azure-cosmos-py

Azure Cosmos DB SDK for Python

Client library for Azure Cosmos DB NoSQL API — globally distributed, multi-model database.

Installation

pip install azure-cosmos azure-identity

Environment Variables

COSMOS_ENDPOINT=https://<account>.documents.azure.com:443/
COSMOS_DATABASE=mydb
COSMOS_CONTAINER=mycontainer

Authentication

from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential
from azure.cosmos import CosmosClient

credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
endpoint = "https://<account>.documents.azure.com:443/"

client = CosmosClient(url=endpoint, credential=credential)

Client Hierarchy

Client	Purpose	Get From
CosmosClient	Account-level operations	Direct instantiation
DatabaseProxy	Database operations	client.get_database_client()
ContainerProxy	Container/item operations	database.get_container_client()

Core Workflow

Setup Database and Container

# Get or create database
database = client.create_database_if_not_exists(id="mydb")

# Get or create container with partition key
container = database.create_container_if_not_exists(
    id="mycontainer",
    partition_key=PartitionKey(path="/category")
)

# Get existing
database = client.get_database_client("mydb")
container = database.get_container_client("mycontainer")

Create Item

item = {
    "id": "item-001",           # Required: unique within partition
    "category": "electronics",   # Partition key value
    "name": "Laptop",
    "price": 999.99,
    "tags": ["computer", "portable"]
}

created = container.create_item(body=item)
print(f"Created: {created['id']}")

Read Item

# Read requires id AND partition key
item = container.read_item(
    item="item-001",
    partition_key="electronics"
)
print(f"Name: {item['name']}")

Update Item (Replace)

item = container.read_item(item="item-001", partition_key="electronics")
item["price"] = 899.99
item["on_sale"] = True

updated = container.replace_item(item=item["id"], body=item)