Django compatibility

[Arsalan-Jafarnezhad]

Is it possible (or compatible) to use with django or not? (If yes can you explain how?)

[CarlosOliveira-23]

ANSWER: Prefab (PrefectHQ) + Django Compatibility

Discussion: #434
Date: May 24, 2026

SHORT ANSWER

Yes, Prefab is compatible with Django, but not as a directly installable
Django app. The integration works by running them as separate services or
by consuming Prefab's JSON output through Django views.

WHAT PREFAB IS (context)

Prefab is a Python UI framework that compiles component trees to JSON,
which a bundled React renderer turns into a live interface. It is designed
primarily for FastMCP and FastAPI-based servers. It does NOT ship as a
Django middleware or app, so you can't add it to INSTALLED_APPS.

HOW TO USE PREFAB WITH DJANGO

OPTION 1 — Run as separate services (simplest approach)

Run Prefab on a different port alongside Django. They coexist without
any conflict, and Prefab can consume data from your Django REST API.

Terminal 1 - Django

python manage.py runserver 8000

Terminal 2 - Prefab

prefab serve my_ui.py --port 8001

In your Prefab UI, use HTTP actions to call your Django API endpoints:

from prefab_ui.components import Button
from prefab_ui.actions.http import FetchData

Button("Load Data", on_click=FetchData("http://localhost:8000/api/data/"))

This is the recommended approach for most use cases.

OPTION 2 — Serve Prefab JSON from a Django view

Prefab compiles to plain JSON. You can generate that JSON inside a Django
view and return it as a JsonResponse. A Prefab React renderer on the
frontend will display it.

views.py

from django.http import JsonResponse
from prefab_ui.components import Card, CardContent, Text, Column

def dashboard_view(request):
with Card() as card:
with CardContent():
with Column(gap=3):
Text(f"Hello, {request.user.username}!")
Text("Welcome to your dashboard.")
return JsonResponse(card.to_dict())

urls.py

from django.urls import path
from . import views

urlpatterns = [
path("api/ui/dashboard/", views.dashboard_view),
]

The frontend fetches this JSON and renders it using the Prefab React bundle.

OPTION 3 — Static export served by Django

Export your Prefab UI as a self-contained HTML file and serve it through
Django's static files or as a template. Actions in the UI can point to
your Django API endpoints.

Export the UI

prefab export my_ui.py --output ui/dist/

In Django settings.py, add the output folder to STATICFILES_DIRS

STATICFILES_DIRS = [BASE_DIR / "ui" / "dist"]

Serve it from a Django view

from django.shortcuts import render

def ui_view(request):
return render(request, "index.html")

This approach requires no running Prefab process in production — just
static files served by Django.

WHAT DOES NOT WORK

• Adding Prefab to INSTALLED_APPS — it is not a Django app.
• Running PrefabApp inside Django's WSGI/ASGI process directly, since
  Prefab uses its own uvicorn-based server internally.
• Using prefab serve as a Django management command — it runs its own
  event loop and will conflict with Django's.

RECOMMENDED SETUP FOR MOST PROJECTS

Use Option 1 (separate services) for development and production.
For production, you can put both behind a reverse proxy like nginx:

nginx.conf (simplified)

location /api/ {
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000; # Django
}
location /ui/ {
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8001; # Prefab
}

This keeps both services independent and easy to scale separately.

USEFUL LINKS

• Prefab docs: https://prefab.prefect.io/docs/welcome
• Prefab API server docs: https://prefab.prefect.io/docs/running/api
• Prefab static export: https://prefab.prefect.io/docs/export
• Prefab actions: https://prefab.prefect.io/docs/concepts/actions
• GitHub repo: https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefab