Django Lesson 9: Authentication

Django comes with a complete authentication system — login, logout, registration, password reset. You don’t need to build it from scratch.

Built-in Auth Views

# myblog/urls.py
from django.contrib.auth import views as auth_views

urlpatterns = [
    # Django handles these views automatically:
    path("login/", auth_views.LoginView.as_view(template_name="auth/login.html"), name="login"),
    path("logout/", auth_views.LogoutView.as_view(), name="logout"),
    path("password-reset/", auth_views.PasswordResetView.as_view(), name="password-reset"),
    path("password-reset/done/", auth_views.PasswordResetDoneView.as_view()),
    path("password-reset/<uidb64>/<token>/", auth_views.PasswordResetConfirmView.as_view()),
]

Registration & Protecting Views

# posts/views.py
from django.contrib.auth.decorators import login_required
from django.contrib.auth import login
from django.contrib.auth.forms import UserCreationForm

def register(request):
    form = UserCreationForm(request.POST or None)
    if form.is_valid():
        user = form.save()
        login(request, user)  # auto-login after register
        return redirect("home")
    return render(request, "auth/register.html", {"form": form})

@login_required  # redirect to login if not authenticated
def create_post(request):
    ...

# In templates:
{% if user.is_authenticated %}
  <a href="{% url 'logout' %}">Logout {{ user.username }}</a>
{% else %}
  <a href="{% url 'login' %}">Login</a>
{% endif %}