Django URL Design for API Endpoints Without Trailing Slashes

Based on Django's design philosophies for URL management, there are a few important considerations for your API endpoint structure.

Understanding the Issue

Your goal is to have API endpoints without trailing slashes (like /api and /api/runs instead of /api/ and /api/runs/). This relates to Django's philosophy of URL design, particularly around "Definitive URLs" and flexibility.

Recommended Approach

The approach of removing the trailing slash from the include path and then adding leading slashes to all included URLs is not considered a best practice in Django. Here's a better way to handle this:

1. Use Django's URL Configuration Properly

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# main urls.py
urlpatterns = [
    path("api/", include("api.urls")),  # Keep the trailing slash here
]

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# api/urls.py
urlpatterns = [
    path("", TemplateView.as_view(template_name="index.html")),
    path("runs", views.RunListView.as_view(), name="run-list"),  # No trailing slash
]

2. Configure APPEND_SLASH Setting

To prevent Django from automatically adding trailing slashes to your URLs, you can modify the APPEND_SLASH setting in your settings.py:

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# settings.py
APPEND_SLASH = False

This will prevent Django's CommonMiddleware from automatically redirecting URLs without trailing slashes to ones with slashes.

Important Considerations

1. Consistency: Django's URL design philosophy encourages consistency. Choose one approach (with or without trailing slashes) and stick with it throughout your application.

2. Search Engine Optimization: As mentioned in the design philosophies, search engines treat foo.com/bar and foo.com/bar/ as different URLs. By disabling APPEND_SLASH, you need to ensure your links consistently use the non-trailing-slash version.

3. POST Data Loss: Be aware that when APPEND_SLASH is enabled, redirects can cause POST data to be lost. By disabling it, you avoid this issue but must be consistent with your URL patterns.

4. API Best Practices: For RESTful APIs, consistency in URL structure is more important than whether you use trailing slashes or not. Many modern APIs omit trailing slashes, which aligns with your goal.

Conclusion

Rather than manipulating URL patterns with leading slashes (which is unusual in Django), the recommended approach is to:

1. Keep the trailing slash in your include statements
2. Omit trailing slashes in your API endpoint definitions
3. Set APPEND_SLASH = False to prevent automatic redirects

This approach maintains Django's URL design principles while achieving your goal of endpoints without trailing slashes.