---
id: djangorestframework-jsonapi
version: "8.1.0"
license: BSD
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# djangorestframework-jsonapi — A Django REST framework API adapter for the JSON:API spec.

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 368.2K/mo

## What it is and what it does

This package bridges Django REST framework and the JSON:API specification, transforming DRF's default response format into JSON:API-compliant output. Instead of a flat results array, it structures responses with typed data objects, relationships, links, and metadata according to the JSON:API standard. It handles automatic key inflection (converting Python snake_case to JSON:API hyphenated format), pagination, filtering, and relationship serialization out of the box.

You integrate it by adding it to INSTALLED_APPS, configuring DRF's REST_FRAMEWORK settings to use its parsers and renderers, and then your existing class-based views automatically produce JSON:API responses. It aims to stay compatible with DRF's design philosophy rather than working around it, and supports the current Django and Python release lines with sane defaults that require minimal configuration for basic use.

Use it for:

- Building a REST API that must comply with the JSON:API specification for client-side framework compatibility.
- Converting an existing Django REST framework API to JSON:API format without rewriting view logic.
- Implementing standardized pagination, filtering, and relationship links across a Django API.
- Creating APIs consumed by JavaScript frameworks (Ember, Vue, React) that have JSON:API client libraries.
- Handling complex nested data and relationships in a spec-compliant way with automatic serialization.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Adapts Django REST framework to output responses in JSON:API specification format, handling serialization, pagination, filtering, and relationship rendering according to the JSON:API standard.

Yes. If you are building a Django REST framework API and need or want JSON:API compliance, this is the standard adapter for that job. It has low install friction, active maintenance, no known vulnerabilities, and a permissive license. It integrates cleanly with DRF's existing patterns and is well-established (since 2015). Install it if JSON:API format is a requirement or a deliberate choice for your API design.

## Install

pip install djangorestframework-jsonapi
uv add djangorestframework-jsonapi
poetry add djangorestframework-jsonapi

## Installing djangorestframework-jsonapi

Before you install: Low friction install with three straightforward runtime dependencies (django, djangorestframework, inflection). Actively maintained with recent commits and no known vulnerabilities. Supports current Python versions (3.9–3.14) and recent Django/DRF releases.

License in practice: BSD permissive license allows use in commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions—typical for web framework extensions.

Quickstart:

pip install djangorestframework-jsonapi

# In settings.py, add to INSTALLED_APPS after rest_framework:
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'rest_framework',
    'rest_framework_json_api',
]

# Configure REST_FRAMEWORK to use JSON:API renderers and parsers:
REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    'DEFAULT_RENDERER_CLASSES': (
        'rest_framework_json_api.renderers.JSONRenderer',
    ),
    'DEFAULT_PARSER_CLASSES': (
        'rest_framework_json_api.parsers.JSONParser',
    ),
}

Requires Django 4.2+ and Django REST framework 3.15+; Python 3.9 or later.

Verify before relying:

- Whether optional integrations (django-filter, django-polymorphic) are tested against all supported versions or only the latest.
- Performance characteristics when handling large result sets or deeply nested relationships.

## Package facts

- License: BSD (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 368.2K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

json:api django rest framework, jsonapi serializer django, json:api format django, rest api json:api compliance, django jsonapi adapter, json:api pagination filtering, django rest framework json:api, json-api, rest-api, django-integration

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