Create a django custom app template
I was building my own Django project template and I asked myself if it would be possible to create a custom app template for my apps when running the command
python manage.py startapp
It turned out, obviously, it was possible.
The goal is to get the following file structure for a new created django app:
myapp/
├── admin.py
├── apps.py
├── __init__.py
├── migrations
│ └── __init__.py
├── models.py
├── signals.py
├── templates
├── tests.py
├── urls.py
└── views.py
How can we do that? Let me explain it here shortly.
Copy first
Django has its own apptemplate located at _django/conf/app_template.
So just copy that app_template folder into your working directory.
cp -r venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/conf/app_template/ app_template/
In my case, I am using a Linux distro (Ubuntu 22.04). This means I can use the copy command cp -r to copy the folder from my virtual environment venv to my current working directory.
Custom files or folders
Once you have your app_template folder in your working directory, you could:
- Modify the content of the *.py-tpl
- Add more files, such as signals.py-tpl or urls.py-tpl
- Add folders. For instance app_template/templates for your HTML templates or app_template/static for your static files (JS, css, images).
I prefer deleting what I don't need than adding what I need. Therefore, I like to add some files to the app_template folder that normally I need when a new app is created.
Here are some.
Adding urls.py-tpl with the imports and the variable urlpatterns will save some seconds, or it will keep you away from frustration because of repetitive tasks.
# urls.py-tpl
from __future__ import annotations
from django.urls import path
urlpatterns = [
]
And I also created the signals.py-tpl file with a modification on the file apps.py-tpl
# signals.py-tpl
from __future__ import annotations
# apps.py-tpl
from __future__ import annotations
from django.apps import AppConfig
class {{ camel_case_app_name }}Config(AppConfig):
default_auto_field = 'django.db.models.BigAutoField'
name = '{{ app_name }}'
def ready(self):
from . import signals # noqa
An example of an app_template folder structure:
app_template/
├── admin.py-tpl
├── apps.py-tpl
├── __init__.py-tpl
├── migrations
│ └── __init__.py-tpl
├── models.py-tpl
├── signals.py-tpl
├── templates
├── tests.py-tpl
├── urls.py-tpl
└── views.py-tpl
Run the command now
Now just run the command but point out to your custom app_template folder specifying it on the --template argument:
python manage.py startapp myapp --template=app_template
Check out your app now!
myapp/
├── admin.py
├── apps.py
├── __init__.py
├── migrations
│ └── __init__.py
├── models.py
├── signals.py
├── templates
├── tests.py
├── urls.py
└── views.py
Source code
You can find the whole source code under my GitHub account:
💻 github.com/ramiboutas/my-django-project-template/
