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Example Code

from sqlmodel import SQLModel, Field, Session, create_engine

class DefaultModel(SQLModel, table=True):
    id: int = Field(primary_key=True)
    field: int | None = Field(default=1, nullable=True)

engine = create_engine("sqlite:///:memory:")
SQLModel.metadata.create_all(engine)

with Session(engine) as session:
    model = DefaultModel(field=None)
    print(model.field)  # None (as expected)

    session.add(model)
    session.commit()
    session.refresh(model)
    print(model.field)  # 1 (inserts the default value instead of None)

    model.field = None
    session.commit()
    session.refresh(model)
    print(model.field)  # None (workaround: this time null is set in the db)

Description

1. I have a model field that is nullable and has a default value of 1
2. I want to insert a row, but don't want that default value so I set the field to None
3. However, upon commit, the default value of 1 is used instead of None/null.

Additionally, setting the field to None afterwards and re-committing gets me what I want. This seems like an inconsistency: in both cases, the field is explicitly set to None but on insert, it doesn't use that null value.

Is applying the default to any None value intended behavior? Is there a special way to inform SQLModel that I want the value to be null without executing multiple queries?

Operating System

Windows

Operating System Details

No response

Project Version

2.13.4

Python Version

3.13

Additional Context

I have not tested this with other DBs outside of sqlite.