Cookiecutter Django is a framework for jumpstarting production-ready Django projects quickly.
This report summarizes scanner evidence for cookiecutter/cookiecutter-django, a Python project with 13,624 GitHub stars. SynthScan examined 41,730 lines of code across 169 source files, recording 142 pattern matches distributed across 12 syntactic categories. The legacy adjusted pattern signal is 7.6 (Moderate pattern signal); it is not an authorship estimate.
Use the findings to ask whether maintainers can explain intent, verify dependencies, simplify unnecessary scaffolding, and focus review effort. Risk Payload v1 adds ownership, supply-chain, over-engineering, and review-effort vectors when available. These are prompts for human verification, not probabilities, security findings, or measured maintenance costs.
Use each vector to guide manual verification of the underlying findings.
Can maintainers explain intent, assumptions, and trade-offs? 62 finding(s).
Are imports declared and package/API names verified? 11 finding(s).
Are wrappers, guards, and repeated structures necessary? 108 finding(s).
Which changes need focused human review? 142 finding(s).
This chart tracks the legacy adjusted pattern score across scan runs. Changes can reflect source changes, scan coverage, or detector/scoring versions; they do not measure AI adoption or prove that a team refactored code. Compare runs only when their scoring versions are compatible. The dashed line tracks the raw pattern-hit count.
Groups findings by configured severity weight. Severity is not a confidence estimate, security rating, or proof that a package is missing. Verify imports against the project's manifests and inspect each finding in its local design context.
This horizontal bar chart shows where configured pattern scores accumulate across directories. Treat the bars as locations to inspect, not as evidence of authorship or code quality. Use the file-level findings to decide whether a directory needs a focused ownership, dependency, complexity, or review check.
The scanner identified 142 distinct pattern matches across 12 syntactic categories. Each entry below represents a discrete location in the source code where the engine recorded a detector match to inspect in context. Expand any category row to inspect the individual file paths, line numbers, code snippets, and the lexical context (CODE, COMMENT, or STRING) in which each match was detected.
Reading the findings table: The Severity column indicates the configured finding weight (CRITICAL / HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW). The Context column identifies whether the match occurred inside executable code, an inline comment, or a string literal — legacy comment-context matches receive a ×1.5 score weight. The ⚡ bolt icon marks clustered matches: three or more patterns within a 10-line window, each receiving an additional ×1.5 density multiplier under the legacy scoring model.
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/local.py | 10 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/local.py | 22 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/local.py | 32 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/local.py | 64 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/local.py | 70 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/local.py | 103 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/local.py | 113 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/local.py | 119 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/local.py | 130 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/local.py | 135 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/test.py | 10 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/test.py | 20 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/test.py | 25 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/test.py | 30 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/test.py | 34 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/test.py | 40 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/test.py | 45 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 237 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 242 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 251 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 261 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 22 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 49 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 71 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 78 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 121 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 126 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 140 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 160 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 181 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 195 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 202 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 273 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 300 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 342 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 366 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 373 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 399 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 411 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/production.py | 26 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/production.py | 33 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/production.py | 37 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/production.py | 52 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/production.py | 117 | # ------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/production.py | 211 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/production.py | 227 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/production.py | 232 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/production.py | 299 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/production.py | 327 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/production.py | 332 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/production.py | 409 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/production.py | 439 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/production.py | 447 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | …ookiecutter.project_slug}}/requirements/production.txt | 18 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/requirements/base.txt | 24 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/requirements/local.txt | 13 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/requirements/local.txt | 23 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/requirements/local.txt | 28 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/requirements/local.txt | 36 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | tests/test_cookiecutter_generation.py | 224 | def test_django_upgrade_passes(cookies, context_override): | CODE |
| LOW | tests/test_cookiecutter_generation.py | 282 | def test_travis_invokes_pytest(cookies, context, use_docker, expected_test_script): | CODE |
| LOW | tests/test_cookiecutter_generation.py | 307 | def test_gitlab_invokes_precommit_and_pytest(cookies, context, use_docker, expected_test_script): | CODE |
| LOW | tests/test_cookiecutter_generation.py | 334 | def test_github_invokes_linter_and_pytest(cookies, context, use_docker, expected_test_script): | CODE |
| LOW | tests/test_cookiecutter_generation.py | 373 | def test_error_if_incompatible(cookies, context, invalid_context): | CODE |
| LOW | tests/test_cookiecutter_generation.py | 390 | def test_pycharm_docs_removed(cookies, context, editor, pycharm_docs_exist): | CODE |
| LOW | tests/test_cookiecutter_generation.py | 408 | def test_package_jsons_removed(cookies, context, frontend_pipeline, package_jsons_exist): | CODE |
| LOW | tests/test_cookiecutter_generation.py | 463 | def test_pre_commit_without_heroku(cookies, context): | CODE |
| LOW | tests/test_hooks.py | 21 | def test_append_to_gitignore_file(working_directory): | CODE |
| LOW | hooks/post_gen_project.py | 40 | def remove_custom_user_manager_files(): | CODE |
| LOW | hooks/post_gen_project.py | 74 | def remove_nginx_docker_files(): | CODE |
| LOW | hooks/post_gen_project.py | 200 | def remove_prettier_pre_commit(): | CODE |
| LOW | hooks/post_gen_project.py | 204 | def remove_repo_from_pre_commit_config(repo_to_remove: str): | CODE |
| LOW | hooks/post_gen_project.py | 244 | def remove_dotgitlabciyml_file(): | CODE |
| LOW | hooks/post_gen_project.py | 349 | def set_celery_flower_password(file_path, value=None): | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | hooks/post_gen_project.py | 386 | def set_flags_in_settings_files(): | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | hooks/post_gen_project.py | 391 | def remove_envs_and_associated_files(): | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | hooks/post_gen_project.py | 397 | def remove_celery_compose_dirs(): | CODE |
| LOW | hooks/post_gen_project.py | 415 | def remove_ninja_starter_files(): | CODE |
| LOW | scripts/node_version.py | 21 | def get_version_from_dockerfile() -> str: | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | scripts/node_version.py | 34 | def get_version_from_package_json() -> str: | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | scripts/node_version.py | 39 | def update_package_json_version(old_version: str, new_version: str) -> None: | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | scripts/node_version.py | 48 | def update_production_node_version(old_version: str, new_version: str) -> None: | CODE |
| LOW | scripts/update_changelog.py | 86 | def group_pulls_by_change_type( | CODE |
| LOW | scripts/create_django_issue.py | 88 | def get_all_latest_django_versions( | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | scripts/python_dependency_version.py | 33 | def get_requirements_txt_version(package_name: str) -> str: | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | scripts/python_dependency_version.py | 42 | def get_pyproject_toml_version(package_name: str) -> str: | CODE |
| LOW | …{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/test_forms.py | 20 | def test_username_validation_error_msg(self, user: User): | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | …okiecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/test_managers.py | 32 | def test_create_superuser_username_ignored(self): | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | …okiecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/test_managers.py | 41 | def test_createsuperuser_command(): | CODE |
| LOW | …cookiecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/test_models.py | 9 | def test_user_get_absolute_url(user: User): | CODE |
| LOW | …ecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/api/test_openapi.py | 8 | def test_api_docs_accessible_by_admin(admin_client): | CODE |
| LOW | …ecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/api/test_openapi.py | 19 | def test_api_docs_not_accessible_by_anonymous_users(client): | CODE |
| LOW | …ecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/api/test_openapi.py | 32 | def test_api_schema_generated_successfully(admin_client): | CODE |
| LOW | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/api/test_views.py | 71 | def test_list_users_as_anonymous_user(client: Client): | CODE |
| LOW | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/api/test_views.py | 77 | def test_list_users_as_authenticated_user(client: Client, user: User): | CODE |
| LOW | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/api/test_views.py | 100 | def test_retrieve_current_user(client: Client, user: User): | CODE |
| LOW | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/api/test_views.py | 131 | def test_retrieve_current_user(client: Client, user: User): | CODE |
| LOW | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/api/test_views.py | 164 | def test_retrieve_another_user(client: Client, user: User): | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | docs/conf.py | 1 | # cookiecutter-django documentation build configuration file. | COMMENT |
| LOW | docs/conf.py | 41 | master_doc = "index" | COMMENT |
| LOW | docs/conf.py | 61 | # non-false value, then it is used: | COMMENT |
| LOW | docs/conf.py | 81 | # output. They are ignored by default. | COMMENT |
| LOW | docs/conf.py | 101 | COMMENT | |
| LOW | docs/conf.py | 121 | # Add any paths that contain custom static files (such as style sheets) here, | COMMENT |
| LOW | docs/conf.py | 141 | # If false, no module index is generated. | COMMENT |
| LOW | docs/conf.py | 161 | # base URL from which the finished HTML is served. | COMMENT |
| LOW | docs/conf.py | 201 | COMMENT | |
| LOW | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/test.py | 21 | # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/settings/#password-hashers | COMMENT |
| LOW | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 21 | # GENERAL | COMMENT |
| LOW | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py | 261 | # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| LOW | …kiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/production.py | 321 | ], | COMMENT |
| LOW | {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/docs/conf.py | 61 | # a list of builtin themes. | COMMENT |
| LOW | …ecutter.project_slug}}/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json | 61 | }, | COMMENT |
| LOW | …ecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/api/test_openapi.py | 41 | # No REST API framework was selected (rest_api = 'None'). | COMMENT |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEDIUM | hooks/post_gen_project.py | 557 | print(f"Error building Docker image: {e}", file=sys.stderr) | CODE |
| MEDIUM⚡ | hooks/post_gen_project.py | 571 | print(f"Error installing production dependencies: {e}", file=sys.stderr) | CODE |
| MEDIUM⚡ | hooks/post_gen_project.py | 578 | print(f"Error installing local dependencies: {e}", file=sys.stderr) | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | hooks/post_gen_project.py | 586 | except Exception as e: # noqa: BLE001 | CODE |
| MEDIUM⚡ | hooks/post_gen_project.py | 587 | print(f"Error removing 'requirements' folder: {e}", file=sys.stderr) | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HIGH | scripts/update_changelog.py | 159 | repo.git.push(server, GIT_BRANCH) | CODE |
| HIGH | scripts/update_changelog.py | 160 | repo.git.push("--tags", server, GIT_BRANCH) | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW⚡ | scripts/node_version.py | 39 | def update_package_json_version(old_version: str, new_version: str) -> None: | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | scripts/node_version.py | 48 | def update_production_node_version(old_version: str, new_version: str) -> None: | CODE |
| LOW | scripts/update_changelog.py | 131 | def update_version(file_path: Path, release: str) -> None: | CODE |
| LOW | scripts/update_changelog.py | 142 | def update_git_repo(paths: list[Path], release: str) -> None: | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | scripts/python_dependency_version.py | 51 | def update_package_version(package_name: str, old_version: str, new_version: str) -> None: | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | scripts/node_version.py | 1 | CODE | |
| LOW | scripts/create_django_issue.py | 10 | CODE | |
| LOW | scripts/python_dependency_version.py | 1 | CODE | |
| LOW | …r.project_slug}}/merge_production_dotenvs_in_dotenv.py | 1 | CODE | |
| LOW | …lug}}/tests/test_merge_production_dotenvs_in_dotenv.py | 1 | CODE | |
| LOW | …slug}}/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/users/managers.py | 7 | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HIGH | docs/6-about/generative-ai.md | 17 | Maintainers may close issues and PRs that are not useful or productive, including those that are fully generated by AI. | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | …{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/test_admin.py | 51 | user = User.objects.get(email="admin@example.com") | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | …okiecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/test_managers.py | 24 | email="admin@example.com", | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | …okiecutter.project_slug}}/users/tests/test_managers.py | 27 | assert user.email == "admin@example.com" | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | tests/test_cookiecutter_generation.py | 334 | CODE | |
| LOW | scripts/update_changelog.py | 86 | CODE | |
| LOW | scripts/create_django_issue.py | 154 | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEDIUM | docs/conf.py | 3 | # This file is execfile()d with the current directory set to its containing dir. | COMMENT |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | scripts/create_django_issue.py | 289 | # Check if there are any djs | COMMENT |
| LOW | …tter.project_slug}}/utility/install_os_dependencies.sh | 9 | # Check if a requirements file exist for the current distribution. | COMMENT |