If you haven’t already, checkout https://github.com/cookiecutter/cookiecutter-django We’ve been using it as boilerplate for almost ten years in our projects at work, i’ve always felt it was a good entrypoint into the whole containerization-sphere. (Important gotcha if you’re on Windows is to run the container in WSL using a Linux distro to avoid 30 second hot reloads on file changes) Answer from krikkaa on reddit.com
🌐
Docker
docker.com › blog › how-to-dockerize-django-app
Dockerize a Django App: Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners | Docker
September 30, 2025 - Here are the main reasons why you ... the app and use it on any system or server. Docker makes it simple to set up local environments for development, testing, and production....
🌐
TestDriven.io
testdriven.io › blog › dockerizing-django-with-postgres-gunicorn-and-nginx
Dockerizing Django with Postgres, Gunicorn, and Nginx | TestDriven.io
July 27, 2023 - For production, add another volume to the web and nginx services: version: '3.8' services: web: build: context: ./app dockerfile: Dockerfile.prod command: gunicorn hello_django.wsgi:application --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 volumes: - static_volume:/home/app/web/staticfiles - media_volume:/home/app/web/mediafiles expose: - 8000 env_file: - ./.env.prod depends_on: - db db: image: postgres:15 volumes: - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data/ env_file: - ./.env.prod.db nginx: build: ./nginx volumes: - static_volume:/home/app/web/staticfiles - media_volume:/home/app/web/mediafiles ports: - 1337:80 depends_on: - web volumes: postgres_data: static_volume: media_volume:
Discussions
Django Docker best practices for dummies?
If you haven’t already, checkout https://github.com/cookiecutter/cookiecutter-django We’ve been using it as boilerplate for almost ten years in our projects at work, i’ve always felt it was a good entrypoint into the whole containerization-sphere. (Important gotcha if you’re on Windows is to run the container in WSL using a Linux distro to avoid 30 second hot reloads on file changes) More on reddit.com
🌐 r/django
12
18
September 11, 2024
Production-ready Docker setup for Django applications
The postgres and redis ready-checks are a nice touch 👏 More on reddit.com
🌐 r/django
32
63
September 28, 2021
Best way to deploy a Django application (Ansible vs docker-compose)
I've used both and decided on docker-compose, since I can easily roll back to a previous version if there are problems. This could be messy with Ansible. The command line in docker-compose can just as easily run a wsgi server instead of runserver. This lets you choose Gunicorn or uwsgi. I have nginx in a separate container, in front, to handle certificates, encryption, static content, handling the reverse proxy to my app. I have a multi-step Dockerfile to build the app layer image with django, dependencies, and include the application code. A second step in the dockerfile runs the 'collectstatic', and a third that copies just the static content to build the nginx image. One Dockerfile used to create two images. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/django
11
10
April 10, 2019
When would I use Docker?

Let me start of my saying that I really, really like docker. Its a wonderful technology that is absolutely production ready. Once you've created proper images, you're able to scale to a silly degree, with automatic load balancing, failover and so much more... but honestly? you are probably better off not using it.

Docker containers are meant to be small, each application getting its own container. You're still able to run them simultaneously using provisioning tools, whatever they might be.

But if you're not going all in, you'll quickly get into a world of pain. Logrotate? Networking? Storage? Monitoring?

This and more are all things that need to work if this service is meant to be used in production. And its definitely not trivial to setup.

And we've not even started with development yet. if something doesnt work, you need to debug so many layers of abstractions that it will quickly feel horrible.

Docker is great if you want to go into CI/CD though. Just create a container from SCM and deploy it into the kubernetes cluster, fully configured to pipe all logs to a logserver. Its simply great at scale.

Also, docker containers are NOT virtual machines! if you use them like that, you'll quickly get massive images that take ages to start and force you to actually enter the container to debug. Once you're there, you'll quickly get why https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PivpCKEiQOQ got created

More on reddit.com
🌐 r/django
22
18
November 26, 2017
Videos
🌐 youtube.com
Django Docker Deployment with HTTPS using Letsencrypt
05:11:54
🌐 YouTube
Deploy Django into Production with Kubernetes, Docker, & Github ...
February 9, 2022
02:24:50
🌐 YouTube
Deploying Django with Docker Compose - YouTube
May 31, 2021
59:10
🌐 YouTube
Deploying Django to Google App Engine using Docker - YouTube
May 3, 2021
40:51
🌐 YouTube
Django and Docker Compose - Build a multi-container setup with ...
October 8, 2020
01:09:56
🌐 YouTube
Deploy Django Docker Image to Heroku - YouTube
November 8, 2020
View all
View all
🌐
DEV Community
dev.to › documatic › start-a-production-ready-dockerized-django-project-5eop
Start a Production-Ready Dockerized Django Project - DEV Community
August 27, 2023 - Django’s built-in server is not suitable for production so you should be using a production-grade WSGI server like Gunicorn in a production environment. In addition, you should also consider adding Nginx to act as a reverse proxy for Gunicorn ...
🌐
Better Stack
betterstack.com › community › guides › scaling-python › dockerize-django
Containerizing Django Applications with Docker | Better Stack Community
January 21, 2026 - Package a Django application with ... production configurations · By Dockerizing your Django application, you'll get consistent deployments, isolated environments, and easier scaling capabilities....
🌐
JetBrains
jetbrains.com › guide › django › tutorials › django-docker › production-ready
Making your deployment production-ready - Django
June 7, 2024 - We are making sure that the container ... through Docker Compose. Provide the path to the compose.yaml file and then go ahead and click Apply -> Run. It will take a couple of minutes to initialize, and this is how the final output will look. Next, right-click on the “django_docker-server-1” ...
🌐
DEV Community
dev.to › doridoro › make-a-django-project-production-ready-create-a-docker-image-and-use-github-cicd-to-automate-the-push-of-the-docker-image-fm3
Make a Django project production-ready, create a Docker Image and use GitHub CI/CD to automate the push of the Docker image - DEV Community
September 27, 2024 - Dockerfile for a Django project ... production environment, two important tools can significantly improve your setup: WhiteNoise and Gunicorn....
🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/django › django docker best practices for dummies?
r/django on Reddit: Django Docker best practices for dummies?
September 11, 2024 -

I have created a fair few small (and one giant sprawling) Django project that are in use by small groups of consistent people (think work groups).

Up to this point, I've built sites inside python venv's and hosted with Apache mod_wsgi, all on a couple of AWS virtual machines (EC2 instances).

As I make more little Django sites, it seems like it's getting time to move into containers to keep a bit more explicit definition around package requirements/versions, transition between servers, easier local testing, etc. It seems like most tutorials out there are for toy projects on bare metal (raises hand) or using Django for Kubernetes style dynamic deployment, load balancing, etc.

Does anyone have a good resource for building / deploying relatively simple Django projects to a container for general containerization. Things like, packaging process, pros and cons of running the database in the same container / different container / bare metal, etc.

Top answer
1 of 5
12
If you haven’t already, checkout https://github.com/cookiecutter/cookiecutter-django We’ve been using it as boilerplate for almost ten years in our projects at work, i’ve always felt it was a good entrypoint into the whole containerization-sphere. (Important gotcha if you’re on Windows is to run the container in WSL using a Linux distro to avoid 30 second hot reloads on file changes)
2 of 5
4
I HIGHLY recommend dokku. Zero downtime deploys, git push deploys. Plugins for all the stuff you need like dbs, letsencrypt etc.
Find elsewhere
🌐
Docker
docs.docker.com › reference › samples › django samples
Django samples | Docker Docs
February 14, 2023 - Docker samples for Django.
🌐
GitHub
github.com › nickjj › docker-django-example
GitHub - nickjj/docker-django-example: A production ready example Django app that's using Docker and Docker Compose. · GitHub
The example app is minimal but it wires up a number of things you might use in a real world Django app, but at the same time it's not loaded up with a million personal opinions. For the Docker bits, everything included is an accumulation of Docker best practices based on building and deploying dozens of assorted Dockerized web apps since late 2014.
Starred by 1.5K users
Forked by 467 users
Languages   Python 37.9% | Shell 29.4% | HTML 19.2% | Dockerfile 11.2% | JavaScript 2.2% | CSS 0.1%
🌐
Caktusgroup
caktusgroup.com › blog › 2017 › 03 › 14 › production-ready-dockerfile-your-python-django-app
Here's a Production-Ready Dockerfile for Your Python/Django App | Caktus Group
This is intended for local testing of your production environment only, and will not save data from stateful services like Postgres upon container shutdown. version: "2" services: db: environment: POSTGRES_DB: app_db POSTGRES_USER: app_user POSTGRES_PASSWORD: changeme restart: always image: postgres:12 expose: - "5432" app: environment: DATABASE_URL: postgres://app_user:changeme@db/app_db DJANGO_MANAGEPY_MIGRATE: "on" build: context: . dockerfile: ./Dockerfile links: - db:db ports: - "8000:8000"
🌐
Real Python
realpython.com › django-development-with-docker-compose-and-machine
Django Development with Docker Compose and Machine
This path is for Python developers who want to go deep with Django and build production-ready web applications.
🌐
Medium
medium.com › @shitijnigam › django-journey-jottings-e6e5ff10a869
Deploying a Django app on Docker & Fly.io - Shitij Nigam | Medium
August 16, 2024 - N.B. Fly’s natural deployment process will generate a new Dockerfile for you; best to have a copy of the original you use in Docker for local testing · pillow* has a lot of dependencies; you need to add libjpeg62-turbo-dev \ and, .. zlipb1g-dev \ .. as separate lines under RUN apt-get-update && apt-get install -y \ *checkout requirements.txt · db connections don’t always work, and I’m unsure if this flows to the production environment, but for the sake of completion, including these: under the web container, add links: — db:db networks: — djangonetwork
🌐
DEV Community
dev.to › zompro › a-journey-through-django-and-docker-hands-on-production-deployment-principles-and-ideas-17a3
A journey through Django and Docker: hands-on production deployment principles and ideas - DEV Community
September 16, 2020 - The main objective of this tutorial is to give you an idea of some of the things involved pushing a Python webapp using Docker in production. The final code can be found in this repository in case you get stuck. https://github.com/zom-pro/django-docker
🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/django › production-ready docker setup for django applications
r/django on Reddit: Production-ready Docker setup for Django applications
September 28, 2021 -

I always feel like reinventing the wheels, every time I write Dockerfile for my Django applications. Few things which I realized are critical for Docker setup for production environment are image size, security, incorporation of Django commands like `collectstatic` and `migrate`, side-effects in scaling up and down in Kubernetes or some other setup, etc.

In this blog, I have tried to create a reusable template and share the reasoning behind it so as to initiate discussion for further improvement.

The (near) Perfect Dockerfile for Django Applications

Top answer
1 of 5
10
The postgres and redis ready-checks are a nice touch 👏
2 of 5
4
How much would this benefit from a multi-stage build? Looks nice. Will be taking lessons from this.
🌐
Doprax
doprax.com › tutorial › deploy-django-using-docker-nginx-mysql
Deploy Django on Docker [the ultimate guide]
Build and deploy applications with scalable virtual machines and an extensive app market. Power to run your code with Doprax's cloud platform.
🌐
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › devops › how-to-dockerize-django-application-for-production-deployement-with-gunicorn-and-nginx
How to Dockerize django application for production deployment with Gunicorn and Nginx - GeeksforGeeks
July 23, 2025 - Lastly, create the docker-compose.yml file at the root of the application. ... Paste the following commands into the file. ... version: '3.9' # Defining the compose version services: # Nginx server nginx: # Build context build: ./nginx # Mapping machine and container ports ports: - 1337:80 # Storage volumes volumes: - static_volume:/home/app/web/staticfiles - media_volume:/home/app/web/mediafiles depends_on: - web restart: "on-failure" # Django application web: # Build context build: ./web # Build commands command: sh -c "python manage.py makemigrations && python manage.py migrate && python manage.py collectstatic && gunicorn web.wsgi:application --bind 0.0.0.0:8000" # Storage volumes volumes: - static_volume:/home/app/web/staticfiles - media_volume:/home/app/web/mediafiles # Exposing port 8000 expose: - 8000 restart: "on-failure" volumes: postgres_data: static_volume: media_volume:
🌐
GitHub
github.com › morninj › django-docker
GitHub - morninj/django-docker: A framework for deploying Django projects on Docker
It's a robust and simple way to run Django projects on production servers. $ cp config.ini.sample config.ini # add your server details here $ fab deploy_production · That's it—you now have a fully Dockerized Django project running on a production ...
Starred by 354 users
Forked by 103 users
Languages   Python 60.4% | Shell 27.7% | HTML 5.4% | Nginx 5.2% | CSS 1.3% | Python 60.4% | Shell 27.7% | HTML 5.4% | Nginx 5.2% | CSS 1.3%
🌐
CircleCI
circleci.com › blog › production-ready-dockerized-django
Continuous integration for a production-ready Dockerized Django application - CircleCI
June 6, 2022 - Learn how to set up continuous integration for a production-ready Dockerized Django application with CircleCI and Codecov.
🌐
HackerNoon
hackernoon.com › how-to-dockerize-and-deploy-django-applications
How to Dockerize And Deploy Django Applications | HackerNoon
October 14, 2023 - In this tutorial, you learned how to dockerize and deploy Django applications using Docker, Django, and Heroku.
🌐
Readthedocs
cookiecutter-django.readthedocs.io › en › latest › deployment-with-docker.html
Deployment with Docker — Cookiecutter Django 2026.9.5 documentation
March 27, 2022 - create a .env file in the root of the project with just variables you need. You’ll need to also define them in .envs/.production/.django (hence duplicating them). set these variables when running the build command: DJANGO_AWS_S3_CUSTOM_DOMAIN=example.com docker compose -f docker-compose.production.yml build``.
Related queries
django docker compose
django docker tutorial
django docker-compose
docker django postgres
docker django nginx gunicorn mysql
django dockerfile production
django dockerfile
django docker example