Task Manager REST API

A backend REST API built with Django and Django REST Framework that provides secure JWT authentication, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), task management, filtering, searching, ordering, pagination, and unit testing.

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About the Project

Task Manager REST API is a backend application that enables authenticated users to securely create and manage personal tasks through RESTful APIs.

The project implements:

• JWT Authentication using SimpleJWT
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) using Django Groups
• Complete CRUD operations for task management
• Filtering
• Searching
• Ordering
• Pagination
• Unit Tests

The application follows Django REST Framework best practices including serializers, viewsets, custom permissions, optimized querysets using select_related(), and clean project organization.

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Features

• 🔐 JWT Authentication
• 👥 Role-Based Access Control (Admin & User)
• ✅ Complete CRUD Operations for Task Management
• 🔍 Search Tasks
• 🎯 Filter Tasks
• ↕️ Ordering Support
• 📄 Pagination
• 👤 Admin-only User Listing
• 🗂️ Admin-only Owner Filtering
• ⚡ Optimized Database Queries using select_related()
• 🧪 Unit Tests

This project demonstrates backend development best practices, including authentication, authorization, RESTful API design, query optimization, and automated testing.

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Tech Stack

Technology	Purpose
Python	Programming Language
Django	Web Framework
Django REST Framework	REST API Development
SQLite	Database
SimpleJWT	Authentication
django-filter	Filtering
python-dotenv	Environment Variables

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Dependencies

Package	Purpose
Django	Web framework
Django REST Framework	REST API development
djangorestframework-simplejwt	JWT authentication
django-filter	Filtering support
python-dotenv	Environment variable management

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Project Structure

Task_Manager/
│
├── accounts/
├── tasks/
├── config/
├── manage.py
├── requirements.txt
├── README.md
└── .gitignore

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Installation

Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/Altu-K/task-manager-api
cd task-manager-api

Create Virtual Environment

Windows

python -m venv venv
venv\Scripts\activate

Linux/macOS

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

Apply Migrations

python manage.py migrate

Create Default Roles

python manage.py create_roles

This command creates:

• Admin
• User

Create Superuser

python manage.py createsuperuser

Run the Development Server

python manage.py runserver

The development server will be available at:

http://127.0.0.1:8000/

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Authentication

Register

POST

/api/auth/register/

Example Request

{
  "username": "john",
  "email": "john@example.com",
  "password": "Password123!"
}

Every registered user is automatically assigned to the User group. All protected endpoints require a valid JWT access token in the Authorization header.

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Login

POST

/api/token/

Request

{
  "username": "john",
  "password": "Password123!"
}

Response

{
  "refresh": "<refresh_token>",
  "access": "<access_token>"
}

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Refresh Token

POST

/api/token/refresh/

Request

{
  "refresh": "<refresh_token>"
}

Response

{
  "access": "<new_access_token>"
}

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Authorization Header

Authorization: Bearer <access_token>

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Roles

The application implements Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) using Django Groups.

Admin

• View all users' tasks
• Create, update, and delete any task
• List all users
• Filter tasks by owner

User

• Create tasks
• View only their own tasks
• Update only their own tasks
• Delete only their own tasks

Note:

• Every newly registered user is automatically assigned to the User group.
• The Admin and User groups are created using:

python manage.py create_roles

• To grant Admin privileges, assign a user (including a superuser) to the Admin group through the Django Admin panel.

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API Endpoints

Authentication

Method	Endpoint
POST	/api/auth/register/
POST	/api/token/
POST	/api/token/refresh/

Users

Method	Endpoint	Access
GET	/api/auth/users/	Admin Only

Tasks

Method	Endpoint
GET	/api/tasks/
POST	/api/tasks/
GET	/api/tasks/{id}/
PUT	/api/tasks/{id}/
PATCH	/api/tasks/{id}/
DELETE	/api/tasks/{id}/

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Create Task

POST

POST /api/tasks/

Request Body

{
    "title": "Complete Django Assessment",
    "description": "Finish the Task Manager API project.",
    "status": "IN_PROGRESS",
    "due_date": "2026-07-15"
}

Task Status

The status field supports the following values:

Value	Description
PENDING	Default status for newly created tasks
IN_PROGRESS	Task is currently being worked on
COMPLETED	Task has been completed

Notes:

• If status is not provided, it defaults to PENDING.
• due_date is optional and should be provided in YYYY-MM-DD format.

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Filtering

The API supports filtering tasks by status, due date, created date, and owner (Admin only).

Status

GET /api/tasks/?status=PENDING

Due Date

GET /api/tasks/?due_date__gte=2026-07-01

Owner (Admin Only)

GET /api/tasks/?owner=2

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Search

GET /api/tasks/?search=django

Search is supported for:

• title
• description

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Ordering

GET /api/tasks/?ordering=title

Supported fields:

• title
• due_date
• created_at
• updated_at

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Pagination

The project uses Django REST Framework's global PageNumberPagination to return paginated responses for task listings.

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Running Tests

Run all tests

python manage.py test

Authentication

python manage.py test accounts.tests.test_auth

Task Model

python manage.py test tasks.tests.test_models

Task API

python manage.py test tasks.tests.test_api

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Security

• JWT Authentication
• RBAC using Django Groups
• Read-only owner field
• Password validation
• Owner assigned automatically from authenticated user
• Protected endpoints require authentication

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Performance

• Uses select_related("owner") to prevent the N+1 Query Problem.
• Global pagination to reduce response size

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Future Improvements

• Docker containerization
• PostgreSQL
• Swagger / OpenAPI
• CI/CD Pipeline

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Author

Altamash Khan

Backend Developer | Python | Django | Django REST Framework

GitHub: https://github.com/Altu-K

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/altamash-k/