---
id: drf-spectacular-sidecar
version: "2026.8.1"
license: BSD
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# drf-spectacular-sidecar — Serve self-contained distribution builds of Swagger UI and Redoc with Django

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 1.8M/mo

## What it is and what it does

drf-spectacular-sidecar packages pre-built distributions of Swagger UI (version 5.32.11) and Redoc (version 2.5.3) as Django static files. It eliminates the need to build these UI libraries from npm or manage Node.js tooling in your Django project—you install the package, add it to INSTALLED_APPS, and Django's static file system handles serving the documentation interface.

The package is designed as an optional companion to drf-spectacular but can be used independently. It updates monthly on the 1st, pulling fresh distributions from npm via jsdelivr, validating them, and publishing to PyPI. This means you get current versions of Swagger UI and Redoc without manual intervention, as long as you keep the package updated.

Use it for:

- Add interactive Swagger UI documentation to a Django REST API without Node.js build tooling.
- Serve Redoc-based API documentation alongside drf-spectacular schema generation.
- Deploy API docs as part of Django's collectstatic workflow for production environments.
- Reduce build complexity in CI/CD pipelines by eliminating npm dependencies for documentation UI.

## Worth the install?

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

Serves pre-built Swagger UI and Redoc distributions as Django static files, enabling API documentation display without requiring Node.js or additional build steps.

Yes. Low install friction, permissive licensing, active maintenance with monthly updates, no known vulnerabilities, and a clear single purpose: serve pre-built API documentation UIs. Install if you need Swagger UI or Redoc in a Django project and want to avoid npm/Node.js tooling. Skip only if you prefer to manage these distributions separately or have custom UI requirements.

## Install

pip install drf-spectacular-sidecar
uv add drf-spectacular-sidecar
poetry add drf-spectacular-sidecar

## Installing drf-spectacular-sidecar

Before you install: Low friction: single runtime dependency on Django, wheel-only distribution, and active maintenance with releases every month. Last commit 2026-08-01 and release 13 days ago.

License in practice: Permissive BSD license on the package itself; includes Apache 2.0 (Swagger UI) and MIT (Redoc) licensed distributions. All three are permissive and compatible with most projects.

Quickstart:

pip install drf-spectacular-sidecar

# In settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'drf_spectacular_sidecar',
]

# Then use with drf-spectacular or serve static files via runserver/collectstatic

Django >= 2.2 required; the package must be added to INSTALLED_APPS for Django to discover static files.

Verify before relying:

- Whether this package works standalone or primarily as a companion to drf-spectacular (description says it can be used independently, but typical usage patterns are unclear).
- Performance characteristics when serving large API documentation or with many concurrent requests.

## Package facts

- License: BSD (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 1.8M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

swagger ui django static files, redoc api documentation django, api docs without node.js, django rest framework documentation ui, serve swagger redoc django, api-documentation, django-static-files

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/drf-spectacular-sidecar) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/drf-spectacular-sidecar/)