FollowUserAPIView.py

from django.shortcuts import get_object_or_404
from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
from django.core.handlers.wsgi import WSGIRequest

from rest_framework import status
from rest_framework.views import APIView
from rest_framework.response import Response
from rest_framework.parsers import FormParser
from rest_framework.permissions import IsAuthenticated

User = get_user_model()


class FollowUserAPIView(APIView):

    """
    APIView to make a request (or directly follow is user to be followed
    has a public account) by an authenticated user.
    """

    parser_classes = (FormParser,)
    permission_classes = (IsAuthenticated,)

    @staticmethod
    def post(request: WSGIRequest) -> Response:

        to_follow_id = request.POST.get('to_follow_id')
        if not to_follow_id:
            return Response(
                {'error': 'Follow request\'s user ID not provided.'},
                status=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST,
            )
        user = get_object_or_404(User, id=to_follow_id)
        request.user.follow(user)
        return Response({'detail': 'requested'})