Question

I have a model with these 2 columns

1. created_at: date
2. last_updated_at: date

Is it possible to set these values automatically whenever a insert or update happens. Or should I be calling a method inside this class to do that.

Answer 1

Please read the Python-Executed Functions section of Column Insert/Update Defaults documentation.
Your code will then look similar to the following:

# ...
import datetime
# ...
class MyModel(Base):
    __tablename__ = "my_table"
    # ...
    created_at = Column(DateTime, default=datetime.date.today)
    last_updated_at = Column(DateTime, onupdate=datetime.datetime.now)