Why Upsun for Django? Upsun stands out as a comprehensive platform for Django developers that addresses many common pain points in Django deployment and development. Ready-to-use services: Redis, PostgreSQL, Kafka, Elastic Search, Open Search and more Environment cloning for testing and development (great for teams working together) Infrastructure-as-code for version-controlled server setups Local development boost through service tunneling Integrated Blackfire profiling for performance optimization These features collectively create an ecosystem that streamlines Django development, from local coding to production deployment.

When the python interpreter executes python files, it compiles them to bytecode and saves it as files in a directory called __pycache__ in the same directory as the code itself. You might have seen such files, here’s an example from a Django project: $ ls -1 __pycache__/ __init__.cpython-311.pyc admin.cpython-311.pyc apps.cpython-311.pyc models.cpython-311.pyc tests.cpython-311.pyc views.cpython-311.pyc This saves time by allowing the compile step to be skipped in subsequent executions. On Upsun, python code is deployed onto a read-only file system.

This post shows how to develop Django locally using the PostgreSQL and Redis servers in the cloud, on Upsun. There are several reasons why a developer would want to develop without installing a copy of the services on their local computer: Time and effort: why install services you don’t need if they’re available elsewhere? Data: If you’re working on a production site, there’s likely production data that influences how the app works.