Question

I was reading over the following code, and the models were structured such that each class/model had a separate file and then it was imported in __init__.py. For example:

# __init__.py
from service            import Service
from note               import Note
etc...

# service.py (one example of the imports)
from django.db import models

class Service(models.Model):

    #: service provider name (e.g. Hulu)
    name                = models.CharField(max_length=64, verbose_name="Title Name", unique=True)

    def __unicode__(self):
        return u'Service id=%s, name=%s' % (self.pk, self.name)

Which way is better practice, to have all models in one models.py file, or to have one file-per model? I usually keep all my models for an app in one file, and I had never seen the models separated, which is why I’m asking this question.

Answer 1

Best practice is to put them in one file. Look at the django source for example.

The reason you’ve never seen it is because it’s practically never done.

If you can justify it somehow then by all means do it, but it’s definitely not the recommended structure. People start to explore splitting models when the file gets too large / can be logically separated.