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This guide walks you through installing and setting up django-allauth headless mode for single-page or mobile applications.

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Install the Package

Install django-allauth with the headless extra: 
pip install "django-allauth[headless]"
This installs the core allauth package plus dependencies required for the headless API.

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Configure Django Settings

Add the required apps to your INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py: 
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # Django core apps
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',

    # Required for headless
    'allauth',
    'allauth.account',
    'allauth.headless',

    # Optional: Add features as needed
    'allauth.socialaccount',  # For social authentication
    'allauth.mfa',            # For multi-factor authentication
    'allauth.usersessions',   # For session management

    # Your apps
    # ...
]

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Configure Authentication Backend

Ensure the allauth authentication backend is configured: 
AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS = [
    'allauth.account.auth_backends.AuthenticationBackend',
]

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Configure Middleware

Add the required middleware: 
MIDDLEWARE = [
    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
    'allauth.account.middleware.AccountMiddleware',  # Required
]

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Configure Frontend URLs

Define the URLs for your frontend application. These are used in emails for verification and password reset: 
HEADLESS_FRONTEND_URLS = {
    # Email verification URL
    "account_confirm_email": "https://app.example.com/account/verify-email/{key}",
    
    # Password reset URLs
    "account_reset_password": "https://app.example.com/account/password/reset",
    "account_reset_password_from_key": "https://app.example.com/account/password/reset/key/{key}",
    
    # Signup URL (used in some flows)
    "account_signup": "https://app.example.com/account/signup",
    
    # Social auth error fallback
    "socialaccount_login_error": "https://app.example.com/account/provider/callback",
}

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URL Placeholders

The {key} placeholder is automatically replaced with the actual verification or reset key. You can customize the URL structure: 
# Query parameter style
"account_confirm_email": "https://app.example.com/verify?token={key}"

# Path parameter style
"account_confirm_email": "https://app.example.com/account/verify-email/{key}"

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Configure URL Patterns

Add the headless API endpoints to your project’s urls.py: 
from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path, include

urlpatterns = [
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
    
    # allauth URLs (includes provider callbacks)
    # Even in headless mode, these are needed for OAuth handshakes
    path('accounts/', include('allauth.urls')),
    
    # Headless API endpoints
    path('_allauth/', include('allauth.headless.urls')),
]
The headless API will be available at /_allauth/browser/v1/ (for browser clients) and /_allauth/app/v1/ (for app clients).

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Basic Account Settings

Configure basic account behavior: 
# Email is required for signup
ACCOUNT_EMAIL_REQUIRED = True

# Email verification is mandatory
ACCOUNT_EMAIL_VERIFICATION = "mandatory"  # or "optional" or "none"

# Login with email (not username)
ACCOUNT_AUTHENTICATION_METHOD = "email"

# Don't require username during signup
ACCOUNT_USERNAME_REQUIRED = False

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Headless-Only Mode (Optional)

If your app is fully headless and you don’t need the traditional django-allauth views: 
HEADLESS_ONLY = True
This disables the standard login/signup/password reset views while keeping provider callback endpoints active (required for OAuth).

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Run Migrations

Apply the database migrations: 
python manage.py migrate

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Development Setup

For local development, you might want to:

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Use Console Email Backend

View emails in the console instead of sending them: 
EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend'

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Allow Localhost

Add localhost to allowed hosts: 
ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['localhost', '127.0.0.1']

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Configure Frontend URLs for Local Development

HEADLESS_FRONTEND_URLS = {
    "account_confirm_email": "http://localhost:3000/account/verify-email/{key}",
    "account_reset_password_from_key": "http://localhost:3000/account/password/reset/key/{key}",
    "account_reset_password": "http://localhost:3000/account/password/reset",
    "account_signup": "http://localhost:3000/account/signup",
}

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Verify Installation

Start your Django development server: 
python manage.py runserver
Visit the config endpoint to verify the installation: 
curl http://localhost:8000/_allauth/browser/v1/config
You should receive a JSON response with configuration details: 
{
  "status": 200,
  "data": {
    "account": {
      "authentication_method": "email",
      "is_open_for_signup": true,
      "email_verification_by_code_enabled": false,
      "login_by_code_enabled": false
    }
  }
}

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Next Steps

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Common Issues

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Missing Middleware Error

If you see allauth.account.middleware.AccountMiddleware must be added to settings.MIDDLEWARE, add it to your middleware list.

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CSRF Token Issues

For browser clients, ensure CSRF middleware is enabled and you’re sending the CSRF token in requests. For app clients, CSRF is not required.

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Email Not Sending

Configure a proper email backend for production. For development, use the console backend or a service like Mailhog.