Building REST APIs with Django REST Framework

Django REST Framework (DRF) is the de-facto standard for building APIs with Django. Its serialiser system, viewsets, and router make it possible to ship a fully featured API with very little boilerplate.

Define serialisers that map your models to JSON. Use ModelSerializer for simple CRUD resources and extend it with custom validate_ methods for business rules. Keep serialisers thin — move complex logic into service functions.

Use ViewSets with a Router for standard REST resources. A single ModelViewSet gives you list, create, retrieve, update, partial_update, and destroy — all properly wired to HTTP methods.

For authentication, choose JWT (djangorestframework-simplejwt) for stateless APIs or DRF's built-in SessionAuthentication for apps served from the same domain. Always use HTTPS in production.

Add pagination to every list endpoint using DRF's PageNumberPagination or CursorPagination. Cursor pagination is safer for large, high-write datasets because it doesn't require counting all rows.

Version your API from day one — either via URL prefixes (/api/v1/) or Accept header negotiation. Changing a v1 endpoint without breaking existing clients is much easier when versioning is baked in.