Backend development¶
Specific guidance for working on on backend tasks.
Running Django management commands¶
Locally, Django runs in the web container, and its commands are invoked via the shell.
The web container runs as a non-root user so performing actions such as making migrations must be done in the dev container that does run as a root user.
To start a shell session with your local dev container, run:
fab dev
From there, you can interact with Django exactly as you can see outlined in the official documentation and the many tutorials you'll find on the web.
There is a command manage ... that aliases poetry run python /app/manage.py ... to make running commands easier.
Common Django management commands¶
Below are some commands you'll use regularly:
Generating database migrations¶
To make migrations for a new app:
manage makemigrations [appname]
To make migrations for an existing app, use the -n argument to provide a meaninful name to help your peers understand what the migration does:
manage makemigrations [appname] -n meaningful_name_here
Applying database migrations¶
To apply migrations for all apps:
manage migrate
To apply migrations for a specific app:
manage migrate appname
Reversing database migrations¶
To reverse migrations for an app, specify the number of the migration you want to revert back to. For example, if you wanted to reverse the following migrations:
003_add_cat_gif_image_field004_tweak_streamfield_options005_add_fks_to_insights_pages
You would run:
manage migrate appname 002
If you need to reverse ALL migrations for an app, use the 'zero' keyword, like so:
manage migrate appname zero