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Database & ORM Configuration

FastAPI Smith supports multiple database and ORM combinations. Choose the setup that best fits your project needs.

Supported Databases

PostgreSQL

Production-ready, feature-rich relational database.

Driver: asyncpg (async) or psycopg3 (async)

Connection URL: 

postgresql+asyncpg://user:password@localhost/dbname

Best for: Production applications, complex queries, large datasets

MySQL

Popular open-source relational database.

Driver: asyncmy (async)

Connection URL: 

mysql+asyncmy://user:password@localhost/dbname

Best for: Applications requiring MySQL-specific features

SQLite

Lightweight file-based database.

Driver: aiosqlite (async)

Connection URL: 

sqlite+aiosqlite:///./database.db

Best for: Development, testing, small applications

ORM Options

SQLAlchemy 2.0

Industry-standard ORM with powerful features.

Features: - Async support with asyncio - Type hints with Mapped types - Powerful query API - Relationship management - Connection pooling

Example Model: 

from sqlalchemy import String
from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
from .base import Base

class User(Base):
    __tablename__ = "users"

    id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(primary_key=True)
    email: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(255), unique=True)
    name: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(100))

SQLModel

Combines SQLAlchemy and Pydantic for simpler code.

Features: - Unified models for DB and API - Inherits SQLAlchemy power - Pydantic validation - Less boilerplate

Example Model: 

from sqlmodel import Field, SQLModel

class User(SQLModel, table=True):
    id: int | None = Field(default=None, primary_key=True)
    email: str = Field(unique=True, index=True)
    name: str

Tortoise-ORM

Django-like ORM with async-first design.

Features: - Simple, intuitive API - Built-in async support - Automatic migrations with Aerich - Multiple database support

Example Model: 

from tortoise import fields
from tortoise.models import Model

class User(Model):
    id = fields.IntField(pk=True)
    email = fields.CharField(max_length=255, unique=True)
    name = fields.CharField(max_length=100)

    class Meta:
        table = "users"

Next Steps