Install the CLI and deploy

The CLI is a normal Python package, djangocloud-cli on PyPI:

pip install djangocloud-cli
djangocloud login
djangocloud deploy

There is nothing to change in your project. djangocloud works as soon as the package is installed, and still works when your settings won’t load.

Prefer python manage.py djangocloud ...? Add "djangocloud_cli" to INSTALLED_APPS first, because Django only finds a management command in an installed app. See CLI commands.

What a first deploy looks like

$ djangocloud deploy
You're not signed in yet.
Open https://djangocloud.dev/dashboard/cli/?code=ABCD-EFGH and check that the code is ABCD-EFGH.
✓ Signed in as you@example.com
? Which project is this?  Create a new project
? Server size  Nano  0.25 vCPU, 0.5 GB RAM  ~$7/month on AWS
? AWS bills you about $7/month for this server, directly in your own AWS account. Continue? Yes
✓ Linked to my-shop (.djangocloud/config.json)
Deploying my-shop
✓ Wrote build settings to .djangocloud/config.json
  found wsgi_module = config.wsgi:application
  found asgi_module = config.asgi:application (started with uvicorn)
✓ Packed 148 files (212 KB). .env and .git are never uploaded.
✓ Uploaded. Release v1 started.
  Building v1
  v1 is live
✓ v1 is live.

What happens after the upload is described in From code to a live URL, and exactly how your app is run is in How your app is run.

What gets uploaded

The folder is packed into one .tar.gz. In a git repository that is what git sees, so your .gitignore is respected. Whatever your .gitignore says, these are never uploaded:

• .env and .env.* (except .env.example)
• .git, virtualenvs and node_modules
• *.sqlite3, *.pem and *.key
• caches

The upload is limited to 100 MB. Set secrets as environment variables in the dashboard, not in the upload.

The .djangocloud folder

.djangocloud/config.json records which project the folder deploys to and holds your build settings. It contains no secrets, so commit it: a CI checkout then knows its project (djangocloud --no-input deploy needs no flags), and if you deploy from GitHub the build can read your build settings. Versions up to 0.1.12 hid the folder with a .gitignore inside it; newer ones remove that file if the CLI wrote it.

Signing in safely

Login uses a code you approve in the browser. The token is stored in ~/.config/djangocloud/credentials.json, readable only by you. See and revoke tokens under Settings → Developer in the dashboard.