Quickstart: Deploy a Django App

This guide explains how to deploy a Django application to Seenode. For a production-ready setup, we recommend using a PostgreSQL database and WhiteNoise to serve static files.

Deploy a Django Template

Get started in seconds by deploying our pre-configured Django template. This example is ready to deploy and reflects the structure discussed in this guide.

Django Template

Deploy a Django project pre-configured with Gunicorn for production.

Deploying an Existing Django Project

Follow these steps to prepare and deploy your Django project.

Note

This guide uses our Django quickstart project, which you can clone by running git clone https://github.com/seenode/example-django.git in your terminal.

1. Prepare Your Project for Production

   Project Structure

   Your Django project should have the following basic structure:

   • Directoryyour-django-project/

     • manage.py
     • requirements.txt
     • build.sh
     • Directoryyour_project/

       • settings.py
       • urls.py
       • wsgi.py
       • asgi.py

   Install Recommended Packages

   For a production setup, we recommend adding gunicorn, dj-database-url, and whitenoise to your requirements.txt:

   requirements.txt

   gunicorn
   dj-database-url
   psycopg2-binary # Or the appropriate adapter for your database
   whitenoise

   Update settings.py

   • Database: Configure your DATABASES setting to use the DATABASE_URL environment variable that Seenode provides.
   • Static Files: Set up WhiteNoise to serve your static files. When you run your app in production with DEBUG=False, Django’s development server no longer serves static assets. WhiteNoise provides a simple way for your Gunicorn server to handle these files.
   • Security: It is best practice to load your SECRET_KEY from an environment variable and set DEBUG=False in production.

   your_project/settings.py

   import os
   import dj_database_url
   
   # ...
   SECRET_KEY = os.environ.get('SECRET_KEY')
   DEBUG = os.environ.get('DEBUG', 'False').lower() == 'true'
   ALLOWED_HOSTS = os.environ.get('ALLOWED_HOSTS', '').split(',')
   
   # ...
   DATABASES = {
       'default': dj_database_url.config(conn_max_age=600, ssl_require=True)
   }
   
   # ...
   MIDDLEWARE = [
       'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
       'whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware', # Add WhiteNoise
       # ...
   ]
   
   STATIC_URL = '/static/'
   STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'staticfiles')
   STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'whitenoise.storage.CompressedManifestStaticFilesStorage'

2. Create a Build Script (Optional)

   To streamline deployments, you can create a build.sh script to run migrations and collect static files automatically.

   build.sh

   #!/usr/bin/env bash
   # exit on error
   set -o errexit
   
   pip install -r requirements.txt
   
   python manage.py collectstatic --no-input
   python manage.py migrate

   Make the script executable: chmod +x build.sh

3. Deploy on Seenode

   Follow these steps to deploy your Django application:

   1. First, create a PostgreSQL Database from the Seenode Dashboard if your application needs one. Seenode also supports MySQL.
   2. Create a new Web Service and connect your Django project’s Git repository. Configure your build and start commands in the settings. A common setup is:
      • Build Command: ./build.sh
      • Start Command: gunicorn your_project.wsgi --bind 0.0.0.0:8000
   3. Navigate to the Environment tab and link your PostgreSQL database. Seenode will automatically configure the DATABASE_URL.
   4. Configure your production environment variables, including SECRET_KEY and ALLOWED_HOSTS.
   5. Choose your preferred instance size and create your service.
   6. Watch your deployment progress in real-time through the Logs tab.
   7. Once complete, your Django application will be accessible via your service’s URL.

Next Steps

Now that your Django application is deployed, here are some things you might want to do next:

Set up a Custom Domain (Coming Soon)

Configure a custom domain to point to your new web service.

Connect to a Database

Instantly scaffold and connect PostgreSQL and MySQL databases