Django
Intermediate
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Resolve Django CORS Issues in Development

Published Mar 15, 2025 • Last updated Jun 16, 2025

Problem

Frontend application cannot make API requests to Django backend due to CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) errors in development environment.

Root Cause

CORS errors occur when a web application running on one domain tries to access resources from another domain. In development, this commonly happens when your frontend (e.g., React on localhost:3000) tries to access your Django API (e.g., localhost:8000).

Solution

To fix CORS issues in Django, install and configure django-cors-headers:

Step 1: Install django-cors-headers

pip install django-cors-headers

Step 2: Add to INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ... other apps
    'corsheaders',
    # ... rest of your apps
]

Step 3: Add middleware (must be at the top)

MIDDLEWARE = [
    'corsheaders.middleware.CorsMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    # ... other middleware
]

Step 4: Configure CORS settings

# For development only - allow all origins
CORS_ALLOW_ALL_ORIGINS = True

# For production - specify allowed origins
CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS = [
    "http://localhost:3000",
    "http://127.0.0.1:3000",
    "https://yourdomain.com",
]

# Allow credentials if needed
CORS_ALLOW_CREDENTIALS = True

# Specify allowed headers
CORS_ALLOW_HEADERS = [
    'accept',
    'accept-encoding',
    'authorization',
    'content-type',
    'dnt',
    'origin',
    'user-agent',
    'x-csrftoken',
    'x-requested-with',
]
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