pythonanywhere.md

Setting up our blog on PythonAnywhere

Sign up for a PythonAnywhere account

Note You might have already created a PythonAnywhere account earlier during the install steps – if so, no need to do it again. {% include "/deploy/signup_pythonanywhere.md" %}

Configuring our site on PythonAnywhere

Go back to the main PythonAnywhere Dashboard by clicking on the logo, and choose the option to start a "Bash" console – that's the PythonAnywhere version of a command line, just like the one on your computer.

Note PythonAnywhere is based on Linux, so if you're on Windows, the console will look a little different from the one on your computer. Deploying a web app on PythonAnywhere involves pulling down your code from GitHub, and then configuring PythonAnywhere to recognise it and start serving it as a web application. There are manual ways of doing it, but PythonAnywhere provides a helper tool that will do it all for you. Let's install it first:

{% filename %}PythonAnywhere command-line{% endfilename %}

$ pip{{ book.pa_py_version }} install --user pythonanywhere

That should print out some things like Collecting pythonanywhere, and eventually end with a line saying Successfully installed (...) pythonanywhere- (...).

Now we run the helper to automatically configure our app from GitHub. Type the following into the console on PythonAnywhere (don't forget to use your GitHub username in place of <your-github-username>, so that the URL matches the clone URL from GitHub):

{% filename %}PythonAnywhere command-line{% endfilename %}

$ pa_autoconfigure_django.py --python={{ book.pa_py_version }} https://github.com/<your-github-username>/my-first-blog.git

As you watch that running, you'll be able to see what it's doing:

• Downloading your code from GitHub
• Creating a virtualenv on PythonAnywhere, just like the one on your own computer
• Updating your settings file with some deployment settings
• Setting up a database on PythonAnywhere using the manage.py migrate command
• Setting up your static files (we'll learn about these later)
• And configuring PythonAnywhere to serve your web app via its API

On PythonAnywhere all those steps are automated, but they're the same steps you would have to go through with any other server provider.

The main thing to notice right now is that your database on PythonAnywhere is actually totally separate from your database on your own computer, so it can have different posts and admin accounts. As a result, just as we did on your own computer, we need to initialize the admin account with createsuperuser. PythonAnywhere has automatically activated your virtualenv for you, so all you need to do is run:

{% filename %}PythonAnywhere command-line{% endfilename %}

(ola.pythonanywhere.com) $ python manage.py createsuperuser

Type in the details for your admin user. Best to use the same ones as you're using on your own computer to avoid any confusion, unless you want to make the password on PythonAnywhere more secure.

Now, if you like, you can also take a look at your code on PythonAnywhere using ls:

{% filename %}PythonAnywhere command-line{% endfilename %}

(ola.pythonanywhere.com) $ ls
blog  db.sqlite3  manage.py  mysite requirements.txt static
(ola.pythonanywhere.com) $ ls blog/
__init__.py  __pycache__  admin.py  apps.py  migrations  models.py
tests.py  views.py

You can also go to the "Files" page and navigate around using PythonAnywhere's built-in file browser. (From the Console page, you can get to other PythonAnywhere pages from the menu button in the upper right corner. Once you're on one of the pages, there are links to the other ones near the top.)

You are now live!

Your site should now be live on the public Internet! Click through to the PythonAnywhere "Web" page to get a link to it. You can share this with anyone you want. :)

Note This is a beginners' tutorial, and in deploying this site we've taken a few shortcuts which aren't ideal from a security point of view. If and when you decide to build on this project, or start a new project, you should review the [Django deployment checklist](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/{{ book.docs_version }}/howto/deployment/checklist/) for some tips on securing your site.

Debugging tips

If you see an error while running the pa_autoconfigure_django.py script, here are a few common causes:

• Forgetting to create your PythonAnywhere API token.
• Making a mistake in your GitHub URL
• If you see an error saying "Could not find your settings.py", it's probably because you didn't manage to add all your files to Git, and/or you didn't push them up to GitHub successfully. Have another look at the Git section above
• If you previously signed up for a PythonAnywhere account and had an error with collectstatic, you probably have an older version of SQLite (eg 3.8.2) for your account. In that case, sign up for a new account and try the commands in the PythonAnywhere section above.

If you see an error when you try to visit your site, the first place to look for some debugging info is in your error log. You'll find a link to this on the PythonAnywhere "Web" page. See if there are any error messages in there; the most recent ones are at the bottom.

There are also some general debugging tips on the PythonAnywhere help site.

And remember, your coach is here to help!