Phalconvee Devstart Stack Django

Django Stack Conventions

Architecture

• Django 5.x. Class-based views for CRUD (CreateView, UpdateView, etc.).
• Function-based views for simple or custom logic.
• Django REST Framework for API projects. ModelSerializer + ViewSets.
• Settings split: config/settings/{base,dev,prod}.py or django-environ.

Models

• Explicit __str__, Meta.ordering, verbose_name.
• Field validators on the model. Custom clean() for cross-field validation.
• Use related_name on all ForeignKey / ManyToMany fields.
• Abstract base models for shared fields (timestamps, soft delete).

Validation

• Django Forms for template-based views. Clean methods for custom validation.
• DRF Serializers for API views. Never validate in views directly.
• Permissions: Django's built-in permission system + custom permission classes.

Templates

• Base template inheritance: base.html → app/base.html → app/page.html.
• Template tags and filters for reusable logic. No complex Python in templates.
• Tailwind CSS via django-tailwind package or CDN.

Testing

• pytest-django. No unittest.TestCase.
• Factory Boy for model factories. No fixtures.
• Test views via client.get(), client.post().
• Test both 200 and 403/404 responses.
• Run: pytest.

Common Patterns

# Class-based view with permission
class ProjectUpdateView(LoginRequiredMixin, UserPassesTestMixin, UpdateView):
    model = Project
    form_class = ProjectForm
    template_name = 'projects/edit.html'

    def test_func(self):
        return self.get_object().owner == self.request.user

# pytest test
def test_owner_can_update_project(client, user_factory, project_factory):
    user = user_factory()
    project = project_factory(owner=user)
    client.force_login(user)
    response = client.post(
        reverse('projects:update', args=[project.pk]),
        {'name': 'Updated'}
    )
    assert response.status_code == 302
    project.refresh_from_db()
    assert project.name == 'Updated'

Source: phalconVee/devstart — distributed by TomeVault.