A Dev Container for SQLAlchemy with SQLTools

SQLAlchemy 2.0 was recently released, with a few significant interface differences. I'm working on a video that walks through a SQLAlchemy 2.0 example, and in the process of making that video, I created a Dev Container optimized for SQLAlchemy + SQLite + SQLTools.

You can get the Dev Container here (or try it in Codespaces first!):
github.com/pamelafox/sqlalchemy-sqlite-playground

Dev Container contents

The devcontainer.json includes:

• A base image of mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:3.11
• Python linting extensions:

  "ms-python.python",
  "ms-python.vscode-pylance",
  "charliermarsh.ruff"
      

• SQLTools extension and SQLite driver:

  "mtxr.sqltools",
  "mtxr.sqltools-driver-sqlite"

• The node feature (necessary for the SQLTools SQLite driver)
• A related setting necessary for SQLite driver:

  "sqltools.useNodeRuntime": true,

• Preset connection for a SQLite DB stored in my_database.db file:

  "sqltools.connections": [
    {
      "previewLimit": 50,
      "driver": "SQLite",
      "name": "database",
      "database": "my_database.db"
     }],

• A post-create command that installs SQLAlchemy and Faker:

  python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Besides the .devcontainer folder and requirements.txt, the repository also contains example.py, a file with SQLAlchemy 2.0 example code.

Using the Dev Container

1. Open the project in either GitHub Codespaces or VS Code with the Dev Containers extension. As part of starting up, it will auto-install the requirements and SQLTools will detect node is already installed:
2. Run example.py:
3. Select the SQLTools icon in the sidebar:
4. Next to the preset connection, select the connect icon (a plug):
5. When it prompts you to install the sqlite npm package, select Install now:
6. When it's done installing, select Connect to database.
7. Browse the table rows by selecting the magnifying glass next to teach table.