Hosting a Django app with Caddy and PostgreSQL

THIS IS A WIP!

This (unofficial) guide was made by @twonum (feel free to ask me for help).

I'm using Hypercorn as it's an ASGI server (for WebSockets support). To use a different server, replace the hypercorn commands with the ones that your server uses.

Tools this guide uses

Hypercorn ASGI server
Caddy reverse proxy and web server with automatic HTTPS
PostgreSQL relational database for Django's ORM
systemd "daemon" (as it's called in Unix) to manage services

I'll assume that orpheus is your username and this is your directory structure:

~ (/home/orpheus)
- project
  - .venv
  - manage.py
  - ...
- static
  - project
    - static
    - media
- project.sh
- Caddyfile
- .config
- ...

I'll use $THIS_VARIABLE_NOTATION. Make a mental note of exports and replace the pseudo-variables with actual values.

Getting ready

First, get a shell to Nest. Don't have a Nest account?

ssh orpheus@hackclub.app

Get Nest resources

export PROJECT_NAME="your project directory name" # set this to your project's directory name (like "project" in /home/$USERNAME/project)
nest db create $PROJECT_NAME

hackclub.app or custom domain?

`$PROJECT_NAME.$USERNAME.hackclub.app` (free)

export PROJECT_DOMAIN=$PROJECT_NAME.$USERNAME.hackclub.app
nest caddy add $PROJECT_DOMAIN

Custom domain (looks better, but you need your own DNS)

Add a CNAME record to $USERNAME.hackclub.app. If you use Cloudflare or another proxy, turn the proxy off. Wait and run this to check your DNS record:

export PROJECT_DOMAIN="hello.example.com" # set this
dig $PROJECT_DOMAIN CNAME

Then:

nest caddy add $PROJECT_DOMAIN

Get your project's files on Nest

Copy the directory containing manage.py to /home/$USERNAME/$PROJECT_NAME. See Quickstart#Using_the_Account.

cd ~/$PROJECT_NAME

Set up venv and dependencies

python3 -m venv .venv
pip install -r requirements.txt

Set up Django settings

Use .env files with Django

Use a .env file. I'll use django-environ:

from environ import Env
...

env = Env(
    DEBUG=(bool, False),
)

...

DEBUG = env("DEBUG")
SECRET_KEY = env("SECRET_KEY")
DATABASES = {
    'default': env.db(),
}
...  # Use the same format for other options

What your .env file should look like

DEBUG=on
SECRET_KEY=please-change-this
DATABASE_URL=psql://$USERNAME:$NEST_PASSWORD@127.0.0.1:5432/$USERNAME_$PROJECT_NAME

Some other options to tweak

STATIC_ROOT=$HOME/static/$PROJECT_NAME/static
STATIC_URL=/static/
MEDIA_ROOT=$HOME/static/$PROJECT_NAME/media
MEDIA_URL=/media/

Migration and static collection

python3 manage.py migrate
python3 manage.py collectstatic

Set up Hypercorn

Get a port

nest get_port

Remember this number and store it in the mental variable $PORT.

Create the run script

~/$PROJECT_NAME.sh

#!/bin/bash
cd $PROJECT_NAME
source .venv/bin/activate
hypercorn -b 127.0.0.1:$PORT $PROJECT_NAME.asgi:application

Set up systemd with the run script

~/.config/systemd/user/$PROJECT_NAME.service

[Unit]
Description=YOUR DESCRIPTION HERE

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=%h/$PROJECT_NAME
EnvironmentFile=%h/$PROJECT_NAME/.env

ExecStart=bash ../$PROJECT_NAME.sh

Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Start the service

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now $PROJECT_NAME.service
systemctl --user status $PROJECT_NAME.service

Set up the Caddy server

~/Caddyfile

Append this:

https://$PROJECT_DOMAIN {
    bind unix/.$PROJECT_DOMAIN.webserver.sock|777
    handle /static* {
        root * $HOME/static/$PROJECT_NAME
        file_server
    }
    handle /media* {
        root * $HOME/static/$PROJECT_NAME
        file_server
    }
    reverse_proxy :$PORT
}

Restart Caddy service

systemctl --user restart caddy.service