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Django-React Boilerplate Template

This repository will not be updated for newer versions of Django and React or any other libraries. However, this approach can still be used while bootstraping a new project, with same architecture.

This is a boilerplate/template project that can be used to build any websites (portfolio, e-commerce etc.) with Django backend and React frontend. It follows the Hybrid Model, which means it can be deployed as a single unit into the same server. It is set up to use session-based authentication and includes an example of how to use them. It also provides safety from CSRF attacks. This template does not require you to spin up different servers for backend and frontend. The Django server itself acts as a container to run the React application.

The frontend part of the code is given as an example and is not regularly updated. It is highly advisable to discard the frontend part only for reference and roll your own frontend.

Installation

Run following commands where you want to create the project

django-admin.py startproject --template=https://github.com/Parijat29/django-react-boilerplate/archive/master.zip <project_name>
cd <project_name>
pip install requirements.txt
cd frontend
npm install

Build/Run

This repo has been configured with Dev/Prod parity in mind. Use the following commands to build/run the project in appropriate mode

Development mode

Run following commands at the root of the project directory

cd frontend
npm run build
cd ..
SET DJANGO_ENV=development
python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py createsuperuser
python manage.py runserver
cd frontend
npm start

Production mode

Run following commands at the root of the project directory

cd frontend
npm run build
cd ..
SET DJANGO_ENV=production
python manage.py collectstatic
python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py createsuperuser
waitress-serve backend.wsgi:application

Dependencies

Python

  • Django==2.2.18
  • requests==2.22.0
  • whitenoise==4.1.4
  • djangorestframework==3.11.2
  • waitress==1.4.3
  • django-cors-headers==3.0.2 (Only used in Development/DEBUG mode)

React

  • fetch==^1.1.0
  • react-router-dom==^5.1.2
  • @material-ui/core==^4.9.9
  • @material-ui/icons==^4.9.1

What is Hybrid Model?

Usually for Single Page Application (SPA)s, the straight forward approach is to serve the frontend and backend in different servers and communicate via REST APIs between the two servers. While this approach might make sense for big teams and enterprise level applications, for small teams or projects it might become an extra overhead to manage and deploy two different applications in two different server instances.
The “Hybrid Application” model is usually implemented by building the frontend, injecting it into the backend’s build process, and deploying the result as a single unit. This template project follows the above logic to give you a boilerplate so that you can start coding your application right away without worrying about the complicated setup.

Any Additional Benifits? (1)

  • Good SEO.
  • The application can be treated as single unit
  • Good for trying out Modern JavaScript frameworks on existing Django projects

How does the Authetication work?

Since both the forntend and backend is served by same server, all the API calls will be of same-origin. This simplifies the authentication process. This boilerplate utilizes Django's built-in Session-Based authentication. Django has a very powerful middleware that helps against CSRF attacks. This boilerplate/template project utilizes the same middleware. Different permission based access control can also be used as per Django's core features.

Why is django-cors-headers dependecy needed?

django-cors-headers is used only in development or DEBUG mode. This project's settings.py is preconfigured to conditionally add it django-cors-headers and its related parameters only if the application is running in DEBUG mode.

Are there any examples?

The boilerplate project already consists of an example To-Do application. This example project showcases most of the important aspects. The example project uses @material-ui to bootstrap the UI. Please feel free to remove the dependencies if they are not required.

High-level Architecture

Alt text

How it looks?

Sign in view
Sign-in page
Main view
Main page

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details

Acknowledgments

This boilerplate template is inspired by the article Making React and Django play well together - the “hybrid app” model by Aymeric Augustin

Footnotes

  1. https://medium.com/fractal-ideas/making-react-and-django-play-well-together-the-hybrid-app-model-215991793cf6 ↩