Reactive server-side rendering for Django, powered by Rust

djust brings Phoenix LiveView-style reactive components to Django. You write server-side Python; the client updates automatically over a WebSocket. There is no JavaScript to write, no bundler, and no build step in your project.

djust.org · Documentation · Quick Start · Examples

Features

Fast — Rust-powered template engine and virtual DOM diffing (roughly 7–11x faster than Django on variable- and filter-heavy templates, and no faster on static markup; see Performance)
Reactive components — Phoenix LiveView-style server-side reactivity
Django compatible — works with existing Django templates and components
No build step — ~58 KB gzipped client JavaScript, no bundling required
WebSocket updates — real-time DOM patches over WebSocket, with HTTP fallback
Minimal payloads — diffing sends only what changed
Rust core — performance-critical paths (templates, VDOM, parsing) are written in Rust
Debug panel — interactive debugging with event history and VDOM inspection
Lazy hydration — defer WebSocket connections for below-the-fold content to reduce memory
TurboNav compatible — works with Turbo-style client-side navigation
PWA support — offline-first Progressive Web Apps with automatic sync
Multi-tenant — tenant isolation for SaaS architectures
Auth — view-level and handler-level authorization via Django permissions

Rust templates for any Django view

You don't need LiveView to get the Rust engine. Point one TEMPLATES entry at the backend and every existing TemplateView, render() call, and {% include %} in your project renders through Rust — no WebSocket, no client.js, no rewrite of your templates or your views.

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        "BACKEND": "djust.template_backend.DjustTemplateBackend",
        "DIRS": [BASE_DIR / "templates"],
        "APP_DIRS": True,
        "OPTIONS": {"context_processors": [...]},
    },
    {
        # admin and contrib templates still need Django's own backend
        "BACKEND": "django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates",
        "DIRS": [],
        "APP_DIRS": True,
        "OPTIONS": {"context_processors": [...]},
    },
]

Two numbers, and nothing softer:

77.17% of Django's own template_tests suite passes unmodified against this backend (808 of the 1,047 cells that reach an engine at all; measured by scripts/run-django-template-suite.py against the Django tag matching the installed version — see docs/TEMPLATE_BACKEND.md for the full breakdown and what the remaining cells are).
Rendering is 7–11x faster on variable- and filter-heavy templates (see Performance below); static markup is not faster, because there is nothing there to accelerate.

The scaffold (djust startproject) already configures the TEMPLATES setting this way. Read more in docs/TEMPLATE_BACKEND.md.

Quick Example

from djust import LiveView, event_handler

class CounterView(LiveView):
    template_string = """
    <div>
        <h1>Count: {{ count }}</h1>
        <button dj-click="increment">+</button>
        <button dj-click="decrement">-</button>
    </div>
    """

    def mount(self, request, **kwargs):
        self.count = 0

    @event_handler
    def increment(self):
        self.count += 1  # Automatically updates client

    @event_handler
    def decrement(self):
        self.count -= 1

No JavaScript needed. State changes trigger minimal DOM updates automatically.

How Reactivity Works

djust uses a Rust-powered virtual DOM (VDOM) to diff server-rendered HTML and send only the changed patches over WebSocket. A few core attributes make everything click.

Template Anatomy

{% load live_tags %}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    {% djust_client_config %}        {# Emits client config meta tags; djust auto-injects the client runtime #}
</head>
<body dj-view="{{ dj_view_id }}">   {# Identifies the WebSocket session #}
    <div dj-root>                    {# Reactive boundary — only this is diffed #}
        <h1>Count: {{ count }}</h1>
        <button dj-click="increment">+</button>
    </div>
    {# Static content outside dj-root is never touched by VDOM patching #}
</body>
</html>

Attribute	Where	Purpose
`{% djust_client_config %}`	`<head>`	Emits client config meta tags; djust auto-injects the ~58 KB gz client runtime into every LiveView response — no manual `<script>` tag needed
`dj-view="{{ dj_view_id }}"`	`<body>`	Connects page to WebSocket session
`dj-root`	Inner `<div>`	Marks the reactive region; only HTML inside is diffed and patched

Stable List Identity

For lists that can reorder or have items inserted/deleted, add data-key or dj-key on each item. djust uses this to emit MoveChild patches instead of remove-then-insert pairs, preserving DOM state (focus, scroll position, animations):

{% for item in items %}
<div data-key="{{ item.id }}">
    {{ item.name }}
    <button dj-click="delete" data-item-id="{{ item.id }}">Delete</button>
</div>
{% endfor %}

Without a key, djust diffs by position — correct, but it produces more DOM mutations for reorders.

Common Pitfall: One-Sided `{% if %}` in Class Attributes

Using {% if %} without {% else %} inside an HTML attribute value can cause VDOM patching misalignment, because of djust's branch-aware div-depth counting:

{# WRONG: one-sided if inside class attribute #}
<div class="card {% if active %}active{% endif %}">

{# CORRECT: use full if/else #}
<div class="card {% if active %}active{% else %}{% endif %}">

{# ALSO CORRECT: move conditional outside the tag #}
{% if active %}
<div class="card active">
{% else %}
<div class="card">
{% endif %}
    ...
</div>

This applies only to attribute values — {% if %} blocks in element content work fine.

See the VDOM Architecture guide and Template Cheat Sheet for full details.

Getting Started

A complete walkthrough from zero to a working reactive counter in five steps.

Step 1 — Install

pip install djust django-channels

Step 2 — Add to `INSTALLED_APPS` and configure settings

In myproject/settings.py:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ... your existing apps ...
    'channels',   # WebSocket support
    'djust',
]

ASGI_APPLICATION = 'myproject.asgi.application'

CHANNEL_LAYERS = {
    'default': {
        'BACKEND': 'channels.layers.InMemoryChannelLayer',
    }
}

Step 3 — Configure `asgi.py`

Replace myproject/asgi.py with:

import os
from django.core.asgi import get_asgi_application
from channels.routing import ProtocolTypeRouter, URLRouter
from channels.auth import AuthMiddlewareStack
from djust.websocket import LiveViewConsumer
from django.urls import path

os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'myproject.settings')

application = ProtocolTypeRouter({
    "http": get_asgi_application(),
    "websocket": AuthMiddlewareStack(
        URLRouter([
            path('ws/live/', LiveViewConsumer.as_asgi()),
        ])
    ),
})

Step 4 — Add the URL route

In myproject/urls.py:

from django.urls import path
from myapp.views import CounterView

urlpatterns = [
    path('counter/', CounterView.as_view(), name='counter'),
]

Step 5 — Write the view and template

myapp/views.py:

from djust import LiveView, event_handler

class CounterView(LiveView):
    template_name = 'counter.html'

    def mount(self, request, **kwargs):
        self.count = 0

    @event_handler
    def increment(self):
        self.count += 1

    @event_handler
    def decrement(self):
        self.count -= 1

myapp/templates/counter.html:

{% load live_tags %}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Counter</title>
    {% djust_client_config %}
</head>
<body dj-view="{{ dj_view_id }}">
    <div dj-root>
        <h1>Count: {{ count }}</h1>
        <button dj-click="increment">+</button>
        <button dj-click="decrement">-</button>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

Run with uvicorn myproject.asgi:application --reload and open /counter/. Clicking the buttons updates the count without a page reload — no JavaScript written, no build step.

Next steps: - Template Cheat Sheet — all directives and filters at a glance - Components Guide — build reusable components with theming - CSS Framework Guide — Tailwind and Bootstrap integration - Deployment Guide — production deployment with uvicorn, Redis, and Nginx

Performance

Full render throughput, same template on both engines, parsed once on each side. Measured with benchmarks/benchmark.py on an Apple silicon laptop, Django 5.2.16 / Python 3.12, DEBUG=False, release build:

Template shape	Rows	Django	djust	Speedup
Static markup (no variables)	100	0.03 ms	0.03 ms	1.0x
Static markup (no variables)	10,000	2.85 ms	2.81 ms	1.0x
Simple list (2 vars/row)	100	0.62 ms	0.09 ms	6.8x
Simple list (2 vars/row)	10,000	63.7 ms	8.96 ms	7.1x
Filtered list (typical page)	100	2.32 ms	0.21 ms	10.8x
Filtered list (typical page)	10,000	241 ms	21.5 ms	11.2x

The speedup depends entirely on what the template does. Static markup is string concatenation and there is nothing to accelerate — djust is not faster, and says so. The advantage grows with variable and filter density, which is the direction real pages go.

Two things this table does not measure, both of which matter:

The VDOM patch. On an update djust re-renders and sends a diff, where Django can only re-render and ship the whole page. The wire-size difference is not in these numbers at all.
The round trip. WebSocket transport, diffing and client apply are excluded.

Run it yourself:

make build          # release build — a debug build reverses the result
python benchmarks/benchmark.py

The script refuses to run against a debug extension. make dev-build produces an unoptimized one that is roughly 7.6x slower and measures Django as the faster engine; since that is what most test workflows build, it is an easy and badly misleading mistake to make.

Installation

Prerequisites

Python 3.10+
Django 4.2+
Rust 1.70+ (only required when building from source)

Install from PyPI

pip install djust

Build from Source

Using Make (recommended for development)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/djust-org/djust.git
cd djust

# Install Rust (if needed)
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

# Install everything and build
make install

# Start the development server
make start

# See all available commands
make help

Common Make commands:

make start — start development server with hot reload
make stop — stop the development server
make status — check if the server is running
make test — run all tests
make clean — clean build artifacts
make help — show all available commands

Using uv

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/djust-org/djust.git
cd djust

# Install Rust (if needed)
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

# Install uv (if needed)
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Create virtual environment and install dependencies
uv venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate

# Install maturin and build
uv pip install maturin
maturin develop --release

Using pip

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/djust-org/djust.git
cd djust

# Install Rust (if needed)
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install maturin
pip install maturin

# Build and install
maturin develop --release

# Or build a wheel
maturin build --release
pip install target/wheels/djust-*.whl

Documentation

The full documentation lives at docs.djust.org. The sections below cover the core API; see Getting Started above for first-time setup.

Creating LiveViews

Class-Based LiveView

from djust import LiveView, event_handler

class TodoListView(LiveView):
    template_name = 'todos.html'  # Or use template_string

    def mount(self, request, **kwargs):
        """Called when view is first loaded"""
        self.todos = []

    @event_handler
    def add_todo(self, text):
        """Event handler — called from client"""
        self.todos.append({'text': text, 'done': False})

    @event_handler
    def toggle_todo(self, index):
        self.todos[index]['done'] = not self.todos[index]['done']

Function-Based LiveView

from djust import live_view

@live_view(template_name='counter.html')
def counter_view(request):
    count = 0

    def increment():
        nonlocal count
        count += 1

    return locals()  # Returns all local variables as context

Template Syntax

djust supports Django template syntax with event binding:

<!-- Variables -->
<h1>{{ title }}</h1>

<!-- Filters (all 57 Django built-in filters supported) -->
<p>{{ text|upper }}</p>
<p>{{ description|truncatewords:20 }}</p>
<a href="?q={{ query|urlencode }}">Search</a>
{{ body|urlize }}  {# No |safe needed — djust auto-marks urlize output as safe (see note below) #}

<!-- Control flow -->
{% if show %}
    <div>Visible</div>
{% endif %}

{% if count > 10 %}
    <div>Many items!</div>
{% endif %}

{% for item in items %}
    <li>{{ item }}</li>
{% endfor %}

<!-- URL resolution -->
<a href="{% url 'myapp:detail' pk=item.id %}">View</a>

<!-- Template includes -->
{% include "partials/header.html" %}

<!-- Event binding -->
<button dj-click="increment">Click me</button>
<input dj-input="on_search" type="text" />
<form dj-submit="submit_form">
    <input name="email" />
    <button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>

Django migration note: In standard Django, urlize requires |safe to render its HTML output. djust's Rust template engine automatically marks urlize, urlizetrunc, and unordered_list as safe (via safe_output_filters in the renderer), because these filters handle their own HTML escaping internally. Adding |safe after them is unnecessary.

Supported Events

dj-click — click events
dj-input — input events (passes value)
dj-change — change events (passes value)
dj-submit — form submission (passes form data as a dict)

Reusable Components

djust includes a component system with automatic state management and stable component IDs.

Basic Component Example

from djust.components import AlertComponent

class MyView(LiveView):
    def mount(self, request):
        # Components get automatic IDs based on attribute names
        self.alert_success = AlertComponent(
            message="Operation successful!",
            type="success",
            dismissible=True
        )
        # component_id automatically becomes "alert_success"

Component ID Management

Components automatically receive a stable component_id based on their attribute name in your view, which eliminates manual ID management:

# When you write:
self.alert_success = AlertComponent(message="Success!")

# The framework automatically:
# 1. Sets component.component_id = "alert_success"
# 2. Persists this ID across renders and events
# 3. Uses it in HTML: data-component-id="alert_success"
# 4. Routes events back to the correct component

Why it works:

The attribute name (alert_success) is already unique within your view
It's stable across re-renders and WebSocket reconnections
Event handlers can reference components by their attribute names
No manual ID strings to keep in sync

Event routing example:

class MyView(LiveView):
    def mount(self, request):
        self.alert_warning = AlertComponent(
            message="Warning message",
            dismissible=True
        )

    @event_handler
    def dismiss(self, component_id: str = None):
        """Handle dismissal — automatically routes to correct component"""
        if component_id and hasattr(self, component_id):
            component = getattr(self, component_id)
            if hasattr(component, 'dismiss'):
                component.dismiss()  # component_id="alert_warning"

When the dismiss button is clicked, the client sends component_id="alert_warning", and the handler uses getattr(self, "alert_warning") to find the component.

Creating Custom Components

from djust import LiveComponent, event_handler
from djust.components import register_component

class ButtonComponent(LiveComponent):
    template = '<button dj-click="on_click" data-component-id="{{ component_id }}">{{ label }}</button>'

    def mount(self, **kwargs):
        self.label = kwargs.get("label", "Click")
        self.clicks = 0

    @event_handler()
    def on_click(self, **kwargs):
        self.clicks += 1
        self.trigger_update()

    def get_context_data(self):
        return {"label": self.label, "clicks": self.clicks}

# register_component accepts LiveComponent subclasses (stateful, event-driven)
register_component('my-button', ButtonComponent)

Decorators

from djust import LiveView, event_handler, reactive

class MyView(LiveView):
    @event_handler
    def handle_click(self):
        """Marks method as event handler"""
        pass

    @reactive
    def count(self):
        """Reactive property — auto-triggers updates"""
        return self._count

    @count.setter
    def count(self, value):
        self._count = value

Configuration

Configure djust in your Django settings.py:

LIVEVIEW_CONFIG = {
    # Transport mode
    'use_websocket': True,  # Set to False for HTTP-only mode (no WebSocket dependency)

    # Debug settings
    'debug_vdom': False,  # Enable detailed VDOM patch logging (for troubleshooting)

    # Serialization (issue #292)
    'strict_serialization': False,  # Raise TypeError for non-serializable state values (recommended in development)

    # CSS Framework
    'css_framework': 'bootstrap5',  # Options: 'bootstrap5', 'tailwind', None
}

Common configuration options:

Option	Default	Description
`use_websocket`	`True`	Use WebSocket transport (requires Django Channels)
`debug_vdom`	`False`	Enable detailed VDOM debugging logs
`strict_serialization`	`False`	Raise TypeError for non-serializable state (recommended in dev)
`css_framework`	`'bootstrap5'`	CSS framework for components

CSS framework setup. For Tailwind CSS, use the one-command setup:

python manage.py djust_setup_css tailwind

This auto-detects template directories, creates config files, and builds your CSS. For production:

python manage.py djust_setup_css tailwind --minify

See the CSS Framework Guide for detailed setup instructions, Bootstrap configuration, and CI/CD integration.

Debug mode. When troubleshooting VDOM issues, enable debug logging:

# In settings.py
LIVEVIEW_CONFIG = {
    'debug_vdom': True,
}

# Or programmatically
from djust.config import config
config.set('debug_vdom', True)

This logs:

Server-side: patch generation details (stderr)
Client-side: patch application and DOM traversal (browser console)

State Management

djust provides Python-only state management decorators that remove the need for manual JavaScript.

Quick Start

Build a debounced search in eight lines of Python (no JavaScript):

from djust import LiveView
from djust.decorators import debounce

class ProductSearchView(LiveView):
    template_string = """
    <input dj-input="search" placeholder="Search products..." />
    <div>{% for p in results %}<div>{{ p.name }}</div>{% endfor %}</div>
    """

    def mount(self, request):
        self.results = []

    @debounce(wait=0.5)  # Wait 500ms after typing stops
    def search(self, query: str = "", **kwargs):
        self.results = Product.objects.filter(name__icontains=query)[:10]

The server only queries after you stop typing. Add @optimistic for instant UI updates, or @cache(ttl=300) to cache responses for five minutes.

See the State Management Quick Start.

Available Decorators

Decorator	Use When	Example
`@debounce(wait)`	User is typing	Search, autosave
`@throttle(interval)`	Rapid events	Scroll, resize
`@optimistic`	Instant feedback	Counter, toggle
`@cache(ttl, key_params)`	Repeated queries	Autocomplete
`@client_state(keys)`	Multi-component	Dashboard filters
`@background`	Long operations	AI generation, file processing
`DraftModeMixin`	Auto-save forms	Contact form

Quick decision guide:

Typing in an input? → @debounce(0.5)
Scrolling/resizing? → @throttle(0.1)
Need an instant UI update? → @optimistic
Same query multiple times? → @cache(ttl)
Multiple components? → @client_state([keys])
Long-running work? → @background or self.start_async(callback)
Auto-save forms? → DraftModeMixin

Navigation Patterns

djust provides three navigation mechanisms for building multi-view applications without full page reloads:

When to Use What

Scenario	Use	Why
Filter/sort/paginate within same view	`dj-patch` / `live_patch()`	No remount, URL stays bookmarkable
Navigate to a different LiveView	`dj-navigate` / `live_redirect()`	Same WebSocket, no page reload
Link to non-LiveView page	Standard `<a href>`	Full page load needed

Quick Decision Tree

Is this a direct user click on a link?
├─ Yes → Is it the same view (filter/sort)?
│   ├─ Yes → Use dj-patch
│   └─ No → Use dj-navigate
│
└─ No → Is navigation conditional on server logic?
    ├─ Yes → Use live_redirect() in @event_handler
    │   Examples: form validation, auth checks, async operations
    └─ No → You probably need dj-navigate (see anti-pattern below)

Anti-Pattern: Don't Use `dj-click` for Navigation

This is the most common mistake when building multi-view djust apps. Using dj-click to trigger a handler that immediately calls live_redirect() creates an unnecessary round-trip.

Wrong — using dj-click to trigger a handler that calls live_redirect():

# Anti-pattern: handler does nothing but navigate
@event_handler()
def go_to_item(self, item_id, **kwargs):
    self.live_redirect(f"/items/{item_id}/")  # Wasteful round-trip

<!-- Wrong: forces a WebSocket round-trip just to navigate -->
<button dj-click="go_to_item" dj-value-item_id="{{ item.id }}">View</button>

What actually happens:

User clicks button → client sends WebSocket message (50–100ms)
Server receives message, processes handler (10–50ms)
Server responds with live_redirect command (50–100ms)
Client finally navigates to the new view

Total: 110–250ms, plus handler processing time.

Right — using dj-navigate directly:

<!-- Right: client navigates immediately, no server round-trip -->
<a dj-navigate="/items/{{ item.id }}/">View Item</a>

What happens:

User clicks link → client navigates directly

Total: ~10ms (just DOM updates).

Why it matters:

Performance: 10–20x faster navigation
Network efficiency: saves WebSocket bandwidth
User experience: instant response, no loading indicators needed
Simplicity: less code, fewer moving parts

When to Use `live_redirect()` in Handlers

Use handlers for navigation only when navigation depends on server-side logic or validation.

Conditional navigation after form validation:

@event_handler()
def submit_form(self, **kwargs):
    if self.form.is_valid():
        self.form.save()
        self.live_redirect("/success/")  # OK: conditional on validation
    else:
        # Stay on form to show errors
        pass

Navigation based on auth/permissions:

@event_handler()
def view_sensitive_data(self, **kwargs):
    if not self.request.user.has_perm('app.view_sensitive'):
        self.live_redirect("/access-denied/")  # OK: auth check required
        return
    self.show_sensitive = True

Navigation after async operations:

@event_handler()
async def create_and_view_item(self, name, **kwargs):
    item = await Item.objects.acreate(name=name, owner=self.request.user)
    self.live_redirect(f"/items/{item.id}/")  # OK: navigate to newly created item

Multi-step wizard logic:

@event_handler()
def next_step(self, **kwargs):
    if self.current_step == "payment" and not self.payment_valid:
        # Stay on payment step if invalid
        return
    self.current_step = self.get_next_step()
    self.live_patch(params={"step": self.current_step})  # OK: conditional flow

The common theme: the handler does meaningful work before navigating. If your handler only calls live_redirect(), use dj-navigate instead.

Quick Example: Multi-View App

from djust import LiveView
from djust.mixins.navigation import NavigationMixin
from djust.decorators import event_handler

class ProductListView(NavigationMixin, LiveView):
    template_string = """
    <!-- Filter within same view: use dj-patch -->
    <a dj-patch="?category=electronics">Electronics</a>
    <a dj-patch="?category=books">Books</a>

    <div>
        {% for product in products %}
            <!-- Navigate to different view: use dj-navigate -->
            <a dj-navigate="/products/{{ product.id }}/">{{ product.name }}</a>
        {% endfor %}
    </div>
    """

    def mount(self, request, **kwargs):
        self.category = "all"
        self.products = []

    def handle_params(self, params, uri):
        """Called when URL changes via dj-patch or browser back/forward"""
        self.category = params.get("category", "all")
        self.products = Product.objects.filter(category=self.category)

See the Navigation Guide for the complete API reference (live_patch(), live_redirect(), handle_params()).

Developer Tooling

Debug Panel

Interactive debugging tool for LiveView development (DEBUG mode only):

# In settings.py
DEBUG = True  # Debug panel automatically enabled

Open it with Ctrl+Shift+D (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+D (Mac), or click the floating debug button.

Features:

Event handlers — discover all handlers with parameters, types, and descriptions
Event history — real-time log with timing metrics (e.g., search • 45.2ms)
VDOM patches — monitor DOM updates with sub-millisecond precision
Variables — inspect current view state

See the Debug Panel Guide and Event Handler Best Practices.

Event Handlers

Always use the @event_handler decorator for auto-discovery and validation:

from djust.decorators import event_handler

@event_handler()
def search(self, value: str = "", **kwargs):
    """Search handler — description shown in debug panel"""
    self.search_query = value

Parameter convention: use value for form inputs (dj-input, dj-change events):

# Correct — matches what form events send
@event_handler()
def search(self, value: str = "", **kwargs):
    self.search_query = value

# Wrong — won't receive input value
@event_handler()
def search(self, query: str = "", **kwargs):
    self.search_query = query  # Always "" (default)

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Browser                                    │
│  ├── client.min.js.gz (~58 KB) — events   │
│  └── WebSocket connection                   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
           ↕ WebSocket (Binary/JSON)
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Django + Channels (Python)                 │
│  ├── LiveView classes                       │
│  ├── Event handlers                         │
│  └── State management                       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
           ↕ Python/Rust FFI (PyO3)
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Rust core (native speed)                   │
│  ├── Template engine (<1ms)                │
│  ├── Virtual DOM diffing (<100μs)          │
│  ├── HTML parser                            │
│  └── Binary serialization (MessagePack)    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Examples

See the examples/demo_project directory for complete working examples:

Counter — simple reactive counter
Todo List — CRUD operations with lists
Chat — real-time messaging

Run the demo:

cd examples/demo_project
pip install -r requirements.txt
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py runserver

Visit http://localhost:8000.

Development

Project Structure

djust/
├── crates/
│   ├── djust_core/        # Core types & utilities
│   ├── djust_templates/   # Template engine
│   ├── djust_vdom/        # Virtual DOM & diffing
│   ├── djust_components/  # Reusable component library
│   └── djust_live/        # Main PyO3 bindings
├── python/
│   └── djust/             # Python package
│       ├── live_view.py         # LiveView base class
│       ├── component.py         # Component system
│       ├── websocket.py         # WebSocket consumer
│       └── static/
│           └── client.js        # Client runtime
├── branding/                    # Logo and brand assets
├── examples/                    # Example projects
├── benchmarks/                  # Performance benchmarks
└── tests/                       # Tests

Running Tests

# All tests (Python + Rust + JavaScript)
make test

# Individual test suites
make test-python       # Python tests
make test-rust         # Rust tests
make test-js           # JavaScript tests

# Specific tests
pytest tests/unit/test_live_view.py
cargo test --workspace --exclude djust_live

For comprehensive testing documentation, see the Testing Guide.

Building Documentation

cargo doc --open

Roadmap

djust 1.0 is released and stable. Active planning lives in the issue tracker. One notable item still open:

React/Vue component compatibility

Security

CSRF protection via Django middleware
XSS protection via automatic template escaping (the Rust engine escapes all variables by default)
HTML-producing filters (urlize, urlizetrunc, unordered_list) handle their own escaping internally; the Rust engine's safe_output_filters whitelist prevents double-escaping, so |safe is never needed with these filters
WebSocket authentication via Django sessions
WebSocket origin validation and HMAC message signing
Per-view and global rate limiting
Configurable allowed origins for WebSocket connections
View-level auth enforcement (login_required, permission_required) before mount()
Handler-level @permission_required for protecting individual event handlers
djust_audit command and djust.S005 system check for auth-posture visibility

Report security issues to [email protected].

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md first.

Areas where help is especially useful:

More example applications
Performance optimizations
Documentation improvements
Browser compatibility testing

Supporting djust

djust is open source (MIT licensed) and free. If you use djust in production or want to support development:

Star this repository to help others discover it
Sponsor on GitHub — from $5/month

License

MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

Inspired by Phoenix LiveView
Built with PyO3 for Python/Rust interop
Uses html5ever for HTML parsing
Built on the Rust and Django communities

Community & Support

djust.org — official website
Documentation — guides and API reference
Examples — live code examples
Issues — bug reports and feature requests
Email: [email protected]

Maintained by the djust community.