django-flex 26.1.5

A flexible query language for Django - enable frontends to dynamically construct database queries

Django-Flex

A flexible query language for Django — let your frontend dynamically construct database queries

---

Django-Flex enables frontends to send flexible, dynamic queries to your Django backend — think of it as a simpler alternative to GraphQL that feels native to Django.

Features

• Field Selection — Request only the fields you need, including nested relations
• JSONField Support — Seamless dot notation for nested JSON data
• Dynamic Filtering — Full Django ORM operator support with composable AND/OR/NOT
• Smart Pagination — Limit/offset with cursor-based continuation
• Built-in Security — Row-level, field-level, and operation-level permissions
• Automatic Optimization — N+1 prevention with smart select_related
• Django-Native — Feels like a natural extension of Django

Installation

pip install django-flex

Add to your Django settings:

# settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...
    'django_flex',
]

# Optional: Configure permissions and defaults
DJANGO_FLEX = {
    'DEFAULT_LIMIT': 50,
    'MAX_LIMIT': 200,
    'ALWAYS_HTTP_200': False,  # When True, all responses return HTTP 200
    'EXPOSE': {
        # See Permission Configuration below
    },
}

Response Modes

By default, django-flex uses standard HTTP status codes (200, 400, 404, etc.).

Set ALWAYS_HTTP_200 = True to always return HTTP 200 with the status code in the payload:

# settings.py
DJANGO_FLEX = {
    'ALWAYS_HTTP_200': True,  # All responses return HTTP 200
}

When ALWAYS_HTTP_200 = True:

// HTTP 200 (always)
{"status_code": 404, "error": "Object not found"}
{"status_code": 200, "id": 1, "name": "Test"}

When ALWAYS_HTTP_200 = False (default):

// HTTP 404
{"error": "Object not found"}

// HTTP 200
{"id": 1, "name": "Test"}

Quick Start

1. Class-Based View (Recommended)

# views.py
from django_flex import FlexQueryView
from myapp.models import Booking

class BookingQueryView(FlexQueryView):
    model = Booking
    
    # Define permissions for this view
    flex_permissions = {
        'authenticated': {
            'rows': lambda user: Q(team__members=user),
            'fields': ['id', 'status', 'customer.name', 'customer.email'],
            'filters': ['status', 'status.in', 'customer.name.icontains'],
            'order_by': ['created_at', '-created_at'],
            'ops': ['get', 'query'],
        },
    }

# urls.py
from django.urls import path
from myapp.views import BookingQueryView

urlpatterns = [
    path('api/bookings/', BookingQueryView.as_view()),
    path('api/bookings/<int:pk>/', BookingQueryView.as_view()),  # Single object by ID
]

2. Make Queries from Frontend

// List bookings with field selection and filtering (JSON body)
const response = await fetch('/api/bookings/', {
    method: 'GET',
    headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
    body: JSON.stringify({
        fields: 'id, status, customer.name, customer.email',
        filters: {
            'status.in': ['confirmed', 'completed'],
            'customer.name.icontains': 'khan'
        },
        order_by: '-created_at',
        limit: 20
    })
});

const data = await response.json();
// {
//     "pagination": {"offset": 0, "limit": 20, "has_more": true},
//     "results": {
//         "1": {"id": 1, "status": "confirmed", "customer": {"name": "Aisha Khan", "email": "[e-mail]"}},
//         "2": {"id": 2, "status": "completed", "customer": {"name": "Omar Khan", "email": "[e-mail]"}}
//     }
// }

3. Query Params (Alternative)

Query params can be used instead of JSON body. Query params override body params.

GET /api/bookings/?fields=id,status,customer.name&filters.status=confirmed&filters.customer.name.icontains=khan&order_by=-created_at&limit=20

Equivalent to:

{
    fields: 'id, status, customer.name',
    filters: { status: 'confirmed', 'customer.name.icontains': 'khan' },
    order_by: '-created_at',
    limit: 20
}

Query Param	Body Equivalent
fields=id,name	{fields: 'id, name'}
limit=20	{limit: 20}
offset=10	{offset: 10}
order_by=-created_at	{order_by: '-created_at'}
filters.status=pending	{filters: {status: 'pending'}}
filters.name.icontains=khan	{filters: {'name.icontains': 'khan'}}

// Get single object by ID (using URL)
const booking = await fetch('/api/bookings/1/', {
    method: 'GET',
    headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
    body: JSON.stringify({
        fields: 'id, status, customer.*, address.*'
    })
});
// Returns: {"id": 1, "status": "confirmed", "customer": {...}, "address": {...}}

Query Language Reference

Field Selection

// All fields on the model
{ fields: '*' }

// Specific fields
{ fields: 'id, name, email' }

// Nested relation fields (dot notation)
{ fields: 'id, customer.name, customer.email' }

// Relation wildcards
{ fields: 'id, status, customer.*, address.*' }

JSONField Support

Django-Flex seamlessly supports JSONField — the frontend uses the same dot notation without knowing the difference between relations and JSON keys:

// Assume Customer model has: metadata = JSONField(default=dict)
// metadata = {"settings": {"theme": "dark", "lang": "en"}, "tags": ["vip"]}

// Select nested JSON values (same syntax as relations)
{ fields: 'name, metadata.settings.theme, metadata.tags' }
// Returns: {"name": "Alice", "metadata": {"settings": {"theme": "dark"}, "tags": ["vip"]}}

// Select entire JSONField
{ fields: 'name, metadata' }
// Returns: {"name": "Alice", "metadata": {"settings": {...}, "tags": [...]}}

// Filter on nested JSON values
{ filters: { 'metadata.settings.theme': 'dark' } }

// With operators (all Django operators work)
{ 
    filters: { 
        'metadata.level.gte': 5,
        'metadata.tags.icontains': 'vip' 
    } 
}

How it works: Dot notation is transparently converted to Django's double-underscore format, which works for both ForeignKey relations AND JSONField nested keys.

Permissions: JSONField paths work with the same permission patterns:

DJANGO_FLEX = {
    'EXPOSE': {
        'customer': {
            'staff': {
                'fields': [
                    'name',
                    'metadata',              # Entire JSONField
                    'metadata.settings',     # Specific key
                    'metadata.settings.*',   # All keys under settings (any depth)
                ],
                'filters': [
                    'metadata.settings.theme',
                    'metadata.level',
                ],
            }
        }
    }
}

Filtering

// Simple equality
{ filters: { status: 'confirmed' } }

// With operators
{ filters: { 'price.gte': 100, 'price.lte': 500 } }

// Text search
{ filters: { 'name.icontains': 'khan' } }

// List membership
{ filters: { 'status.in': ['pending', 'confirmed', 'completed'] } }

// OR conditions
{ filters: { or: { status: 'pending', 'customer.vip': true } } }

// NOT conditions  
{ filters: { 
    not: { 
        status: 'cancelled' 
        } 
    } 
}

// Complex composition
{
    filters: {
        'created_at.gte': '2024-01-01',
        or: {
            status: 'confirmed' ,
            and: { 
                status: 'pending', 
                urgent: true 
            } 
        }
    }
}

Supported Operators:

Category	Operators
Comparison	lt, lte, gt, gte, exact, iexact, in, isnull, range
Text	contains, icontains, startswith, istartswith, endswith, iendswith, regex, iregex
Date/Time	date, year, month, day, week_day, hour, minute, second

Pagination

{
    limit: 20,      // Number of results (default: 50, max: 200)
    offset: 0,      // Starting position
    order_by: '-created_at'  // Sort order (prefix with - for descending)
}

Response includes pagination info:

{
    "pagination": {
        "offset": 0,
        "limit": 20,
        "has_more": true,
        "next": {
            "fields": "...",
            "filters": {...},
            "limit": 20,
            "offset": 20
        }
    }
}

Permission Configuration

Django-Flex uses a strict deny-by-default security model. Nothing is allowed unless explicitly granted.

Quick Reference

Config Value	Meaning
"*"	Allow all (full access)
{}, [], "", None	Deny all (no access)

The "*" Shorthand

Use "*" to grant full access to a role:

DJANGO_FLEX = {
    'EXPOSE': {
        'user': {
            'superuser': '*',  # Full access to everything
        },
        'booking': {
            'admin': '*',      # Full access to bookings
            'staff': {...},    # Explicit permissions
        },
    },
}

The "*" shorthand expands to:

{
    'rows': '*',      # All rows (no filter)
    'fields': ['*'],  # All fields including nested
    'filters': '*',   # All filters
    'order_by': '*',  # All order_by
    'ops': ['get', 'query', 'create', 'update', 'delete'],
}

Explicit Permissions

DJANGO_FLEX = {
    'EXPOSE': {
        'booking': {
            # Fields excluded from wildcard expansion
            'exclude': ['internal_notes', 'stripe_payment_id'],
            
            'owner': {
                # Row-level: which rows can this role see?
                'rows': lambda user: Q(created_by=user),
                
                # Field-level: which fields can they access?
                # "*" matches ALL fields including nested
                'fields': ['*'],
                
                # Filter-level: EACH filter+operator must be listed
                'filters': [
                    'status',              # Only exact: status=X
                    'status.in',           # status.in=[A,B]
                    'status.icontains',    # status.icontains=X
                    'created_at.gte',      # created_at.gte=DATE
                    'created_at.lte',      # created_at.lte=DATE
                ],
                
                # Order-level: which fields can they sort by?
                'order_by': ['created_at', '-created_at'],
                
                # Operation-level: which actions?
                'ops': ['get', 'query'],
            },
            
            # Empty config = NO ACCESS
            'viewer': {},
            
            # Roles not listed = NO ACCESS
        },
    },
}

Important: Filters require explicit operator grants. 'status' does NOT auto-allow 'status.in' or 'status.gte'. Each must be listed separately.

Custom Role Resolution

Django-Flex uses Django's built-in groups for role resolution:

from django_flex import FlexPermission

class MyPermission(FlexPermission):
    def get_user_role(self, user):
        if user.is_superuser:
            return 'superuser'
        if user.groups.filter(name='Managers').exists():
            return 'manager'
        return 'staff'

Usage Patterns

1. Class-Based View (Recommended)

from django_flex import FlexQueryView

class BookingQueryView(FlexQueryView):
    model = Booking
    require_auth = True
    allowed_actions = ['get', 'query']
    flex_permissions = {...}

2. Function Decorator

from django_flex import flex_query
from django.http import JsonResponse

@flex_query(
    model=Booking,
    allowed_fields=['id', 'status', 'customer.name'],
    allowed_filters=['status', 'status.in'],
)
def booking_list(request, result, query_spec):
    return JsonResponse(result.to_dict())

3. Programmatic Usage

from django_flex import FlexQuery

def my_view(request):
    result = FlexQuery(Booking).execute({
        'fields': 'id, customer.name',
        'filters': {'status': 'confirmed'},
        'limit': 20,
    }, user=request.user)
    
    return JsonResponse(result.to_dict())

4. Middleware (Single Endpoint)

# settings.py
MIDDLEWARE = [
    ...
    'django_flex.middleware.FlexQueryMiddleware',
]

DJANGO_FLEX = {
    'MIDDLEWARE_PATH': '/api/',
    ...
}

The middleware supports two styles of API access:

Style A: JSON Body (Single Endpoint)

All requests go to /api/ with model and action in the body:

fetch('/api/', {
    method: 'POST',
    body: JSON.stringify({
        _model: 'booking',
        _action: 'query',
        fields: 'id, status',
        limit: 20
    })
});

Style B: RESTful URLs (Recommended)

Use standard REST patterns with HTTP method mapping:

# Query all bookings (GET → query action)
curl http://localhost:8000/api/bookings/

# Get single booking by ID (GET with ID → get action)
curl http://localhost:8000/api/bookings/1

# Create booking (POST → create action)
curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/api/bookings/ \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"customer_id": 1, "status": "pending"}'

# Update booking (PUT/PATCH → update action)
curl -X PUT http://localhost:8000/api/bookings/1 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"status": "confirmed"}'

# Delete booking (DELETE → delete action)
curl -X DELETE http://localhost:8000/api/bookings/1

HTTP Method Mapping:

Method	URL Pattern	Action
GET	/api/{model}/	query
GET	/api/{model}/{id}	get
POST	/api/{model}/	create
PUT/PATCH	/api/{model}/{id}	update
DELETE	/api/{model}/{id}	delete

You can still pass query options in the body for RESTful requests:

// GET /api/bookings/ with body for filtering
fetch('/api/bookings/', {
    method: 'GET',
    body: JSON.stringify({
        fields: 'id, status, customer.name',
        filters: { status: 'confirmed' },
        limit: 20
    })
});

Configuration Reference

DJANGO_FLEX = {
    # Pagination
    'DEFAULT_LIMIT': 50,        # Default page size
    'MAX_LIMIT': 200,           # Maximum page size (hard cap)
    
    # Security
    'MAX_RELATION_DEPTH': 2,    # Max depth for nested fields/filters
    'REQUIRE_AUTHENTICATION': True,  # Require auth by default
    'AUDIT_QUERIES': False,     # Log all queries (for debugging)
    
    # Middleware
    'MIDDLEWARE_PATH': '/api/',  # Path for middleware endpoint
    
    # Optional: versioned APIs with independent settings
    'VERSIONS': {
        'v1': {'path': '/api/v1/', 'EXPOSE': {...}},
        'v2': {'path': '/api/v2/', 'EXPOSE': {...}},
    },
    
    # Model permissions (see Rate Limiting section below)
    'EXPOSE': {...},
}

API Versioning

Run unversioned /api/ alongside versioned /api/v1/, /api/v2/ with different settings per version:

DJANGO_FLEX = {
    'MIDDLEWARE_PATH': '/api/',  # Unversioned endpoint
    'EXPOSE': {...},        # Top-level = unversioned settings
    'MAX_LIMIT': 200,
    
    'VERSIONS': {
        'v1': {
            'path': '/api/v1/',
            'EXPOSE': {...},  # v1-specific permissions
            'MAX_LIMIT': 100,      # v1-specific limit
        },
        'v2': {
            'path': '/api/v2/',
            'EXPOSE': {...},  # v2-specific permissions
            'MAX_LIMIT': 200,
        },
    },
}

Rate Limiting

Rate limits can be configured at multiple levels (most specific wins):

DJANGO_FLEX = {
    'EXPOSE': {
        'booking': {
            # Model-level: integer = same for all ops
            'rate_limit': 60,
            
            # OR dict for per-operation limits
            # 'rate_limit': {'default': 60, 'query': 30, 'get': 120},
            
            # Anonymous users - very restricted
            'anon': {
                'fields': ['id', 'status'],
                'ops': ['query'],
                'rate_limit': 5,  # Only 5 requests/minute for anon
            },
            
            'authenticated': {
                'fields': ['*'],
                'ops': ['get', 'query'],
                'rate_limit': 50,
            },
            
            'staff': {
                'fields': ['*'],
                'ops': ['get', 'query'],
                'rate_limit': 200,  # Staff gets higher limits
            },
        },
    },
}

When rate limit is exceeded, returns HTTP 429 with Retry-After header:

{"error": "Rate limit exceeded", "retry_after": 45}

Response Format

Responses use HTTP status codes (200, 400, 401, 403, 404) to indicate success/failure.

Successful Single Object (get) - HTTP 200

{
    "id": 1,
    "status": "confirmed",
    "customer": {
        "name": "Aisha Khan",
        "email": "[e-mail]"
    }
}

Successful Query (query) - HTTP 200

{
    "pagination": {
        "offset": 0,
        "limit": 20,
        "has_more": true,
        "next": {...}
    },
    "results": {
        "1": {...},
        "2": {...}
    }
}

Error Response - HTTP 400/401/403/404

{
    "error": "Access denied: field 'secret_field' not accessible"
}

Why Django-Flex?

Feature	Django-Flex	GraphQL	REST
Learning curve	Low (Django-native)	High	Low
Field selection	✅	✅	❌ (fixed endpoints)
Dynamic filtering	✅	✅	Limited
Built-in security	✅	Manual	Manual
Django integration	Native	Requires graphene	Native
Schema definition	Optional	Required	N/A
N+1 prevention	Automatic	Manual	Manual

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.