Django Development Patterns

Opinionated Django development toolkit enforcing consistent, production-ready patterns.

Core Principles

1. One file = one model/form - Each model and form lives in its own file
2. Consistent prefixes - Abstract (Base*), virtual (Virtual*), proxy (Proxy*)
3. UUID primary keys - All models use UUID instead of auto-increment
4. Timestamps everywhere - All models inherit created_at/updated_at
5. Soft delete by default - Use deleted_at instead of hard deletes
6. Dynaconf for config - Never use plain settings.py
7. uv + pyproject.toml - Use uv for package management with split deps
8. Class member ordering - Strict ordering for readability
9. Docker in /docker - All Docker artifacts in /docker folder

Project Setup (uv + pyproject.toml)

Always use uv for package management with split dependencies:

# Initialize project
uv init myproject
cd myproject

# Add dependencies by group
uv add django dynaconf django-unfold django-ninja
uv add --group dev ruff mypy django-stubs
uv add --group test pytest pytest-django factory-boy pytest-cov

pyproject.toml:

[project]
name = "myproject"
version = "0.1.0"
requires-python = ">=3.12"
dependencies = [
    "django>=5.0",
    "dynaconf[toml]>=3.2",
    "django-unfold>=0.30",
    "django-ninja>=1.0",
    "psycopg[binary]>=3.1",
    "whitenoise>=6.6",
]

[dependency-groups]
dev = [
    "ruff>=0.3",
    "mypy>=1.8",
    "django-stubs>=4.2",
    "ipython>=8.0",
]
test = [
    "pytest>=8.0",
    "pytest-django>=4.8",
    "factory-boy>=3.3",
    "pytest-cov>=4.1",
    "freezegun>=1.4",
]

[tool.ruff]
line-length = 100
target-version = "py312"

[tool.mypy]
plugins = ["mypy_django_plugin.main"]
strict = true

Project Structure

Standard Django project layout:

project/
├── pyproject.toml           # Dependencies (uv)
├── uv.lock                  # Lock file
├── docker/
│   ├── Dockerfile           # Main Dockerfile
│   ├── Dockerfile.dev       # Development Dockerfile
│   ├── docker-compose.yml   # Main compose
│   ├── docker-compose.dev.yml
│   ├── nginx/
│   │   └── nginx.conf
│   └── scripts/
│       ├── entrypoint.sh
│       └── wait-for-it.sh
├── config/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── settings.py          # Dynaconf integration
│   ├── .secrets.toml        # Gitignored secrets
│   └── settings.toml        # Environment config
├── apps/
│   └── myapp/
│       ├── models/          # Package, not single file
│       │   ├── __init__.py
│       │   ├── base.py      # Base classes
│       │   └── user.py      # One model per file
│       ├── forms/
│       │   ├── __init__.py
│       │   └── user.py
│       ├── managers/
│       │   ├── __init__.py
│       │   └── user.py
│       ├── api/             # Django Ninja (see django-dev-ninja)
│       └── admin/           # Unfold admin (see django-dev-unfold)
├── tests/                   # See django-dev-test
└── manage.py

Docker Configuration

All Docker artifacts in /docker folder:

# docker/Dockerfile
FROM python:3.12-slim

WORKDIR /app

# Install uv
COPY --from=ghcr.io/astral-sh/uv:latest /uv /bin/uv

# Install dependencies
COPY pyproject.toml uv.lock ./
RUN uv sync --frozen --no-dev

# Copy application
COPY . .

# Collect static files
RUN uv run python manage.py collectstatic --noinput

EXPOSE 8000
CMD ["uv", "run", "gunicorn", "config.wsgi:application", "--bind", "0.0.0.0:8000"]

# docker/docker-compose.yml
services:
  web:
    build:
      context: ..
      dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    environment:
      - DJANGO_ENV=production
    env_file:
      - ../.env
    depends_on:
      - db

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=myproject
      - POSTGRES_USER=postgres
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}

volumes:
  postgres_data:

Model Organization

Base Classes

Create base classes in models/base.py:

import uuid
from django.db import models
from django.utils import timezone


class BaseTimeStamped(models.Model):
    """Adds created_at and updated_at timestamps."""
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True, db_index=True)
    updated_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)

    class Meta:
        abstract = True
        get_latest_by = "created_at"


class BaseSoftDelete(models.Model):
    """Adds soft delete capability with deleted_at field."""
    deleted_at = models.DateTimeField(null=True, blank=True, db_index=True)

    class Meta:
        abstract = True

    def delete(self, using=None, keep_parents=False):
        self.deleted_at = timezone.now()
        self.save(update_fields=["deleted_at"])

    def hard_delete(self):
        super().delete()

    @property
    def is_deleted(self) -> bool:
        return self.deleted_at is not None


class BaseUUID(models.Model):
    """Uses UUID as primary key instead of auto-increment."""
    id = models.UUIDField(primary_key=True, default=uuid.uuid4, editable=False)

    class Meta:
        abstract = True


class BaseModel(BaseUUID, BaseTimeStamped, BaseSoftDelete):
    """Standard base model with UUID, timestamps, and soft delete."""

    class Meta:
        abstract = True

Naming Conventions

Prefix	Type	Example
Base*	Abstract base class	BaseTimeStamped, BaseModel
Virtual*	In-memory only (not persisted)	VirtualCart, VirtualSession
Proxy*	Proxy model	ProxyActiveUser, ProxyAdmin
(none)	Regular model	User, Product, Order

Class Member Ordering

All classes follow strict member ordering:

1. class Meta - ALWAYS FIRST in the class
2. Fields - Class attributes (model fields)
3. Managers - objects = Manager()
4. Properties (@property) - Alphabetical order
5. Private/dunder methods (_method, __str__) - Alphabetical order
6. Public methods - Alphabetical order

class User(BaseModel):
    """User account model."""

    # 1. class Meta - ALWAYS FIRST
    class Meta:
        db_table = "users"
        ordering = ["-created_at"]

    # 2. Fields
    email = models.EmailField(unique=True)
    name = models.CharField(max_length=255)
    is_active = models.BooleanField(default=True)

    # 3. Manager
    objects = UserManager()

    # 4. Properties (alphabetical)
    @property
    def display_name(self) -> str:
        return self.name or self.email.split("@")[0]

    @property
    def is_verified(self) -> bool:
        return self.email_verified_at is not None

    # 5. Private/dunder methods (alphabetical)
    def __repr__(self) -> str:
        return f"<User {self.email}>"

    def __str__(self) -> str:
        return self.email

    def _calculate_score(self) -> int:
        return len(self.orders.all())

    def _validate_status(self) -> bool:
        return self.is_active

    # 6. Public methods (alphabetical)
    def activate(self) -> None:
        self.is_active = True
        self.save(update_fields=["is_active"])

    def can_place_order(self) -> bool:
        return self.is_active and not self.is_deleted

    def deactivate(self) -> None:
        self.is_active = False
        self.save(update_fields=["is_active"])

Model File Template

Each model in its own file (models/user.py):

from django.db import models
from .base import BaseModel
from ..managers.user import UserManager


class User(BaseModel):
    """User account model."""

    # 1. class Meta - ALWAYS FIRST
    class Meta:
        db_table = "users"
        verbose_name = "User"
        verbose_name_plural = "Users"
        ordering = ["-created_at"]

    # 2. Fields
    email = models.EmailField(unique=True)
    name = models.CharField(max_length=255)
    is_active = models.BooleanField(default=True)

    # 3. Manager
    objects = UserManager()

    # 4. Properties
    @property
    def display_name(self) -> str:
        return self.name or self.email.split("@")[0]

    # 5. Private/dunder methods
    def __str__(self) -> str:
        return self.email

Model Package Init

Re-export all models in models/__init__.py:

from .base import BaseModel, BaseTimeStamped, BaseSoftDelete, BaseUUID
from .user import User
from .product import Product

__all__ = [
    "BaseModel",
    "BaseTimeStamped",
    "BaseSoftDelete",
    "BaseUUID",
    "User",
    "Product",
]

Custom Managers

Place managers in managers/ package:

# managers/user.py
from django.db import models


class UserQuerySet(models.QuerySet):
    def active(self):
        return self.filter(is_active=True, deleted_at__isnull=True)

    def by_email(self, email: str):
        return self.filter(email__iexact=email)


class UserManager(models.Manager):
    def get_queryset(self) -> UserQuerySet:
        return UserQuerySet(self.model, using=self._db)

    def active(self):
        return self.get_queryset().active()

    def by_email(self, email: str):
        return self.get_queryset().by_email(email)

Dynaconf Configuration

Always use Dynaconf for Django settings. See references/dynaconf.md for complete setup.

Quick setup:

pip install dynaconf
dynaconf init -f toml

Update config/settings.py:

from dynaconf import Dynaconf

settings = Dynaconf(
    envvar_prefix="DJANGO",
    settings_files=["settings.toml", ".secrets.toml"],
    environments=True,
    env_switcher="DJANGO_ENV",
)

Form Organization

Forms follow the same 1-file-per-form pattern. See references/forms.md for details.

# forms/user.py
from django import forms
from ..models import User


class UserForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = User
        fields = ["email", "name"]

Creating a New App

To create a new Django app with proper structure:

1. Create app directory with packages:

mkdir -p apps/myapp/{models,forms,managers,api,admin}
touch apps/myapp/__init__.py
touch apps/myapp/{models,forms,managers,api,admin}/__init__.py

2. Create base classes in models/base.py
3. Add app to INSTALLED_APPS using Dynaconf
4. Create initial models following conventions

Additional Resources

Reference Files

For detailed patterns and setup guides:

• references/models.md - Advanced model patterns, relationships, constraints
• references/forms.md - Form organization, validation, widgets
• references/dynaconf.md - Complete Dynaconf setup and environment configuration

Related Skills

• django-dev-ninja - API development with Django Ninja
• django-dev-unfold - Admin customization with Unfold
• django-dev-test - Testing with pytest and factories