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Django QuerySet Prefetching Not Reducing Queries as Expected

👀 Views: 450 đŸ’Ŧ Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-06-09
django database optimization Python

I'm currently working with Django 4.0 and I'm working with an scenario with prefetching related objects to optimize my database queries. I have a `Book` model that has a ForeignKey relationship to an `Author` model. When I try to load a list of books along with their authors using prefetch_related, I still see multiple database queries being made instead of a single optimized one. Here's what my models look like: ```python # models.py class Author(models.Model): name = models.CharField(max_length=100) class Book(models.Model): title = models.CharField(max_length=200) author = models.ForeignKey(Author, on_delete=models.CASCADE) ``` Then, in my view, I do the following: ```python # views.py from .models import Book from django.shortcuts import render def book_list(request): books = Book.objects.prefetch_related('author').all() return render(request, 'book_list.html', {'books': books}) ``` In my template, I'm just iterating over the books like this: ```html {% for book in books %} <p>{{ book.title }} by {{ book.author.name }}</p> {% endfor %} ``` Even though I expect only a few queries (one for books and one for authors), the Django debug toolbar shows that I'm making one query for each author. I've tried different combinations of select_related and prefetch_related, but nothing seems to work. I've also ensured that I have the correct relationships in place. Can someone guide to figure out why my prefetching isn't working as expected? Am I missing something in my queryset, or is there a different approach I should be using here?