Django REST framework

Awesome web-browseable Web APIs.

Note: Full documentation for the project is available at http://tomchristie.github.io/rest-framework-2-docs/.

Overview

Django REST framework is a powerful and flexible toolkit for building Web APIs.

Some reasons you might want to use REST framework:

The Web browseable API is a huge useability win for your developers.
Authentication policies including OAuth1a and OAuth2 out of the box.
Serialization that supports both ORM and non-ORM data sources.
Customizable all the way down - just use regular function-based views if you don't need the more powerful features.
Extensive documentation, and great community support.

There is a live example API for testing purposes, available here.

Below: Screenshot from the browseable API

Requirements

Python (2.6.5+, 2.7, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4)
Django (1.4.2+, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7)

Installation

Install using pip...

pip install djangorestframework

Add 'rest_framework' to your INSTALLED_APPS setting.

INSTALLED_APPS = (
    ...
    'rest_framework',
)

Example

Let's take a look at a quick example of using REST framework to build a simple model-backed API for accessing users and groups.

Startup up a new project like so...

pip install django
pip install djangorestframework
django-admin.py startproject example .
./manage.py syncdb

Now edit the example/urls.py module in your project:

from django.conf.urls import url, include
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from rest_framework import serializers, viewsets, routers

# Serializers define the API representation.
class UserSerializer(serializers.HyperlinkedModelSerializer):
    class Meta:
        model = User
        fields = ('url', 'username', 'email', 'is_staff')


# ViewSets define the view behavior.
class UserViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
    queryset = User.objects.all()
    serializer_class = UserSerializer

    
# Routers provide a way of automatically determining the URL conf.
router = routers.DefaultRouter()
router.register(r'users', UserViewSet)


# Wire up our API using automatic URL routing.
# Additionally, we include login URLs for the browseable API.
urlpatterns = [
    url(r'^', include(router.urls)),
    url(r'^api-auth/', include('rest_framework.urls', namespace='rest_framework'))
]

We'd also like to configure a couple of settings for our API.

Add the following to your settings.py module:

INSTALLED_APPS = (
    ...  # Make sure to include the default installed apps here.
    'rest_framework',        
)

REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    # Use Django's standard `django.contrib.auth` permissions,
    # or allow read-only access for unauthenticated users.
    'DEFAULT_PERMISSION_CLASSES': [
        'rest_framework.permissions.DjangoModelPermissionsOrAnonReadOnly'
    ]
}

That's it, we're done!

./manage.py runserver

You can now open the API in your browser at http://127.0.0.1:8000/, and view your new 'users' API. If you use the Login control in the top right corner you'll also be able to add, create and delete users from the system.

You can also interact with the API using command line tools such as curl. For example, to list the users endpoint:

$ curl -H 'Accept: application/json; indent=4' -u admin:password http://127.0.0.1:8000/users/
[
    {
        "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8000/users/1/", 
        "username": "admin", 
        "email": "admin@example.com", 
        "is_staff": true, 
    }
]

Or to create a new user:

$ curl -X POST -d username=new -d email=new@example.com -d is_staff=false -H 'Accept: application/json; indent=4' -u admin:password http://127.0.0.1:8000/users/
{
    "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8000/users/2/", 
    "username": "new", 
    "email": "new@example.com", 
    "is_staff": false, 
}

Documentation & Support

Full documentation for the project is available at http://tomchristie.github.io/rest-framework-2-docs/.

For questions and support, use the REST framework discussion group, or #restframework on freenode IRC.

You may also want to follow the author on Twitter.

Security

If you believe you’ve found something in Django REST framework which has security implications, please do not raise the issue in a public forum.

Send a description of the issue via email to rest-framework-security@googlegroups.com. The project maintainers will then work with you to resolve any issues where required, prior to any public disclosure.

License

Copyright (c) 2011-2014, Tom Christie All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.