Django Patterns

affaan-m/ECC/skills/django-patterns

by affaan-mef648e01899ba3e8dc6371642deaaf64b4477775No license275K starsListed Oct 9, 2026Updated Oct 9, 2026Repository updated 4 days ago

Django architecture patterns, REST API design with DRF, ORM best practices, caching, signals, middleware, and production-grade Django apps. Use when building or reviewing Django apps, DRF APIs, ORM queries, or caching.

Instructions onlySoftware Development
AI-generated overview

Reference patterns for building production-grade Django apps, DRF APIs, ORM queries, caching, signals and middleware.

What it does
This skill supplies Django architecture guidance: recommended project layout, split settings, model and QuerySet design, service layers, DRF serializers and viewsets, caching strategies, signals, middleware and performance optimization. It is instructional reference material with code examples rather than a tool that produces files. It covers patterns such as select_related, prefetch_related, bulk operations and database indexing.
When to use it
Use it when building or reviewing Django web applications, designing Django REST Framework APIs, or working with Django ORM models and queries. It also fits setting up Django project structure or implementing caching, signals and middleware.
Requirements
No scripts or runtime dependencies; it is instructions and code examples only. Applying the examples assumes a Django project, with Django REST Framework, PostgreSQL and optional packages such as django-filter, corsheaders, whitenoise and debug_toolbar.

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 Pattern

python
# config/settings/base.pyfrom pathlib import Path
BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent.parent
SECRET_KEY = env('DJANGO_SECRET_KEY')DEBUG = FalseALLOWED_HOSTS = []
INSTALLED_APPS = [    'django.contrib.admin',    'django.contrib.auth',    'django.contrib.contenttypes',    'django.contrib.sessions',    'django.contrib.messages',    'django.contrib.staticfiles',    'rest_framework',    'rest_framework.authtoken',    'corsheaders',    # Local apps    'apps.users',    'apps.products',]
MIDDLEWARE = [    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',    'whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware',    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',    'corsheaders.middleware.CorsMiddleware',    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',]
ROOT_URLCONF = 'config.urls'WSGI_APPLICATION = 'config.wsgi.application'
DATABASES = {    'default': {        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',        'NAME': env('DB_NAME'),        'USER': env('DB_USER'),        'PASSWORD': env('DB_PASSWORD'),        'HOST': env('DB_HOST'),        'PORT': env('DB_PORT', default='5432'),    }}
# config/settings/development.pyfrom .base import *
DEBUG = TrueALLOWED_HOSTS = ['localhost', '127.0.0.1']
DATABASES['default']['NAME'] = 'myproject_dev'
INSTALLED_APPS += ['debug_toolbar']
MIDDLEWARE += ['debug_toolbar.middleware.DebugToolbarMiddleware']
EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend'
# config/settings/production.pyfrom .base import *
DEBUG = FalseALLOWED_HOSTS = env.list('ALLOWED_HOSTS')SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT = TrueSESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = TrueCSRF_COOKIE_SECURE = TrueSECURE_HSTS_SECONDS = 31536000SECURE_HSTS_INCLUDE_SUBDOMAINS = TrueSECURE_HSTS_PRELOAD = True
# LoggingLOGGING = {    'version': 1,    'disable_existing_loggers': False,    'handlers': {        'file': {            'level': 'WARNING',            'class': 'logging.FileHandler',            'filename': '/var/log/django/django.log',        },    },    'loggers': {        'django': {            'handlers': ['file'],            'level': 'WARNING',            'propagate': True,        },    },}

Model Design Patterns

Model Best Practices

python
from django.db import modelsfrom django.contrib.auth.models import AbstractUserfrom django.core.validators import MinValueValidator, MaxValueValidator
class User(AbstractUser):    """Custom user model extending AbstractUser."""    email = models.EmailField(unique=True)    phone = models.CharField(max_length=20, blank=True)    birth_date = models.DateField(null=True, blank=True)
    USERNAME_FIELD = 'email'    REQUIRED_FIELDS = ['username']
    class Meta:        db_table = 'users'        verbose_name = 'user'        verbose_name_plural = 'users'        ordering = ['-date_joined']
    def __str__(self):        return self.email
    def get_full_name(self):        return f"{self.first_name} {self.last_name}".strip()
class Product(models.Model):    """Product model with proper field configuration."""    name = models.CharField(max_length=200)    slug = models.SlugField(unique=True, max_length=250)    description = models.TextField(blank=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',        on_delete=models.CASCADE,        related_name='products'    )    tags = models.ManyToManyField('Tag', blank=True, related_name='products')    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)    updated_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)
    class Meta:        db_table = 'products'        ordering = ['-created_at']        indexes = [            models.Index(fields=['slug']),            models.Index(fields=['-created_at']),            models.Index(fields=['category', 'is_active']),        ]        constraints = [            models.CheckConstraint(                check=models.Q(price__gte=0),                name='price_non_negative'            )        ]
    def __str__(self):        return self.name
    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):        if not self.slug:            self.slug = slugify(self.name)        super().save(*args, **kwargs)

QuerySet Best Practices

python
from django.db import models
class ProductQuerySet(models.QuerySet):    """Custom QuerySet for Product model."""
    def active(self):        """Return only active products."""        return self.filter(is_active=True)
    def with_category(self):        """Select related category to avoid N+1 queries."""        return self.select_related('category')
    def with_tags(self):        """Prefetch tags for many-to-many relationship."""        return self.prefetch_related('tags')
    def in_stock(self):        """Return products with stock > 0."""        return self.filter(stock__gt=0)
    def search(self, query):        """Search products by name or description."""        return self.filter(            models.Q(name__icontains=query) |            models.Q(description__icontains=query)        )
class Product(models.Model):    # ... fields ...
    objects = ProductQuerySet.as_manager()  # Use custom QuerySet
# UsageProduct.objects.active().with_category().in_stock()

Manager Methods

python
class ProductManager(models.Manager):    """Custom manager for complex queries."""
    def get_or_none(self, **kwargs):        """Return object or None instead of DoesNotExist."""        try:            return self.get(**kwargs)        except self.model.DoesNotExist:            return None
    def create_with_tags(self, name, price, tag_names):        """Create product with associated tags."""        product = self.create(name=name, price=price)        tags = [Tag.objects.get_or_create(name=name)[0] for name in tag_names]        product.tags.set(tags)        return product
    def bulk_update_stock(self, product_ids, quantity):        """Bulk update stock for multiple products."""        return self.filter(id__in=product_ids).update(stock=quantity)
# In modelclass Product(models.Model):    # ... fields ...    custom = ProductManager()

Django REST Framework Patterns

Serializer Patterns

python
from rest_framework import serializersfrom django.contrib.auth.password_validation import validate_passwordfrom .models import Product, User
class ProductSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):    """Serializer for Product model."""
    category_name = serializers.CharField(source='category.name', read_only=True)    average_rating = serializers.FloatField(read_only=True)    discount_price = serializers.SerializerMethodField()
    class Meta:        model = Product        fields = [            'id', 'name', 'slug', 'description', 'price',            'discount_price', 'stock', 'category_name',            'average_rating', 'created_at'        ]        read_only_fields = ['id', 'slug', 'created_at']
    def get_discount_price(self, obj):        """Calculate discount price if applicable."""        if hasattr(obj, 'discount') and obj.discount:            return obj.price * (1 - obj.discount.percent / 100)        return obj.price
    def validate_price(self, value):        """Ensure price is non-negative."""        if value < 0:            raise serializers.ValidationError("Price cannot be negative.")        return value
class ProductCreateSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):    """Serializer for creating products."""
    class Meta:        model = Product        fields = ['name', 'description', 'price', 'stock', 'category']
    def validate(self, data):        """Custom validation for multiple fields."""        if data['price'] > 10000 and data['stock'] > 100:            raise serializers.ValidationError(                "Cannot have high-value products with large stock."            )        return data
class UserRegistrationSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):    """Serializer for user registration."""
    password = serializers.CharField(        write_only=True,        required=True,        validators=[validate_password],        style={'input_type': 'password'}    )    password_confirm = serializers.CharField(write_only=True, style={'input_type': 'password'})
    class Meta:        model = User        fields = ['email', 'username', 'password', 'password_confirm']
    def validate(self, data):        """Validate passwords match."""        if data['password'] != data['password_confirm']:            raise serializers.ValidationError({                "password_confirm": "Password fields didn't match."            })        return data
    def create(self, validated_data):        """Create user with hashed password."""        validated_data.pop('password_confirm')        password = validated_data.pop('password')        user = User.objects.create(**validated_data)        user.set_password(password)        user.save()        return user

ViewSet Patterns

python
from rest_framework import viewsets, status, filtersfrom rest_framework.decorators import actionfrom rest_framework.response import Responsefrom rest_framework.permissions import IsAuthenticated, IsAdminUserfrom django_filters.rest_framework import DjangoFilterBackendfrom .models import Productfrom .serializers import ProductSerializer, ProductCreateSerializerfrom .permissions import IsOwnerOrReadOnlyfrom .filters import ProductFilterfrom .services import ProductService
class ProductViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):    """ViewSet for Product model."""
    queryset = Product.objects.select_related('category').prefetch_related('tags')    permission_classes = [IsAuthenticated, IsOwnerOrReadOnly]    filter_backends = [DjangoFilterBackend, filters.SearchFilter, filters.OrderingFilter]    filterset_class = ProductFilter    search_fields = ['name', 'description']    ordering_fields = ['price', 'created_at', 'name']    ordering = ['-created_at']
    def get_serializer_class(self):        """Return appropriate serializer based on action."""        if self.action == 'create':            return ProductCreateSerializer        return ProductSerializer
    def perform_create(self, serializer):        """Save with user context."""        serializer.save(created_by=self.request.user)
    @action(detail=False, methods=['get'])    def featured(self, request):        """Return featured products."""        featured = self.queryset.filter(is_featured=True)[:10]        serializer = self.get_serializer(featured, many=True)        return Response(serializer.data)
    @action(detail=True, methods=['post'])    def purchase(self, request, pk=None):        """Purchase a product."""        product = self.get_object()        service = ProductService()        result = service.purchase(product, request.user)        return Response(result, status=status.HTTP_201_CREATED)
    @action(detail=False, methods=['get'], permission_classes=[IsAuthenticated])    def my_products(self, request):        """Return products created by current user."""        products = self.queryset.filter(created_by=request.user)        page = self.paginate_queryset(products)        serializer = self.get_serializer(page, many=True)        return self.get_paginated_response(serializer.data)

Custom Actions

python
from rest_framework.decorators import api_view, permission_classesfrom rest_framework.permissions import IsAuthenticatedfrom rest_framework.response import Response
@api_view(['POST'])@permission_classes([IsAuthenticated])def add_to_cart(request):    """Add product to user cart."""    product_id = request.data.get('product_id')    quantity = request.data.get('quantity', 1)
    try:        product = Product.objects.get(id=product_id)    except Product.DoesNotExist:        return Response(            {'error': 'Product not found'},            status=status.HTTP_404_NOT_FOUND        )
    cart, _ = Cart.objects.get_or_create(user=request.user)    CartItem.objects.create(        cart=cart,        product=product,        quantity=quantity    )
    return Response({'message': 'Added to cart'}, status=status.HTTP_201_CREATED)

Service Layer Pattern

python
# apps/orders/services.pyfrom typing import Optionalfrom django.db import transactionfrom .models import Order, OrderItem
class OrderService:    """Service layer for order-related business logic."""
    @staticmethod    @transaction.atomic    def create_order(user, cart: Cart) -> Order:        """Create order from cart."""        order = Order.objects.create(            user=user,            total_price=cart.total_price        )
        for item in cart.items.all():            OrderItem.objects.create(                order=order,                product=item.product,                quantity=item.quantity,                price=item.product.price            )
        # Clear cart        cart.items.all().delete()
        return order
    @staticmethod    def process_payment(order: Order, payment_data: dict) -> bool:        """Process payment for order."""        # Integration with payment gateway        payment = PaymentGateway.charge(            amount=order.total_price,            token=payment_data['token']        )
        if payment.success:            order.status = Order.Status.PAID            order.save()            # Send confirmation email            OrderService.send_confirmation_email(order)            return True
        return False
    @staticmethod    def send_confirmation_email(order: Order):        """Send order confirmation email."""        # Email sending logic        pass

Caching Strategies

View-Level Caching

python
from django.views.decorators.cache import cache_pagefrom django.utils.decorators import method_decorator
@method_decorator(cache_page(60 * 15), name='dispatch')  # 15 minutesclass ProductListView(generic.ListView):    model = Product    template_name = 'products/list.html'    context_object_name = 'products'

Template Fragment Caching

django
{% load cache %}{% cache 500 sidebar %}    ... expensive sidebar content ...{% endcache %}

Low-Level Caching

python
from django.core.cache import cache
def get_featured_products():    """Get featured products with caching."""    cache_key = 'featured_products'    products = cache.get(cache_key)
    if products is None:        products = list(Product.objects.filter(is_featured=True))        cache.set(cache_key, products, timeout=60 * 15)  # 15 minutes
    return products

QuerySet Caching

python
from django.core.cache import cache
def get_popular_categories():    cache_key = 'popular_categories'    categories = cache.get(cache_key)
    if categories is None:        categories = list(Category.objects.annotate(            product_count=Count('products')        ).filter(product_count__gt=10).order_by('-product_count')[:20])        cache.set(cache_key, categories, timeout=60 * 60)  # 1 hour
    return categories

Signals

Signal Patterns

python
# apps/users/signals.pyfrom django.db.models.signals import post_savefrom django.dispatch import receiverfrom django.contrib.auth import get_user_modelfrom .models import Profile
User = get_user_model()
@receiver(post_save, sender=User)def create_user_profile(sender, instance, created, **kwargs):    """Create profile when user is created."""    if created:        Profile.objects.create(user=instance)
@receiver(post_save, sender=User)def save_user_profile(sender, instance, **kwargs):    """Save profile when user is saved."""    instance.profile.save()
# apps/users/apps.pyfrom django.apps import AppConfig
class UsersConfig(AppConfig):    default_auto_field = 'django.db.models.BigAutoField'    name = 'apps.users'
    def ready(self):        """Import signals when app is ready."""        import apps.users.signals

Middleware

Custom Middleware

python
# middleware/active_user_middleware.pyimport timefrom django.utils.deprecation import MiddlewareMixin
class ActiveUserMiddleware(MiddlewareMixin):    """Middleware to track active users."""
    def process_request(self, request):        """Process incoming request."""        if request.user.is_authenticated:            # Update last active time            request.user.last_active = timezone.now()            request.user.save(update_fields=['last_active'])
class RequestLoggingMiddleware(MiddlewareMixin):    """Middleware for logging requests."""
    def process_request(self, request):        """Log request start time."""        request.start_time = time.time()
    def process_response(self, request, response):        """Log request duration."""        if hasattr(request, 'start_time'):            duration = time.time() - request.start_time            logger.info(f'{request.method} {request.path} - {response.status_code} - {duration:.3f}s')        return response

Performance Optimization

N+1 Query Prevention

python
# Bad - N+1 queriesproducts = Product.objects.all()for product in products:    print(product.category.name)  # Separate query for each product
# Good - Single query with select_relatedproducts = Product.objects.select_related('category').all()for product in products:    print(product.category.name)
# Good - Prefetch for many-to-manyproducts = Product.objects.prefetch_related('tags').all()for product in products:    for tag in product.tags.all():        print(tag.name)

Database Indexing

python
class Product(models.Model):    name = models.CharField(max_length=200, db_index=True)    slug = models.SlugField(unique=True)    category = models.ForeignKey('Category', on_delete=models.CASCADE)    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
    class Meta:        indexes = [            models.Index(fields=['name']),            models.Index(fields=['-created_at']),            models.Index(fields=['category', 'created_at']),        ]

Bulk Operations

python
# Bulk createProduct.objects.bulk_create([    Product(name=f'Product {i}', price=10.00)    for i in range(1000)])
# Bulk updateproducts = Product.objects.all()[:100]for product in products:    product.is_active = TrueProduct.objects.bulk_update(products, ['is_active'])
# Bulk deleteProduct.objects.filter(stock=0).delete()

Quick Reference

PatternDescription
Split settingsSeparate dev/prod/test settings
Custom QuerySetReusable query methods
Service LayerBusiness logic separation
ViewSetREST API endpoints
Serializer validationRequest/response transformation
select_relatedForeign key optimization
prefetch_relatedMany-to-many optimization
Cache firstCache expensive operations
SignalsEvent-driven actions
MiddlewareRequest/response processing

Remember: Django provides many shortcuts, but for production applications, structure and organization matter more than concise code. Build for maintainability.

Source and attribution

Source:affaan-m/ECCinskills/django-patternsat commitef648e0

License: No license

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