OnlyDjango

OnlyDjango is a streamlined Django starter template optimized for efficient and robust Django-based application development.

Stack Overview

The default stack includes:

• PostgreSQL (Database)
• Redis (Caching and Tasks)
• HTMX (Dynamic UI)
• TailwindCSS (Styling)
• Alpine.js (Lightweight JS interactions)
• FontAwesome (Icons)
• Wagtail CMS (Content management)
• django-cotton (Component-based templating)

Alpine.js Usage

Alpine.js is utilized primarily for simple interactions and animations. Data looping and rendering tasks remain handled by Django templates to keep frontend logic minimal.

Component-Based Templating

Instead of traditional Django extends and include syntax, OnlyDjango leverages django-cotton for a modern, component-driven approach:

<c-component />

Required Configuration

Set these variables in your base.py settings file. These are required, and omitting them will prevent the project from running:

SITE_NAME=
SITE_AUTHOR=
SITE_KEYWORDS=
SITE_DESCRIPTION=
OG_TYPE=
OG_TITLE=
OG_DESCRIPTION=
OG_IMAGE=
TWITTER_CARD=
TWITTER_TITLE=
TWITTER_DESCRIPTION=
TWITTER_IMAGE=

Project Structure

Django apps reside within an organized apps directory:

Project/
├── apps/
│   ├── blog/
│   ├── users/
│   └── ...
├── Project/
│   └── settings/
│       └── base.py
└── dev_helpers/
    └── dev.docker-compose.yml

To simplify creating apps within this structure, Django's startapp command is overridden. Simply run:

uv run python manage.py startapp <appname>

This command automatically handles all necessary configurations (e.g., updating FIRST_PARTY_APPS in base.py).

Wagtail CMS

Wagtail CMS is included by default due to its versatility in managing content and blogs. To disable Wagtail, comment out relevant settings and update dependencies accordingly.

Task Management

The template includes Huey for scheduling tasks and managing background jobs. No further customization is provided by default.

Development Helpers

Start PostgreSQL & Redis (Docker Compose)

Quickly start local development services:

docker compose -f dev_helpers/dev.docker-compose.yml up -d

Database Migration

Run migrations easily:

uv run python manage.py migrate

Quick Superuser Creation

Create an admin superuser rapidly:

python manage.py shell -c "from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model; User = get_user_model(); User.objects.create_superuser('admin', 'admin@example.com', '123')"

TailwindCSS Build

Compile TailwindCSS styles:

npx tailwindcss -i onlydjango/input.css -o onlydjango/static/css/style.css

Tip: Set this as a FileWatcher in PyCharm for automatic builds.

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Notes

OnlyDjango is personalized for my workflow. Suggestions are welcome but will be integrated only if they significantly enhance efficiency and align with the template’s core objectives.