Thank you for considering contributing to Flask-SQLAlchemy!
Please don't use the issue tracker for this. The issue tracker is a tool to address bugs and feature requests in Flask-SQLAlchemy itself. Use one of the following resources for questions about using Flask-SQLAlchemy or issues with your own code:
- The
#get-helpchannel on our Discord chat: https://discord.gg/pallets - The mailing list [email protected] for long term discussion or larger issues.
- Ask on Stack Overflow. Search with Google first using:
site:stackoverflow.com flask-sqlalchemy {search term, exception message, etc.}
Flask-SQLAlchemy is a thin wrapper that combines Flask and SQLAlchemy. Make sure your issue is actually with Flask-SQLAlchemy and not SQLAlchemy before submitting it. Check the traceback to see if the error is coming from SQLAlchemy. Check if your issue has already been reported to SQLAlchemy.
Include the following information in your post:
- Describe what you expected to happen.
- If possible, include a minimal reproducible example to help us identify the issue. This also helps check that the issue is not with your own code.
- Describe what actually happened. Include the full traceback if there was an exception.
- List your Python, Flask-SQLAlchemy, and SQLAlchemy versions. If possible, check if this issue is already fixed in the latest releases or the latest code in the repository.
If there is not an open issue for what you want to submit, prefer opening one for discussion before working on a PR. You can work on any issue that doesn't have an open PR linked to it or a maintainer assigned to it. These show up in the sidebar. No need to ask if you can work on an issue that interests you.
Include the following in your patch:
- Use Black to format your code. This and other tools will run automatically if you install pre-commit using the instructions below.
- Include tests if your patch adds or changes code. Make sure the test fails without your patch.
- Update any relevant docs pages and docstrings.
- Add an entry in
CHANGES.rst. Use the same style as other entries. Also include.. versionchanged::inline changelogs in relevant docstrings.
Download and install the latest version of git.
Configure git with your username and email.
$ git config --global user.name 'your name' $ git config --global user.email 'your email'
Make sure you have a GitHub account.
Fork Flask-SQLAlchemy to your GitHub account by clicking the Fork button.
Clone the main repository locally, replacing
{username}with your GitHub username.$ git clone https://github.com/{username}/flask-sqlalchemy $ cd flask-sqlalchemyCreate a virtualenv.
$ python3 -m venv .venv $ . .venv/bin/activate
On Windows, activating is different.
> .venv\Scripts\activate
Install the development dependencies, then install Flask-SQLAlchemy in editable mode.
$ pip install -r requirements/dev.txt && pip install -e .
Install the pre-commit hooks.
$ pre-commit install
Create a branch to identify the issue you would like to work on. If you're submitting a bug or documentation fix, branch off of the latest ".x" branch.
$ git fetch origin $ git checkout -b your-branch-name origin/3.0.x
If you're submitting a feature addition or change, branch off of the "main" branch.
$ git fetch origin $ git checkout -b your-branch-name origin/main
Using your favorite editor, make your changes, committing as you go.
Include tests that cover any code changes you make. Make sure the test fails without your patch. Run the tests as described below.
Push your commits to your fork on GitHub and create a pull request. Link to the issue being addressed with
fixes #123in the pull request.$ git push --set-upstream fork your-branch-name
Run the basic test suite with pytest.
$ pytest
This runs the tests for the current environment, which is usually sufficient. CI will run the full suite when you submit your pull request. You can run the full test suite in parallel with tox if you don't want to wait.
$ tox p
Generating a report of lines that do not have test coverage can indicate where to start contributing. Collect coverage from the tests and generate a report.
$ pip install "coverage[toml]"
$ coverage run -m pytest
$ coverage html
Open htmlcov/index.html in your browser to explore the report.
Read more about coverage.
Build the docs in the docs directory using Sphinx.
$ cd docs
$ make html
Open _build/html/index.html in your browser to view the docs.
Read more about Sphinx.
As a maintainer, once you decide it's time to publish a new release, follow these instructions.
You'll manage the release through a PR on GitHub. Create a branch like "release-A.B.C". For a fix release, branch off the corresponding release branch. For a feature release, branch off of main.
$ git switch -c release-A.B.C A.B.x
Review the
CHANGES.rstfile and ensure each code change has a corresponding entry. Only code changes need entries, not docs or non-published code and files. Use your judgement on what users would want to know.Update the
CHANGES.rstfile to replace "Unreleased" with "Released YYYY-MM-DD".Update
__version__in__init__.pyto remove the ".dev" suffix. Ensure that the version number matches what you think you're releasing.Commit with a standard message:
$ git commit -am 'release version A.B.C'
Push the branch and open a PR. The title should be the same as the commit message (if there was only one commit). No need to add a description. Assign it to the corresponding vesion milestone, like "3.0.4". If there's no milestone, it's because this is a newly adapted project that isn't using our full organization scheme yet, no problem.
Don't merge the PR until the end. Observe that all workflows and checks pass for the PR.
Create and push an annotated tag with a standard message. You'll see the new "build" workflow status get added to the PR checks.
$ git tag -am 'release version A.B.C' A.B.C $ git push origin A.B.C
Wait for the "build", "provenance", and "create-release" workflows to succeed. Go into the created draft release and check that the expected files (with the correct version numbers) are part of it. Add a quick message about the release, such as "This is a fix release for the 3.0.x release branch." along with a link to the changelog section and closed milestone. See an existing release in Flask for an example. Save the draft (don't publish it yet, it's not on PyPI yet.)
The "publish-pypi" workflow will have a yellow paused icon. A maintainer with publish permissions must approve it. Once they do, the release files will be uploaded to PyPI. If you don't have publish permission yet, ping the maintainers channel.
After seeing that the "publish-pypi" workflow succeeds, merge the PR. Then publish the draft release, and close the milestone.
If this was a fix release, merge the release branch (A.B.x) into main.
$ git switch A.B.x $ git pull $ git switch main $ git merge A.B.x $ git push
Here's how to handle the expected merge conflicts:
CHANGES.rst: Keep both changes, ensuring the next feature version is on top.__init__.py: Keep the version in main (the next feature version).
If this was a feature release, make a new branch for fix releases.
$ git switch main $ git pull $ git switch -c A.B.x $ git push
If this was a feature release, ask a maintainer with docs access to update Read the Docs to use the new branch as the primary.