Deploy Django to Heroku using postgress database 2022

This article tries to solve all the problems you might encounter while deploying django using postgressql on heroku in 2022

Image from Sola Aremu

This article is stemmed from the issue I encountered trying to deploy a django project on heroku using postgress. Hence, I would try to be direct so as to prevent any pitfalls you may encounter while building your own project.

This article assumes you already know about django. If you are not very conversant with django, you can checkout the documentation. So without wasting much of your time, let’s get started 💪.

Packages required are:

• Django
• gunicorn
• whitenoise
• django database url
• pyscopg2
• python-dotenv

Disclaimer: I would be making use of a linux terminal with shell commands but these commands can be replicated on any other operating systems.

Step 1: Setup django project

Create a new directory

Lets call this foldermy_project , the command below shows how to make a directory using terminal

$ mkdir my_project

Create a virtual environment

Use pip install venv if you dont have virtual env installed on your system. create and activate the virtual environment using the command below. The environment is called env

$ cd my_project
$ python3 -m venv env
$ source env/bin/activate

Install Packages

Install all the packages listed above. You can do this with one command as shown below

$ python3 pip install django gunicorn whitenoise dj-database-url psycopg2 python-dotenv

Create Django Project

Create a django project in the current directory using the django start project command. The base directory for this project is named core this is to avoid conflict with the project name. Dont forget the . after the core, this tells django to create the project in the current directory

$ python3 -m django startproject core .

So, great work! you have your django project setup successfully. You can test this project using the command

python3 manage.py runserver

I would not focus on creating templates in django because this article focuses on deployment and setting up. You can read more on creating templates in django from the official documentation.

Step 2: Prepare Project for Deployment

Project requirements

Freeze project requirements using the command in the terminal

pip freeze > requirements.txt

This creates a requirements.txt file with all the project requirements.

Setup static files

create a folder called static in the my_project directory this is the folder containing your css and js files.

In the settings.py file under the INSTALLED_APPS list add the whitenoise static settings

'whitenoise.runserver_nostatic',

Add whitenoise middleware to the settings.py file under MIDDLEWARE and add the following code immediately after the django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware

whitenoise.middleware.Whitenoise.Middleware

add the static files configurations under the STATIC_URL='static/'

STATIC_ROOT = BASE_DIR/'static'
STATICFILES_STORAGE='django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage'

Configure the Database

After the DATABASES in the settings.py file, add the following code.

if "DATABASE_URL" in os.environ:
    DATABASES['default']=dj_database_url.config(
        conn_max_age=600, ssl_require=True)

This script checks if the DATABASE_URL variable exists in the environment variable and then uses the database url to source the databse.

import all packages at the top of the settings.py and load all environment variables using the load_dotenv() command.

import dj_database_url
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
load_dotenv()

Set Allowed Hosts

in the settings.py file, under the ALLOWED_HOSTS add the hosts for your app

ALLOWED_HOSTS = [
    '127.0.0.1',
    '*.herokuapp.com'
]

Set Environment variables

Create a .env file in the my_project folder. Copy the SECRET_KEY from the settings.py file and add it to the env file. The content of the .env file is as follows

SECRET_KEY= your_secret_key
DEBUG = True

replace the secret key in the settings.py file with the code below

SECRET_KEY= os.getenv('SECRET_KEY')

replace the DEBUG key with the code below

DEBUG=(os.getenv('SECRET_KEY', 'True') == 'True')

Step 3: Setup For Heroku

Create Heroku app

Login to the heroku dashboard and create a new app

select create new app

Use a unique name and create a new app in any region of your choice. It is recommended that you choose a region close to you.

create an app with a unique name

Note: don’t upgrade your heroku stack to heroku 22 this would cause errors with build

Create Runtime

in the my_project folder create a runtime.txt file and in the file add

python-3.8.13

This is the latest version supported on heroku 20 and this would work well for all latest version of django (as of the time of writing this article)

Create Procfile

in the my_project folder, create a file called Procfile and in the file add

web: gunicorn my_project.wsgi --logfile -

The Procfile is the entry point for heroku for your django application

Add Configurations on Heroku

navigate to the heroku app under the settings tab, look for the Reveal Config Vars button and add the following configurations

DISABLE_COLLECTSTATIC = 1
SECRET_KEY = put_your_django_secret_key_here

Add Postgress Database

In the heroku Resources tab, click on Find more add-ons select the Heroku Postgres

heroku postress database

This is a free ad-on that provides storage up untill the specified limit.

Very Important Step

Make sure you run migrations on the postgress database before deploying the app. You can do this by

1. go to heroku settings tab and in the Reveal Config Vars copy the value for the DATABASE_URL key
2. in the .env file add DATABASE_URL and paste the key you copied here
3. run python3 manage.py migrate to add the tables to the postgress database
4. You can now remove the DATABASE_URL key from the .env file

Note: This step is necessary to build the database table that would be used to write data onto the postgres database.

I had to figure this out myself, so… you’re welcome 😊.

Step 4: deploy to heroku

Note: There are different methods to deploy your application to heroku, but I prefer using github because it is less prone to errors and doesn’t require install ation of the Heroku CLI. It also alows you to keep you application up to date with all latest changes

Send Folder To Github

1. Initialize your current directory — my_project — using git init
2. create your .gitignore file in the my_project folder
3. add the following code in the gitignore file

.env
env/
*__pycache__/
*migrations/
db.sqlite3
env/

5. Create a repository on github

6. push your files to github using git push .

Link project to heroku

1. On heroku, go to the Actions tab and
2. Click on the Connect to Github button
3. Give Heroku permission to access github and .
4. Select the repository where you have your project

Final Step

You should see your project live and active. Find the link to your project in heroku under the settings tab. It is listed under the Domains.

Summary

Checkout my github project which uses django for deployment. Feel free to copy the settings file for your project. Dont forget to follow me on github and star the repository— it would be really appreciated.

db.sqlite3

4. Add all files to git using git add .

Checkout my github project which uses django for deployment. Feel free to copy the settings file for your project. Dont forget to follow me on github and star the repository— it would be really appreciated.

So there you have it 😃. This was a long article but it sure is worth the time . happy coding 💻…

if you found this helpful, follow me on medium for more helpful content.