Features Deep Dive

01. Rust VDOM Engine

Traditional Django templates re-render the entire string for every request. djust compiles templates into a Virtual DOM tree in Rust.

Sub-millisecond Patching Diffing happens in ~0.8ms, compared to 25ms+ for Django template rendering.
Smart Diffing We track variable dependencies. If you only change {{ count }}, we only check that node.

Rendering Performance (100 items)

Django Template 25.0ms

Jinja2 12.0ms

djust (Rust) 0.8ms

* Benchmarks on Apple M1 Pro. Includes parsing, diffing, and patch generation.

templates/dashboard.html

{% extends "base.html" %}

{% block title %}Dashboard{% endblock %}

{% block content %}
  <div class="stats">
    <h1>Welcome, {{ user.name }}</h1>

    <!-- This updates independently -->
    <div>Active Users: {{ active_count }}</div>

    <!-- Loop updates are optimized -->
    {% for item in items %}
      <div>{{ item.name }}</div>
    {% endfor %}
  </div>
{% endblock %}

02. Unified Templates

Don't learn a new syntax. djust supports standard Django template inheritance.

The entire page—base template, child template, and included components—is compiled into a single VDOM tree. This means you can update a variable in the navbar (defined in `base.html`) from a view rendering `child.html`.

How it works:

Parser resolves {% extends %} and merges blocks.
Merged template is compiled to Rust VDOM.
State changes trigger a diff of the entire tree.
Patches are sent for any changed node, anywhere in the tree.

03. ORM JIT Compiler

The #1 performance killer in Django apps is the N+1 query problem. djust solves it automatically.

Our compiler analyzes your templates to see exactly which fields you use (e.g., {{ book.author.name }}). It then automatically injects the optimal select_related and prefetch_related calls into your QuerySet.

Zero N+1 Queries Forgot select_related? No problem. We fix it for you.
Zero Data Leaks If a field isn't in the HTML, it's never fetched from the DB.

Without djust

With djust ORM JIT

Template:

{% for book in books %}
  {{ book.author.name }}
{% endfor %}

SQL Queries:

SELECT * FROM books

SELECT * FROM authors WHERE id=1

SELECT * FROM authors WHERE id=2

SELECT * FROM authors WHERE id=3

... (100 more)

Template:

{% for book in books %}
  {{ book.author.name }}
{% endfor %}

SQL Queries:

SELECT * FROM books
JOIN authors ON ...

// 1 Query Total

04. Python-First State Management

Complex UI patterns usually require JavaScript. djust provides Python decorators that handle them for you.

@debounce(wait=0.5)

Search & Autocomplete

Automatically delays the server request until the user stops typing. No more flooding your database with partial queries.

@debounce(0.5)
def search(self, query):
  self.results = DB.search(query)

@optimistic

Instant Feedback

Updates the UI immediately in the browser, then validates on the server. If the server rejects it, the UI rolls back automatically.

@optimistic
def toggle_like(self):
  self.liked = not self.liked

@client_state

Component Sync

Synchronize state between multiple components purely on the client-side, without a server roundtrip.

@client_state(['tab'])
def set_tab(self, tab):
  self.tab = tab

Under the Hood