Django Rest Framework - How to add custom field in ModelSerializer

...for clarity, if you have a Model Method defined in the following way:

class MyModel(models.Model):
    ...

    def model_method(self):
        return "some_calculated_result"

You can add the result of calling said method to your serializer like so:

class MyModelSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
    model_method_field = serializers.CharField(source='model_method')

p.s. Since the custom field isn't really a field in your model, you'll usually want to make it read-only, like so:

class Meta:
    model = MyModel
    read_only_fields = (
        'model_method_field',
        )

here answer for your question. you should add to your model Account:

@property
def my_field(self):
    return None

now you can use:

customField = CharField(source='my_field')

source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/18396622/3220916

You're doing the right thing, except that CharField (and the other typed fields) are for writable fields.

In this case you just want a simple read-only field, so instead just use:

customField = Field(source='get_absolute_url')

In fact there a solution without touching at all the model. You can use SerializerMethodField which allow you to plug any method to your serializer.

class FooSerializer(ModelSerializer):
    foo = serializers.SerializerMethodField()

    def get_foo(self, obj):
        return "Foo id: %i" % obj.pk