Get started with Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL using Python

This article explains how to connect to Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL using the Python SDK. After connecting, perform operations on databases, containers, and items.

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Prerequisites

• An Azure account with an active subscription. Create a trial subscription.
• Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL account. Learn how to create an API for NoSQL account.
• Python 3.7 or later.
• Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI) or Azure PowerShell.

Set up your project

Create an environment for the Python code.

pip install azure-cosmos

pip install azure-cosmos

Create the Python application

In your environment, create a new app.py file and add this code:

"""Sample showing how to connect with endpoint and key."""
# <imports>
import json
import os
import sys
import uuid

from azure.core.exceptions import AzureError
from azure.cosmos import CosmosClient, PartitionKey

# </imports>

DATABASE_ID = "cosmicworks"
CONTAINER_ID = "products"
# <client>
ENDPOINT = os.environ["COSMOS_ENDPOINT"]
KEY = os.environ["COSMOS_KEY"]

client = CosmosClient(url=ENDPOINT, credential=KEY)
# </client>


def main():
    """How to CosmosDB and NoSQL samples."""
    try:
        # Create database and partition key.
        database = client.create_database_if_not_exists(id=DATABASE_ID)

        # Create a container.
        partition_key_path = PartitionKey(path="/categoryId")
        container = database.create_container_if_not_exists(
            id=CONTAINER_ID,
            partition_key=partition_key_path,
            offer_throughput=400,
        )

        # Create a new item.
        new_guid = str(uuid.uuid4())
        new_item = {
            "id": new_guid,
            "categoryId": "61dba35b-4f02-45c5-b648-c6badc0cbd79",
            "categoryName": "gear-surf-surfboards",
            "name": "Yamba Surfboard",
            "quantity": 12,
            "sale": False,
        }
        container.create_item(new_item)

        # Query items.
        sql_stmt = "SELECT * FROM products p WHERE p.categoryId = @categoryId"
        category_id = "61dba35b-4f02-45c5-b648-c6badc0cbd79"
        params = [dict(name="@categoryId", value=category_id)]

        items = container.query_items(
            query=sql_stmt,
            parameters=params,
            enable_cross_partition_query=False,
        )

        for item in items:
            print(json.dumps(item, indent=True))

    except AzureError as err:
        sys.exit("Error:" + str(err))


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

The preceding code imports modules used in the rest of the article.

Connect to Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL

To connect to the Azure Cosmos DB API for NoSQL, create an instance of the CosmosClient class. This class is the starting point to perform all operations against databases.

To connect to your API for NoSQL account using Microsoft Entra, use a security principal. The exact type of principal depends on where you host your application code. The following table is a quick reference guide.

Import Azure.Identity

The azure-identity package provides core authentication functionality shared across all Azure SDK libraries.

Import the azure-identity package into your environment.

pip install azure-identity

Create CosmosClient with default credential implementation

If you're testing on a local machine or running your application on Azure services with managed identity support, obtain an OAuth token by creating a DefaultAzureCredential instance.

In your app.py file:

• Get the endpoint for your account and set it as the environment variable COSMOS_ENDPOINT.

• Import the DefaultAzureCredential and create an instance of it.

• Create a new instance of the CosmosClient class with the ENDPOINT and credential as parameters.

"""Sample showing how to connect with AAD."""
import json
import os
import sys
import uuid

from azure.core.exceptions import AzureError
from azure.cosmos import CosmosClient

# <credential>
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

ENDPOINT = os.environ["COSMOS_ENDPOINT"]

credential = DefaultAzureCredential()

client = CosmosClient(ENDPOINT, credential)
# </credential>

DATABASE_ID = "cosmicworks"
CONTAINER_ID = "products"


def main():
    """How to CosmosDB and NoSQL samples."""
    try:
        # Get database.
        database = client.get_database_client(DATABASE_ID)

        # Get container.
        container = database.get_container_client(CONTAINER_ID)
        print("Container info: " + str(container.read()))

        # Create a new item.
        new_guid = str(uuid.uuid4())
        new_item = {
            "id": new_guid,
            "categoryId": "61dba35b-4f02-45c5-b648-c6badc0cbd79",
            "categoryName": "gear-surf-surfboards",
            "name": "Yamba Surfboard",
            "quantity": 12,
            "sale": False,
        }
        container.create_item(new_item)

        # Query items.
        sql_stmt = "SELECT * FROM products p WHERE p.categoryId = @categoryId"
        category_id = "61dba35b-4f02-45c5-b648-c6badc0cbd79"
        params = [dict(name="@categoryId", value=category_id)]

        items = container.query_items(
            query=sql_stmt,
            parameters=params,
            enable_cross_partition_query=False,
        )

        for item in items:
            print(json.dumps(item, indent=True))

    except AzureError as err:
        sys.exit("Error:" + str(err))


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Build your application

As you build your application, your code primarily interacts with four types of resources:

• The API for NoSQL account, which is the unique top-level namespace for your Azure Cosmos DB data.

• Databases, which organize the containers in your account.

• Containers, which contain a set of individual items in your database.

• Items, which represent a JSON document in your container.

This diagram shows the relationship between these resources.

One or more associated Python classes represents type of resource. This list shows the most common classes for synchronous programming. (There are similar classes for asynchronous programming under the azure.cosmos.aio namespace.)

These guides show how to use each of these classes to build your application.

See also

• PyPi
• API reference
• Library source code
• Give feedback

Next steps