LaunchKit · 2026
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Django REST Framework scaffolding best practices, and gotchas.

0
514 downloads
by @pradeepcep

Setup & Installation

openclaw skills install @pradeepcep/drf

Or with the ClawHub CLI, for registry-managed skill folders outside a full OpenClaw workspace:

npx clawhub install drf

What This Skill Does

Covers building REST APIs with Django REST Framework, including project setup, serializers, viewsets, routing, authentication, pagination, filtering, and query optimization. Includes guidance on common pitfalls like N+1 queries, silent permission bugs, and misplaced business logic.

Collects opinionated defaults and common pitfalls in one place so engineers avoid silent security bugs and performance problems that DRF does not surface on its own.

When to use it

  • Scaffolding a new Django REST API project from scratch
  • Adding token or JWT authentication to Django endpoints
  • Fixing N+1 query problems in DRF list views
  • Writing serializers with separate read and write representations
  • Setting up rate limiting for anonymous and authenticated users

Example Workflow

Here's how your AI assistant might use this skill in practice.

INPUT

User asks: Set up a new Django REST API project with authentication and pagination

AGENT
  1. 1Create a virtual environment and install django and djangorestframework
  2. 2Run django-admin startproject and manage.py startapp to scaffold the project
  3. 3Configure REST_FRAMEWORK settings with IsAuthenticated, JSONRenderer, and LimitOffsetPagination
  4. 4Create a ModelSerializer and ModelViewSet for the target resource
  5. 5Register the viewset with a DRF router and include the URLs in the main urls.py
OUTPUT

A working Django REST API with authenticated endpoints, paginated list views, and standard CRUD routes