Monorepo Python Development

This guide contains instructions on how to setup Python with Gradle within the Airbyte Monorepo. If you are a contributor working on one or two connectors, this page is most likely not relevant to you. Instead, you should use your standard Python development flow.

Python Connector Development

Before working with connectors written in Python, we recommend running the following command from the airbyte root directory

python3 tools/bin/update_intellij_venv.py -modules <connector directory name> --install-venv

e.g

python tools/bin/update_intellij_venv.py -modules source-stripe --install-venv

If using Pycharm or IntelliJ, you'll also want to add the interpreter to the IDE's list of known interpreters. You can do this by adding the --update-intellij flag. More details can be found here

python tools/bin/update_intellij_venv.py -modules <connector directory name> --install-venv --update-intellij

If working with many connectors, you can use the --all-modules flag to install the virtual environments for all connectors

python tools/bin/update_intellij_venv.py --all-modules --install-venv

This will create a virtualenv and install dependencies for the connector you want to work on as well as any internal Airbyte python packages it depends on.

When iterating on a single connector, you will often iterate by running

./gradlew :airbyte-integrations:connectors:your-connector-dir:build

This command will:

1. Install a virtual environment at airbyte-integrations/connectors/<your-connector-dir>/.venv
2. Install local development dependencies specified in airbyte-integrations/connectors/your-connector-dir/requirements.txt
3. Runs the following pip modules:
   1. Black to lint the code
   2. isort to sort imports
   3. Flake8 to check formatting
   4. MyPy to check type usage

Formatting/linting

To format and lint your code before commit you can use the Gradle command above, but for convenience we support pre-commit tool. To use it you need to install it first:

pip install pre-commit

then, to install pre-commit as a git hook, run

pre-commit install

That's it, pre-commit will format/lint the code every time you commit something. You find more information about pre-commit here.

IDE

At Airbyte, we use IntelliJ IDEA for development. Although it is possible to develop connectors with any IDE, we typically recommend IntelliJ IDEA or PyCharm, since we actively work towards compatibility.

Autocompletion

Install the Pydantic plugin. This will help autocompletion with some of our internal types.

PyCharm (ItelliJ IDEA)

The following setup steps are written for PyCharm but should have similar equivalents for IntelliJ IDEA:

1.python tools/bin/update_intellij_venv.py -modules <your-connector-dir> --update-intellij

2. Restart PyCharm
3. Go to File -> New -> Project...
4. Select Pure Python.
5. Select a project name like airbyte and a directory outside of the airbyte code root.
6. Go to Preferences -> Project -> Python Interpreter
7. Find a gear ⚙️ button next to Python interpreter dropdown list, click and select Add
8. Select Virtual Environment -> Existing
9. Set the interpreter path to the one that was created by Python command, i.e. airbyte-integrations/connectors/<your-connector-dir>/.venv/bin/python.
10. Wait for PyCharm to finish indexing and loading skeletons from selected virtual environment.

You should now have access to code completion and proper syntax highlighting for python projects.

If you need to work on another connector you can quickly change the current virtual environment in the bottom toolbar.

Excluding files from venv

By default, the find function in IntelliJ is not scoped and will include all files in the monorepo, including all the libraries installed as part of a connector's virtual environment. This huge volume of files makes indexing and search very slow. You can ignore files from the connectors' virtual environment with the following steps:

1. Open the project structure using cmd-;
2. Navigate to the "Project Settings / Modules" section in the right-side of the menu
3. Select the top level airbyte module so the change is applied to all submodules
4. Add the following filter to the Exclude files option: connectors/**/.venv
5. Press OK to confirm your options.

Manual Workaround

We have seen the above solution not being applied by IntelliJ. The exact reason is not clear to us but as a workaround, you can:

1. Open .gitignore in your IntelliJ
2. There will be a banner saying Some of the ignored directories are not excluded from indexing and search. Click on View Directories
3. A tree with all the git ignored files should be displayed. You can exclude them from IntelliJ by clicking Exclude