Modern Python ORM with async support, full type annotations and a generator-expression query DSL.

Features

• Type-annotated fields — PK[int], Req[str], Opt[str], Set[T], Single[T]
• Auto-save sessions — create entities inside db_session and they are committed automatically
• PonyORM-compatible DSL — generator-expression queries, Entity[pk], Entity.get(), lifecycle hooks
• Full async support — AsyncDatabase, await db.aselect(...), Entity.aselect(), Entity.aget()
• Built-in migrations CLI — nextorm makemigrations / nextorm migrate
• Three providers — SQLite, PostgreSQL (psycopg3), MariaDB
• 100% branch coverage enforced in CI

Installation

pip install nextorm[sqlite]        # SQLite (aiosqlite)
pip install nextorm[postgres]      # PostgreSQL (psycopg3)
pip install nextorm[mariadb]       # MariaDB (asyncmy + PyMySQL)
pip install "nextorm[sqlite,postgres,mariadb]"   # all drivers

Quick start

from nextorm import Database, Entity, PK, Req, Opt, Set, Single, db_session


# Define entities — no database coupling required
class Tag(Entity):
    name: Req[str]
    products: Set["Product"]  # many-to-many back-reference


class Product(Entity):
    name: Req[str] = Req(64)  # positional shorthand: max_len=64
    price: Req[float]
    sku: Req[str] = Req(column="product_sku", unique=True)  # marker-call options
    tags: Set[Tag]  # many-to-many
    summary: Opt[str]  # Opt[str]/[LongStr] use empty string for None by default


# Create and connect the database
db = Database(entities=[Tag, Product])  # entities can also be auto-discovered
db.bind("sqlite", ":memory:")
db.generate_mapping(create_tables=True)

# Write — entities are tracked and committed automatically
with db_session:
    t = Tag(name="sale")
    p = Product(name="Widget", price=9.99, sku="WGT-1")
    p.tags.add(t)
# ← INSERT fires here; p.id and t.id are now set

# Read — class-level shortcuts (no explicit db reference needed)
widgets = Product.select().filter(Product.price < 20).fetch_all()
widget = Product.get(name="Widget")  # None if not found
widget = Product[1]  # KeyError if not found

Async quick start

import asyncio
from nextorm import AsyncDatabase, Entity, PK, Req, db_session


class Task(Entity):
    title: Req[str]
    done: Req[bool]


async def main() -> None:
    db = AsyncDatabase(entities=[Task])
    await db.bind("sqlite", ":memory:")
    await db.generate_mapping(create_tables=True)

    async with db_session:
        Task(title="Buy milk", done=False)

    pending = await Task.aselect().filter(Task.done == False).fetch_all()
    task = await Task.aget(title="Buy milk")  # None if not found
    print(pending)


asyncio.run(main())

Migrations

nextorm makemigrations   # generate a migration from model changes
nextorm migrate          # apply pending migrations
nextorm showmigrations   # list migration history

Migrating from PonyORM

NextORM's API is intentionally close to PonyORM's. The main differences:

See the migration guide for details.

Documentation

Full docs at nextorm.readthedocs.io.

Community

Questions, ideas, and feedback are welcome in the NextORM Discord community.

• 💬 Get help with models, queries, relations, and async usage
• 🧪 Share bug reports with minimal reproductions
• 🧭 Discuss roadmap ideas and RFCs
• 📝 Suggest docs improvements

Join here: https://discord.gg/PevUtddqCM

Development

pdm install
pdm test          # run tests
pdm coverage      # tests + branch coverage (must be 100%)
pdm typecheck     # pyright + mypy
pdm lint          # ruff
pdm format        # ruff format
pdm docs-html     # build Sphinx docs

Acknowledgements

NextORM's API design and query DSL are heavily inspired by PonyORM, created by Alexander Kozlovsky, Alexey Malashkevich and Alexander Tischenko, released under the Apache License 2.0.

NextORM is a new, independent implementation and shares no source code with PonyORM.