LightODM Reddit Posts

LightODM Reddit Posts

r/Python - Main Post

Title: [P] LightODM: Minimal MongoDB ODM with both sync & async support

I love Beanie for MongoDB, but I kept running into projects where I needed both sync and async operations (FastAPI + background workers), and Beanie is async-only. So I built LightODM.

The pitch: Pydantic v2 models for MongoDB with zero magic. ~500 lines of code, 3 dependencies.

from lightodm import MongoBaseModel

class User(MongoBaseModel):
    class Settings:
        name = "users"

    name: str
    email: str
    age: int

# Sync
user = User(name="Alice", email="alice@example.com", age=28)
user.save()
found = User.get(user.id)

# Async (same model!)
await user.asave()
found = await User.aget(user.id)

Key differences from Beanie:

  • ✅ Both sync (PyMongo) and async (Motor) with the same model
  • ✅ Uses MongoDB’s native query syntax (no DSL to learn)
  • ✅ Direct access to PyMongo/Motor collections when you need them
  • ✅ ~500 lines vs ~5000+ lines
  • ❌ No built-in relationships (use IDs manually)
  • ❌ No migrations (use PyMongo directly)

Why not just use Beanie? You should, if you only need async! LightODM is for when you need both sync and async, or when you want less abstraction.

GitHub: https://github.com/Aprova-GmbH/lightodm PyPI: pip install lightodm Blog: https://vykhand.github.io/LightODM-Minimalistic-MongoDB-ODM/

Apache 2.0, Python 3.11+, >95% test coverage.

Includes migration guide from Beanie if you’re interested.

r/mongodb - Shorter Post

Title: LightODM: Python ODM with both sync and async support

Built this as a lighter alternative to Beanie for projects that need both synchronous and asynchronous MongoDB operations.

Main features:

  • Pydantic v2 models with full validation
  • Both sync (PyMongo) and async (Motor) with the same model
  • MongoDB’s native query syntax (no query builder DSL)
  • Direct collection access for aggregation pipelines
  • ~500 lines of code, minimal abstractions

Example:

class User(MongoBaseModel):
    class Settings:
        name = "users"
    name: str
    email: str

# Use sync or async based on your context
user.save()          # Sync
await user.asave()   # Async

Not trying to replace Beanie - it’s great for async-only apps. This is for simpler projects or when you need both sync and async.

GitHub: https://github.com/Aprova-GmbH/lightodm

r/FastAPI - FastAPI-focused Post

Title: MongoDB ODM with sync/async support for FastAPI + background workers

If you’re using FastAPI with MongoDB and have background workers (Celery, RQ, etc.), you might have run into the sync/async problem with Beanie (async-only).

Built LightODM to solve this - same Pydantic model works with both:

from fastapi import FastAPI
from lightodm import MongoBaseModel

class User(MongoBaseModel):
    class Settings:
        name = "users"
    name: str
    email: str

app = FastAPI()

@app.post("/users/")
async def create_user(user: User):
    await user.asave()  # Async in endpoints
    return user

# In your background worker (sync context)
def process_user(user_id: str):
    user = User.get(user_id)  # Sync in workers
    # do work

Connection via environment variables (MONGO_URL, MONGO_DB_NAME) - no manual init required.

Apache 2.0, Python 3.11+ GitHub: https://github.com/Aprova-GmbH/lightodm PyPI: pip install lightodm

r/madeinpython - Show & Tell Style

Title: Made LightODM - MongoDB ODM that works both sync AND async

Hey! Published my MongoDB ODM after getting frustrated with the sync/async divide.

The backstory: Love Beanie, but it’s async-only. When you have FastAPI (async) + background workers (sync), you’re stuck using two different MongoDB libraries or doing weird async-to-sync conversions.

My solution:

from lightodm import MongoBaseModel

class User(MongoBaseModel):
    class Settings:
        name = "users"

    name: str
    email: str

# Use sync or async - same model!
user.save()          # Sync (PyMongo)
await user.asave()   # Async (Motor)

User.find({"age": {"$gte": 18}})      # Sync
await User.afind({"age": {"$gte": 18}})  # Async

Why you might like it:

  • Every method has both sync and async versions
  • Uses MongoDB’s native query syntax (no DSL)
  • ~500 lines of code (easy to understand)
  • Direct access to PyMongo/Motor collections
  • Zero magic, maximum control

Not for everyone: If you only need async, use Beanie. If you need relationships and migrations, use Beanie. This is for simpler projects or mixed sync/async codebases.

Status:

  • 0.1.0 on PyPI (pip install lightodm)
  • Apache 2.0 licensed
  • Python 3.11+
  • Using it in production

GitHub: https://github.com/Aprova-GmbH/lightodm

Happy to answer questions!