djact 3.0.2

HTML-first frontend interaction for Django, JSON-only server, and client-side DOM updates.

Djact v3.0

Djact is a lightweight, Livewire-style HTML-first interaction system for Django. It is not React, not Inertia. The server returns JSON only, and the client updates the DOM.

Features

• Write backend logic and HTML in the same template.
• Full support for Python imports (from myapp.models import Task).
• dj:component namespace isolation (multiple components per page).
• Two-way data binding with dj:model.
• Simple directives like dj:click, dj:submit, dj:extra.

Installation

pip install djact

Quick Start

1) Add djact to INSTALLED_APPS

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ...
    "djact",
]

2) Include Djact URLs

from django.urls import path, include

urlpatterns = [
    # ...
    path("djact/", include("djact.urls")),
]

3) Enable Middleware

Add the middleware so Djact assets auto-load for templates ending with .dj.html:

MIDDLEWARE = [
    # ...
    "djact.middleware.DjactAutoLoadMiddleware",
]

Now create templates with .dj.html extension.

4) Template example (home.dj.html)

{% load djact %}

{% djact "todo" %}
# You can import models or anything else here!
# from myapp.models import Task

def mount(request):
    return {
        "tasks": [{"id": 1, "title": "Buy Milk"}, {"id": 2, "title": "Read Book"}],
        "new_title": "",
    }

def add_task(request, data):
    new_task = {"id": len(data["tasks"]) + 1, "title": data["new_title"]}
    tasks = data["tasks"]
    tasks.append(new_task)
    return {"tasks": tasks, "new_title": ""}

def delete_task(request, data):
    task_id = data["__extra"]["id"]
    tasks = [t for t in data["tasks"] if t["id"] != task_id]
    return {"tasks": tasks}
{% enddjact %}

<div dj:component="todo">
    <h1>Todos ([[ tasks.length ]])</h1>

    <form dj:submit="add_task">
        <input dj:model="new_title" placeholder="New task..." />
        <button type="submit">Add</button>
    </form>

    <ul>
        <li dj:for="task in tasks">
            [[ task.title ]] 
            <button dj:click="delete_task" dj:extra="id=task.id">Delete</button>
        </li>
    </ul>

    <p dj:empty="tasks">No tasks yet!</p>
</div>

Directives

• dj:component="name": Links a DOM tree to a named Python component. Replaces dj:state.
• dj:model="field": Two-way data binding for inputs.
• dj:click="method": Calls a server method.
• dj:submit="method": Calls a server method on form submit.
• dj:extra="key=value": Passes extra payload data to the server.
• dj:for="item in list": Repeats an element.
• dj:if="condition": Conditionally toggles display.
• dj:empty="list": Shows only if the list is empty.
• dj:paginate="list": Automatically handles pagination limits.

Notes

• mount() is mandatory for every component.
• The Python code inside {% djact %} runs at request time with access to the full Django environment.