Django User Agents

Warnings

• breaking For Django versions 1.10 and later, you must use the `MIDDLEWARE` setting instead of the deprecated `MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES`. Failing to do so will prevent the `UserAgentMiddleware` from being active and `request.user_agent` will not be available.
  Fix: Update your `settings.py` to use `MIDDLEWARE = [...]` and place `'django_user_agents.middleware.UserAgentMiddleware'` within that list.
• gotcha The prerequisite packages `pyyaml`, `ua-parser`, and `user-agents` must be installed *before* `django-user-agents`. Not installing these dependencies first will lead to `ModuleNotFoundError` or other import errors when `django-user-agents` attempts to load them.
  Fix: Ensure you run `pip install pyyaml ua-parser user-agents` before `pip install django-user-agents`.
• gotcha Caching user agent parsing results is optional but strongly recommended for performance, especially under high traffic. Without caching configured, the library will re-parse the user agent string on every request, which can introduce unnecessary overhead.
  Fix: Configure a cache backend in your `settings.py` (e.g., `django.core.cache.backends.locmem.LocMemCache` for simple setups) and set `USER_AGENTS_CACHE = 'your_cache_alias'`.
• gotcha User-Agent strings are provided by the client and can be easily spoofed. Do not rely solely on `request.user_agent` properties for security-sensitive operations or critical business logic where precise, unforgeable client identification is required.
  Fix: Complement user-agent data with other security measures (e.g., IP blacklisting, robust authentication) for sensitive actions, or use it only for informational and analytics purposes.
• deprecated The `0.4.0` release was published in June 2019, officially supporting Python up to 3.7 and Django up to 2.2. While it might still function with newer Python (3.8+) or Django (3.0+) versions due to backward compatibility, official support and testing for these newer environments are not guaranteed. Users should test thoroughly for compatibility if using modern Python/Django.
  Fix: Thoroughly test `django-user-agents` functionality in your specific Python/Django environment. Consider contributing to the project or looking for actively maintained forks if critical issues arise in newer environments.

Install

• pip install pyyaml ua-parser user-agents Install core user-agent dependencies
• pip install django-user-agents Install django-user-agents

Imports

• UserAgentMiddleware

  from django_user_agents.middleware import UserAgentMiddleware

• get_user_agent

  from django_user_agents.utils import get_user_agent

Quickstart

To use `django-user-agents`, first add `django_user_agents` to your `INSTALLED_APPS` and `UserAgentMiddleware` to your `MIDDLEWARE` setting. Once configured, a `user_agent` attribute will be automatically added to the `request` object, providing properties like `is_mobile`, `is_tablet`, `is_pc`, and details about the browser and OS. Caching is optional but highly recommended for performance. You can also manually get a `UserAgent` instance using `get_user_agent(request)`.

# settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ... other apps
    'django_user_agents',
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    # ... other middleware
    'django_user_agents.middleware.UserAgentMiddleware',
]

# Optional: Recommended for performance
# CACHES = {
#     'default': {
#         'BACKEND': 'django.core.cache.backends.locmem.LocMemCache',
#         'LOCATION': 'unique-snowflake',
#     }
# }
# USER_AGENTS_CACHE = 'default'

# views.py
from django.shortcuts import render
from django_user_agents.utils import get_user_agent

def my_view(request):
    # Access via request.user_agent (if middleware is used)
    is_mobile = request.user_agent.is_mobile
    is_tablet = request.user_agent.is_tablet
    is_pc = request.user_agent.is_pc
    browser_family = request.user_agent.browser.family

    # Alternatively, get it explicitly
    # user_agent = get_user_agent(request)
    # is_bot = user_agent.is_bot

    context = {
        'is_mobile': is_mobile,
        'is_tablet': is_tablet,
        'is_pc': is_pc,
        'browser_family': browser_family,
    }
    return render(request, 'my_template.html', context)