add model_dump options to sqlmodel_update by A00474880 · Pull Request #1897 · fastapi/sqlmodel

A00474880 · 2026-05-01T18:19:07Z

As per discussion #1838, this PR allows users to use model_dump parameters directly in sqlmodel_update function.

New Usage Pattern

Previous recommend use of sqlmodel_update is as follows:

def update_hero(
    *, session: Session = Depends(get_session), hero_id: int, hero: HeroUpdate
):
    db_hero = session.get(Hero, hero_id)
    ...
    hero_data = hero.model_dump(exclude_unset=True)
    db_hero.sqlmodel_update(hero_data)
    ...

This PR allows the following while keeping backward compatibility with the above:

def update_hero(
    *, session: Session = Depends(get_session), hero_id: int, hero: HeroUpdate
):
    db_hero = session.get(Hero, hero_id)
    ...
    db_hero.sqlmodel_update(hero, exclude_unset=True)
    ...

Tests

This PR also adds assertions in the test_update function that increases test coverage by 2 lines:
before:

Name                                                                                                        Stmts   Miss  Cover   Missing
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sqlmodel/main.py                                                                                              375     16    96%   593, 645, 666, 673, 675, 690, 712, 715, 721, 723, 725, 727, 729, 908, 996, 1004

after:

Name                                                                                                        Stmts   Miss  Cover   Missing
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sqlmodel/main.py                                                                                              368     14    96%   593, 645, 666, 673, 675, 690, 712, 715, 721, 723, 725, 727, 729, 908

A00474880 · 2026-05-01T18:40:48Z

I can't seem to be able to add labels to this PR. So it'd be great if I can get this reviewed

YuriiMotov

@A00474880, thanks for your interest and efforts!

I pointed to a couple of issues with this implementation

YuriiMotov · 2026-05-06T19:31:41Z

        obj: builtins.dict[str, Any] | BaseModel,
        *,
        update: builtins.dict[str, Any] | None = None,
+        **model_dump_kwargs,


kwargs will not give autocompletion, and it's error-prone

YuriiMotov · 2026-05-06T20:04:47Z

+        if isinstance(obj, BaseModel):
+            obj = obj.model_dump(**model_dump_kwargs)


This will break use cases with models that have fields with exclude=True:

from sqlmodel import Field, SQLModel class Item(SQLModel): id: str param: str = Field(exclude=True) a = Item.model_validate({"id": "1", "param": "1"}) b = Item.model_validate({"id": "1", "param": "2"}) a.sqlmodel_update(b, exclude={"id"}) # a.sqlmodel_update(b) assert a.param == "2"

.. and probably some other cases when model has settings that change the default serialization schema.

…n settings like `include` and `exclude`

…prove_sqlmodel_update

A00474880 · 2026-05-07T22:39:31Z

Hi @YuriiMotov , thank you for the review. My recent commits tries to address your feedback. Please let me know if you need anything else.

Change summary:

Added type support for the model_dump_kwargs with a TypedDict definition
To address the issue with Model fields with serialization settings: Added steps to create temporary UpdateModel schema which removes the extra model settings before using model_dump on an instance of the new UpdateModel obj

A00474880 · 2026-05-15T22:21:47Z

Hi all I've had some time to carefully consider the changes and how it affects use cases. With the current implementation of creating a temporary "clean" UpdateModel, some model dump kwargs are effectively ignored when using them directly in the new sqlmodel_update, while the remaining provide slight convenience. Here's a summary:

Effective (8 — work correctly on clean UpdateModel)

These don't depend on field-level metadata:

Kwarg	Mechanism
`exclude_unset`	Checks `model_fields_set` (preserved via `model_construct`)
`exclude_none`	Compares value against `None`
`exclude`	Filters by field name
`include`	Filters by field name
`mode`	Controls serialization format
`round_trip`	Round-trip compatible output
`warnings`	Controls warning behavior
`context` / `fallback` / `serialize_as_any`	Passed through to serializer

Ignored (3 — clean UpdateModel lacks the corresponding metadata)

Kwarg	Why	Impact
`by_alias`	Clean model has no `serialization_alias` on any field	Arguably an improvement. This prevents aliased fields from being ignored in `sqlmodel_update(Hero.model_dump(by_alias=True))`, with current `sqlmodel_update(Hero, by_alias=True)`, aliased fields are also updated
`exclude_defaults`	Clean model has all fields as required (no defaults)	Unexpected but harmless. User expects to filter default-valued fields; they all pass through. Original branch had no `exclude_defaults` at all, so this is a new-but-broken feature, not a regression.
`exclude_computed_fields`	Clean model has no `@computed_field`	OK. `model_fields` is the basis; computed fields aren't in it to begin with.

Comparison to main branch (getattr approach)

The original sqlmodel_update used getattr(obj, field_name) — no serialization at all:

Aspect	Original (getattr)	New (clean model + model_dump)
`Field(exclude=True)`	Ignored ✓	Ignored ✓
`Field(serialization_alias)`	Ignored ✓	Ignored ✓
`exclude_unset`	Not supported	Added ✓
`exclude_none`	Not supported	Added ✓
`exclude` / `include`	Not supported	Added ✓
`by_alias`	Not supported	no-op (same as original)
`exclude_defaults`	Not supported	no-op (same as original)
Custom serializer on type	Not applied (raw value)	Applied (serialized value)

Note

We can actually add support for exclude_defaults by adding defaults to the fields_def definition:

            fields_def = {
                fname: (finfo.annotation, finfo.default)
                for fname, finfo in ObjClass.model_fields.items()
            }

Please let me know if you have any suggestions!

github-actions · 2026-08-28T19:38:37Z

This pull request has a merge conflict that needs to be resolved.

A00474880 and others added 2 commits May 1, 2026 15:18

add model_dump options to sqlmodel_update

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A00474880 marked this pull request as draft May 1, 2026 18:39

A00474880 marked this pull request as ready for review May 1, 2026 18:40

Merge branch 'main' into improve_sqlmodel_update

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YuriiMotov reviewed May 6, 2026

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YuriiMotov added the waiting label May 6, 2026

A00474880 and others added 8 commits May 7, 2026 19:06

type support for model_dump_kwargs

59d71de

creates temp UpdateModel to avoid issues with SQLModel's serializatio…

ac676fb

…n settings like `include` and `exclude`

updating test

d9ffaf1

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/improve_sqlmodel_update' into im…

f399589

…prove_sqlmodel_update

🎨 Auto format

66c8b88

remove defaults from _ModelDumpKwargs TypedDict

8fe99e9

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/improve_sqlmodel_update' into im…

0295137

…prove_sqlmodel_update

🎨 Auto format

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github-actions Bot removed the waiting label May 7, 2026

Merge branch 'main' into improve_sqlmodel_update

3785cde

A00474880 requested a review from YuriiMotov May 15, 2026 22:24

Merge branch 'main' into improve_sqlmodel_update

e5a26bc

github-actions Bot added the conflicts Automatically generated when a PR has a merge conflict label Aug 28, 2026

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add model_dump options to sqlmodel_update - #1897

add model_dump options to sqlmodel_update#1897
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		if isinstance(obj, BaseModel):
		obj = obj.model_dump(**model_dump_kwargs)

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New Usage Pattern

Tests

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A00474880 commented May 7, 2026

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A00474880 commented May 15, 2026

Effective (8 — work correctly on clean UpdateModel)

Ignored (3 — clean UpdateModel lacks the corresponding metadata)

Comparison to main branch (getattr approach)

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A00474880 commented May 1, 2026 •

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