What is Django REST Framework and why use it?

Question

Accepted Answer

**Django REST Framework (DRF)** is a toolkit for building **REST APIs** with Django.

```python
from rest_framework import serializers, viewsets, status
from rest_framework.decorators import action
from rest_framework.response import Response
from .models import User

# Serializer
class UserSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
    class Meta:
        model = User
        fields = ["id", "name", "email", "created_at"]

# ViewSet
class UserViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
    queryset = User.objects.all()
    serializer_class = UserSerializer

@action(detail=False, methods=["post"])
    def activate(self, request):
        user = request.user
        user.is_active = True
        user.save()
        return Response({"status": "activated"})

# URLs
from rest_framework.routers import DefaultRouter

router = DefaultRouter()
router.register(r"users", UserViewSet)

# GET /users/        — list all
# POST /users/       — create
# GET /users/{id}/   — retrieve
# PUT /users/{id}/   — update
# DELETE /users/{id}/ — delete
```

**Features:**
- Serializers (validation + conversion).
- ViewSets (CRUD in one class).
- Authentication (JWT, Token, Session).
- Pagination and filtering.

Python: What is Django REST Framework and why use it?