Django Rest Framework Authentication with a custom Model User

Django Rest Framework uses the Django user model by default. If you have a custom user model, you will get this error when trying to browse the API with a logged in user:

TypeError at /some/endpoint/
'bool' object is not iterable
...

You need to create your own authentication model in order to Django Rest Framework authenticate the resquest.

First, create and authentication.py file under your project primary folder, wich defines the authenticate class:

from your.custom.user.model.path import User
from rest_framework import authentication
from rest_framework import exceptions

class ApiAuthentication(authentication.BaseAuthentication):
    def authenticate(self, request):
        username = request.META.get('X_USERNAME')
        if not username:
            return None

        try:
            user = User.objects.get(username=username)
        except User.DoesNotExist:
            raise exceptions.AuthenticationFailed('No such user')

        return (user, None)

The first line is the line what really matters; and note that our authentication class extends the Django Rest Framework default one: BaseAuthentication.

Now, in your settings.py :

REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    'DEFAULT_AUTHENTICATION_CLASSES': (
        'your-proyect.authentication.ApiAuthentication',
    )
    }

And that’s all.

More Info

• Authentication - Django Rest Framework Documentation