Deploying Django with Docker (Production-Ready Setup)

Let’s containerize your Django app properly and make it production-ready using Docker and Docker Compose.

Why Use Docker for Django?

• Consistent environment across machines
• Easy scaling
• Dependency isolation
• CI/CD friendly
• No “works on my machine” drama

Project Structure

myproject/
│
├── app/
├── myproject/
├── manage.py
├── requirements.txt
├── Dockerfile
├── docker-compose.yml
├── .env
├── .dockerignore
└── entrypoint.sh

1. requirements.txt

Django>=4.2
gunicorn
psycopg2-binary
python-dotenv

2. Dockerfile

FROM python:3.12-slim

ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1
ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1

WORKDIR /code

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    build-essential \
    libpq-dev \
    netcat-openbsd \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install --upgrade pip
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt

COPY . .

RUN chmod +x entrypoint.sh

ENTRYPOINT ["./entrypoint.sh"]

3. entrypoint.sh

#!/bin/sh

echo "Waiting for database..."

while ! nc -z db 5432; do
  sleep 1
done

echo "Database started"

python manage.py migrate
python manage.py collectstatic --noinput

exec gunicorn myproject.wsgi:application \
  --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 \
  --workers 3

4. docker-compose.yml

version: "3.9"

services:
  web:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    env_file:
      - .env
    depends_on:
      - db

  db:
    image: postgres:15
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data/
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: mydb
      POSTGRES_USER: myuser
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: mypassword

volumes:
  postgres_data:

5. .env File

DEBUG=0
SECRET_KEY=super-secret-key
DATABASE_NAME=mydb
DATABASE_USER=myuser
DATABASE_PASSWORD=mypassword
DATABASE_HOST=db
DATABASE_PORT=5432

6. Django settings.py Configuration

Database Configuration

import os

DATABASES = {
    "default": {
        "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.postgresql",
        "NAME": os.getenv("DATABASE_NAME"),
        "USER": os.getenv("DATABASE_USER"),
        "PASSWORD": os.getenv("DATABASE_PASSWORD"),
        "HOST": os.getenv("DATABASE_HOST"),
        "PORT": os.getenv("DATABASE_PORT"),
    }
}

Production Settings

DEBUG = False
ALLOWED_HOSTS = ["your-domain.com", "localhost"]

Static Files

STATIC_URL = "/static/"
STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "staticfiles")

7. .dockerignore

__pycache__
*.pyc
*.pyo
*.pyd
.env
venv
.git

8. Build and Run

docker-compose build
docker-compose up

Visit:

http://localhost:8000

Production Improvements

• Add Nginx as a reverse proxy for HTTPS and static file serving
• Use environment-based settings (development, production)
• Implement multi-stage Docker builds
• Add health checks

Example Healthcheck

healthcheck:
  test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8000"]
  interval: 30s
  timeout: 10s
  retries: 5

Deployment to VPS

1. Install Docker and Docker Compose
2. Clone your repository
3. Add production .env file
4. Run: docker-compose up -d --build
5. Configure Nginx
6. Attach domain
7. Install SSL with Certbot

Architecture Overview

Client → Nginx → Gunicorn (Django) → PostgreSQL

Your Django app is now containerized, scalable, and production-ready.