Cursor AI with Django REST API: Power Your Backend

Cursor AI is a VSCode-based AI-first code editor. In order to help with activities like code generation and refactoring, auto-suggestions for functions, classes, and logic, and context-aware documentation, it closely connects with GPT-powered models.

Writing and testing queries; debugging and explaining errors; and navigating and summarizing codebases

Cursor, in contrast to Copilot, lets you communicate with your codebase, request clarifications, and create entire modules or endpoints.

A strong and adaptable toolset for creating Web APIs on top of Django is the Django REST Framework. It has built-in viewsets and serializers, authentication, and permissions, as well as a browseable API interface and support for throttling, filtering, and pagination.

Let's look at some real-world examples of how Cursor AI speeds up and improves Django REST development.

or a `BlogPost` model, "Create a ModelViewSet with fields title, content, and published_at."

Cursor AI will immediately produce:

ViewSet, Serializer, Django model, URL routing, and admin registration

Additionally, it asks whether you wish to write test cases.

Testing is tedious but necessary. You can prompt: “Write unit tests for the BlogPostViewSet, including list, retrieve, create, update, and delete.” Cursor generates DRF test cases using APITestCase, saving hours of boilerplate work.

Have a model? Just highlight it and ask: “Create a serializer for this model.” Cursor will suggest a ModelSerializer with proper fields and validation.

Rather than searching for instructions on how to configure session authentication or JWT, simply ask:

"This DRF project should include JWT authentication."

Cursor will update settings.py and include the necessary libraries (djangorestframework-simplejwt).

• Establish endpoints for login and refresh

Set up the authorization classes.

Cursor can explain how a new aspect of your project works or condense big files.

"What is the function of `generate_leaderboard()` in `views.py`?"

The logic and relationships will be explained to you in plain, everyday language.

Suppose you are developing an API for blogging. Cursor + DRF can assist with the following:

• "Build a DRF API with models for BlogPost, Comment, and Tag" is the prompt.

• As a result, Cursor creates viewsets, serializers, and models for all three.

• Prompt: "Add filtering by tag and search by title to BlogPostViewSet."

• Outcome: DjangoFilterBackend and SearchFilter code modifications.

• "Write OpenAPI schema documentation for all endpoints" is the prompt.

• As a result, the cursor either adds drf-spectacular integration or creates schema classes that are compatible with DRF.

Model + ViewSet + Serializer

Writing Unit Tests

Adding Filtering

JWT Integration

Use multi-step commands ("Create a model AND add a ViewSet"); be explicit and explicit in your prompts; Use version control in conjunction with it to test before committing. To expedite onboarding, ask it to clarify unknown code.

Cursor respects the structure of your project and operates locally. Telemetry can be used in air-gapped environments or disabled. Make ensuring that appropriate access controls are in place for sensitive projects

• Startups seeking to iterate rapidly;

 • Enterprise teams seeking to automate boilerplate; 

• Students and learners becoming acquainted with DRF; 

• Solo devs creating MVPs

The Django REST Framework is already a strong instrument. It becomes a supercharged backend framework with Cursor AI, which reduces duplication, speeds up development, and improves code quality.

Don't waste your time on boilerplate. Use Cursor AI to begin constructing more intelligently.