Development | Python | Django

Django’s Generic Views: DetailView

2 October 2026

Continuing from my previous post on Django’s generic ListView, this article will instead cover the available customisation of the DetailView. Some options (like ordering and pagination) aren’t available for this view, but there are a few others that are different.

As a reminder, the site Classy Class-Based Views is an invaluable resource for understanding Django’s class-based views.

Posts in this series

Let’s assume a single model:

class Post(models.Model):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=255)
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
    published_at = models.DateTimeField(null=True)
    is_featured = models.BooleanField(default=False)
    title_slug = models.SlugField()

We’ll cover the following attributes, if you want to jump straight to each section:

The Simple DetailView

At its most basic, Django’s DetailView will render a template with the details of a particular instance from a specified model. In our case, a single Post object.

from django.views.generic import DetailView

class PostDetail(DetailView):
    model = Post

A template named post_detail.html is expected, and it will be handed a variable named object which is a single Post instance. A template variable named post (derived from the model name) is also available, pointing to the same object. The object will be looked up in the Post model by the primary key fetched from the pk URL parameter.

Because the DetailView is designed to look up an object based on the URL, it has to be wired up to a URL pattern with a parameter, such as:

path("/posts/<int:pk>/", PostDetail.as_view(), name="post-detail")

But my template is called single_post.html!

Then update the template name that DetailView looks for:

class PostDetail(DetailView):
    model = Post
    template_name = "single_post.html"

In my template, I use single_post not object!

You can change the template variable name that DetailView sets:

class PostDetail(DetailView):
    model = Post
    template_name = "single_post.html"
    context_object_name = "single_post"

Without this, the instance is available as either object or post (the second derived from the model name).

Posts that aren’t published shouldn’t be visible!

Specify the base QuerySet that DetailView is using:

class PostDetail(DetailView):
    template_name = "single_post.html"
    context_object_name = "single_post"
    queryset = Post.objects.exclude(published_at__isnull=True)

Now even if you’ve got a URL with a valid primary key in it, the user will see a 404 if it’s not published.

Notice that we don’t need to specify the model anymore, but because we don’t, the default variable of post is no longer available to the template.

Future posts shouldn’t be visible, either.

You can’t do that with a class attribute (fetching the current time requires some runtime code, not compile-time code), but the DetailView still has you covered:

class PostDetail(DetailView):
    template_name = "single_post.html"
    context_object_name = "single_post"

    def get_queryset(self):
        now = timezone.now()
        return Post.objects.filter(published_at__lte=now)

Future-dated posts will now return a 404.

My URL parameter isn’t called pk, it’s post_id

Change which parameter the view is looking for:

class PostDetail(DetailView):
    template_name = "single_post.html"
    context_object_name = "single_post"
    pk_url_kwarg = "post_id"

    def get_queryset(self):
        now = timezone.now()
        return Post.objects.filter(published_at__lte=now)

I want to use slugs in the URL, not primary keys.

That’s actually supported out of the box, as long as your slug field is called slug and your URL parameter is also called slug:

path("/posts/<slug:slug>/", PostDetail.as_view(), name="post-detail")

My slug field is called title_slug.

Oh, your URL pattern is like this, instead?

path("/posts/<slug:title_slug>/", PostDetail.as_view(), name="post-detail")

Tell that to the view:

class PostDetail(DetailView):
    template_name = "single_post.html"
    context_object_name = "single_post"
    slug_field = "title_slug"

    def get_queryset(self):
        now = timezone.now()
        return Post.objects.filter(published_at__lte=now)

The URL parameter for the slug is also called title_slug.

Don’t worry, the view can handle that too:

class PostDetail(DetailView):
    template_name = "single_post.html"
    context_object_name = "single_post"
    slug_field = "title_slug"
    slug_url_kwarg = "title_slug"

    def get_queryset(self):
        now = timezone.now()
        return Post.objects.filter(published_at__lte=now)

I need extra data in the template.

Just like the most generic class-based views, the DetailView allow the passing of extra data to the template:

class PostDetail(DetailView):
    template_name = "single_post.html"
    context_object_name = "single_post"
    slug_field = "title_slug"
    slug_url_kwarg = "title_slug"
    extra_context = {"section": "blog"}

    def get_queryset(self):
        now = timezone.now()
        return Post.objects.filter(published_at__lte=now)

My extra data isn’t static, though.

Again, not limited to the DetailView, adding complex extra data to the template context is easy:

class PostDetail(DetailView):
    template_name = "single_post.html"
    context_object_name = "single_post"
    slug_field = "title_slug"
    slug_url_kwarg = "title_slug"
    extra_context = {"section": "blog"}

    def get_context_data(self, *args, **kwargs):
        context = super().get_context_data(*args, **kwargs)
        context["featured_posts"] = Post.objects.filter(
            is_featured=true
        ).order_by("-published_at")[:5]
        return context

    def get_queryset(self):
        now = timezone.now()
        return Post.objects.filter(published_at__lte=now)

My objects don’t come from models!

DetailView can handle that too! Throwing out everything I’ve said above about the Post model and querysets, you can override get_object and return whatever you need:

class PostDetail(DetailView):
    template_name = "single_post.html"
    context_object_name = "single_post"

    def get_object(self, *args, **kwargs):
        slug = self.kwargs.get("title_slug")
        try:
            return fetch_post_from_api(slug=slug)
        except APIError:
            raise Http404("Post not found")