Including Templates with {% include %}

Including a Reusable Fragment

{% include %} renders a separate template file and drops its output directly into the current template at that spot.

Example: Including a Reusable Fragment

When home.html renders, Django inserts navbar.html's rendered HTML right where {% include %} appears.

<!-- templates/navbar.html -->
<nav>
  <a href="/">Home</a>
  <a href="/about">About</a>
</nav>

<!-- templates/home.html -->
{% include "navbar.html" %}
<h1>Welcome!</h1>

Passing Extra Context with 'with'

The with clause lets you pass extra variables into the included template without changing the parent's context.

Example: Passing Extra Context with 'with'

label is only available inside card.html for this specific include -- it doesn't leak into the rest of the parent template.

<!-- templates/card.html expects {{ label }} -->
{% include "card.html" with label="Featured Product" %}

include vs extends

include pastes a reusable fragment at one spot in the page; extends inherits an entire base layout and lets you override named blocks within it.

Note: Use include for small repeated pieces (navbar, card, footer); use extends for whole-page structure.

Example: include vs extends

Both tags reuse templates, but include is for fragments while extends is for full-page inheritance.

<!-- fragment reused on many pages -->
{% include "footer.html" %}

<!-- vs inheriting a full page layout -->
{% extends "base.html" %}
{% block content %}...{% endblock %}