Frequently asked questions¶

Q: How much code does a Karni project need per model?

A Karni resource needs the model, an access rule and whatever is specific to the domain. The REST API, admin, permissions, React table and form, tests and seed data come from the framework. In Karni's reference application, EventHub, the Venue resource is a five-line model and a four-line viewset, and the whole application (ticketing, payments, a Celery email, four roles) is 619 lines of project code, as measured in the tutorial.

Q: Can an existing Django project adopt Karni?

Not today: Karni scaffolds new projects with karni new and has no supported path for converting an existing Django application. An existing project can install the karni package and use parts of it, but that is undocumented and outside Karni's stability promise. A team with an established codebase is better served by its current stack until such a path exists.

Q: How does Karni handle permissions?

A Karni resource declares one access rule, such as owned:organizer, which Karni compiles into both the request check and the row filter. A record outside the user's scope returns 404 rather than 403, so its existence is not revealed, and roles are data (KARNI_ROLES) checked with user.can() (permissions at the queryset).

Each answer stands on its own, so it still makes sense quoted without the rest of the page.

What is Karni?¶

Karni is an open-source Django + React framework for building with AI coding agents. Your agent writes only your domain. The API, admin, permissions and React screens come from a package you upgrade, not code it rewrites in each project. One rule set covers Claude Code, Cursor and Copilot. The build fails when an agent hand-writes what Karni ships.

How is Karni different from a Django boilerplate or starter template?¶

A Django boilerplate is copied into a project once, and its serializers, permission classes and admin files then belong to that project to maintain. Karni keeps that code in versioned packages (karni on PyPI, @karni/ui on npm) and derives the per-model parts from each model and its access rule. A Karni project moves to a new release with karni upgrade, which applies the mechanical changes and lists the rest by file and line.

Which AI coding tools does Karni work with?¶

A new Karni project contains the instruction files that Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Cline, Aider, Junie and the tools that read AGENTS.md (Codex, Gemini CLI, Zed and others) look for, all generated from one rule set by karni rules sync. karni mcp offers Karni's commands as MCP tools, and karni context prints a compact summary of the project for an agent. The agents guide lists every adapter and the file each tool reads.

Does Karni work without AI coding tools?¶

Yes: nothing in Karni calls a language model. Every generator, such as karni make model, is a command a person runs, and the guide for building without an agent walks through the same workflow by hand.

How much code does a Karni project need per model?¶

A Karni resource needs the model, an access rule and whatever is specific to the domain. The REST API, admin, permissions, React table and form, tests and seed data come from the framework. In Karni's reference application, EventHub, the Venue resource is a five-line model and a four-line viewset, and the whole application (ticketing, payments, a Celery email, four roles) is 619 lines of project code, as measured in the tutorial.

Is Karni production-ready?¶

Not yet. Karni 0.4.0 was released on 2026-10-22 with Django 5.2 LTS and Python 3.12 to 3.14, two reference applications and CI on every push, but it has no known production deployment and its Docker setup has not been tested end to end. Teams that need a framework with years of production use should weigh that before choosing Karni (comparisons).

What happens when Karni releases a breaking change?¶

A public name in Karni keeps working for at least one minor release and raises a KarniDeprecationWarning that names the release that removes it. karni upgrade --to <version> applies the mechanical changes with codemods and lists, by file and line, what it could not change. The rules are in Karni's stability promise.

Can an existing Django project adopt Karni?¶

Not today: Karni scaffolds new projects with karni new and has no supported path for converting an existing Django application. An existing project can install the karni package and use parts of it, but that is undocumented and outside Karni's stability promise. A team with an established codebase is better served by its current stack until such a path exists.

Which Python, Django and React versions does Karni support?¶

Karni 0.4.0 supports Python 3.12, 3.13 and 3.14, Django 5.2 LTS, Django REST Framework and React 18 with TypeScript, and CI tests every Python version on each push. Python 3.12 is the floor because Karni's admin is built on django-unfold, whose current releases require Python 3.12.

How does Karni handle permissions?¶

A Karni resource declares one access rule, such as owned:organizer, which Karni compiles into both the request check and the row filter. A record outside the user's scope returns 404 rather than 403, so its existence is not revealed, and roles are data (KARNI_ROLES) checked with user.can() (permissions at the queryset).

Is Karni free to use?¶

Yes. Karni is open source under the Apache License 2.0, and its packages are published on PyPI and npm at no cost.