Django Best Practices
Fat models, thin views, and hygiene for Django 5.2 codebases.
How to Use This List
- Review during design reviews and before production deploys.
- Convert repeat failures into automated CI policy where possible.
- Revisit after framework minor upgrades.
Models
- Keep business invariants on models or services.
- Add DB indexes for filter columns.
- Use migrations for every schema change.
Views
- Thin views; push logic to services.
- Prefer class-based views for reuse.
- Return explicit HTTP status in APIs.
Security
- Enable CSRF on forms.
- Store secrets in environment variables.
- Use parameterized ORM queries only.
Operations
- Run tests before migrate in CI.
- Collect static assets in deploy pipeline.
- Monitor slow queries in production.
FAQs
When should I adopt Django best practices?
Use it when the patterns and trade-offs on this page match your API or data boundary.
What is the top production mistake with Django best practices?
Skipping validation, timeouts, or explicit error contracts at the HTTP edge.
How do I test Django best practices?
Use the framework test client, override dependencies, and assert status plus JSON shape.
Does Django best practices work with Python 3.14?
Yes - examples target Python 3.14 with pinned framework versions from the stack footer.
How does Django best practices relate to Pydantic 2?
Validate and serialize at boundaries; keep services working with typed domain objects.
Sync or async?
Prefer async routes when I/O dominates; keep CPU work small or offload to workers.
Where should business logic live?
Thin handlers; services own rules; repositories own queries.
How do I document APIs?
Publish OpenAPI or schema docs that match response models in code.
How do I handle versioning?
Explicit URL or header versioning with deprecation windows - avoid silent breaks.
What should I read next?
Follow the Related links for the next layer of depth in this section.
How do I stay secure?
Authenticate callers, authorize per resource, rate-limit, and never log secrets.
Performance first step?
Measure DB and upstream latency before swapping frameworks.
Related
- Django Basics - Projects and views
- Models & the ORM - Data layer
- Django REST Framework - JSON APIs
- Scaling & Deployment - Production
Stack versions: This page was written for Python 3.14.0 (stable 3.14, maintenance 3.13), FastAPI 0.115+, Django 5.2, Flask 3.1, Pydantic 2, PyTorch 2.6+, pandas 2.2+, Polars 1.x, ruff 0.9+, and uv 0.6+.