Async SQL (Relational) Databases with Encode/Databases¶
Warning
The current page still doesn't have a translation for this language.
But you can help translating it: Contributing.
Info
These docs are about to be updated. 🎉
The current version assumes Pydantic v1.
The new docs will include Pydantic v2 and will use SQLModel once it is updated to use Pydantic v2 as well.
You can also use encode/databases
with FastAPI to connect to databases using async
and await
.
It is compatible with:
- PostgreSQL
- MySQL
- SQLite
In this example, we'll use SQLite, because it uses a single file and Python has integrated support. So, you can copy this example and run it as is.
Later, for your production application, you might want to use a database server like PostgreSQL.
Tip
You could adopt ideas from the section about SQLAlchemy ORM (SQL (Relational) Databases), like using utility functions to perform operations in the database, independent of your FastAPI code.
This section doesn't apply those ideas, to be equivalent to the counterpart in Starlette.
Import and set up SQLAlchemy
¶
- Import
SQLAlchemy
. - Create a
metadata
object. - Create a table
notes
using themetadata
object.
from typing import List
import databases
import sqlalchemy
from fastapi import FastAPI
from pydantic import BaseModel
# SQLAlchemy specific code, as with any other app
DATABASE_URL = "sqlite:///./test.db"
# DATABASE_URL = "postgresql://user:password@postgresserver/db"
database = databases.Database(DATABASE_URL)
metadata = sqlalchemy.MetaData()
notes = sqlalchemy.Table(
"notes",
metadata,
sqlalchemy.Column("id", sqlalchemy.Integer, primary_key=True),
sqlalchemy.Column("text", sqlalchemy.String),
sqlalchemy.Column("completed", sqlalchemy.Boolean),
)
engine = sqlalchemy.create_engine(
DATABASE_URL, connect_args={"check_same_thread": False}
)
metadata.create_all(engine)
class NoteIn(BaseModel):
text: str
completed: bool
class Note(BaseModel):
id: int
text: str
completed: bool
app = FastAPI()
@app.on_event("startup")
async def startup():
await database.connect()
@app.on_event("shutdown")
async def shutdown():
await database.disconnect()
@app.get("/notes/", response_model=List[Note])
async def read_notes():
query = notes.select()
return await database.fetch_all(query)
@app.post("/notes/", response_model=Note)
async def create_note(note: NoteIn):
query = notes.insert().values(text=note.text, completed=note.completed)
last_record_id = await database.execute(query)
return {**note.dict(), "id": last_record_id}
Tip
Notice that all this code is pure SQLAlchemy Core.
databases
is not doing anything here yet.
Import and set up databases
¶
- Import
databases
. - Create a
DATABASE_URL
. - Create a
database
object.
from typing import List
import databases
import sqlalchemy
from fastapi import FastAPI
from pydantic import BaseModel
# SQLAlchemy specific code, as with any other app
DATABASE_URL = "sqlite:///./test.db"
# DATABASE_URL = "postgresql://user:password@postgresserver/db"
database = databases.Database(DATABASE_URL)
metadata = sqlalchemy.MetaData()
notes = sqlalchemy.Table(
"notes",
metadata,
sqlalchemy.Column("id", sqlalchemy.Integer, primary_key=True),
sqlalchemy.Column("text", sqlalchemy.String),
sqlalchemy.Column("completed", sqlalchemy.Boolean),
)
engine = sqlalchemy.create_engine(
DATABASE_URL, connect_args={"check_same_thread": False}
)
metadata.create_all(engine)
class NoteIn(BaseModel):
text: str
completed: bool
class Note(BaseModel):
id: int
text: str
completed: bool
app = FastAPI()
@app.on_event("startup")
async def startup():
await database.connect()
@app.on_event("shutdown")
async def shutdown():
await database.disconnect()
@app.get("/notes/", response_model=List[Note])
async def read_notes():
query = notes.select()
return await database.fetch_all(query)
@app.post("/notes/", response_model=Note)
async def create_note(note: NoteIn):
query = notes.insert().values(text=note.text, completed=note.completed)
last_record_id = await database.execute(query)
return {**note.dict(), "id": last_record_id}
Tip
If you were connecting to a different database (e.g. PostgreSQL), you would need to change the DATABASE_URL
.
Create the tables¶
In this case, we are creating the tables in the same Python file, but in production, you would probably want to create them with Alembic, integrated with migrations, etc.
Here, this section would run directly, right before starting your FastAPI application.
- Create an
engine
. - Create all the tables from the
metadata
object.
from typing import List
import databases
import sqlalchemy
from fastapi import FastAPI
from pydantic import BaseModel
# SQLAlchemy specific code, as with any other app
DATABASE_URL = "sqlite:///./test.db"
# DATABASE_URL = "postgresql://user:password@postgresserver/db"
database = databases.Database(DATABASE_URL)
metadata = sqlalchemy.MetaData()
notes = sqlalchemy.Table(
"notes",
metadata,
sqlalchemy.Column("id", sqlalchemy.Integer, primary_key=True),
sqlalchemy.Column("text", sqlalchemy.String),
sqlalchemy.Column("completed", sqlalchemy.Boolean),
)
engine = sqlalchemy.create_engine(
DATABASE_URL, connect_args={"check_same_thread": False}
)
metadata.create_all(engine)
class NoteIn(BaseModel):
text: str
completed: bool
class Note(BaseModel):
id: int
text: str
completed: bool
app = FastAPI()
@app.on_event("startup")
async def startup():
await database.connect()
@app.on_event("shutdown")
async def shutdown():
await database.disconnect()
@app.get("/notes/", response_model=List[Note])
async def read_notes():
query = notes.select()
return await database.fetch_all(query)
@app.post("/notes/", response_model=Note)
async def create_note(note: NoteIn):
query = notes.insert().values(text=note.text, completed=note.completed)
last_record_id = await database.execute(query)
return {**note.dict(), "id": last_record_id}
Create models¶
Create Pydantic models for:
- Notes to be created (
NoteIn
). - Notes to be returned (
Note
).
from typing import List
import databases
import sqlalchemy
from fastapi import FastAPI
from pydantic import BaseModel
# SQLAlchemy specific code, as with any other app
DATABASE_URL = "sqlite:///./test.db"
# DATABASE_URL = "postgresql://user:password@postgresserver/db"
database = databases.Database(DATABASE_URL)
metadata = sqlalchemy.MetaData()
notes = sqlalchemy.Table(
"notes",
metadata,
sqlalchemy.Column("id", sqlalchemy.Integer, primary_key=True),
sqlalchemy.Column("text", sqlalchemy.String),
sqlalchemy.Column("completed", sqlalchemy.Boolean),
)
engine = sqlalchemy.create_engine(
DATABASE_URL, connect_args={"check_same_thread": False}
)
metadata.create_all(engine)
class NoteIn(BaseModel):
text: str
completed: bool
class Note(BaseModel):
id: int
text: str
completed: bool
app = FastAPI()
@app.on_event("startup")
async def startup():
await database.connect()
@app.on_event("shutdown")
async def shutdown():
await database.disconnect()
@app.get("/notes/", response_model=List[Note])
async def read_notes():
query = notes.select()
return await database.fetch_all(query)
@app.post("/notes/", response_model=Note)
async def create_note(note: NoteIn):
query = notes.insert().values(text=note.text, completed=note.completed)
last_record_id = await database.execute(query)
return {**note.dict(), "id": last_record_id}
By creating these Pydantic models, the input data will be validated, serialized (converted), and annotated (documented).
So, you will be able to see it all in the interactive API docs.
Connect and disconnect¶
- Create your
FastAPI
application. - Create event handlers to connect and disconnect from the database.
from typing import List
import databases
import sqlalchemy
from fastapi import FastAPI
from pydantic import BaseModel
# SQLAlchemy specific code, as with any other app
DATABASE_URL = "sqlite:///./test.db"
# DATABASE_URL = "postgresql://user:password@postgresserver/db"
database = databases.Database(DATABASE_URL)
metadata = sqlalchemy.MetaData()
notes = sqlalchemy.Table(
"notes",
metadata,
sqlalchemy.Column("id", sqlalchemy.Integer, primary_key=True),
sqlalchemy.Column("text", sqlalchemy.String),
sqlalchemy.Column("completed", sqlalchemy.Boolean),
)
engine = sqlalchemy.create_engine(
DATABASE_URL, connect_args={"check_same_thread": False}
)
metadata.create_all(engine)
class NoteIn(BaseModel):
text: str
completed: bool
class Note(BaseModel):
id: int
text: str
completed: bool
app = FastAPI()
@app.on_event("startup")
async def startup():
await database.connect()
@app.on_event("shutdown")
async def shutdown():
await database.disconnect()
@app.get("/notes/", response_model=List[Note])
async def read_notes():
query = notes.select()
return await database.fetch_all(query)
@app.post("/notes/", response_model=Note)
async def create_note(note: NoteIn):
query = notes.insert().values(text=note.text, completed=note.completed)
last_record_id = await database.execute(query)
return {**note.dict(), "id": last_record_id}
Read notes¶
Create the path operation function to read notes:
from typing import List
import databases
import sqlalchemy
from fastapi import FastAPI
from pydantic import BaseModel
# SQLAlchemy specific code, as with any other app
DATABASE_URL = "sqlite:///./test.db"
# DATABASE_URL = "postgresql://user:password@postgresserver/db"
database = databases.Database(DATABASE_URL)
metadata = sqlalchemy.MetaData()
notes = sqlalchemy.Table(
"notes",
metadata,
sqlalchemy.Column("id", sqlalchemy.Integer, primary_key=True),
sqlalchemy.Column("text", sqlalchemy.String),
sqlalchemy.Column("completed", sqlalchemy.Boolean),
)
engine = sqlalchemy.create_engine(
DATABASE_URL, connect_args={"check_same_thread": False}
)
metadata.create_all(engine)
class NoteIn(BaseModel):
text: str
completed: bool
class Note(BaseModel):
id: int
text: str
completed: bool
app = FastAPI()
@app.on_event("startup")
async def startup():
await database.connect()
@app.on_event("shutdown")
async def shutdown():
await database.disconnect()
@app.get("/notes/", response_model=List[Note])
async def read_notes():
query = notes.select()
return await database.fetch_all(query)
@app.post("/notes/", response_model=Note)
async def create_note(note: NoteIn):
query = notes.insert().values(text=note.text, completed=note.completed)
last_record_id = await database.execute(query)
return {**note.dict(), "id": last_record_id}
Note
Notice that as we communicate with the database using await
, the path operation function is declared with async
.
Notice the response_model=List[Note]
¶
It uses typing.List
.
That documents (and validates, serializes, filters) the output data, as a list
of Note
s.
Create notes¶
Create the path operation function to create notes:
from typing import List
import databases
import sqlalchemy
from fastapi import FastAPI
from pydantic import BaseModel
# SQLAlchemy specific code, as with any other app
DATABASE_URL = "sqlite:///./test.db"
# DATABASE_URL = "postgresql://user:password@postgresserver/db"
database = databases.Database(DATABASE_URL)
metadata = sqlalchemy.MetaData()
notes = sqlalchemy.Table(
"notes",
metadata,
sqlalchemy.Column("id", sqlalchemy.Integer, primary_key=True),
sqlalchemy.Column("text", sqlalchemy.String),
sqlalchemy.Column("completed", sqlalchemy.Boolean),
)
engine = sqlalchemy.create_engine(
DATABASE_URL, connect_args={"check_same_thread": False}
)
metadata.create_all(engine)
class NoteIn(BaseModel):
text: str
completed: bool
class Note(BaseModel):
id: int
text: str
completed: bool
app = FastAPI()
@app.on_event("startup")
async def startup():
await database.connect()
@app.on_event("shutdown")
async def shutdown():
await database.disconnect()
@app.get("/notes/", response_model=List[Note])
async def read_notes():
query = notes.select()
return await database.fetch_all(query)
@app.post("/notes/", response_model=Note)
async def create_note(note: NoteIn):
query = notes.insert().values(text=note.text, completed=note.completed)
last_record_id = await database.execute(query)
return {**note.dict(), "id": last_record_id}
Info
In Pydantic v1 the method was called .dict()
, it was deprecated (but still supported) in Pydantic v2, and renamed to .model_dump()
.
The examples here use .dict()
for compatibility with Pydantic v1, but you should use .model_dump()
instead if you can use Pydantic v2.
Note
Notice that as we communicate with the database using await
, the path operation function is declared with async
.
About {**note.dict(), "id": last_record_id}
¶
note
is a Pydantic Note
object.
note.dict()
returns a dict
with its data, something like:
{
"text": "Some note",
"completed": False,
}
but it doesn't have the id
field.
So we create a new dict
, that contains the key-value pairs from note.dict()
with:
{**note.dict()}
**note.dict()
"unpacks" the key value pairs directly, so, {**note.dict()}
would be, more or less, a copy of note.dict()
.
And then, we extend that copy dict
, adding another key-value pair: "id": last_record_id
:
{**note.dict(), "id": last_record_id}
So, the final result returned would be something like:
{
"id": 1,
"text": "Some note",
"completed": False,
}
Check it¶
You can copy this code as is, and see the docs at http://127.0.0.1:8000/docs.
There you can see all your API documented and interact with it:
More info¶
You can read more about encode/databases
at its GitHub page.