Django Development Server

Django’s built-in server is intended for local development: it runs the project and reloads Python code when files change.

Starting the server

python manage.py runserver

By default the server starts at http://127.0.0.1:8000/.

Startup options

python manage.py runserver 8080              # different port
python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000     # accessible from the network
python manage.py runserver --noreload        # disable auto-reload

Auto-reload

The server automatically restarts when Python files change. Exceptions:
- New files are not always picked up — a manual restart is required
- Template changes are picked up without a restart

What it does NOT do

• Not suitable for production — single-threaded, no optimizations
• Does not serve static files efficiently (but does serve them when DEBUG=True)
• Does not support HTTPS

DEBUG and static files

# settings.py
DEBUG = True  # shows error pages, serves static files via runserver

With DEBUG=False static files are not served through runserver — whitenoise or nginx is required.

Console logs

[27/Jan/2024 10:30:00] "GET /tasks/ HTTP/1.1" 200 1234
[27/Jan/2024 10:30:01] "POST /tasks/new/ HTTP/1.1" 302 0

For production

pip install gunicorn
gunicorn mysite.wsgi --workers 4 --bind 0.0.0.0:8000