---
id: djangorestframework-yaml
version: "2.0.0"
license: BSD
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: abandoned
---

# djangorestframework-yaml — YAML support for Django REST Framework

License: permissive · Maintenance: abandoned · Downloads: 77.8K/mo

## What it is and what it does

djangorestframework-yaml is a third-party extension that integrates YAML format support into Django REST Framework. It provides a YAMLParser to deserialize incoming YAML request bodies and a YAMLRenderer to serialize API responses as YAML, built on top of PyYAML. This allows developers to configure their REST APIs to accept and return YAML instead of (or alongside) JSON or other formats.

The package was extracted from Django REST Framework's official codebase as a standalone module. It integrates at the framework level through Django's settings configuration, letting you set YAML as the default parser and renderer globally or per-view. However, the package has been abandoned since April 2020 with no active maintenance, meaning it may not be compatible with recent versions of Django or REST Framework.

Use it for:

- Serve legacy clients or systems that expect YAML-formatted API responses instead of JSON.
- Build internal tools or microservices where YAML is preferred for human readability in request/response bodies.
- Support bidirectional YAML serialization in REST APIs for teams already using YAML in their infrastructure.
- Migrate from older Django REST Framework versions that had built-in YAML support before it was extracted.

## Worth the install?

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

Adds YAML parsing and rendering support to Django REST Framework, allowing APIs to accept and return YAML-formatted data alongside the framework's standard formats.

No, unless you are locked to an older Django and REST Framework stack. The package is abandoned (last release 2020-04-27, no commits since), making it a liability for any modern Django project. If you need YAML support in a current REST Framework setup, investigate maintained alternatives or implement a custom parser/renderer instead of adopting unmaintained code.

## Install

pip install djangorestframework-yaml
uv add djangorestframework-yaml
poetry add djangorestframework-yaml

## Installing djangorestframework-yaml

Before you install: Low install friction with a single runtime dependency (PyYAML). However, the package is abandoned—last release was 2020-04-27, over 2300 days ago, with no recent commits. Use only if your Django and REST Framework versions are locked to older releases or if you can maintain a fork.

License in practice: BSD license is permissive, imposing no restrictions on commercial or private use. You may use, modify, and distribute this package freely as long as you include the original license notice.

Quickstart:

pip install djangorestframework-yaml

# In Django settings.py:
REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    'DEFAULT_PARSER_CLASSES': (
        'rest_framework_yaml.parsers.YAMLParser',
    ),
    'DEFAULT_RENDERER_CLASSES': (
        'rest_framework_yaml.renderers.YAMLRenderer',
    ),
}

Requires Django and Django REST Framework to be installed separately; package is abandoned and may not work with current versions of either framework.

Verify before relying:

- Compatibility with Django versions released after 2020-04-27 and current REST Framework releases.
- Whether PyYAML security updates are sufficient for production use given the package's abandonment.
- Active community forks or maintained alternatives for YAML support in modern Django REST Framework.

## Package facts

- License: BSD (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: abandoned
- Downloads: 77.8K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

django rest framework yaml, yaml parser django rest, yaml renderer drf, django api yaml support, rest framework yaml serialization, django-rest-framework, yaml-serialization, abandoned

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