Understand-Anything/understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/frameworks/django.md

Django Framework Addendum

Injected into file-analyzer and architecture-analyzer prompts when Django is detected. Do NOT use as a standalone prompt — always appended to the base prompt template.

Django Project Structure

When analyzing a Django project, apply these additional conventions on top of the base analysis rules.

Canonical File Roles

File / Pattern	Role	Tags
manage.py	CLI entry point for dev server, migrations, management commands	entry-point, config
*/settings.py, */settings/*.py	Project-wide configuration (DB, installed apps, middleware)	config
*/urls.py	URL routing — maps URL patterns to views	api-handler, routing
*/views.py, */views/*.py	Request handlers (function-based or class-based views)	api-handler, controller
*/models.py, */models/*.py	ORM models — map to database tables	data-model
*/serializers.py	DRF serializers — convert models to/from JSON	serialization, api-handler
*/forms.py	Django forms — validation and rendering logic	validation, ui
*/admin.py	Admin site registrations — exposes models in Django admin	config
*/signals.py	Signal handlers — cross-cutting side effects on model events	event-handler
*/tasks.py	Celery async task definitions	service, event-handler
*/middleware.py, */middleware/*.py	Request/response middleware classes	middleware
*/permissions.py	DRF permission classes	middleware, validation
*/filters.py	DRF filter backends	utility
*/migrations/*.py	Auto-generated schema migrations — do not summarize individually	config
*/templates/**/*.html	Django HTML templates	ui
*/templatetags/*.py	Custom template filters and tags	utility
*/management/commands/*.py	Custom management commands (./manage.py mycommand)	config, entry-point
wsgi.py, asgi.py	WSGI/ASGI server adapter — production entry point	config, entry-point
*/apps.py	App configuration and startup hooks (AppConfig)	config
*/tests.py, */tests/*.py	Unit and integration tests	test

Edge Patterns to Look For

URL routing graph — Create calls edges from urls.py nodes to their corresponding view nodes when path() or re_path() maps a URL pattern to a view function or class. These edges represent the HTTP routing chain.

Signal wiring — When signals.py uses post_save.connect(handler, sender=Model) or @receiver(post_save, sender=Model), create subscribes edges from the signal handler function to the model class. Create publishes edges from the model to the signal handler to show the trigger direction.

ORM relationships — When models.py defines ForeignKey, OneToOneField, or ManyToManyField, create depends_on edges between the model classes with a description indicating the relationship type and cardinality.

Serializer-to-model binding — When a DRF serializer has model = MyModel in its Meta class, create a depends_on edge from the serializer to the model.

View-to-serializer binding — When a DRF ViewSet or APIView references a serializer class, create a depends_on edge from the view to the serializer.

Architectural Layers for Django

Assign nodes to these layers when detected:

Layer ID	Layer Name	What Goes Here
layer:api	API Layer	views.py, serializers.py, urls.py, DRF ViewSets and APIViews
layer:data	Data Layer	models.py, migrations/, database utility files
layer:service	Service Layer	signals.py, tasks.py, custom managers, service modules
layer:ui	UI Layer	templates/, forms.py, templatetags/
layer:middleware	Middleware Layer	middleware.py, permissions.py, authentication backends
layer:config	Config Layer	settings.py, urls.py (root), wsgi.py, asgi.py, apps.py, manage.py
layer:test	Test Layer	tests.py, tests/ directory, conftest.py

Notable Patterns to Capture in languageLesson

• Fat models vs. thin views: Django encourages business logic in model methods, keeping views thin HTTP adapters
• Django ORM lazy evaluation: QuerySets are not evaluated until iterated — chain filters without DB hits
• Class-based views (CBVs): Mixins like LoginRequiredMixin, PermissionRequiredMixin compose behavior through multiple inheritance
• Signal anti-patterns: Signals create invisible coupling; a signal in signals.py may be triggered by a save() call anywhere in the codebase
• App isolation: Each Django app (INSTALLED_APPS) should be self-contained with its own models, views, urls, and migrations