Django Cheat Sheet

Updated 2026-04-29

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Django is a high-level Python web framework that follows the Model-Template-View (MTV) architectural pattern, enabling rapid development of secure and maintainable websites. Built with the philosophy of "batteries included," Django provides a comprehensive toolkit including an ORM for database interactions, a powerful template engine, robust authentication and authorization, and extensive middleware capabilities. Django 5.2 (current LTS) introduced composite primary keys and async-native ORM methods, and the framework's lazy QuerySet evaluation — where queries hit the database only when explicitly accessed — remains the key mental model for writing efficient code.

What This Cheat Sheet Covers

This topic spans 34 focused tables and 330 indexed concepts. Below is a complete table-by-table outline of this topic, spanning foundational concepts through advanced details.

Table 1: Model FieldsTable 2: QuerySet MethodsTable 3: Field LookupsTable 4: Q Objects and Complex QueriesTable 5: F ExpressionsTable 6: Advanced Query ExpressionsTable 7: Model Meta OptionsTable 8: Model InheritanceTable 9: Model ValidatorsTable 10: Views — Function-BasedTable 11: Views — Class-BasedTable 12: Async SupportTable 13: URLs and RoutingTable 14: Templates — TagsTable 15: Templates — FiltersTable 16: Custom Template TagsTable 17: FormsTable 18: Authentication and AuthorizationTable 19: MiddlewareTable 20: Admin CustomizationTable 21: SignalsTable 22: MigrationsTable 23: Management CommandsTable 24: Sessions and MessagesTable 25: CachingTable 26: SecurityTable 27: Static and Media FilesTable 28: TestingTable 29: PaginationTable 30: EmailTable 31: Database TransactionsTable 32: Database FunctionsTable 33: Custom ManagersTable 34: Context Processors

Table 1: Model Fields

Fields are the building blocks of every Django model — each one maps to a database column and decides what kind of data it holds, how it validates, and how it renders in a form. Reach here when you're sketching out a model and need to pick the right type, from simple text and numbers to the relationship fields (ForeignKey, ManyToManyField, OneToOneField) that wire your tables together. A few constraints are easy to forget, like CharField requiring max_length and ForeignKey requiring on_delete.

Field	Example	Description
CharField	`name = models.CharField(max_length=200)`	• Required `max_length` • stores short text strings • rendered as `<input type="text">` in forms.
TextField	`description = models.TextField()`	• Unlimited text storage • rendered as `<textarea>` in forms • no `max_length` validation.
IntegerField	`age = models.IntegerField()`	• Stores integers from -2147483648 to 2147483647 • use `BigIntegerField` for larger range.
FloatField	`price = models.FloatField()`	• Stores floating-point numbers as Python `float` • use `DecimalField` for financial precision.
DecimalField	`amount = models.DecimalField(max_digits=10, decimal_places=2)`	• Required `max_digits` and `decimal_places` • precise decimal storage for financial data • avoids float precision issues.
BooleanField	`is_active = models.BooleanField(default=True)`	• Stores True/False • rendered as checkbox • use `null=True` for three-state nullable boolean (NullBooleanField was removed in Django 4.0).
DateField	`birth_date = models.DateField(auto_now_add=True)`	• Stores a date • `auto_now` updates on every save, `auto_now_add` sets once on creation.
DateTimeField	`created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)`	• Stores date and time with timezone awareness if `USE_TZ=True` • uses Python `datetime.datetime`.
EmailField	`email = models.EmailField(unique=True)`	• CharField with email validation • `max_length` defaults to 254 • uses `EmailValidator`.
URLField	`website = models.URLField()`	• CharField with URL validation • `max_length` defaults to 200 • validates using `URLValidator`.

Table 1: Model Fields

Field	Example	Description
CharField	`name = models.CharField(max_length=200)`	• Required `max_length` • stores short text strings • rendered as `<input type="text">` in forms.
TextField	`description = models.TextField()`	• Unlimited text storage • rendered as `<textarea>` in forms • no `max_length` validation.
IntegerField	`age = models.IntegerField()`	• Stores integers from -2147483648 to 2147483647 • use `BigIntegerField` for larger range.
FloatField	`price = models.FloatField()`	• Stores floating-point numbers as Python `float` • use `DecimalField` for financial precision.
DecimalField	`amount = models.DecimalField(max_digits=10, decimal_places=2)`	• Required `max_digits` and `decimal_places` • precise decimal storage for financial data • avoids float precision issues.
BooleanField	`is_active = models.BooleanField(default=True)`	• Stores True/False • rendered as checkbox • use `null=True` for three-state nullable boolean (NullBooleanField was removed in Django 4.0).
DateField	`birth_date = models.DateField(auto_now_add=True)`	• Stores a date • `auto_now` updates on every save, `auto_now_add` sets once on creation.
DateTimeField	`created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)`	• Stores date and time with timezone awareness if `USE_TZ=True` • uses Python `datetime.datetime`.
EmailField	`email = models.EmailField(unique=True)`	• CharField with email validation • `max_length` defaults to 254 • uses `EmailValidator`.
URLField	`website = models.URLField()`	• CharField with URL validation • `max_length` defaults to 200 • validates using `URLValidator`.