Top 30 Most Common django rest framework interview questions You Should Prepare For

What is Django Rest Framework (DRF) and why use it?

Short answer: Django Rest Framework (DRF) is a powerful, flexible toolkit for building Web APIs on top of Django. It adds serializers, viewsets, routers, authentication layers, and developer-friendly features like a browsable API that make building RESTful services faster and more maintainable.

Expand: DRF standardizes how you convert Django models to JSON (serializers), wire endpoints (viewsets + routers), and protect APIs (authentication/permissions). Compared to plain Django, DRF abstracts common API patterns and reduces boilerplate while supporting custom behavior when needed. For a quick primer and interview-focused questions, see resources like LearnDjango and Simplilearn for common DRF fundamentals.

Takeaway: Know DRF’s purpose and core building blocks — it’s the baseline most interviewers use to test API knowledge.

What are serializers in Django Rest Framework and how should you explain them in an interview?

Short answer: Serializers translate complex Django objects (models, querysets) into JSON (or other) formats and validate incoming data for create/update operations.

Expand: Explain ModelSerializer vs Serializer: ModelSerializer infers fields from Django models and saves you boilerplate; Serializer is explicit and better for custom validation or non-model payloads. Mention field-level and object-level validation, writable nested serializers for related objects, and performance considerations (use selectrelated/prefetchrelated to avoid N+1 when serializing large querysets).

Example: show a short ModelSerializer mapping a Post model to id, title, content and a nested CommentSerializer for comments.

Takeaway: Describe serializers, their validation hooks, and when to prefer custom serializers — this shows practical knowledge interviewers value.

How does authentication and permissions work in DRF?

Short answer: Authentication identifies the user (who), while permissions decide what an authenticated user can do (what). DRF ships with BasicAuth, SessionAuth, TokenAuth and supports JWT, OAuth2, and custom schemes.

Expand: Explain common authentication types — Basic and Session for simple apps, TokenAuth for stateless APIs, JWT for scalable cross-client auth, and OAuth2 for delegated access. Permissions: Use built-in classes like AllowAny, IsAuthenticated, IsAdminUser, and IsAuthenticatedOrReadOnly, and create custom permissions by subclassing BasePermission for endpoint-level rules. For practical interview answers, reference how to wire auth classes (DEFAULTAUTHENTICATIONCLASSES) and permission classes (DEFAULTPERMISSIONCLASSES) in settings.

Cite: For deeper reference on authentication and common interview items, see PragatiVerma’s DRF interview prep and GeeksforGeeks’ authentication Q&A.

Takeaway: Be able to describe both the high-level difference and a concrete example (e.g., token flow or custom permission) for interview impact.

How do you create CRUD endpoints and what patterns should you review for coding interviews?

Short answer: Build CRUD endpoints by defining models, serializers, and views (ModelViewSet or generic views), then register routes with routers — test with the browsable API or curl/postman.

Expand: Typical pipeline: 1) create a Django model, 2) add a ModelSerializer, 3) implement a ModelViewSet (or APIView/GenericAPIView + mixins), 4) register with DefaultRouter in urls.py. For interviews, be ready to implement list/create/detail/update/destroy actions, customize queryset via getqueryset, secure endpoints via permissionclasses, and override perform_create for custom save logic. Know how to write unit tests for viewsets and serializers.

Debugging and tips: Use DRF’s browsable API, logging, Django debug toolbar, and exception handlers. For performance, paginate large lists, use selectrelated/prefetchrelated, cache expensive responses, and avoid serializing huge querysets at once.

Takeaway: Walk interviewers through a concrete CRUD example and be ready to code one on the spot.

What advanced DRF topics are commonly asked (CORS, browsable API, throttling, nested serializers)?

Short answer: Expect questions about the browsable API, handling CORS, rate limiting (throttling), nested serializers, custom renderers, and advanced authentication flows.

• Browsable API: DRF’s HTML interface helps demonstrate endpoints; explain how it aids debugging.

• CORS: Solve cross-origin issues with middleware like django-cors-headers and proper Access-Control headers.

• Throttling: Use ScopedRateThrottle or custom throttles to prevent abuse and scale gracefully.

• Nested serializers: Use Nested serializers or libraries (drf-writable-nested) for create/update of related objects; know when to use primary keys vs nested writes.

• Custom behaviors: Discuss custom pagination, renderers, exception handlers, and viewset actions (@action decorator).

• Expand:

Cite: Advanced topics frequently appear in interview lists on resources like Simplilearn and GeeksforGeeks.

Takeaway: Demonstrating familiarity with these advanced tools shows an interviewer you can move beyond basic CRUD to production-ready APIs.

How should you prepare for Django Rest Framework interviews and what is the typical process?

Short answer: Combine conceptual review, hands-on projects, targeted practice of common interview questions, and mock interviews; many companies test both coding and system-design skills.

Expand: Typical steps: review DRF fundamentals, implement a couple of small APIs (CRUD, auth, nested resources), study authentication and permissions, practice answering behavioral and scenario questions, and time-boxed coding drills (build an endpoint in 20–30 minutes). Show projects in your portfolio that reflect production concerns: pagination, error handling, tests, and CI. Use interview resources and curated question lists to prioritize high-value topics.

Cite: Interview process insights from LearnDjango, Engx.space, and Turing highlight that structure and projects often matter as much as raw Q&A knowledge.

Takeaway: Structured practice and real projects move you from theoretical knowledge to interview-ready confidence.

Top 30 Most Common Django Rest Framework Interview Questions (with concise answers)

Short answer: Below are 30 frequently asked DRF questions with succinct answers to prepare quick, confident replies.

1. What is Django Rest Framework?

2. A toolkit for building Web APIs on Django with serializers, viewsets, routers, and auth.

3. Why use DRF instead of plain Django views?

4. DRF reduces boilerplate for APIs, adds serialization/validation, and provides auth/permissions tools.

5. What is a serializer?

6. A component to convert model instances to JSON and validate input data for create/update.

7. Difference between Serializer and ModelSerializer?

8. ModelSerializer auto-generates fields from a model; Serializer is fully explicit.

9. How do you create a ModelViewSet?

10. Subclass ModelViewSet, set queryset and serializer_class, register with a router.

11. What is a router in DRF?

12. A helper that maps ViewSets to URL patterns automatically (e.g., DefaultRouter).

13. How does authentication differ from authorization?

14. Authentication verifies identity; authorization (permissions) checks actions allowed.

15. Name common authentication methods in DRF.

16. SessionAuth, BasicAuth, TokenAuth, JWT, OAuth2.

17. How to implement Token Authentication?

18. Use rest_framework.authtoken, create tokens per user, add TokenAuthentication to settings.

19. What are permission classes?

20. Classes like IsAuthenticated that gate access to views based on request.user.

21. How to write a custom permission?

22. Subclass BasePermission and implement haspermission or hasobject_permission.

23. What is throttling?

24. Rate limiting requests per user/IP to protect resources (ScopedRateThrottle, AnonRateThrottle).

25. How do you handle CORS in Django?

26. Use django-cors-headers middleware and configure allowed origins/headers.

27. What is the browsable API?

28. DRF’s human-friendly HTML UI for exploring endpoints and testing payloads.

29. How to paginate large querysets in DRF?

30. Use PageNumberPagination, LimitOffsetPagination, or CursorPagination in settings or view.

31. How to optimize serializer performance?

32. Reduce N+1 with selectrelated/prefetchrelated and avoid serializing massive querysets.

33. How to test DRF views?

34. Use APIClient from rest_framework.test and write unit tests for endpoints and serializers.

35. What is nested serialization and when to use it?

36. Serializing related objects inside a parent; use for nested reads or nested writes with care.

37. How to implement partial updates (PATCH)?

38. Accept partial=True in serializer.is_valid and support partial updates in viewsets.

39. How to customize error responses?

40. Override exception handler (RESTFRAMEWORK’s EXCEPTIONHANDLER) for consistent JSON errors.

41. How to secure sensitive fields in serializers?

42. Use write_only=True for password fields and validate carefully before saving.

43. What are viewsets vs APIView?

44. APIView is low-level for custom behavior; ViewSets combine actions for standard CRUD.

45. How to restrict queryset per user?

46. Override get_queryset to filter based on request.user or request.user profile.

47. How to implement OAuth2 with DRF?

48. Use libraries like django-oauth-toolkit to add OAuth2 flows and token management.

49. How to add custom actions to a ViewSet?

50. Use @action(detail=True/False, methods=[...]) to add extra endpoints.

51. What is content negotiation?

52. Choosing the response format (JSON, XML) via renderers and the Accept header.

53. How to serialize files and images?

54. Use FileField/ImageField in serializers and configure media storage and URLs.

55. How to handle versioning of APIs?

56. Use namespace/versioned URLs, accept header versioning, or URLPathVersioning.

57. How to debug 500/400 errors in DRF?

58. Check stack traces, enable DEBUG locally, log request/response payloads, and use DRF’s exception details.

59. How to deploy a DRF app to production?

60. Collect static, configure WSGI/ASGI, use gunicorn/uvicorn behind nginx, set up HTTPS, monitoring, and scaling.

Takeaway: Memorize short, accurate answers for each question and be ready to expand with code or a quick demo.

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What Are the Most Common Questions About This Topic

Q: Can I use DRF for small projects?
A: Yes — DRF scales from prototypes to production APIs.

Q: What’s the easiest auth to implement?
A: TokenAuth is straightforward for stateless APIs.

Q: Should I learn Django fundamentals first?
A: Yes — understanding models and ORM is essential for DRF.

Q: How to practice coding DRF quickly?
A: Build small APIs (CRUD + auth) and add tests.

Q: Is knowing REST principles required?
A: Absolutely — REST concepts underpin DRF architecture.

Takeaway: Short, focused Q&A helps resolve quick doubts before interviews.

Conclusion

Recap: Focus on DRF fundamentals (serializers, viewsets, routers), authentication and permissions, hands-on CRUD implementation, and a few advanced topics like throttling, CORS, and nested serializers. Practice building small APIs, time-boxed coding tasks, and structured answers to behavioral questions. Preparation, clean examples, and structured responses turn knowledge into confidence.

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