):
    __tablename__ = "tags"

    id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(primary_key=True)
    name: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(50), unique=True)

    posts: Mapped[list["Post"]] = relationship(
        secondary=post_tags,
        back_populates="tags"
    )

Database Setup

Engine and Session Configuration

from sqlalchemy import create_engine
from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker, Session
from sqlalchemy.pool import QueuePool

# Database URL formats
# SQLite: sqlite:///./database.db
# PostgreSQL: postgresql://user:pass@localhost/dbname
# MySQL: mysql+pymysql://user:pass@localhost/dbname

DATABASE_URL = "postgresql://user:pass@localhost/mydb"

# Create engine with connection pooling
engine = create_engine(
    DATABASE_URL,
    poolclass=QueuePool,
    pool_size=5,
    max_overflow=10,
    pool_pre_ping=True,  # Check connection before using
    echo=False  # Set True for SQL logging
)

# Session factory
SessionLocal = sessionmaker(
    bind=engine,
    autocommit=False,
    autoflush=False,
    expire_on_commit=False
)

# Create tables
Base.metadata.create_all(bind=engine)

Dependency Injection (FastAPI Pattern)

from typing import Generator

def get_db() -> Generator[Session, None, None]:
    """Database session dependency for FastAPI."""
    db = SessionLocal()
    try:
        yield db
    finally:
        db.close()

# Usage in FastAPI
from fastapi import Depends

@app.get("/users/{user_id}")
def get_user(user_id: int, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
    return db.execute(
        select(User).where(User.id == user_id)
    ).scalar_one_or_none()

Query Patterns (SQLAlchemy 2.0)

Select Queries

from sqlalchemy import select, and_, or_, desc, func

# Basic select
stmt = select(User).where(User.email == "user@example.com")
user = session.execute(stmt).scalar_one_or_none()

# Multiple conditions
stmt = select(User).where(
    and_(
        User.is_active == True,
        User.created_at > datetime(2024, 1, 1)
    )
)
users = session.execute(stmt).scalars().all()

# OR conditions
stmt = select(User).where(
    or_(
        User.email.like("%@gmail.com"),
        User.email.like("%@yahoo.com")
    )
)

# Ordering and limiting
stmt = (
    select(User)
    .where(User.is_active == True)
    .order_by(desc(User.created_at))
    .limit(10)
    .offset(20)
)

# Counting
stmt = select(func.count()).select_from(User)
count = session.execute(stmt).scalar()

Joins

# Inner join
stmt = (
    select(Post, User)
    .join(User, Post.user_id == User.id)
    .where(User.is_active == True)
)
results = session.execute(stmt).all()

# Left outer join
stmt = (
    select(User, func.count(Post.id).label("post_count"))
    .outerjoin(Post)
    .group_by(User.id)
)

# Multiple joins
stmt = (
    select(Post)
    .join(Post.author)
    .join(Post.tags)
    .where(Tag.name == "python")
)

Eager Loading (Solve N+1 Problem)

from sqlalchemy.orm import selectinload, joinedload

# selectinload - separate query (better for collections)
stmt = select(User).options(selectinload(User.posts))
users = session.execute(stmt).scalars().all()
# Now users[0].posts won't trigger additional queries

# joinedload - single query with join (better for one-to-one)
stmt = select(Post).options(joinedload(Post.author))
posts = session.execute(stmt).unique().scalars().all()

# Nested eager loading
stmt = select(User).options(
    selectinload(User.posts).selectinload(Post.tags)
)

# Load only specific columns
from sqlalchemy.orm import load_only
stmt = select(User).options(load_only(User.id, User.email))

CRUD Operations

Create

def create_user(db: Session, email: str, username: str, password: str):
    """Create new user."""
    user = User(
        email=email,
        username=username,
        hashed_password=hash_password(password)
    )
    db.add(user)
    db.commit()
    db.refresh(user)  # Get updated fields (id, timestamps)
    return user

# Bulk insert
users = [
    User(email=f"user{i}@example.com", username=f"user{i}")
    for i in range(100)
]
db.add_all(users)
db.commit()

Read

def get_user_by_email(db: Session, email: str) -> Optional[User]:
    """Get user by email."""
    stmt = select(User).where(User.email == email)
    return db.execute(stmt).scalar_one_or_none()

def get_users(
    db: Session,
    skip: int = 0,
    limit: int = 100
) -> list[User]:
    """Get paginated users."""
    stmt = (
        select(User)
        .where(User.is_active == True)
        .order_by(User.created_at.desc())
        .offset(skip)
        .limit(limit)
    )
    return db.execute(stmt).scalars().all()

Update

def update_user(db: Session, user_id: int, **kwargs):
    """Update user fields."""
    stmt = select(User).where(User.id == user_id)
    user = db.execute(stmt).scalar_one_or_none()

    if not user:
        return None

    for key, value in kwargs.items():
        setattr(user, key, value)

    db.commit()
    db.refresh(user)
    return user

# Bulk update
from sqlalchemy import update

stmt = (
    update(User)
    .where(User.is_active == False)
    .values(deleted_at=datetime.utcnow())
)
db.execute(stmt)
db.commit()

Delete

def delete_user(db: Session, user_id: int) -> bool:
    """Delete user."""
    stmt = select(User).where(User.id == user_id)
    user = db.execute(stmt).scalar_one_or_none()

    if not user:
        return False

    db.delete(user)
    db.commit()
    return True

# Bulk delete
from sqlalchemy import delete

stmt = delete(User).where(User.is_active == False)
db.execute(stmt)
db.commit()

Transactions and Session Management

Context Manager Pattern

from contextlib import contextmanager

@contextmanager
def get_db_session():
    """Session context manager."""
    session = SessionLocal()
    try:
        yield session
        session.commit()
    except Exception:
        session.rollback()
        raise
    finally:
        session.close()

# Usage
with get_db_session() as db:
    user = create_user(db, "test@example.com", "testuser", "password")
    # Auto-commits on success, rollback on exception

Manual Transaction Control

def transfer_money(db: Session, from_user_id: int, to_user_id: int, amount: float):
    """Transfer money between users with transaction."""
    try:
        # Begin nested transaction
        with db.begin_nested():
            # Deduct from sender
            stmt = select(User).where(User.id == from_user_id).with_for_update()
            sender = db.execute(stmt).scalar_one()
            sender.balance -= amount

            # Add to receiver
            stmt = select(User).where(User.id == to_user_id).with_for_update()
            receiver = db.execute(stmt).scalar_one()
            receiver.balance += amount

        db.commit()
    except Exception as e:
        db.rollback()
        raise

Async SQLAlchemy

Async Setup

from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import (
    create_async_engine,
    AsyncSession,
    async_sessionmaker
)

# Async engine (note: asyncpg for PostgreSQL, aiosqlite for SQLite)
DATABASE_URL = "postgresql+asyncpg://user:pass@localhost/mydb"

async_engine = create_async_engine(
    DATABASE_URL,
    echo=False,
    pool_size=5,
    max_overflow=10
)

# Async session factory
AsyncSessionLocal = async_sessionmaker(
    async_engine,
    class_=AsyncSession,
    expire_on_commit=False
)

# Create tables
async def init_db():
    async with async_engine.begin() as conn:
        await conn.run_sync(Base.metadata.create_all)

Async CRUD Operations

async def get_user_async(user_id: int) -> Optional[User]:
    """Get user asynchronously."""
    async with AsyncSessionLocal() as session:
        stmt = select(User).where(User.id == user_id)
        result = await session.execute(stmt)
        return result.scalar_one_or_none()

async def create_user_async(email: str, username: str) -> User:
    """Create user asynchronously."""
    async with AsyncSessionLocal() as session:
        user = User(email=email, username=username)
        session.add(user)
        await session.commit()
        await session.refresh(user)
        return user

# FastAPI async dependency
async def get_async_db():
    async with AsyncSessionLocal() as session:
        yield session

@app.get("/users/{user_id}")
async def get_user_endpoint(
    user_id: int,
    db: AsyncSession = Depends(get_async_db)
):
    stmt = select(User).where(User.id == user_id)
    result = await db.execute(stmt)
    return result.scalar_one_or_none()

Alembic Migrations

Setup Alembic

# Initialize Alembic
alembic init alembic

# Edit alembic.ini - set database URL
# sqlalchemy.url = postgresql://user:pass@localhost/mydb

# Or use env variable in alembic/env.py

Configure Alembic

# alembic/env.py
from sqlalchemy import engine_from_config, pool
from alembic import context
from myapp.models import Base  # Import your Base

# Add your model's MetaData
target_metadata = Base.metadata

def run_migrations_online():
    """Run migrations in 'online' mode."""
    configuration = config.get_section(config.config_ini_section)
    configuration["sqlalchemy.url"] = os.getenv("DATABASE_URL")

    connectable = engine_from_config(
        configuration,
        prefix="sqlalchemy.",
        poolclass=pool.NullPool,
    )

    with connectable.connect() as connection:
        context.configure(
            connection=connection,
            target_metadata=target_metadata
        )

        with context.begin_transaction():
            context.run_migrations()

Create and Apply Migrations

# Auto-generate migration from model changes
alembic revision --autogenerate -m "Add users table"

# Review generated migration in alembic/versions/

# Apply migration
alembic upgrade head

# Rollback one version
alembic downgrade -1

# Show current version
alembic current

# Show migration history
alembic history

Manual Migration Example

# alembic/versions/xxx_add_users.py
from alembic import op
import sqlalchemy as sa

def upgrade():
    op.create_table(
        'users',
        sa.Column('id', sa.Integer(), nullable=False),
        sa.Column('email', sa.String(255), nullable=False),
        sa.Column('username', sa.String(50), nullable=False),
        sa.PrimaryKeyConstraint('id')
    )
    op.create_index('ix_users_email', 'users', ['email'], unique=True)

def downgrade():
    op.drop_index('ix_users_email', table_name='users')
    op.drop_table('users')

FastAPI Integration

Complete FastAPI Example

from fastapi import FastAPI, Depends, HTTPException, status
from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
from pydantic import BaseModel, EmailStr
from typing import List

app = FastAPI()

# Pydantic schemas
class UserBase(BaseModel):
    email: EmailStr
    username: str

class UserCreate(UserBase):
    password: str

class UserResponse(UserBase):
    id: int
    is_active: bool
    created_at: datetime

    class Config:
        from_attributes = True  # SQLAlchemy 2.0 (was orm_mode)

# CRUD operations
@app.post("/users/", response_model=UserResponse, status_code=status.HTTP_201_CREATED)
def create_user_endpoint(user: UserCreate, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
    # Check if user exists
    stmt = select(User).where(User.email == user.email)
    if db.execute(stmt).scalar_one_or_none():
        raise HTTPException(
            status_code=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST,
            detail="Email already registered"
        )

    # Create user
    db_user = User(
        email=user.email,
        username=user.username,
        hashed_password=hash_password(user.password)
    )
    db.add(db_user)
    db.commit()
    db.refresh(db_user)
    return db_user

@app.get("/users/{user_id}", response_model=UserResponse)
def read_user(user_id: int, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
    stmt = select(User).where(User.id == user_id)
    user = db.execute(stmt).scalar_one_or_none()

    if not user:
        raise HTTPException(
            status_code=status.HTTP_404_NOT_FOUND,
            detail="User not found"
        )
    return user

@app.get("/users/", response_model=List[UserResponse])
def list_users(
    skip: int = 0,
    limit: int = 100,
    db: Session = Depends(get_db)
):
    stmt = (
        select(User)
        .where(User.is_active == True)
        .offset(skip)
        .limit(limit)
    )
    return db.execute(stmt).scalars().all()

@app.put("/users/{user_id}", response_model=UserResponse)
def update_user(
    user_id: int,
    user_update: UserBase,
    db: Session = Depends(get_db)
):
    stmt = select(User).where(User.id == user_id)
    db_user = db.execute(stmt).scalar_one_or_none()

    if not db_user:
        raise HTTPException(
            status_code=status.HTTP_404_NOT_FOUND,
            detail="User not found"
        )

    db_user.email = user_update.email
    db_user.username = user_update.username
    db.commit()
    db.refresh(db_user)
    return db_user

@app.delete("/users/{user_id}", status_code=status.HTTP_204_NO_CONTENT)
def delete_user(user_id: int, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
    stmt = select(User).where(User.id == user_id)
    db_user = db.execute(stmt).scalar_one_or_none()

    if not db_user:
        raise HTTPException(
            status_code=status.HTTP_404_NOT_FOUND,
            detail="User not found"
        )

    db.delete(db_user)
    db.commit()

Testing with Pytest

Test Database Setup

import pytest
from sqlalchemy import create_engine, StaticPool
from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker

# In-memory SQLite for testing
SQLALCHEMY_TEST_DATABASE_URL = "sqlite:///:memory:"

@pytest.fixture(scope="function")
def db_session():
    """Create test database session."""
    engine = create_engine(
        SQLALCHEMY_TEST_DATABASE_URL,
        connect_args={"check_same_thread": False},
        poolclass=StaticPool,
    )

    # Create tables
    Base.metadata.create_all(bind=engine)

    TestingSessionLocal = sessionmaker(
        autocommit=False,
        autoflush=False,
        bind=engine
    )

    session = TestingSessionLocal()
    try:
        yield session
    finally:
        session.close()
        Base.metadata.drop_all(bind=engine)

@pytest.fixture(scope="function")
def test_user(db_session):
    """Create test user."""
    user = User(
        email="test@example.com",
        username="testuser",
        hashed_password="hashed"
    )
    db_session.add(user)
    db_session.commit()
    db_session.refresh(user)
    return user

Test Examples

def test_create_user(db_session):
    """Test user creation."""
    user = User(email="new@example.com", username="newuser")
    db_session.add(user)
    db_session.commit()

    assert user.id is not None
    assert user.email == "new@example.com"
    assert user.created_at is not None

def test_query_user(db_session, test_user):
    """Test user query."""
    stmt = select(User).where(User.email == "test@example.com")
    found_user = db_session.execute(stmt).scalar_one()

    assert found_user.id == test_user.id
    assert found_user.username == test_user.username

def test_update_user(db_session, test_user):
    """Test user update."""
    test_user.username = "updated"
    db_session.commit()

    stmt = select(User).where(User.id == test_user.id)
    updated_user = db_session.execute(stmt).scalar_one()
    assert updated_user.username == "updated"

def test_delete_user(db_session, test_user):
    """Test user deletion."""
    user_id = test_user.id
    db_session.delete(test_user)
    db_session.commit()

    stmt = select(User).where(User.id == user_id)
    assert db_session.execute(stmt).scalar_one_or_none() is None

Performance Optimization

Query Optimization

# Use indexes
class User(Base):
    __tablename__ = "users"

    email: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(255), index=True, unique=True)
    created_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(index=True)

    # Composite index
    __table_args__ = (
        Index('ix_user_email_active', 'email', 'is_active'),
    )

# Use select_from for complex queries
stmt = (
    select(func.count(Post.id))
    .select_from(User)
    .join(Post)
    .where(User.is_active == True)
)

# Use contains_eager for joined loads
from sqlalchemy.orm import contains_eager

stmt = (
    select(Post)
    .join(Post.author)
    .options(contains_eager(Post.author))
    .where(User.is_active == True)
)

Connection Pooling

# Configure pool
engine = create_engine(
    DATABASE_URL,
    pool_size=20,           # Number of connections to keep
    max_overflow=10,        # Additional connections when pool full
    pool_timeout=30,        # Seconds to wait for connection
    pool_recycle=3600,      # Recycle connections after 1 hour
    pool_pre_ping=True      # Verify connections before use
)

# Monitor pool
from sqlalchemy import event

@event.listens_for(engine, "connect")
def receive_connect(dbapi_conn, connection_record):
    print("New connection established")

@event.listens_for(engine, "checkout")
def receive_checkout(dbapi_conn, connection_record, connection_proxy):
    print("Connection checked out from pool")

Batch Operations

# Bulk insert with executemany
from sqlalchemy import insert

data = [
    {"email": f"user{i}@example.com", "username": f"user{i}"}
    for i in range(1000)
]

stmt = insert(User)
db.execute(stmt, data)
db.commit()

# Bulk update
from sqlalchemy import update

stmt = (
    update(User)
    .where(User.is_active == False)
    .values(deleted_at=func.now())
)
db.execute(stmt)

Best Practices

1. Use SQLAlchemy 2.0 Syntax : Modern API with better type hints
2. Type Annotations : Use Mapped[T] and mapped_column()
3. Eager Loading : Solve N+1 queries with selectinload/joinedload
4. Session Management : Use dependency injection pattern
5. Migrations : Always use Alembic for schema changes
6. Indexes : Add indexes for frequently queried columns
7. Connection Pooling : Configure appropriate pool settings
8. Testing : Use in-memory SQLite for fast tests
9. Async : Use AsyncSession for async frameworks
10. Error Handling : Always handle NoResultFound and

Common Patterns

Repository Pattern

from typing import Generic, TypeVar, Type
from sqlalchemy.orm import Session

T = TypeVar('T', bound=Base)

class BaseRepository(Generic[T]):
    def __init__(self, model: Type[T], db: Session):
        self.model = model
        self.db = db

    def get(self, id: int) -> Optional[T]:
        stmt = select(self.model).where(self.model.id == id)
        return self.db.execute(stmt).scalar_one_or_none()

    def get_all(self, skip: int = 0, limit: int = 100) -> list[T]:
        stmt = select(self.model).offset(skip).limit(limit)
        return self.db.execute(stmt).scalars().all()

    def create(self, obj: T) -> T:
        self.db.add(obj)
        self.db.commit()
        self.db.refresh(obj)
        return obj

    def delete(self, id: int) -> bool:
        obj = self.get(id)
        if obj:
            self.db.delete(obj)
            self.db.commit()
            return True
        return False

# Usage
user_repo = BaseRepository(User, db)
user = user_repo.get(1)

Soft Delete Pattern

class SoftDeleteMixin:
    deleted_at: Mapped[Optional[datetime]] = mapped_column(default=None)

    @property
    def is_deleted(self) -> bool:
        return self.deleted_at is not None

class User(Base, SoftDeleteMixin):
    __tablename__ = "users"
    # ... fields

# Query only active records
stmt = select(User).where(User.deleted_at.is_(None))

# Soft delete
user.deleted_at = datetime.utcnow()
db.commit()

Audit Trail Pattern

class AuditMixin:
    created_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
        DateTime(timezone=True),
        server_default=func.now()
    )
    updated_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
        DateTime(timezone=True),
        server_default=func.now(),
        onupdate=func.now()
    )
    created_by: Mapped[Optional[int]] = mapped_column(ForeignKey("users.id"))
    updated_by: Mapped[Optional[int]] = mapped_column(ForeignKey("users.id"))

class Post(Base, AuditMixin):
    __tablename__ = "posts"
    # ... fields

Resources

• SQLAlchemy 2.0 Documentation
• Alembic Documentation
• FastAPI SQLAlchemy Guide
• SQLAlchemy Type Annotations

Related Skills

When using Sqlalchemy, these skills enhance your workflow:

• django : Django ORM patterns and migration strategies for comparison
• test-driven-development : TDD patterns for database models and queries
• fastapi-local-dev : FastAPI + SQLAlchemy integration patterns
• systematic-debugging : Advanced debugging for ORM query issues and N+1 problems

[Full documentation available in these skills if deployed in your bundle]

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Repository

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First Seen

Jan 23, 2026

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