ORM Configuration — SQLAlchemy 2.0 Documentation

Release: 2.0.49 | Release Date: April 3, 2026

# SQLAlchemy 2.0 Documentation

# ORM Configuration

## How do I map a table that has no primary key?

The SQLAlchemy ORM, in order to map to a particular table, needs there to be at least one column denoted as a primary key column; multiple-column, i.e. composite, primary keys are of course entirely feasible as well. These columns do not need to be actually known to the database as primary key columns, though it’s a good idea that they are. It’s only necessary that the columns behave as a primary key does, e.g. as a unique and not nullable identifier for a row.

Most ORMs require that objects have some kind of primary key defined because the object in memory must correspond to a uniquely identifiable row in the database table; at the very least, this allows the object can be targeted for UPDATE and DELETE statements which will affect only that object’s row and no other. However, the importance of the primary key goes far beyond that. In SQLAlchemy, all ORM-mapped objects are at all times linked uniquely within a `Session` to their specific database row using a pattern called the identity map, a pattern that’s central to the unit of work system employed by SQLAlchemy, and is also key to the most common (and not-so-common) patterns of ORM usage.

Note

It’s important to note that we’re only talking about the SQLAlchemy ORM; an application which builds on Core and deals only with `Table` objects, `select()` constructs and the like, does not need any primary key to be present on or associated with a table in any way (though again, in SQL, all tables should really have some kind of primary key, lest you need to actually update or delete specific rows).

In almost all cases, a table does have a so-called candidate key, which is a column or series of columns that uniquely identify a row. If a table truly doesn’t have this, and has actual fully duplicate rows, the table is not corresponding to first normal form and cannot be mapped. Otherwise, whatever columns comprise the best candidate key can be applied directly to the mapper:

    class SomeClass(Base):
        __table__ = some_table_with_no_pk
        __mapper_args__ = {
            "primary_key": [some_table_with_no_pk.c.uid, some_table_with_no_pk.c.bar]
        }

Better yet is when using fully declared table metadata, use the `primary_key=True` flag on those columns:

    class SomeClass(Base):
        __tablename__ = "some_table_with_no_pk"

        uid = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
        bar = Column(String, primary_key=True)

All tables in a relational database should have primary keys. Even a many-to-many association table - the primary key would be the composite of the two association columns:

    CREATE TABLE my_association (
      user_id INTEGER REFERENCES user(id),
      account_id INTEGER REFERENCES account(id),
      PRIMARY KEY (user_id, account_id)
    )

## How do I configure a Column that is a Python reserved word or similar?

Column-based attributes can be given any name desired in the mapping. See Naming Declarative Mapped Columns Explicitly.

## How do I get a list of all columns, relationships, mapped attributes, etc. given a mapped class?

This information is all available from the `Mapper` object.

To get at the `Mapper` for a particular mapped class, call the `inspect()` function on it:

    from sqlalchemy import inspect

    mapper = inspect(MyClass)

From there, all information about the class can be accessed through properties such as:

- `Mapper.attrs` - a namespace of all mapped attributes. The attributes themselves are instances of `MapperProperty`, which contain additional attributes that can lead to the mapped SQL expression or column, if applicable.

- `Mapper.column_attrs` - the mapped attribute namespace limited to column and SQL expression attributes. You might want to use `Mapper.columns` to get at the `Column` objects directly.

- `Mapper.relationships` - namespace of all `RelationshipProperty` attributes.

- `Mapper.all_orm_descriptors` - namespace of all mapped attributes, plus user-defined attributes defined using systems such as `hybrid_property`, `AssociationProxy` and others.

- `Mapper.columns` - A namespace of `Column` objects and other named SQL expressions associated with the mapping.

- `Mapper.mapped_table` - The `Table` or other selectable to which this mapper is mapped.

- `Mapper.local_table` - The `Table` that is “local” to this mapper; this differs from `Mapper.mapped_table` in the case of a mapper mapped using inheritance to a composed selectable.

## I’m getting a warning or error about “Implicitly combining column X under attribute Y”

This condition refers to when a mapping contains two columns that are being mapped under the same attribute name due to their name, but there’s no indication that this is intentional. A mapped class needs to have explicit names for every attribute that is to store an independent value; when two columns have the same name and aren’t disambiguated, they fall under the same attribute and the effect is that the value from one column is copied into the other, based on which column was assigned to the attribute first.

This behavior is often desirable and is allowed without warning in the case where the two columns are linked together via a foreign key relationship within an inheritance mapping. When the warning or exception occurs, the issue can be resolved by either assigning the columns to differently-named attributes, or if combining them together is desired, by using `column_property()` to make this explicit.

Given the example as follows:

    from sqlalchemy import Integer, Column, ForeignKey
    from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base

    Base = declarative_base()

    class A(Base):
        __tablename__ = "a"

        id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)

    class B(A):
        __tablename__ = "b"

        id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
        a_id = Column(Integer, ForeignKey("a.id"))

As of SQLAlchemy version 0.9.5, the above condition is detected, and will warn that the `id` column of `A` and `B` is being combined under the same-named attribute `id`, which above is a serious issue since it means that a `B` object’s primary key will always mirror that of its `A`.

A mapping which resolves this is as follows:

    class A(Base):
        __tablename__ = "a"

        id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)

    class B(A):
        __tablename__ = "b"

        b_id = Column("id", Integer, primary_key=True)
        a_id = Column(Integer, ForeignKey("a.id"))

Suppose we did want `A.id` and `B.id` to be mirrors of each other, despite the fact that `B.a_id` is where `A.id` is related. We could combine them together using `column_property()`:

    class A(Base):
        __tablename__ = "a"

        id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)

    class B(A):
        __tablename__ = "b"

        # probably not what you want, but this is a demonstration
        id = column_property(Column(Integer, primary_key=True), A.id)
        a_id = Column(Integer, ForeignKey("a.id"))

## I’m using Declarative and setting primaryjoin/secondaryjoin using an `and_()` or `or_()`, and I am getting an error message about foreign keys.

Are you doing this?:

    class MyClass(Base):
        # ....

        foo = relationship(
            "Dest", primaryjoin=and_("MyClass.id==Dest.foo_id", "MyClass.foo==Dest.bar")
        )

That’s an `and_()` of two string expressions, which SQLAlchemy cannot apply any mapping towards. Declarative allows `relationship()` arguments to be specified as strings, which are converted into expression objects using `eval()`. But this doesn’t occur inside of an `and_()` expression - it’s a special operation declarative applies only to the entirety of what’s passed to primaryjoin or other arguments as a string:

    class MyClass(Base):
        # ....

        foo = relationship(
            "Dest", primaryjoin="and_(MyClass.id==Dest.foo_id, MyClass.foo==Dest.bar)"
        )

Or if the objects you need are already available, skip the strings:

    class MyClass(Base):
        # ....

        foo = relationship(
            Dest, primaryjoin=and_(MyClass.id == Dest.foo_id, MyClass.foo == Dest.bar)
        )

The same idea applies to all the other arguments, such as `foreign_keys`:

    # wrong !
    foo = relationship(Dest, foreign_keys=["Dest.foo_id", "Dest.bar_id"])

    # correct !
    foo = relationship(Dest, foreign_keys="[Dest.foo_id, Dest.bar_id]")

    # also correct !
    foo = relationship(Dest, foreign_keys=[Dest.foo_id, Dest.bar_id])

    # if you're using columns from the class that you're inside of, just use the column objects !
    class MyClass(Base):
        foo_id = Column(...)
        bar_id = Column(...)
        # ...

        foo = relationship(Dest, foreign_keys=[foo_id, bar_id])

## Why is `ORDER BY` recommended with `LIMIT` (especially with `subqueryload()`)?

When ORDER BY is not used for a SELECT statement that returns rows, the relational database is free to returned matched rows in any arbitrary order. While this ordering very often corresponds to the natural order of rows within a table, this is not the case for all databases and all queries. The consequence of this is that any query that limits rows using `LIMIT` or `OFFSET`, or which merely selects the first row of the result, discarding the rest, will not be deterministic in terms of what result row is returned, assuming there’s more than one row that matches the query’s criteria.

While we may not notice this for simple queries on databases that usually returns rows in their natural order, it becomes more of an issue if we also use `subqueryload()` to load related collections, and we may not be loading the collections as intended.

SQLAlchemy implements `subqueryload()` by issuing a separate query, the results of which are matched up to the results from the first query. We see two queries emitted like this:

    >>> session.scalars(select(User).options(subqueryload(User.addresses))).all()
    -- the "main" query
    SELECT users.id AS users_id
    FROM users
    -- the "load" query issued by subqueryload
    SELECT addresses.id AS addresses_id,
           addresses.user_id AS addresses_user_id,
           anon_1.users_id AS anon_1_users_id
    FROM (SELECT users.id AS users_id FROM users) AS anon_1
    JOIN addresses ON anon_1.users_id = addresses.user_id
    ORDER BY anon_1.users_id

The second query embeds the first query as a source of rows. When the inner query uses `OFFSET` and/or `LIMIT` without ordering, the two queries may not see the same results:

    >>> user = session.scalars(
    ...     select(User).options(subqueryload(User.addresses)).limit(1)
    ... ).first()
    -- the "main" query
    SELECT users.id AS users_id
    FROM users
     LIMIT 1
    -- the "load" query issued by subqueryload
    SELECT addresses.id AS addresses_id,
           addresses.user_id AS addresses_user_id,
           anon_1.users_id AS anon_1_users_id
    FROM (SELECT users.id AS users_id FROM users LIMIT 1) AS anon_1
    JOIN addresses ON anon_1.users_id = addresses.user_id
    ORDER BY anon_1.users_id

Depending on database specifics, there is a chance we may get a result like the following for the two queries:

    -- query #1
    +--------+
    |users_id|
    +--------+
    |       1|
    +--------+

    -- query #2
    +------------+-----------------+---------------+
    |addresses_id|addresses_user_id|anon_1_users_id|
    +------------+-----------------+---------------+
    |           3|                2|              2|
    +------------+-----------------+---------------+
    |           4|                2|              2|
    +------------+-----------------+---------------+

Above, we receive two `addresses` rows for `user.id` of 2, and none for 1. We’ve wasted two rows and failed to actually load the collection. This is an insidious error because without looking at the SQL and the results, the ORM will not show that there’s any issue; if we access the `addresses` for the `User` we have, it will emit a lazy load for the collection and we won’t see that anything actually went wrong.

The solution to this problem is to always specify a deterministic sort order, so that the main query always returns the same set of rows. This generally means that you should `Select.order_by()` on a unique column on the table. The primary key is a good choice for this:

    session.scalars(
        select(User).options(subqueryload(User.addresses)).order_by(User.id).limit(1)
    ).first()

Note that the `joinedload()` eager loader strategy does not suffer from the same problem because only one query is ever issued, so the load query cannot be different from the main query. Similarly, the `selectinload()` eager loader strategy also does not have this issue as it links its collection loads directly to primary key values just loaded.

See also

Subquery Eager Loading

## What are `default`, `default_factory` and `insert_default` and what should I use?

There’s a bit of a clash in SQLAlchemy’s API here due to the addition of PEP-681 dataclass transforms, which is strict about its naming conventions. PEP-681 comes into play if you are using `MappedAsDataclass` as shown in Declarative Dataclass Mapping. If you are not using MappedAsDataclass, then it does not apply.

### Part One - Classic SQLAlchemy that is not using dataclasses

When not using `MappedAsDataclass`, as has been the case for many years in SQLAlchemy, the `mapped_column()` (and `Column`) construct supports a parameter `mapped_column.default`. This indicates a Python-side default (as opposed to a server side default that would be part of your database’s schema definition) that will take place when an `INSERT` statement is emitted. This default can be any of a static Python value like a string, or a Python callable function, or a SQLAlchemy SQL construct. Full documentation for `mapped_column.default` is at Client-Invoked SQL Expressions.

When using `mapped_column.default` with an ORM mapping that is not using `MappedAsDataclass`, this default value /callable does not show up on your object when you first construct it. It only takes place when SQLAlchemy works up an `INSERT` statement for your object.

A very important thing to note is that when using `mapped_column()` (and `Column`), the classic `mapped_column.default` parameter is also available under a new name, called `mapped_column.insert_default`. If you build a `mapped_column()` and you are not using `MappedAsDataclass`, the `mapped_column.default` and `mapped_column.insert_default` parameters are synonymous.

### Part Two - Using Dataclasses support with MappedAsDataclass

When you are using `MappedAsDataclass`, that is, the specific form of mapping used at Declarative Dataclass Mapping, the meaning of the `mapped_column.default` keyword changes. We recognize that it’s not ideal that this name changes its behavior, however there was no alternative as PEP-681 requires `mapped_column.default` to take on this meaning.

When dataclasses are used, the `mapped_column.default` parameter must be used the way it’s described at Python Dataclasses - it refers to a constant value like a string or a number, and is applied to your object immediately when constructed. It is also at the moment also applied to the `mapped_column.default` parameter of `Column` where it would be used in an `INSERT` statement automatically even if not present on the object. If you instead want to use a callable for your dataclass, which will be applied to the object when constructed, you would use `mapped_column.default_factory`.

The value used for `mapped_column.default` is also applied to the `Column.default` parameter of `Column`. This is so that the value used as the dataclass default is also applied in an ORM INSERT statement for a mapped object where the value was not explicitly passed. Using this parameter is mutually exclusive against the `Column.insert_default` parameter, meaning that both cannot be used at the same time.

For the specific case of using a callable to generate defaults, the situation changes a bit; the `mapped_column.default_factory` parameter is a dataclass only parameter that may be used to generate new default values for instances of the class, but only takes place when the object is constructed. That is, it is not equivalent to `mapped_column.insert_default` with a callable as it will not take effect for a plain `insert()` statement that does not actually construct the object; it only is useful for objects that are inserted using unit of work patterns, i.e. using `Session.add()` with `Session.flush()` / `Session.commit()`. For defaults that should apply to INSERT statements regardless of how they are invoked, use `mapped_column.insert_default` instead.

Summary Chart
Construct | Works with dataclasses? | Works without dataclasses? | Accepts scalar? | Accepts callable? | Available on object immediately? | Used in INSERT statements?
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
`mapped_column.default` | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Only if no dataclasses | Only if dataclasses | ✔
`mapped_column.insert_default` | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✖ | ✔
`mapped_column.default_factory` | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ | Only if dataclasses | ✖ (unit of work only)