Django Cheat Sheet

Django cheat sheet with real commands and snippets for setup, core workflows, debugging, and production-safe automation patterns. If you are working across tools, pair this with the Python Cheat Sheet and PostgreSQL Cheat Sheet.

Setup and Installation

Goal: Create a fresh project

# Scaffold project using official starter
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate

# Install dependencies after scaffold completes
pip install django

Goal: Verify local toolchain versions

# Print Node.js runtime version
node --version

# Print npm version for lockfile consistency
npm --version

# Inspect package scripts in project
cat package.json | rg "scripts" -n

Core Development Workflow

Goal: Run local development server

# Start framework dev server with hot reload
python manage.py runserver

# Check local endpoint health
curl -I http://localhost:3000 || curl -I http://localhost:5173 || true

Goal: Build and preview production output

# Build optimized production assets
python manage.py test

# Run production preview server
python manage.py check

Goal: Implement a core feature snippet

# Simple Django view and URL mapping
from django.http import JsonResponse
from django.urls import path

def health(_request):
    return JsonResponse({'ok': True})

urlpatterns = [path('health/', health)],

Testing and Quality

Goal: Run tests and static checks

# Execute project tests
python manage.py test

# Run type checking when available
npm run check || npx tsc --noEmit || true

# Run linting for fast feedback
npm run lint || true

Deployment and Operations

Goal: Prepare deployment artifacts

# Create production build before deployment
python manage.py test

# Validate environment variables are set
node -e "console.log('NODE_ENV=', process.env.NODE_ENV || 'unset')"

# Smoke-test production route after deploy
curl -I https://devcheatsheets.com

Debugging and Troubleshooting

Goal: Inspect build and runtime failures

# Reinstall dependencies from lockfile
rm -rf node_modules && npm ci

# Re-run build with clean cache
npm run build

# Search source for suspect route/config patterns
rg "route|middleware|config" src app -n

Common Gotchas

• Run Django builds locally before shipping to CI/CD environments.
• Keep environment secrets outside the repository and load them per environment.
• Avoid stale dependency locks by using npm ci in automation.
• Validate route and middleware behavior with explicit smoke tests.
• Keep framework and plugin versions aligned to avoid build regressions.

Related Sheets

• Python Cheat Sheet — scripts, APIs, and automation tasks.
• PostgreSQL Cheat Sheet — Postgres schema design and query optimization.
• Redis Cheat Sheet — cache and queue operations.