1. django-authuser

How often have you initiated a new Django project only to spend unnecessary time setting up user authentication models? I certainly have. django-authuser is an open-source repository that offers a reusable custom user model for your Django projects, saving you the hassle of creating one from scratch.

To quickly integrate it into your project using the command line, follow these steps:

• Download the zip file from the GitHub repository
• Unzip the package
• Rename the unzipped folder to "auth" and include it in your project as an app
• Delete the zip file

Here are the commands for your reference:

unzip django-authuser.zip

mv django-authuser-main auth

rm -r django-authuser.zip

2. gibo

Another library that can save you valuable time is gibo, which eliminates the need to manually create .gitignore files. With gibo, you can easily access all the .gitignore templates from GitHub directly from your command line.

Whether you’re working with a framework or a programming language, gibo ensures your .gitignore file is ready in moments instead of minutes. Installation is simple via Homebrew for Mac and Linux, or Git/Scoop for Windows.

Here’s how I implement it in my Django/Python projects:

gibo dump Python macOS VisualStudioCode VirtualEnv >> .gitignore

3. djhtml

DjHTML is an automatic template indenter designed to work with mixed HTML, CSS, and JavaScript templates that include Django template tags. It functions similarly to other code formatting tools like Black and works well with pre-commit.

To install it, use:

pip install djhtml

Then, set it up with pre-commit:

$ pip install pre-commit

$ pre-commit install

Your pre-commit-config.yaml should look something like this (assuming you are using Black as well):

repos:

rev: v1.5.2

hooks:

• id: djhtml

  files: .*/templates/.*.html$

rev: 22.12.0

hooks:

• id: black

For a comprehensive guide to pre-commit tools, check out my article on Python code formatting: The Easy Python Auto-code Formatting Guide.

4. django-browser-reload

Do you often find yourself reloading the browser every time you make adjustments in your Django application? I used to feel the same way until I discovered django-browser-reload. This open-source tool automatically reloads your browser whenever it detects changes in your application.

It's a development dependency, meaning it functions only when DEBUG = True in your settings.py. To install and implement it:

pip install django-browser-reload

Add it to your installed apps:

INSTALLED_APPS = [

...,

"django_browser_reload",

...,

]

Incorporate the app URLs into your root URL configuration:

from django.urls import include, path

urlpatterns = [

...,

path("__reload__/", include("django_browser_reload.urls")),

]

Lastly, add the middleware:

MIDDLEWARE = [

# ...

"django_browser_reload.middleware.BrowserReloadMiddleware",

# ...

]

5. django-tailwind

django-tailwind offers a streamlined approach to integrating the Tailwind CSS utility framework with your Django project, without the complications of using NPM.

To install it:

pip install django-tailwind

Add it to your settings.py:

INSTALLED_APPS = [

...

"tailwind",

]

Run the following command to automatically create a Django app named theme in your root directory:

python manage.py tailwind init

Then, update your settings.py with:

TAILWIND_APP_NAME = "theme"

INTERNAL_IPS = [

"127.0.0.1",

]

Finally, install the theme to get started:

python manage.py tailwind install

6. crispy-tailwind

Similar to django-crispy-forms, crispy-tailwind facilitates the automatic generation of styled Tailwind form components within your Django applications.

To install it:

pip install crispy-tailwind

In your settings.py, add:

INSTALLED_APPS = [

...

"crispy_forms",

"crispy_tailwind",

]

CRISPY_ALLOWED_TEMPLATE_PACKS = "tailwind"

CRISPY_TEMPLATE_PACK = "tailwind"