Why use a Python virtual environment when starting a Django project?

To isolate project dependencies from other Python projects

To compile Python code into faster machine code

To automatically host the project on a live server

Which command creates a new Django project skeleton?

django-admin startproject projectname

django-admin startapp projectname

python manage.py createproject projectname

Django Get Started

Follow these steps to install Django inside an isolated virtual environment and launch your first project's development server.

Setting Up a Virtual Environment

Before installing Django, create an isolated Python environment for your project. A virtual environment keeps your project's dependencies separate from other projects and from your system-wide Python installation, preventing version conflicts between projects that need different Django versions.

Python 3.10 or newer installed and available on your PATH
pip, Python's package manager (bundled with modern Python installers)
A terminal or command prompt you're comfortable working in

Example 1: Create and Activate a Virtual Environment

# Create the virtual environment
python -m venv env

# Activate it (macOS/Linux)
source env/bin/activate

# Activate it (Windows)
env\Scripts\activate

# Your prompt should now show (env)
(env) $ python --version
Python 3.12.3

Installing Django

With the virtual environment active, install Django using pip. Because the environment is active, Django is installed only for this project rather than system-wide.

Example 2: Install and Verify Django

(env) $ pip install django

# Confirm the installed version
(env) $ python -m django --version
5.0.6

Creating Your First Project

django-admin is a command-line utility installed alongside Django. Running startproject scaffolds a new project directory containing the settings and configuration files every Django site needs, and manage.py runserver starts a lightweight development web server.

Example 3: Start a New Project and Run the Server

(env) $ django-admin startproject mysite
(env) $ cd mysite
(env) $ python manage.py runserver
Watching for file changes with StatReloader
Performing system checks...

Django version 5.0.6, using settings 'mysite.settings'
Starting development server at http://127.0.0.1:8000/
Quit the server with CTRL-BREAK.

File	Purpose
manage.py	Command-line utility for running the dev server, migrations, and other admin tasks
settings.py	All project configuration: installed apps, database, middleware, templates
urls.py	The top-level URL routing table for the project
wsgi.py / asgi.py	Entry points production web servers use to run your project

Note: Name your project something other than 'django' - a folder literally named django will shadow the real django package and break every import in your project.

Exercise: Django Get Started

Which command installs Django using pip?

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