Django Cheatsheet

This cheatsheet covers commonly used Django commands, core concepts, and practical snippets for day‑to‑day development.

1. Project & App Setup

Create Virtual Environment

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Linux/Mac
venv\\Scripts\\activate     # Windows

Install Django

pip install django

Create Project

django-admin startproject project_name
cd project_name

Create App

python manage.py startapp app_name

Run Development Server

python manage.py runserver
python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000

2. Settings & Configuration

Register App

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'app_name',
]

Database (PostgreSQL Example)

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
        'NAME': 'db_name',
        'USER': 'user',
        'PASSWORD': 'password',
        'HOST': 'localhost',
        'PORT': '5432',
    }
}

Static & Media Files

STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STATIC_ROOT = BASE_DIR / 'staticfiles'

MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
MEDIA_ROOT = BASE_DIR / 'media'

3. Models

Basic Model

from django.db import models

class Product(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=255)
    price = models.DecimalField(max_digits=10, decimal_places=2)
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)

    def __str__(self):
        return self.name

Common Fields

• CharField

• TextField

• IntegerField

• BooleanField

• DateField / DateTimeField

• ForeignKey

• OneToOneField

• ManyToManyField

4. Migrations

python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py showmigrations
python manage.py sqlmigrate app_name 0001

5. Django ORM (Queries)

Create

Product.objects.create(name="Book", price=100)

Read

Product.objects.all()
Product.objects.get(id=1)
Product.objects.filter(price__gte=100)

Update

product = Product.objects.get(id=1)
product.price = 120
product.save()

Delete

Product.objects.filter(id=1).delete()

Query Helpers

from django.db.models import Q, Count, Sum

Product.objects.filter(Q(price__gt=100) | Q(name__icontains="pen"))
Product.objects.aggregate(total=Sum('price'))

6. Admin Panel

Create Superuser

python manage.py createsuperuser

Register Model

from django.contrib import admin
from .models import Product

@admin.register(Product)
class ProductAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    list_display = ('name', 'price')

7. Views

Function‑Based View (FBV)

from django.http import HttpResponse

def home(request):
    return HttpResponse("Hello World")

Class‑Based View (CBV)

from django.views import View
from django.http import HttpResponse

class HomeView(View):
    def get(self, request):
        return HttpResponse("Hello World")

8. URLs

App URLs

from django.urls import path
from .views import home

urlpatterns = [
    path('', home, name='home'),
]

Include in Project URLs

from django.urls import path, include

urlpatterns = [
    path('', include('app_name.urls')),
]

9. Templates

Template Settings

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'DIRS': [BASE_DIR / 'templates'],
    },
]

Template Syntax

{{ variable }}
{% if user.is_authenticated %}
{% for item in items %}
{% endfor %}

10. Forms

ModelForm

from django.forms import ModelForm
from .models import Product

class ProductForm(ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = Product
        fields = '__all__'

11. Authentication

Login Required

from django.contrib.auth.decorators import login_required

@login_required
def dashboard(request):
    pass

Custom User Model

from django.contrib.auth.models import AbstractUser

class CustomUser(AbstractUser):
    phone = models.CharField(max_length=20, blank=True)

12. Middleware

MIDDLEWARE = [
    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
]

13. Signals

from django.db.models.signals import post_save
from django.dispatch import receiver
from .models import Product

@receiver(post_save, sender=Product)
def product_created(sender, instance, created, **kwargs):
    if created:
        print("Product Created")

14. Django REST Framework (Quick)

Install

pip install djangorestframework

Serializer

from rest_framework import serializers
from .models import Product

class ProductSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
    class Meta:
        model = Product
        fields = '__all__'

API View

from rest_framework.views import APIView
from rest_framework.response import Response

class ProductAPI(APIView):
    def get(self, request):
        return Response({"status": "ok"})

15. Management Commands

python manage.py shell
python manage.py collectstatic
python manage.py flush
python manage.py check

16. Deployment Essentials

• DEBUG = False

• Set ALLOWED_HOSTS

• Use .env for secrets

• Configure Gunicorn / uWSGI

• Nginx as reverse proxy

17. Useful Django Packages

• django‑rest‑framework

• django‑filter

• django‑cors‑headers

• django‑allauth

• celery

• django‑debug‑toolbar

18. Common Shortcuts

get_object_or_404(Model, id=1)
redirect('url_name')
reverse('url_name')

19. Security Basics

• CSRF protection enabled

• Use Django ORM (avoid raw SQL)

• Validate user input

• Hash passwords (default)

20. Debugging

python manage.py shell_plus  # django‑extensions

This cheatsheet is suitable for quick reference during Django development and interviews.