How to install Django

    Django is a Python web framework. See What Python version can I use with Django? for details.

    Get the latest version of Python at or with your operating system’s package manager.

    Python on Windows

    If you are just starting with Django and using Windows, you may find How to install Django on Windows useful.

    If you just want to experiment with Django, skip ahead to the next section; Django includes a lightweight web server you can use for testing, so you won’t need to set up Apache until you’re ready to deploy Django in production.

    If you want to use Django on a production site, use with mod_wsgi. mod_wsgi operates in one of two modes: embedded mode or daemon mode. In embedded mode, mod_wsgi is similar to mod_perl – it embeds Python within Apache and loads Python code into memory when the server starts. Code stays in memory throughout the life of an Apache process, which leads to significant performance gains over other server arrangements. In daemon mode, mod_wsgi spawns an independent daemon process that handles requests. The daemon process can run as a different user than the web server, possibly leading to improved security. The daemon process can be restarted without restarting the entire Apache web server, possibly making refreshing your codebase more seamless. Consult the mod_wsgi documentation to determine which mode is right for your setup. Make sure you have Apache installed with the mod_wsgi module activated. Django will work with any version of Apache that supports mod_wsgi.

    See for information on how to configure mod_wsgi once you have it installed.

    If you can’t use mod_wsgi for some reason, fear not: Django supports many other deployment options. One is uWSGI; it works very well with . Additionally, Django follows the WSGI spec (PEP 3333), which allows it to run on a variety of server platforms.

    If you plan to use Django’s database API functionality, you’ll need to make sure a database server is running. Django supports many different database servers and is officially supported with , MariaDB, , Oracle and .

    If you are developing a small project or something you don’t plan to deploy in a production environment, SQLite is generally the best option as it doesn’t require running a separate server. However, SQLite has many differences from other databases, so if you are working on something substantial, it’s recommended to develop with the same database that you plan on using in production.

    In addition to a database backend, you’ll need to make sure your Python database bindings are installed.

    • If you’re using PostgreSQL, you’ll need the psycopg2 package. Refer to the for further details.
    • If you’re using MySQL or MariaDB, you’ll need a DB API driver like mysqlclient. See for details.
    • If you’re using SQLite you might want to read the SQLite backend notes.
    • If you’re using Oracle, you’ll need a copy of , but please read the notes for the Oracle backend for details regarding supported versions of both Oracle and cx_Oracle.
    • If you’re using an unofficial 3rd party backend, please consult the documentation provided for any additional requirements.

    If you plan to use Django’s manage.py migrate command to automatically create database tables for your models (after first installing Django and creating a project), you’ll need to ensure that Django has permission to create and alter tables in the database you’re using; if you plan to manually create the tables, you can grant Django , INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE permissions. After creating a database user with these permissions, you’ll specify the details in your project’s settings file, see for details.

    If you’re using Django’s testing framework to test database queries, Django will need permission to create a test database.

    Installation instructions are slightly different depending on whether you’re installing a distribution-specific package, downloading the latest official release, or fetching the latest development version.

    This is the recommended way to install Django.

    1. Install . The easiest is to use the standalone pip installer. If your distribution already has pip installed, you might need to update it if it’s outdated. If it’s outdated, you’ll know because installation won’t work.

    2. After you’ve created and activated a virtual environment, enter the command:

      Linux/MacOS     Windows

    Check the to see if your platform/distribution provides official Django packages/installers. Distribution-provided packages will typically allow for automatic installation of dependencies and supported upgrade paths; however, these packages will rarely contain the latest release of Django.

    If you decide to use the latest development version of Django, you’ll want to pay close attention to the development timeline, and you’ll want to keep an eye on the . This will help you stay on top of any new features you might want to use, as well as any changes you’ll need to make to your code when updating your copy of Django. (For stable releases, any necessary changes are documented in the release notes.)

    If you’d like to be able to update your Django code occasionally with the latest bug fixes and improvements, follow these instructions:

    1. Make sure that you have Git installed and that you can run its commands from a shell. (Enter git help at a shell prompt to test this.)

    2. Check out Django’s main development branch like so:

      Linux/MacOS     Windows

      1. ...\> git clone https://github.com/django/django.git

      This will create a directory django in your current directory.

    3. Make sure that the Python interpreter can load Django’s code. The most convenient way to do this is to use a virtual environment and . The contributing tutorial walks through how to create a virtual environment.