Building a Production FastAPI App with SQLAlchemy

Why Tabbed Code Blocks?

When building a FastAPI app, you typically split your code across multiple files: models.py, schemas.py, main.py, and database.py. Showing all of them stacked vertically makes the article long and hard to navigate. Tabbed code blocks solve this — same language, different files, one compact component.

The Full Application

Here's a complete FastAPI app with SQLAlchemy, organized into tabs. Click through each tab to see the different files:

1from sqlalchemy import Column, Integer, String, DateTime, Boolean
2from sqlalchemy.sql import func
3from database import Base
4
5class User(Base):
6    __tablename__ = "users"
7
8    id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True, index=True)
9    email = Column(String, unique=True, index=True, nullable=False)
10    username = Column(String, unique=True, index=True, nullable=False)
11    hashed_password = Column(String, nullable=False)
12    is_active = Column(Boolean, default=True)
13    created_at = Column(DateTime(timezone=True), server_default=func.now())
14    updated_at = Column(DateTime(timezone=True), onupdate=func.now())

How It Works

Each tab is a separate Python file, but they all work together:

1. models.py — SQLAlchemy ORM models defining the database schema
2. schemas.py — Pydantic models for request/response validation
3. database.py — Engine and session configuration
4. main.py — FastAPI routes that tie everything together

Video Walkthrough

Want to see it in action? Here's a great intro to FastAPI by its creator, Sebastián Ramírez:

What the Community Says

Example Gist

Here's a minimal FastAPI starter as a GitHub gist — fork it and start building:

Running the App

1# Install dependencies
2pip install fastapi sqlalchemy psycopg2-binary passlib[bcrypt] pydantic[email]
3
4# Run the server
5uvicorn main:app --reload --port 8000

That's it. The tabbed code block keeps all four files in one place without overwhelming the reader.