Django Best Practices

A senior Django developer's knowledge base covering 27 topics — from ORM queries to deployment. This skill provides wrong vs correct code examples and architectural guidance for building production-grade Django applications.

When to use this skill

• Creating or modifying Django models, fields, or relations
• Writing views (FBV, CBV, or DRF ViewSets)
• Building or updating DRF serializers and API endpoints
• Writing ORM queries, fixing N+1 problems, or optimizing performance
• Creating or reviewing migrations
• Configuring Django settings, middleware, or URL routing
• Implementing authentication, permissions, or session management
• Setting up caching (Redis, Memcached, per-view, fragment)
• Writing or reviewing tests (Django TestCase, pytest, factories)
• Working with Django signals, forms, templates, or template tags
• Configuring static/media files, file uploads, or storage backends
• Setting up Celery tasks, periodic tasks, or background jobs
• Deploying Django (Gunicorn, Nginx, Docker, CI/CD)
• Working with Django Channels or WebSockets
• Implementing i18n/l10n or timezone support
• Reviewing code for security issues (CSRF, XSS, SQL injection)
• Designing app architecture, service layers, or project structure

Workflow

When this skill is activated, follow these steps:

1. Identify the topic — Determine which area of Django the task involves (models, views, queries, etc.)
2. Read the relevant reference file — Consult the reference table below and read the appropriate file before writing any code
3. Apply the correct patterns — Follow the "Correct" patterns from the reference file, avoid the "Wrong" anti-patterns
4. Check for common mistakes — Review the "Why" explanations to understand the reasoning behind each pattern
5. Cross-reference related topics — If the task spans multiple areas (e.g., views + queries + templates), read all relevant reference files

Always read the relevant reference file before writing code for that topic.

Key Principles

Project Structure

• Separate config from apps. Use config/settings/ with base, local, and production files.
• Keep apps small and focused (3-8 models per app). Split when an app exceeds 15 models.
• Always set AUTH_USER_MODEL before the first migration.
• Reference users via settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL, never auth.User directly.

Models & ORM

• Use DecimalField for money, BooleanField for flags, EmailField for emails.
• Always set explicit related_name on ForeignKey and OneToOneField.
• Use select_related for ForeignKey/OneToOne, prefetch_related for ManyToMany/reverse FK.
• Use F() expressions for atomic updates to avoid race conditions.
• Use Exists() instead of .count() > 0 for existence checks.
• Use bulk_create and bulk_update for batch operations.
• Wrap multi-step writes in transaction.atomic().

Queries

• Never filter in Python when the database can do it.
• Use Q objects for OR/NOT queries.
• Use annotate with Subquery instead of N+1 loops.
• Always parameterize raw SQL — never use f-strings.
• Use .values_list() when you don't need full model instances.
• Use .exists() instead of .count() > 0.
• Use .iterator() for large querysets.

Views

• Use FBVs for simple one-off views, CBVs for CRUD with generics.
• Always use LoginRequiredMixin or @login_required for protected views.
• Override get_queryset() to enforce ownership in UpdateView/DeleteView.
• Use get_object_or_404 in views, .first() when absence is expected.

Forms & Validation

• Always use explicit fields in ModelForm — never exclude or __all__.
• Use clean_<field>() for single-field validation, clean() for cross-field.
• Use Django's built-in validators and write custom ones for domain rules.

Security

• Never disable CSRF except for external webhooks with their own auth.
• Never use mark_safe() or |safe on user input — use format_html().
• Never use f-strings in raw SQL — always parameterize.
• Use Argon2 for password hashing, PBKDF2 as fallback.
• Set SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT, SECURE_HSTS_*, and cookie security flags in production.
• Run manage.py check --deploy before every deployment.

Admin

• Always configure list_display, list_filter, and search_fields.
• Use list_select_related to prevent N+1 queries in list views.
• Use readonly_fields for computed/automatic values.
• Override permission methods to restrict what staff can do.

Templates

• Use template inheritance with base.html and {% block %} tags.
• Always use {% url %} and {% static %} — never hardcode paths.
• Use {% empty %} in for loops and {% with %} for expensive lookups.
• Never use {% autoescape off %} or |safe on user content.

Migrations

• Make small, focused migrations with descriptive names.
• Always provide reverse operations for custom/data migrations.
• Use apps.get_model() in data migrations, never direct model imports.
• Multi-step approach for column removal: make nullable → deploy → remove.
• Use --plan to preview migrations before running in production.

Testing

• Use SimpleTestCase for no-DB tests, TestCase for DB tests.
• Use setUpTestData for class-level test data (faster than setUp).
• Use factory_boy instead of JSON fixtures.
• Mock external services (SMS, payments, APIs).
• Use @override_settings and Django's locmem email backend for testing.
• Aim for 80%+ coverage on business logic.

DRF

• Always use explicit fields in serializers — never __all__.
• Use separate read/write serializers for nested data.
• Set IsAuthenticated as the global default permission.
• Always paginate list endpoints.
• Use django-filter for declarative filtering.
• Optimize get_queryset() with select_related/prefetch_related.

Signals

• Import signals in AppConfig.ready(), never at module level.
• Use dispatch_uid to prevent duplicate connections.
• Prefer explicit method calls over signals for tightly coupled logic.
• Use signals only for decoupled cross-app communication.

Caching

• Use DummyCache in development, Redis in production.
• Use namespaced cache keys with timeouts.
• Invalidate targeted keys, never cache.clear().
• Cache at the most granular level that makes sense.

Deployment

• Never use runserver in production — use Gunicorn or Uvicorn.
• Use multi-stage Docker builds.
• Store secrets in environment variables, never in code.
• Use zero-downtime deployment with Gunicorn HUP signal.
• Always have a health check endpoint.

Background Tasks

• Pass IDs to tasks, never model instances.
• Always implement retry logic with exponential backoff.
• Make tasks idempotent — safe to run more than once.
• Use @shared_task instead of importing the Celery app directly.

Reference Files

Read the relevant reference file before writing code for that topic.

Topic	File	When to read
Project structure & settings	references/core.md	Setting up a Django project, configuring settings, WSGI/ASGI, management commands
Model design	references/models.md	Creating or modifying models, fields, relations, Meta options, managers, abstract/proxy models
ORM queries	references/queries.md	Writing queries, fixing N+1, using Q/F objects, aggregation, subqueries, transactions
Migrations	references/migrations.md	Creating migrations, data migrations, squashing, zero-downtime schema changes
Django Admin	references/admin.md	Configuring admin, inline models, custom actions, fieldsets, admin security/performance
Views	references/views.md	Writing FBVs or CBVs, generic views, mixins, choosing between FBV and CBV
URL routing	references/urls.md	Configuring URLs, namespaces, path converters, reverse/reverse_lazy
Templates	references/templates.md	Template inheritance, tags, filters, custom template tags, context processors, security
Forms	references/forms.md	Django forms, ModelForms, validation, custom validators, formsets, file upload security
Authentication & sessions	references/auth.md	User models, auth backends, login/logout, password reset, permissions, groups, sessions, cookies
Middleware	references/middleware.md	Middleware order, custom middleware, exception handling, async middleware
Static & media files	references/static-media.md	Static/media configuration, collectstatic, WhiteNoise, S3/CDN, file uploads, storage backends
Security	references/security.md	CSRF, XSS, SQL injection, clickjacking, password hashing, HTTPS, SECRET_KEY, security checks
Signals	references/signals.md	pre/post_save, pre/post_delete, m2m_changed, custom signals, when to avoid signals
Caching	references/caching.md	Cache backends, Redis, per-view/fragment/low-level caching, invalidation strategies
Internationalization	references/i18n.md	i18n settings, gettext/gettext_lazy, translation tags, timezone support, locale structure
Testing	references/testing.md	TestCase types, Client/RequestFactory, fixtures, pytest-django, factory_boy, mocking, coverage
Django REST Framework	references/drf.md	Serializers, viewsets, routers, authentication, permissions, throttling, pagination, filtering
Background tasks	references/celery.md	Celery setup, task definition, retries, queues, periodic tasks, Django-Q, Huey, idempotency
Deployment & performance	references/deployment.md	Gunicorn, Nginx, Docker, CI/CD, zero-downtime deploys, query optimization, indexing, async views
Django Channels	references/channels.md	ASGI setup, WebSocket consumers, channel layers, group messaging, WS authentication, SSE
Django ecosystem	references/ecosystem.md	DRF, django-filter, allauth, debug toolbar, storages, guardian, import-export, unfold, django-redis
Architecture patterns	references/architecture.md	Custom fields, multi-DB, database routers, Jinja2, ORM internals, MTV, service layer, DDD, SOLID