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Field(allow_mutation=False) doesn't have same behavior as pydantic #262

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Field(allow_mutation=False) doesn't have same behavior as pydantic#262
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questionFurther information is requested

Description

@winglian
winglian
opened on Mar 5, 2022

First Check

  • I added a very descriptive title to this issue.
  • I used the GitHub search to find a similar issue and didn't find it.
  • I searched the SQLModel documentation, with the integrated search.
  • I already searched in Google "How to X in SQLModel" and didn't find any information.
  • I already read and followed all the tutorial in the docs and didn't find an answer.
  • I already checked if it is not related to SQLModel but to Pydantic.
  • I already checked if it is not related to SQLModel but to SQLAlchemy.

Commit to Help

  • I commit to help with one of those options 👆

Example Code

import pytest
import sqlmodel
import pydantic


class MyPydanticModel(pydantic.BaseModel):
    id: str
    data: str = pydantic.Field(allow_mutation=False)

    class Config:
        validate_assignment = True


class MySqlmodelModel(sqlmodel.SQLModel):
    id: str
    data: str = sqlmodel.Field(allow_mutation=False)

    class Config:
        validate_assignment = True


class TestSuite:
    def test_pydantic_can_create(self):
        MyPydanticModel(id='abc', data="foo")

    def test_pydantic_raises_on_update(self):
        my_pyd_mdl = MyPydanticModel(id='abc', data="foo")
        with pytest.raises(TypeError):
            my_pyd_mdl.data = "bar"

    def test_sqlmodel_can_create(self):
        MySqlmodelModel(id='abc', data="foo")

    def test_sqlmodel_raises_on_update(self):
        my_sqlmdl_mdl = MySqlmodelModel(id='abc', data="foo")
        with pytest.raises(TypeError):
            my_sqlmdl_mdl.data = "bar"

Description

When setting a Field(allow_mutation=False) in combination with the required validate_assignment = True configuration on a SQLModel, the framework doesn't even allow the field to be set in the initial construction of the model. This is allowed in pydantic. I've attached a test suite that we should expect to pass, but it fails both the SQLModel specific tests.

Operating System

macOS

Operating System Details

Big Sur 11.3.1

SQLModel Version

0.0.6

Python Version

3.9.9

Additional Context

No response

Activity

  1. winglian
    added
    questionFurther information is requested
    on Mar 5, 2022

  2. byrman commented on Mar 6, 2022

    @byrman
    byrman
    on Mar 6, 2022
    Contributor

    Several issues have been reported about inconsistencies between sqlmodel and pydantic: #87, #230, etc. This particular issue is caused by these lines in main.py:

    # Do not set values as in Pydantic, pass them through setattr, so SQLAlchemy
# can handle them
# object.__setattr__(__pydantic_self__, '__dict__', values)
object.__setattr__(__pydantic_self__, "__fields_set__", fields_set)
for key, value in values.items():
    setattr(__pydantic_self__, key, value)

    The last line is assignment, which is forbidden by allow_mutation=False. Unfortunately, the problem is not so easily fixed, because the handling of attributes is rather complex in sqlmodel. I have fixed it here, but it feels like duct tape.

  3. WalkerWalker commented on Jan 14, 2023

    @WalkerWalker
    WalkerWalker
    on Jan 14, 2023

    I also hope the immutatable model can be possible in sqlmodel. The same problem is reported in stackoverflow here

    The problem still exists in 0.0.8

  4. tepelbaum commented on Jan 14, 2024

    @tepelbaum
    tepelbaum
    on Jan 14, 2024

    Hi! Does the recent version of SQLModel (0.0.14) solves the issue? :)

  5. EkremDincel commented on Apr 13, 2025

    @EkremDincel
    EkremDincel
    on Apr 13, 2025

    I am having the same problem at version 0.0.24, and even setting validate_assignment = False doesn't work anymore. Actually, my problem has to do with frozen=True argument instead of the allow_mutation=False argument, as the later is deprecated at the pydantic side and doesn't even do anything anymore (which also means that the SQLModel API interface should be updated as well).

    Below is an example stacktrace, where UserDB is a SQLModel with a table=True, and has a field like this:

    	date_of_creation: datetime = Field(
		# allow_mutation=True, # This seems meaningless as it is a pydantic v1 argument
		default_factory=datetime.now,
		schema_extra={"frozen": True} # see https://github.com/fastapi/sqlmodel/issues/262#issuecomment-1060041950
	)

    The stacktrace is as follows:

      File "D:\Projects\server\backend\source\data\models\user.py", line 75, in sql
    return UserDB(**self.dict())
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "<string>", line 4, in __init__
  File "D:\Projects\server\backend\.venv\Lib\site-packages\sqlalchemy\orm\state.py", line 571, in _initialize_instance
    with util.safe_reraise():
  File "D:\Projects\server\backend\.venv\Lib\site-packages\sqlalchemy\util\langhelpers.py", line 146, in __exit__
    raise exc_value.with_traceback(exc_tb)
  File "D:\Projects\server\backend\.venv\Lib\site-packages\sqlalchemy\orm\state.py", line 569, in _initialize_instance
    manager.original_init(*mixed[1:], **kwargs)
  File "D:\Projects\server\backend\.venv\Lib\site-packages\sqlmodel\main.py", line 814, in __init__
    sqlmodel_init(self=__pydantic_self__, data=data)
  File "D:\Projects\server\backend\.venv\Lib\site-packages\sqlmodel\_compat.py", line 356, in sqlmodel_init
    sqlmodel_table_construct(
  File "D:\Projects\server\backend\.venv\Lib\site-packages\sqlmodel\_compat.py", line 275, in sqlmodel_table_construct
    setattr(self_instance, key, value)
  File "D:\Projects\server\backend\.venv\Lib\site-packages\sqlmodel\main.py", line 827, in __setattr__
    super().__setattr__(name, value)
  File "D:\Projects\server\backend\.venv\Lib\site-packages\pydantic\main.py", line 875, in __setattr__
    self._check_frozen(name, value)
  File "D:\Projects\server\backend\.venv\Lib\site-packages\pydantic\main.py", line 939, in _check_frozen
    raise pydantic_core.ValidationError.from_exception_data(self.__class__.__name__, [error])
pydantic_core._pydantic_core.ValidationError: 1 validation error for UserDB
date_of_creation
  Field is frozen [type=frozen_field, input_value=datetime.datetime(2025, 4, 13, 18, 42, 57, 637768), input_type=datetime]
    For further information visit https://errors.pydantic.dev/2.9/v/frozen_field

    The last callstack at the SQLModel side is here. I wanted to fix it, but it seems so deep down in the callstack, and is nested inside multiple dunder method calls, so I have no idea how to even start fixing that.

    Also, can we get a bug label for this issue please?

  6. YuriiMotov commented on Aug 27, 2025

    @YuriiMotov
    YuriiMotov
    on Aug 27, 2025
    Member

    I just tested it with SQLAlchemy 0.0.24, Pydantic 1.10.22 / 2.11.7 and tests pass.

    Here is adapted test (in order to work with both, Pydantic V1 and V2) (in the details):

    Details 
    import pytest
import sqlmodel
import pydantic


if pydantic.VERSION.startswith("2."):

    class MyPydanticModel(pydantic.BaseModel):
        id: str
        data: str = pydantic.Field(frozen=True)

        model_config = {"validate_assignment": True}


    class MySqlmodelModel(sqlmodel.SQLModel):
        id: str
        data: str = sqlmodel.Field(schema_extra={"frozen": True})

        model_config = {"validate_assignment": True}

else:

    class MyPydanticModel(pydantic.BaseModel):
        id: str
        data: str = pydantic.Field(allow_mutation=False)

        class Config:
            validate_assignment = True


    class MySqlmodelModel(sqlmodel.SQLModel):
        id: str
        data: str = sqlmodel.Field(allow_mutation=False)

        class Config:
            validate_assignment = True


class TestSuite:
    def test_pydantic_can_create(self):
        MyPydanticModel(id='abc', data="foo")

    def test_pydantic_raises_on_update(self):
        my_pyd_mdl = MyPydanticModel(id='abc', data="foo")
        with pytest.raises((pydantic.ValidationError, TypeError)):
            my_pyd_mdl.data = "bar"

    def test_sqlmodel_can_create(self):
        MySqlmodelModel(id='abc', data="foo")

    def test_sqlmodel_raises_on_update(self):
        my_sqlmdl_mdl = MySqlmodelModel(id='abc', data="foo")
        with pytest.raises((pydantic.ValidationError, TypeError)):
            my_sqlmdl_mdl.data = "bar"

    Use case of @EkremDincel is a bit different. And it still doesn't work.
    It shows the inability to instantiate model with table=True and immutable field:

    import sqlmodel

class MySqlmodelModel(sqlmodel.SQLModel, table=True):
    id: str = sqlmodel.Field(primary_key=True)
    data: str = sqlmodel.Field(schema_extra={"frozen": True})

    model_config = {"validate_assignment": True}

class TestSuite:
    def test_sqlmodel_can_create(self):
        MySqlmodelModel(id="abc", data="foo")

    #  1 validation error for MySqlmodelModel
    #        data
    #          Field is frozen
  7. fastapi
    locked and limited conversation to collaborators on May 18, 2026
  8. tiangolo
    converted this issue into a discussion #1949 on May 18, 2026
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