Note: This is the documentation for the version 3.1 of REST framework. Documentation for version 2.4 is also available.

For more details see the 3.1 release notes.

Django REST Framework

Django REST framework is a powerful and flexible toolkit that makes it easy to build Web APIs.

Some reasons you might want to use REST framework:

The Web browsable API is a huge usability win for your developers.
Authentication policies including packages for OAuth1a and OAuth2.
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.
Used and trusted by large companies such as Mozilla and Eventbrite.

Screenshot

Above: Screenshot from the browsable API

Requirements

REST framework requires the following:

Python (2.6.5+, 2.7, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4)
Django (1.4.11+, 1.5.6+, 1.6.3+, 1.7, 1.8-beta)

The following packages are optional:

Markdown (2.1.0+) - Markdown support for the browsable API.
django-filter (0.9.2+) - Filtering support.
django-guardian (1.1.1+) - Object level permissions support.

Installation

Install using pip, including any optional packages you want...

pip install djangorestframework
pip install markdown       # Markdown support for the browsable API.
pip install django-filter  # Filtering support

...or clone the project from github.

git clone git@github.com:tomchristie/django-rest-framework.git

Add 'rest_framework' to your INSTALLED_APPS setting.

INSTALLED_APPS = (
    ...
    'rest_framework',
)

If you're intending to use the browsable API you'll probably also want to add REST framework's login and logout views. Add the following to your root urls.py file.

urlpatterns = [
    ...
    url(r'^api-auth/', include('rest_framework.urls', namespace='rest_framework'))
]

Note that the URL path can be whatever you want, but you must include 'rest_framework.urls' with the 'rest_framework' namespace.

Example

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

We'll create a read-write API for accessing information on the users of our project.

Any global settings for a REST framework API are kept in a single configuration dictionary named REST_FRAMEWORK. Start off by adding the following to your settings.py module:

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'
    ]
}

Don't forget to make sure you've also added rest_framework to your INSTALLED_APPS.

We're ready to create our API now. Here's our project's root urls.py module:

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

# 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 an easy 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 browsable API.
urlpatterns = [
    url(r'^', include(router.urls)),
    url(r'^api-auth/', include('rest_framework.urls', namespace='rest_framework'))
]

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.

Quickstart

Can't wait to get started? The quickstart guide is the fastest way to get up and running, and building APIs with REST framework.

Tutorial

The tutorial will walk you through the building blocks that make up REST framework. It'll take a little while to get through, but it'll give you a comprehensive understanding of how everything fits together, and is highly recommended reading.

There is a live example API of the finished tutorial API for testing purposes, available here.

API Guide

The API guide is your complete reference manual to all the functionality provided by REST framework.

Topics

General guides to using REST framework.

Development

See the Contribution guidelines for information on how to clone the repository, run the test suite and contribute changes back to REST Framework.

Support

For support please see the REST framework discussion group, try the #restframework channel on irc.freenode.net, search the IRC archives, or raise a question on Stack Overflow, making sure to include the 'django-rest-framework' tag.

Paid support is available from DabApps, and can include work on REST framework core, or support with building your REST framework API. Please contact DabApps if you'd like to discuss commercial support options.

For updates on REST framework development, you may also want to follow the author on Twitter.

Follow @_tomchristie

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

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.