django-drf

Critical Patterns

• ALWAYS separate serializers by operation: Read / Create / Update / Include
• ALWAYS use filterset_class for complex filtering (not filterset_fields)
• ALWAYS validate unknown fields in write serializers (inherit BaseWriteSerializer)
• ALWAYS use select_related/prefetch_related in get_queryset() to avoid N+1
• ALWAYS handle swagger_fake_view in get_queryset() for schema generation
• ALWAYS use @extend_schema_field for OpenAPI docs on SerializerMethodField
• NEVER put business logic in serializers - use services/utils
• NEVER use auto-increment PKs - use UUIDv4 or UUIDv7
• NEVER use trailing slashes in URLs (trailing_slash=False)

Note: swagger_fake_view is specific to drf-spectacular for OpenAPI schema generation.

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Implementation Checklist

When implementing a new endpoint, review these patterns in order: