Install Python and the python-oracledb Driver

To connect to Autonomous Database from your Python application, install Python and python-oracledb driver.

Install Python 3, if it is not already available.

The version of Python you use depends on your client-side OS and hardware. For example Windows, Linux, macOS, and others.

Note:
Oracle recommends you keep up to date with Python and python-oracledb driver releases.

Install the python-oracledb driver from PyPI.

The python-oracledb driver is a Python programming language extension module allowing Python programs to connect to Oracle Database. The python-oracledb driver is the renamed, new major release of the popular cx_Oracle driver.

Supported python-oracledb driver versions: python-oracledb 1.0 (or later)

Run the following command to upgrade python:

python -m pip install oracledb --upgrade

You should see output similar to the following:

Collecting oracledb
  Downloading oracledb-1.0.3-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl (1.0 MB)
     ---------------------------------------- 1.0/1.0 MB 1.8 MB/s eta 0:00:00
Collecting cryptography>=3.4
  Downloading cryptography-37.0.4-cp36-abi3-win_amd64.whl (2.4 MB)
     ---------------------------------------- 2.4/2.4 MB 3.5 MB/s eta 0:00:00
Collecting cffi>=1.12
  Downloading cffi-1.15.1-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl (179 kB)
     ---------------------------------------- 179.1/179.1 kB 5.4 MB/s eta 0:00:00
Collecting pycparser
  Downloading pycparser-2.21-py2.py3-none-any.whl (118 kB)
     ---------------------------------------- 118.7/118.7 kB 7.2 MB/s eta 0:00:00
Installing collected packages: pycparser, cffi, cryptography, oracledb
Successfully installed cffi-1.15.1 cryptography-37.0.4 oracledb-1.0.3 pycparser-2.21

Notes for installing python-oracledb:

If you are behind a proxy, use the --proxy option to add a proxy server to the command. For example:
```
python -m pip install oracledb --upgrade --proxy=http://proxy.example.com:80
```
In the case where you do not have permission to write to system directories, include the --user option. For example:
```
python -m pip install oracledb --upgrade --user
```
If a binary package is not available for your platform, running pip will download the source package instead. The source is compiled and the resulting binary is installed.

See Installing python-oracledb for additional options and tips.

If you want to use the python-oracledb driver in Thick mode, install Oracle Client software.

By default, python-oracledb runs in Thin mode which connects directly to Oracle Database. Thin mode does not require Oracle Client libraries. However, some additional functionality is available when python-oracledb runs in Thick mode.

Note:
See Oracle Database Features Supported by python-oracledb for information on supported features in python-oracledb Thin and Thick modes. Not all of the features shown in this link are available with Autonomous Database.

Python-oracledb uses Thick mode when you use either the Oracle Instant client libraries or the Oracle Database Client libraries and you call oracledb.init_oracle_client() in your Python code.

When you install Oracle Client Software, there are differences in required minimum versions for mTLS and TLS connections, as follows:
- Mutual TLS (mTLS) Connections:
  - If your database is on a remote computer, then download the free Oracle Instant Client “Basic” or “Basic Light” package for your operating system architecture. Use a supported version: Oracle Instant Client: 18.19 (or later), 19.2 (or later), or 21 (base release or later).
  - Alternatively, you can use the Full Oracle Database client libraries when they are available on your system (including Full Oracle Database Client: Oracle Database Client: 18.19 (or later), 19.2 (or later), or 21 (base release or later).
- TLS Connections: Oracle Call Interface (OCI) clients support TLS authentication without a wallet if you are using the following client versions:
  - Oracle Instant Client/Oracle Database Client 19.14 (or later) and 21.5 (or later) - all platforms
  - Alternatively, you can use the Full Oracle Database client libraries when they are available on your system, including Full Oracle Database Client 19.14 (or later) and 21.5 (or later).

After you have installed Python 3, you need to install, a Python HTTP library named Requests that simplifies working with HTTP requests, providing an easy-to-use interface to make REST calls from Python. You can use it as your primary tool when writing Python code that consumes RESTful services.

Read the instructions here to install Requests.