def project(session, name, **kwargs): res = session.query(Project).filter(Project.name == name).first() if res: print '%s already exists' % res if not res: project = Project(name) project.comment = kwargs.get('comment') project.description = kwargs.get('description') project.notes = kwargs.get('notes') project.date_added = datetime.datetime.now() session.add(project) session.commit()