Django's default error views: return json

[mustafa0x]

Django returns html for the following error views. It would be nice if ninja automatically overrode so they return json (especially in prod). Or somehow made it easier / less verbose for framework users to set them all once.

settings.py

CSRF_FAILURE_VIEW = ''

urls.py

handler404 = ''
handler403 = ''
handler400 = ''
handler500 = ''

[vitalik]

well not sure ninja should overwrite all globally - api can be just a part of some larger urls sets with views that do need these handlers

[mustafa0x]

Agreed. I asked ai and it said likewise. It also had some interesting suggestions.

https://chatgpt.com/share/6929d15d-5054-800a-84da-db8fc8fb082e

# project/urls.py
from django.urls import path
from ninja import NinjaAPI
from ninja import django_errors  # hypothetical

api = NinjaAPI()

urlpatterns = [
    path("api/", api.urls),
]

handler400 = django_errors.json_bad_request
handler403 = django_errors.json_permission_denied
handler404 = django_errors.json_page_not_found
handler500 = django_errors.json_server_error

That gives you:

• One import, very small glue code.
• Automatic content‑negotiation: JSON for API calls, normal HTML for others.

If someone wants “always JSON regardless of Accept header”, they could use alternate helpers / flags.

2. A similar helper for CSRF failures

CSRF failure view is configured via CSRF_FAILURE_VIEW in settings, so Ninja could provide:

# settings.py
CSRF_FAILURE_VIEW = "ninja.django_errors.csrf_failure_json"

with that function also doing content negotiation like above and/or delegating to Django’s default CSRF view.