Profiles REST API

A REST API built with Django and Django REST Framework, featuring a custom user model with email-based authentication and token authentication for API access.

This project was built while following the Udemy course "How to Build a Backend REST API with Python & Django - Advanced" by Mark Winterbottom (LondonAppDev). The original course project structure comes from LondonAppDev/profiles-rest-api; this repository contains my own implementation and additional changes made while working through the course, including switching the local development setup from Vagrant to Docker.

About

The project is fully containerized with Docker and Docker Compose, so it can be run locally without installing Python or any dependencies on the host machine. The original course material uses Vagrant + VirtualBox for the development environment; this version replaces that with Docker for a lighter and more portable setup.

Features

• Custom user model using email instead of username
• Token-based authentication (Authorization: Token <key>)
• ViewSets and Routers for clean, RESTful endpoint structure
• Django admin panel for managing users
• Dockerized development environment (SQLite, no external services required)
• Dev Container support for VS Code

Tech Stack

• Python 3.13
• Django 6.1
• Django REST Framework
• Docker & Docker Compose
• SQLite (development)

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop installed and running

Running locally

git clone https://github.com/mmdparimoon/Profiles-rest-api.git
cd Profiles-rest-api
docker compose up --build

The API will be available at http://localhost:8000.

Environment variables

Copy the example environment file and fill in your own values:

cp env.example .env

At minimum, set a SECRET_KEY for Django.

Common commands

Run these from the project root while the containers are up:

# Apply database migrations
docker compose exec web python manage.py migrate

# Create a new migration after changing models.py
docker compose exec web python manage.py makemigrations

# Create an admin user
docker compose exec web python manage.py createsuperuser

# Run the test suite
docker compose exec web python manage.py test

# Open a shell inside the running container
docker compose exec web bash

Project Structure

Profiles-rest-api/
├── Profiles_project/     # Django project settings and root URL config
├── profiles_api/         # Main app: models, views, serializers, admin
├── .devcontainer/         # VS Code Dev Container configuration
├── Dockerfile
├── docker-compose.yml
├── requirements.txt
└── manage.py

Course Reference

This repository was created as a learning project. Credit for the original course curriculum and starter code goes to Mark Winterbottom / LondonAppDev. This version diverges from the original in its use of Docker instead of Vagrant for local development, along with some additional configuration and fixes made along the way.

License

This project is for educational purposes, built while following the course referenced above.