Introduction

In today's tutorial, we will delve into the process of bootstrapping a project using the Cookie Cutter django template. Cookie Cutter is a command-line utility that generates projects from project templates, and Cookie Cutter django serves as a template specifically tailored for django projects. This guide will walk you through the steps of setting up your environment, initializing a project, and understanding the project structure.

 

 

Setting Up the Environment

To begin, ensure you have Python and Cookie Cutter installed on your system. Once installed, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the directory where you want to create your project.
2. Start a terminal session.
3. Create and activate a virtual environment using the following commands:
- For Unix-based systems:
 

virtualenv env
source env/bin/activate

- For Windows systems:
 

virtualenv env
env\Scripts\activate

4. Install Cookie Cutter:
 

pip install cookiecutter

Initializing the Project

Once your environment is set up, you can initialize your Cookie Cutter django project:

1. Visit the Cookie Cutter django documentation and navigate to the \"Getting Started\" section.
2. Copy the initialization command provided.
3. Run the command in your terminal.
4. Follow the prompts to configure your project, providing details such as project name, author, domain, email, licenses, and other preferences.
5. Upon completion, your project will be initialized based on the specified configuration.

 

Understanding the Project Structure

After initializing your project, it's essential to understand its structure:

- **Config:** Contains project configuration settings, including base, local, and production configurations.
- **omdb_api:** The root folder of your Django project.
- **Static:** Stores static files such as CSS, fonts, and images.
- **Templates:** Contains HTML templates for your project.
- **User:** Includes files related to user models.
- **Requirements:** Contains base, local, and production requirements files for managing project dependencies.

 

Configuration

To run your project successfully, ensure you set up your environment variables:

1. Create a `.env` file in the project root.
2. Set `DJANGO_READ_ENV_FILE=true` to enable reading environment variables from a `.env` file.
3. Set `DATABASE_URL` to your PostgreSQL database URL.

 

Running the Project

With your environment configured, you can now run your Cookie Cutter django project:

1. Activate your virtual environment if not already activated.
2. Install project dependencies:
 

pip install - r requirements/local.txt

3. Apply migrations:
 

python manage.py migrate

4. Start the Django development server:
 

python manage.py runserver

Conclusion

Congratulations! You've successfully bootstrapped a project using the Cookie Cutter django template. Feel free to explore the project structure further and customize it according to your requirements. If you found this tutorial helpful, consider subscribing to the channel for more content. Thank you for your time and happy coding!