This tutorial will guide you through integrating JWT (JSON Web Tokens) authentication with Django REST Framework. JWT is a compact, URL-safe means of representing claims to be transferred between two parties.

Prerequisites

  • Django project set up
  • Django REST Framework installed
  • Basic understanding of Django and Django REST Framework

Step 1: Install Django REST Framework JWT

First, you need to install the djangorestframework-jwt package.

pip install djangorestframework-jwt

Step 2: Add the Package to Your Django Settings

Add 'rest_framework_jwt' to the INSTALLED_APPS in your settings.py file.

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ...
    'rest_framework_jwt',
    # ...
]

Step 3: Add JWT Authentication Class

In your settings.py, add the following to configure JWT authentication:

REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    'DEFAULT_AUTHENTICATION_CLASSES': (
        'rest_framework_jwt.authentication.JSONWebTokenAuthentication',
    ),
    # ...
}

Step 4: Create a JWT Token

To create a JWT token, you need to use the ObtainJWTToken view.

curl -X POST -d "username=<username>&password=<password>" http://<your-django-project>/api-token-auth/

This will return a JWT token that you can use to authenticate your requests.

Step 5: Use JWT Token in Your Requests

Include the JWT token in the Authorization header of your requests.

curl -H "Authorization: JWT <your-token>" http://<your-django-project>/api/endpoint/

Next Steps

For more detailed information and advanced configurations, check out the Django REST Framework JWT documentation.

If you're looking to dive deeper into Django REST Framework, don't miss our comprehensive Django REST Framework Tutorial.

Django REST Framework JWT