JWT Authentication with Django REST Framework
Last Updated :
12 Jul, 2025
JSON Web Token is an open standard for securely transferring data within parties using a JSON object. JWT is used for stateless authentication mechanisms for users and providers, this means maintaining session is on the client-side instead of storing sessions on the server. Here, we will implement the JWT authentication system in Django.
Modules required :
Basic setup :
Start a project by the following command –
django-admin startproject config
Change directory to project config –
cd config
Start the server- Start the server by typing following command in terminal –
python manage.py runserver
To check whether the server is running or not go to a web browser and enter
http://127.0.0.1:8000/ as URL.
Now stop the server by pressing
ctrl-c
Let’s create an app now called the "app".
python manage.py startapp app
adding configuration to settings.py file :
open settings.py file in config folder and add configuration.
Python3
REST_FRAMEWORK = {
'DEFAULT_AUTHENTICATION_CLASSES': [
'rest_framework_simplejwt.authentication.JWTAuthentication',
],
}
edit urls.py file
open urls.py in config folder
Python3
from django.urls import path, include
from rest_framework_simplejwt import views as jwt_views
urlpatterns = [
path('api/token/',
jwt_views.TokenObtainPairView.as_view(),
name ='token_obtain_pair'),
path('api/token/refresh/',
jwt_views.TokenRefreshView.as_view(),
name ='token_refresh'),
path('', include('app.urls')),
]
edit views.py
open views.py in app folder and make a API view
Python3
from rest_framework.views import APIView
from rest_framework.response import Response
from rest_framework.permissions import IsAuthenticated
class HelloView(APIView):
permission_classes = (IsAuthenticated, )
def get(self, request):
content = {'message': 'Hello, GeeksforGeeks'}
return Response(content)
edit urls.py
create a urls.py in app folder and edit it
Python3
from django.urls import path
from . import views
urlpatterns = [
path('hello/', views.HelloView.as_view(), name ='hello'),
]
Usage :
To make an HTTP request we have used HTTPie, to install it.
$ sudo apt install httpie
Step 1 :
migrate project, create a superuser and runserver
$ python3 manage.py migrate
$ python manage.py createsuperuser
$ python manage.py runserver 4000
Step 2 :
Now, we need to authenticate and obtain the token. which we will get at endpoint is
/api/token/
$ http post http://127.0.0.1:4000/api/token/ username=spider password=vinayak
add your user name and password
Step 3 :
copy access token and make a request
$ http http://127.0.0.1:4000/hello/ "Authorization: Bearer eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ0b2tlbl90eXBlIjoiYWNjZXNzIiwiZXhwIjoxNTg3Mjc5NDIxLCJqdGkiOiIzYWMwNDgzOTY3NjE0ZDgxYmFjMjBiMTBjMDlkMmYwOCIsInVzZXJfaWQiOjF9.qtNrUpyPQI8W2K2T22NhcgVZGFTyLN1UL7uqJ0KnF0Y"