Return the current user with Django Rest Framework

The best way is to use the power of viewsets.ModelViewSet like so:

class UserViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
    queryset = User.objects.all()
    serializer_class = UserSerializer

    def get_object(self):
        pk = self.kwargs.get('pk')

        if pk == "current":
            return self.request.user

        return super().get_object()

viewsets.ModelViewSet is a combination of mixins.CreateModelMixin + mixins.RetrieveModelMixin + mixins.UpdateModelMixin + mixins.DestroyModelMixin + mixins.ListModelMixin + viewsets.GenericViewSet. If you need just list all or get particular user including currently authenticated you need just replace it like this

class UserViewSet(mixins.RetrieveModelMixin, mixins.ListModelMixin, viewsets.GenericViewSet):
    # ...

Instead of using full power of ModelViewSet you can use mixins. There is RetrieveModelMixin used to retrieve single object just like it is mentioned here - http://www.django-rest-framework.org/api-guide/viewsets/#example_3

class UserViewSet(mixins.RetrieveModelMixin, viewsets.GenericViewSet):
    permission_classes = (permissions.IsAuthenticated,)
    serializer_class = UserSerializer

    def get_object(self):
        return self.request.user

If you need also update your model, just add UpdateModelMixin.

With something like this you're probably best off breaking out of the generic views and writing the view yourself.

@api_view(['GET'])
def current_user(request):
    serializer = UserSerializer(request.user)
    return Response(serializer.data)

You could also do the same thing using a class based view like so...

class CurrentUserView(APIView):
    def get(self, request):
        serializer = UserSerializer(request.user)
        return Response(serializer.data)

Of course, there's also no requirement that you use a serializer, you could equally well just pull out the fields you need from the user instance.

@api_view(['GET'])
def current_user(request):
    user = request.user
    return Response({
        'username': user.username,
        'email': user.email,
        ...
    })

Hope that helps.