---
id: hdbcli
version: "2.29.25"
license: SAP DEVELOPER LICENSE AGREEMENT
license_treatment: unclear
maintenance: active
---

# hdbcli — SAP HANA Python Client

License: unclear · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 3.3M/mo

## What it is and what it does

hdbcli is the official SAP HANA Python client, implementing the PEP 249 database API standard to enable Python applications to connect to and query SAP HANA databases. It supports both SAP HANA Cloud (port 443 with automatic encryption) and on-premise deployments (port 3NN13/3NN15), and provides cursor-based query execution with parameterized statement binding (both positional and named parameters). The driver is distributed as compiled wheels for multiple platforms and architectures, with no additional runtime dependencies beyond Python itself.

The package is production-stable and actively maintained, with support for modern Python versions. A key deviation from PEP 249 is that autocommit is enabled by default rather than disabled, which may affect transaction handling expectations. It is licensed under SAP's proprietary Developer License Agreement, making it suitable for development and evaluation but requiring explicit license review for production or commercial use.

Use it for:

- Extract data from SAP HANA Cloud or on-premise databases for analytics, reporting, or ETL pipelines in Python applications.
- Build Python-based data integration layers that read from or write to SAP HANA as part of enterprise data workflows.
- Develop administrative or monitoring scripts that connect to HANA instances to execute DDL/DML operations programmatically.
- Prototype or test SAP HANA applications locally before deployment to production SAP environments.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

A PEP 249-compliant Python database driver for connecting to and querying SAP HANA databases, supporting both cloud and on-premise instances with parameterized queries and cursor-based result handling.

Yes, if you need to connect Python to SAP HANA and accept the proprietary license terms. The driver is stable, actively maintained, and has no external dependencies. However, verify license compliance for your use case (development vs. production) before committing to production deployments, and confirm Python version compatibility with your environment.

## Install

pip install hdbcli
uv add hdbcli
poetry add hdbcli

## Installing hdbcli

Before you install: Medium install friction due to compiled binary wheels for specific platforms (macOS, Linux, Windows). Actively maintained with a recent release 36 days ago. No runtime dependencies simplifies integration.

License in practice: Licensed under SAP Developer License Agreement with proprietary terms. Use is restricted to development and subject to SAP's product use and support terms for on-premise customers. Commercial or production use requires explicit license compliance review.

Quickstart:

pip install hdbcli

from hdbcli import dbapi
conn = dbapi.connect(address="hana-host", port=3MM, user="user", password="pass")
cursor = conn.cursor()
cursor.execute("SELECT * FROM table")
for row in cursor:
    print(row)

Requires a reachable SAP HANA instance (cloud or on-premise) with valid credentials and appropriate port access (443 for cloud, 3NN13/3NN15 for on-premise).

Verify before relying:

- Whether the SAP Developer License Agreement permits use in production environments or only development.
- Specific Python version minimum requirement (classifiers list 3.10–3.14 but requires_python is unspecified).
- Whether autocommit-by-default behavior differs from PEP 249 in ways that affect existing code patterns.

## Package facts

- License: SAP DEVELOPER LICENSE AGREEMENT (unclear)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: medium
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 3.3M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

SAP HANA Python driver, database connection SAP HANA, PEP 249 database API, HANA SQL client Python, enterprise database connector, sap-hana, enterprise-database, pep-249

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