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How to use Django Expert skill in Claude Code effectively

Cowrie
Cowrie
Dev @ Bswen

Purpose

This post shows how to use Django Expert skill in Claude Code to accelerate Django development with practical examples and common patterns.

When I work on Django projects, I use Django Expert to get help with models, views, serializers, and best practices. It speeds up development and catches common mistakes early.

Environment

  • Claude Code (latest version)
  • Django 4.2+
  • Python 3.11+
  • claude-skills plugin

What is Django Expert?

Django Expert is a skill in the claude-skills plugin. It provides specialized knowledge for Django development including:

  • Model design and relationships
  • View logic and patterns
  • Serializer configuration
  • Best practices and security
  • Common pitfalls to avoid

The skill activates when I mention Django-related tasks in my prompts.

Installation and Setup

First, install the claude-skills plugin:

Terminal window
npm install -g @jeffallan/claude-skills

Then activate it in your Claude Code configuration:

~/.claude/config.json
{
  "skills": {
    "enabled": ["django-expert"]
  }
}

Verify the installation:

Terminal window
claude-skills list

I see this output:

Installed skills:
  ✓ django-expert

Core Usage Patterns

The Django Expert skill activates with specific trigger phrases. Here are the patterns I use most often:

Basic invocation:

Use django-expert to create a User model with profile

With specific tasks:

Use django-expert to add pagination to this view

For debugging:

Use django-expert to fix this N+1 query problem

For reviews:

Use django-expert to review my models.py

The skill understands Django context and provides targeted advice.

Example 1: Creating Models

When I need to create a Django model, I use django-expert to ensure best practices:

My prompt:

Use django-expert to create an Order model with user, items, and status tracking

The skill generates:

models.py
from django.db import models
from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model


User = get_user_model()


class Order(models.Model):
    STATUS_CHOICES = [
        ('pending', 'Pending'),
        ('processing', 'Processing'),
        ('shipped', 'Shipped'),
        ('delivered', 'Delivered'),
        ('cancelled', 'Cancelled'),
    ]


    user = models.ForeignKey(
        User,
        on_delete=models.CASCADE,
        related_name='orders'
    )
    status = models.CharField(
        max_length=20,
        choices=STATUS_CHOICES,
        default='pending'
    )
    total_amount = models.DecimalField(
        max_digits=10,
        decimal_places=2
    )
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
    updated_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)


    class Meta:
        ordering = ['-created_at']
        indexes = [
            models.Index(fields=['user', '-created_at']),
            models.Index(fields=['status']),
        ]


    def __str__(self):
        return f"Order {self.id} - {self.user.email}"

The skill included:

  • Proper foreign key with related_name
  • Status choices for data integrity
  • Automatic timestamps
  • Meta configuration with ordering and indexes
  • String representation

Example 2: Optimizing Queries

When I had performance issues with list views, I used django-expert:

My prompt:

Use django-expert to optimize this view that loads 100 orders with user data

Before optimization:

def order_list(request):
    orders = Order.objects.all()[:100]
    return render(request, 'orders.html', {'orders': orders})

The skill identified the N+1 problem:

# Problem: Each order.user triggers a separate query
# 1 query for orders + 100 queries for users = 101 queries total

After optimization:

def order_list(request):
    orders = Order.objects.select_related('user')[:100]
    return render(request, 'orders.html', {'orders': orders})

Now I get 1 query instead of 101. The skill explained:

  • select_related() does a SQL JOIN for foreign keys
  • Reduces database round trips
  • Essential for performance with related data

Example 3: API Serializers

When building REST APIs, I use django-expert for serializer configuration:

My prompt:

Use django-expert to create serializers for Order and OrderItem with nested relationships

The skill provides:

serializers.py
from rest_framework import serializers
from .models import Order, OrderItem


class OrderItemSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
    product_name = serializers.CharField(
        source='product.name',
        read_only=True
    )


    class Meta:
        model = OrderItem
        fields = [
            'id', 'product', 'product_name',
            'quantity', 'price'
        ]


class OrderSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
    items = OrderItemSerializer(many=True, read_only=True)
    user_email = serializers.EmailField(
        source='user.email',
        read_only=True
    )
    status_display = serializers.CharField(
        source='get_status_display',
        read_only=True
    )


    class Meta:
        model = Order
        fields = [
            'id', 'user', 'user_email', 'status',
            'status_display', 'total_amount',
            'items', 'created_at', 'updated_at'
        ]
        read_only_fields = ['created_at', 'updated_at']


    def validate_total_amount(self, value):
        if value <= 0:
            raise serializers.ValidationError(
                "Total amount must be positive"
            )
        return value

The skill included:

  • Nested serializers for relationships
  • Computed fields (user_email, status_display)
  • Validation logic
  • Read-only field protection

Best Practices

DO ✓

Use django-expert for:

  1. Model design - Get proper relationships, indexes, and constraints
  2. Query optimization - Fix N+1 problems and reduce database hits
  3. Security - Ensure proper authentication and authorization
  4. Testing - Generate test factories and example test cases
  5. Code reviews - Catch Django-specific anti-patterns

Ask specific questions:

Use django-expert to add indexes to this model for common queries

Provide context:

Use django-expert to convert this function-based view to class-based view

DON’T ✗

Avoid these mistakes:

  1. Vague prompts - “Help me with Django” is too broad
  2. Missing context - Don’t paste code without explaining what it does
  3. Ignoring suggestions - The skill knows Django best practices
  4. Over-reliance - Still learn Django fundamentals yourself

Bad example:

Fix my Django code

Good example:

Use django-expert to fix this IntegrityError in my Order model save method

Common Patterns I Use

Pattern 1: Model Reviews

When I finish a model, I review it:

Use django-expert to review this model for missing indexes and security issues

The skill checks for:

  • Missing indexes on foreign keys
  • Missing indexes on frequently filtered fields
  • Proper on_delete behavior
  • Validation constraints
  • Security issues (missing permissions)

Pattern 2: View Optimization

When views are slow:

Use django-expert to optimize this slow view that loads user profiles with their posts and comments

The skill suggests:

  • select_related() for foreign keys
  • prefetch_related() for many-to-many
  • Database indexes
  • Caching strategies
  • Pagination for large datasets

Pattern 3: Testing Setup

When I need tests:

Use django-expert to generate tests for my Order model and views

The skill creates:

  • Model factory tests
  • View integration tests
  • API endpoint tests
  • Edge case coverage
  • Fixtures for test data

Django Expert works well with other skills:

  • backend-patterns - API design and database patterns
  • security-review - Authentication and authorization
  • testing-patterns - Test coverage and TDD workflow

I often combine them:

Use django-expert and security-review to add user authentication to my API views

Summary

In this post, I showed how to use Django Expert skill in Claude Code to accelerate Django development. The key point is to use specific prompts with context for model design, query optimization, and best practices.

When I work with Django Expert, I get better code, fewer bugs, and learn Django best patterns along the way.

Final Words + More Resources

My intention with this article was to help others share my knowledge and experience. If you want to contact me, you can contact by email: Email me

Here are also the most important links from this article along with some further resources that will help you in this scope:

Oh, and if you found these resources useful, don’t forget to support me by starring the repo on GitHub!

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