- Write a Django site in a single file, using views, models and admin
- Run it locally or in production, or share it as a standalone script
- Automatically convert it to a full Django project when you're ready for it to grow
Install nanodjango:
pip install nanodjangoWrite your app in single .py file - for example:
from django.db import models
from nanodjango import Django
app = Django()
@app.admin
class CountLog(models.Model):
# Standard Django model, registered with the admin site
timestamp = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
@app.route("/")
def count(request):
# Standard Django function view
CountLog.objects.create()
return f"<p>Number of page loads: {CountLog.objects.count()}</p>"
@app.api.get("/add")
def add(request):
# Django Ninja API support built in
CountLog.objects.create()
return {"count": CountLog.objects.count()}
@app.route("/slow/")
async def slow(request):
import asyncio
await asyncio.sleep(10)
return "Async views supported"Save that as counter.py, then set it up and run it:
nanodjango run counter.pyThis will create migrations and a database, and run your project in development mode.
- See Command usage for more options
If your project outgrows its single file, you can convert it into a full Django site:
nanodjango convert counter.py path/to/site --name=counter- See Converting to a full Django project for more information
Nanodjango apps are great for sharing examples and prototypes.
Add inline script metadata at the top with your dependencies:
# /// script
# dependencies = ["nanodjango"]
# ///and call app.run() at the bottom:
if __name__ == "__main__":
app.run()Now your app can be run without installing anything, using uv or pipx:
# Run with uv
uv run ./script.py
# or with pipx
pipx run ./script.pyYou can still manually install dependencies and run the script directly with Python:
pip install nanodjango
python script.pyAnything you would normally do with manage.py you can do with nanodjango manage:
nanodjango manage script.py check
nanodjango manage script.py makemigrations script
nanodjango manage script.py runserver 0:8000To run nanodjango with production defaults, use nanodjango serve:
nanodjango serve counter.pyThis will use gunicorn, or uvicorn if you have async views. It will also turn off
settings.DEBUG, and will not serve media files.
Alternatively, you can pass the app directly to a WSGI or ASGI server if you prefer:
gunicorn -w 4 counter:app
uvicorn counter:app- See Command usage for more options
For more details, see