When developing a Django REST API, you might encounter the error: “In order to allow non-dict objects to be serialized set the safe parameter to False.” This typically happens when you return a JSON response using JsonResponse(serializer.data) without specifying the safe parameter. When we tried to write the “get” function code for the “users” API i.e. http://127.0.0.1:8000/users/ using below code in helloproject/helloapp/views.py, @csrf_exempt def users(request): if request.method == 'GET': users = UserInfo.objects.all() serializer = UserInfoSerializer(users, many=True) return JsonResponse(serializer.data) and then when we tried to access the JSON using http GET in browser by accessing URL http://127.0.0.1:8000/users/ , we got below error in browser, TypeError at /users/ In order to allow non-dict objects to be serialized set the safe parameter to False.

Command line execution

Terminalbash
python Python Version: 3.6.9 Python Path: [‘/home/devlab/devlab/django/workspace_class_based_views’, ‘/usr/lib/python36.zip’, ‘/usr/lib/python3.6’, ‘/usr/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload’, ‘/home/devlab/devlab/django/workspace_class_based_views/env/lib/python3.6/site-packages’] Solution : Solution: To resolve this issue, modify the line of code from: return JsonResponse(serializer.data) to: return JsonResponse(serializer.data, safe=False) This tells Django that the returned data is not a dictionary, allowing it to be serialized properly. So, the final view will look like, @csrf_exempt def users(request):     if request.method == 'GET':         users = UserInfo.objects.all()         serializer = UserInfoSerializer(users, many=True)         return JsonResponse(serializer.data, safe=False) Why Does This Error Occur? By default, Django’s  JsonResponse  expects a dictionary object, which is why the  safe  parameter is set to  True . When dealing with non-dict data, like lists, setting  safe=False  is required to prevent errors.

Implementation details

Request Method: GET Request URL: http://127.0.0.1:8000/users/ Django Version: 3.1 Exception Type: TypeError Exception Value: In order to allow non-dict objects to be serialized set the safe parameter to False. Exception Location: /home/devlab/devlab/django/workspace_class_based_views/env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/django/http/response.py, line 561, in init Python Executable: /home/devlab/devlab/django/workspace_class_based_views/env/bin/python Python Version: 3.6.9 Python Path: [‘/home/devlab/devlab/django/workspace_class_based_views’, ‘/usr/lib/python36.zip’, ‘/usr/lib/python3.6’, ‘/usr/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload’, ‘/home/devlab/devlab/django/workspace_class_based_views/env/lib/python3.6/site-packages’] Solution : Solution: To resolve this issue, modify the line of code from: return JsonResponse(serializer.data) to: return JsonResponse(serializer.data, safe=False) This tells Django that the returned data is not a dictionary, allowing it to be serialized properly. So, the final view will look like, @csrf_exempt def users(request): if request.method == 'GET': users = UserInfo.objects.all() serializer = UserInfoSerializer(users, many=True) return JsonResponse(serializer.data, safe=False) Why Does This Error Occur? By default, Django’s JsonResponse expects a dictionary object, which is why the safe parameter is set to True . When dealing with non-dict data, like lists, setting safe=False is required to prevent errors.

Gotchas and common issues

  • Permission checks - verify user access rights and sudo privileges before executing system-level operations.

  • Environment configuration - double-check path variables and dependency versions to prevent runtime failures.

  • Backup safeguards - maintain configuration backups before applying system or database modifications.

Following these steps ensures clean configuration and reliable execution for in order to allow non-dict objects to be serialized set the safe parameter to false – fixed.