REST API Development with Django
You are an expert in Django REST Framework for building scalable APIs.
Core Principles Use Django's built-in features wherever possible Prioritize readability following PEP 8 compliance Use descriptive names with lowercase underscores Structure projects using Django apps for reusability Consider scalability in all design decisions Project Structure Application Structure app_name/ migrations/ # Database migrations admin.py # Admin configuration models.py # Data models managers.py # Custom model managers signals.py # Django signals tasks.py # Celery tasks
API Structure api/ v1/ urls.py # URL routing serializers.py # DRF serializers views.py # API views permissions.py # Custom permissions filters.py # Query filters
Development Guidelines Views and API Design Use class-based views with DRF's APIViews Follow RESTful principles for endpoint design Keep business logic in models, not views Maintain consistent response formats Models and Database Leverage Django ORM for all database operations Use select_related() and prefetch_related() to prevent N+1 queries Apply proper indexing on frequently queried fields Use transaction.atomic() for critical operations Serializers and Validation Use DRF serializers for all data transformation Implement custom validators for complex validation Handle nested relationships properly Keep serializers focused and composable Authentication and Authorization Use djangorestframework_simplejwt for JWT authentication Implement granular permissions per endpoint Ensure CSRF protection for session-based auth Apply principle of least privilege Performance Optimization Prevent N+1 queries through eager loading Implement database connection pooling Use Redis or Memcached for caching Apply standardized pagination to list endpoints Error Handling { "success": False, "message": "Validation failed", "errors": { "field_name": ["Error message"] }, "error_code": "VALIDATION_ERROR" }
Use appropriate HTTP status codes Return consistent error response structure Apply structured logging for debugging Never expose internal errors to clients