Django Dockerfile

A simple repository of configurations

Why

After many years of Django deployments I've decided to collect my knowledge in a single repository. It's a living configuration and is the reflection of the tools I'm using to deploy my applications.

Anyway I the goal is to break down all the piece needed to deploy Django and document them so any piece can be used—as much as possible—everywhere.

Any feedback is welcome.

Good to know

• Static and media files are hosted and served directly from the hosting machine
• Caddy leaves in the same container of Django—check the Dockerfile
• The base Docker image for Django is 3.12-slim

Setup in your project

• Copy Dockerfile, Caddyfile and .dockerignore in your Django project
  • It should be the same place of pyproject.toml
• Set the static and media config variables in the Django's settings.py file

Environment Variables

Those variables are for production. They are used in the below settings.

# 1 = init service.
# 0 = after the first service, for horizontal deployments
# For example: start.sh will run migrations
IS_INIT=1

DEBUG=False

APP_NAME=yourname

ALLOWED_HOSTS=*
CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS=https://*.mydomain.com
CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://...
# CSRF_COOKIE_DOMAIN=.yourdomain.xyz
DATABASE_URL=postgres://asdfasdf:asdfasdf:5432/postgres
SECRET_KEY=asdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf

# Superuser
[email protected]
DJANGO_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD=password
DJANGO_SUPERUSER_USERNAME=username

LANGUAGE_CODE=en-us
TIME_ZONE="UTC"
MEDIA_URL=media/
STATIC_URL=static/
# MEDIA_ROOT=path
# STATIC_ROOT=path

SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE=False
CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE=False
SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT=False

EMAIL_HOST=localhost
EMAIL_PORT=25
EMAIL_HOST_USER=
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD=
EMAIL_USE_TLS=False
SERVER_EMAIL=root@localhost
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL=django@localhost

Django settings

I suggest you to:

• Install django-environ
• Copy and paste those settings chunk by chunk and not all at the same time.
• Read Django docs for production

import environ

env = environ.Env(
    DEBUG=(bool, False),
    APP_NAME=(str, "APPNAME"),
    ALLOWED_HOSTS=(list[str], ["*"]),
    SECRET_KEY=(str, "asdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf"),
    CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS=(list[str], []),
    CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=(list[str], []),
    DATABASE_URL=(str, False),
    LANGUAGE_CODE=(str, "en-us"),
    TIME_ZONE=(str, "UTC"),
    MEDIA_ROOT=(str, BASE_DIR / "media"),
    MEDIA_URL=(str, "media/"),
    STATIC_URL=(str, "static/"),
    STATIC_ROOT=(str, BASE_DIR / "static"),
    SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE=(bool, False),
    CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE=(bool, False),
    CSRF_COOKIE_DOMAIN=(str, None),
    SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT=(bool, False),
    EMAIL_HOST=(str, "localhost"),
    EMAIL_PORT=(int, 25),
    EMAIL_HOST_USER=(str, ""),
    EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD=(str, ""),
    EMAIL_USE_TLS=(bool, False),
    SERVER_EMAIL=(str, "root@localhost"),
    DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL=(str, "django@localhost"),
)

# Usage

DEBUG = env("DEBUG")
APP_NAME = env("APP_NAME")
SECRET_KEY = env("SECRET_KEY")
ALLOWED_HOSTS = env.list("ALLOWED_HOSTS")
CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS = env.list("CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS")

database_url = env("DATABASE_URL")

if database_url:
    DATABASES = {
        "default": env.db(),
    }
else:
    DATABASES = {
        "default": {
            "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.sqlite3",
            "NAME": BASE_DIR / 'db.sqlite3'
        }
    }

LANGUAGE_CODE = env("LANGUAGE_CODE")
TIME_ZONE = env("TIME_ZONE")

MEDIA_ROOT = env("MEDIA_ROOT")
MEDIA_URL = env("MEDIA_URL")
STATIC_URL = env("STATIC_URL")
STATIC_ROOT = env("STATIC_ROOT")

SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = env("SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE")
CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE = env("CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE")
# I used it for subdomains on the same domain
CSRF_COOKIE_DOMAIN = env("CSRF_COOKIE_DOMAIN")

SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT = env("SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT")

EMAIL_HOST = env("EMAIL_HOST")
EMAIL_PORT = env("EMAIL_PORT")
EMAIL_HOST_USER = env("EMAIL_HOST_USER")
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = env("EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD")
EMAIL_USE_TLS = env("EMAIL_USE_TLS")
SERVER_EMAIL = env("SERVER_EMAIL")
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = env("DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL")

On Coolify

Your project will be exposed on the 8001 port by Caddy.

• In Ports Mappings set your_port:8001
• In Ports Exposes set 8001.

Domain and Ports

Set your domain in Domains. Set Ports Exposes with the port number used by Caddy.

Volumes

If you are storing uploaded files (media files) on the filesystem you need a Docker volume.

1. Go to Storages
2. + Add to create new volumes
3. Add one volume for media with Destination Path set to /project/media

Env variables

1. Go to the Environment Variables tab of your service configuration
2. Set the variables seen above

Database

Create a new service using postgresql. The containers will be on the same network so the the configurations in the Environment Variables section should work right away.

Remember to use the password provided in the General tab.

Build

If your Django project leves in a subfolder of the repository:

• Set Base Directory to: /your-folder-name
• Set Dockerfile Location to: /Dockerfile (assuming that it's at the root of your project)
• Set Watch Paths to: your-folder-name/*

Extra

Useful commands for automated tasks

• python manage.py createsuperuser --noinput
• python manage.py collectstatic --noinput