Django Patterns

Django Development Patterns

Production-grade Django architecture patterns for scalable, maintainable applications.

When to Activate

• Building Django web applications
• Designing Django REST Framework APIs
• Working with Django ORM and models
• Setting up Django project structure
• Implementing caching, signals, middleware

Project Structure

Recommended Layout

myproject/
├── config/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── settings/
│   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   ├── base.py          # Base settings
│   │   ├── development.py   # Dev settings
│   │   ├── production.py    # Production settings
│   │   └── test.py          # Test settings
│   ├── urls.py
│   ├── wsgi.py
│   └── asgi.py
├── manage.py
└── apps/
    ├── __init__.py
    ├── users/
    │   ├── __init__.py
    │   ├── models.py
    │   ├── views.py
    │   ├── serializers.py
    │   ├── urls.py
    │   ├── permissions.py
    │   ├── filters.py
    │   ├── services.py
    │   └── tests/
    └── products/
        └── ...

Split settings across base.py, development.py, production.py, and test.py. See references/code-examples.md § Split Settings for full configuration.

Model Design Patterns

Model Best Practices

• Use AbstractUser for custom user models with email-based auth
• Add Meta with db_table, ordering, indexes, constraints
• Use DecimalField for money, PositiveIntegerField for counts
• Override save() for auto-generated fields (e.g., slug from name)

class Product(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    slug = models.SlugField(unique=True)
    price = models.DecimalField(max_digits=10, decimal_places=2,
                                validators=[MinValueValidator(0)])
    stock = models.PositiveIntegerField(default=0)
    is_active = models.BooleanField(default=True)
    category = models.ForeignKey('Category',
                                  related_name='products')
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)

    class Meta:
        ordering = ['-created_at']
        indexes = [
            models.Index(fields=['slug']),
            models.Index(fields=['category', 'is_active']),
        ]

Custom QuerySet

Chain reusable query methods via a custom QuerySet.as_manager():

class ProductQuerySet(models.QuerySet):
    def active(self):
        return self.filter(is_active=True)

    def with_category(self):
        return self.select_related('category')

    def in_stock(self):
        return self.filter(stock__gt=0)

# Usage: Product.objects.active().with_category().in_stock()

See references/code-examples.md § Model Design for full models, QuerySet, and Manager examples.

Django REST Framework Patterns

Serializer Patterns

• Use separate serializers for read vs. create/update
• Add field-level and cross-field validation
• Use SerializerMethodField for computed fields
• Use source='related.field' for nested attribute access

class ProductSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
    category_name = serializers.CharField(source='category.name', read_only=True)

    class Meta:
        model = Product
        fields = ['id', 'name', 'slug', 'price', 'category_name', 'created_at']
        read_only_fields = ['id', 'slug', 'created_at']

    def validate_price(self, value):
        if value < 0:
            raise serializers.ValidationError("Price cannot be negative.")
        return value

ViewSet Patterns

• Use get_serializer_class() for action-specific serializers
• Use perform_create() to inject request context (e.g., created_by)
• Add @action for custom endpoints beyond CRUD
• Configure filter_backends, search_fields, ordering_fields

class ProductViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
    queryset = Product.objects.select_related('category')
    permission_classes = [IsAuthenticated, IsOwnerOrReadOnly]
    filter_backends = [DjangoFilterBackend, filters.SearchFilter]
    search_fields = ['name', 'description']

    def get_serializer_class(self):
        if self.action == 'create':
            return ProductCreateSerializer
        return ProductSerializer

    def perform_create(self, serializer):
        serializer.save(created_by=self.request.user)

See references/code-examples.md § DRF Serializers and § DRF ViewSets for complete implementations.

Service Layer Pattern

Encapsulate business logic in service classes, keeping views thin. Use @transaction.atomic for multi-step operations.

See references/code-examples.md § Service Layer for OrderService example.

Caching Strategies

See references/code-examples.md § Caching for examples of each level.

Signals

Use post_save / pre_save signals for cross-cutting concerns (e.g., auto-creating profiles). Register in AppConfig.ready().

See references/code-examples.md § Signals for implementation.

Middleware

Use middleware for request/response processing (logging, user tracking, timing). Extend MiddlewareMixin with process_request / process_response.

See references/code-examples.md § Middleware for examples.

Performance Optimization

N+1 Query Prevention

# Avoid: N+1 queries (separate query per product)
for product in Product.objects.all():
    print(product.category.name)

# Prefer: single query with select_related (FK)
for product in Product.objects.select_related('category').all():
    print(product.category.name)

# Prefer: prefetch_related for M2M
products = Product.objects.prefetch_related('tags').all()

Database Indexing

Add indexes in Meta.indexes for columns used in WHERE, ORDER BY, and frequent JOINs. Use composite indexes for multi-column filtering.

Bulk Operations

Use bulk_create() and bulk_update() for batch data operations. See references/code-examples.md § Bulk Operations.

Quick Reference

For production applications, structure and organization matter more than concise code. Build for maintainability.

Django Version Notes (June 2026)

Current: Django 6.0.6 (June 2026). Django 6.1 alpha released May 2026.

• Django 6.0: Built-in background tasks, native CSP support, template partials, modernized email API
• Python: Requires Python 3.12–3.14 (dropped 3.10/3.11)
• Key migration: If upgrading from 5.x, review removed deprecations and new background task API