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<div class="yui-g" id="howto-static-files">
<div class="section" id="s-managing-static-files">
<span id="managing-static-files"></span><h1>Managing static files<a class="headerlink" href="#managing-static-files" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<div class="versionadded">
<span class="title">New in Django 1.3:</span> <a class="reference internal" href="../releases/1.3.html"><em>Please, see the release notes</em></a></div>
<p>Django developers mostly concern themselves with the dynamic parts of web
applications – the views and templates that render anew for each request. But
web applications have other parts: the static files (images, CSS,
Javascript, etc.) that are needed to render a complete web page.</p>
<p>For small projects, this isn’t a big deal, because you can just keep the
static files somewhere your web server can find it. However, in bigger
projects – especially those comprised of multiple apps – dealing with the
multiple sets of static files provided by each application starts to get
tricky.</p>
<p>That’s what <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">django.contrib.staticfiles</span></tt> is for: it collects static files
from each of your applications (and any other places you specify) into a
single location that can easily be served in production.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="first admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>If you’ve used the <a class="reference external" href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/django-staticfiles/">django-staticfiles</a> third-party app before, then
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">django.contrib.staticfiles</span></tt> will look very familiar. That’s because
they’re essentially the same code: <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">django.contrib.staticfiles</span></tt> started
its life as <a class="reference external" href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/django-staticfiles/">django-staticfiles</a> and was merged into Django 1.3.</p>
<p class="last">If you’re upgrading from <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">django-staticfiles</span></tt>, please see <a class="reference internal" href="#upgrading-from-django-staticfiles">Upgrading from
django-staticfiles</a>, below, for a few minor changes you’ll need to make.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="s-using-django-contrib-staticfiles">
<span id="using-django-contrib-staticfiles"></span><h2>Using <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">django.contrib.staticfiles</span></tt><a class="headerlink" href="#using-django-contrib-staticfiles" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<div class="section" id="s-basic-usage">
<span id="basic-usage"></span><h3>Basic usage<a class="headerlink" href="#basic-usage" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<ol class="arabic">
<li><p class="first">Put your static files somewhere that <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">staticfiles</span></tt> will find them.</p>
<p>By default, this means within <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">static/</span></tt> subdirectories of apps in your
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-INSTALLED_APPS"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">INSTALLED_APPS</span></tt></a>.</p>
<p>Your project will probably also have static assets that aren’t tied to a
particular app. The <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#std:setting-STATICFILES_DIRS"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATICFILES_DIRS</span></tt></a> setting is a tuple of
filesystem directories to check when loading static files. It’s a search
path that is by default empty. See the <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#std:setting-STATICFILES_DIRS"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATICFILES_DIRS</span></tt></a> docs
how to extend this list of additional paths.</p>
<p>Additionally, see the documentation for the <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#std:setting-STATICFILES_FINDERS"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATICFILES_FINDERS</span></tt></a>
setting for details on how <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">staticfiles</span></tt> finds your files.</p>
</li>
<li><p class="first">Make sure that <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">django.contrib.staticfiles</span></tt> is included in your
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-INSTALLED_APPS"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">INSTALLED_APPS</span></tt></a>.</p>
<p>For <a class="reference internal" href="#staticfiles-development"><em>local development</em></a>, if you are using
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#staticfiles-runserver"><em>runserver</em></a> or adding
<a class="reference internal" href="#staticfiles-development"><em>staticfiles_urlpatterns</em></a> to your
URLconf, you’re done with the setup – your static files will
automatically be served at the default (for
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/django-admin.html#django-admin-startproject"><tt class="xref std std-djadmin docutils literal"><span class="pre">newly</span> <span class="pre">created</span></tt></a> projects) <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_URL"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_URL</span></tt></a>
of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">/static/</span></tt>.</p>
</li>
<li><p class="first">You’ll probably need to refer to these files in your templates. The
easiest method is to use the included context processor which allows
template code like:</p>
<div class="highlight-html+django"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="nt"><img</span> <span class="na">src=</span><span class="s">"</span><span class="cp">{{</span> <span class="nv">STATIC_URL</span> <span class="cp">}}</span><span class="s">images/hi.jpg"</span> <span class="nt">/></span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>See <a class="reference internal" href="#staticfiles-in-templates"><em>Referring to static files in templates</em></a> for more details, including an
alternate method using a template tag.</p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="section" id="s-deploying-static-files-in-a-nutshell">
<span id="deploying-static-files-in-a-nutshell"></span><h3>Deploying static files in a nutshell<a class="headerlink" href="#deploying-static-files-in-a-nutshell" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>When you're ready to move out of local development and deploy your project:</p>
<ol class="arabic">
<li><p class="first">Set the <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_URL"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_URL</span></tt></a> setting to the public URL for your static
files (in most cases, the default value of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">/static/</span></tt> is just fine).</p>
</li>
<li><p class="first">Set the <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_ROOT"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_ROOT</span></tt></a> setting to point to the filesystem path
you'd like your static files collected to when you use the
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#django-admin-collectstatic"><tt class="xref std std-djadmin docutils literal"><span class="pre">collectstatic</span></tt></a> management command. For example:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="n">STATIC_ROOT</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="s">"/home/jacob/projects/mysite.com/sitestatic"</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</li>
<li><p class="first">Run the <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#django-admin-collectstatic"><tt class="xref std std-djadmin docutils literal"><span class="pre">collectstatic</span></tt></a> management command:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><pre>./manage.py collectstatic</pre>
</div>
<p>This'll churn through your static file storage and copy them into the
directory given by <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_ROOT"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_ROOT</span></tt></a>.</p>
</li>
<li><p class="first">Deploy those files by configuring your webserver of choice to serve the
files in <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_ROOT"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_ROOT</span></tt></a> at <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_URL"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_URL</span></tt></a>.</p>
<p><a class="reference internal" href="#staticfiles-production"><em>Serving static files in production</em></a> covers some common deployment strategies
for static files.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Those are the <strong>basics</strong>. For more details on common configuration options,
read on; for a detailed reference of the settings, commands, and other bits
included with the framework see
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html"><em>the staticfiles reference</em></a>.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="first admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>In previous versions of Django, it was common to place static assets in
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-MEDIA_ROOT"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">MEDIA_ROOT</span></tt></a> along with user-uploaded files, and serve them both
at <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-MEDIA_URL"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">MEDIA_URL</span></tt></a>. Part of the purpose of introducing the
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">staticfiles</span></tt> app is to make it easier to keep static files separate
from user-uploaded files.</p>
<p class="last">For this reason, you need to make your <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-MEDIA_ROOT"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">MEDIA_ROOT</span></tt></a> and
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-MEDIA_URL"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">MEDIA_URL</span></tt></a> different from your <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_ROOT"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_ROOT</span></tt></a> and
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_URL"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_URL</span></tt></a>. You will need to arrange for serving of files in
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-MEDIA_ROOT"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">MEDIA_ROOT</span></tt></a> yourself; <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">staticfiles</span></tt> does not deal with
user-uploaded files at all. You can, however, use
<a class="reference internal" href="#django.views.static.serve" title="django.views.static.serve"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">django.views.static.serve()</span></tt></a> view for serving <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-MEDIA_ROOT"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">MEDIA_ROOT</span></tt></a>
in development; see <a class="reference internal" href="#staticfiles-other-directories"><em>Serving other directories</em></a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="s-referring-to-static-files-in-templates">
<span id="s-staticfiles-in-templates"></span><span id="referring-to-static-files-in-templates"></span><span id="staticfiles-in-templates"></span><h2>Referring to static files in templates<a class="headerlink" href="#referring-to-static-files-in-templates" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>At some point, you'll probably need to link to static files in your templates.
You could, of course, simply hardcode the path to you assets in the templates:</p>
<div class="highlight-html"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="nt"><img</span> <span class="na">src=</span><span class="s">"http://static.example.com/static/myimage.jpg"</span> <span class="nt">/></span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Of course, there are some serious problems with this: it doesn't work well in
development, and it makes it <em>very</em> hard to change where you've deployed your
static files. If, for example, you wanted to switch to using a content
delivery network (CDN), then you'd need to change more or less every single
template.</p>
<p>A far better way is to use the value of the <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_URL"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_URL</span></tt></a> setting
directly in your templates. This means that a switch of static files servers
only requires changing that single value. Much better!</p>
<p><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">staticfiles</span></tt> includes two built-in ways of getting at this setting in your
templates: a context processor and a template tag.</p>
<div class="section" id="s-with-a-context-processor">
<span id="with-a-context-processor"></span><h3>With a context processor<a class="headerlink" href="#with-a-context-processor" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>The included context processor is the easy way. Simply make sure
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'django.core.context_processors.static'</span></tt> is in your
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS</span></tt></a>. It's there by default, and if you're
editing that setting by hand it should look something like:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="n">TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">(</span>
<span class="s">'django.core.context_processors.debug'</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="s">'django.core.context_processors.i18n'</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="s">'django.core.context_processors.media'</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="s">'django.core.context_processors.static'</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="s">'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth'</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="s">'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages'</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Once that's done, you can refer to <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_URL"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_URL</span></tt></a> in your templates:</p>
<div class="highlight-html+django"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="nt"><img</span> <span class="na">src=</span><span class="s">"</span><span class="cp">{{</span> <span class="nv">STATIC_URL</span> <span class="cp">}}</span><span class="s">images/hi.jpg"</span> <span class="nt">/></span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>If <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">{{</span> <span class="pre">STATIC_URL</span> <span class="pre">}}</span></tt> isn't working in your template, you're probably not
using <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/templates/api.html#django.template.RequestContext" title="django.template.RequestContext"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">RequestContext</span></tt></a> when rendering the template.</p>
<p>As a brief refresher, context processors add variables into the contexts of
every template. However, context processors require that you use
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/templates/api.html#django.template.RequestContext" title="django.template.RequestContext"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">RequestContext</span></tt></a> when rendering templates. This happens
automatically if you're using a <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/class-based-views.html"><em>generic view</em></a>,
but in views written by hand you'll need to explicitly use <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">RequestContext</span></tt>
To see how that works, and to read more details, check out
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/templates/api.html#subclassing-context-requestcontext"><em>Subclassing Context: RequestContext</em></a>.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="s-with-a-template-tag">
<span id="with-a-template-tag"></span><h3>With a template tag<a class="headerlink" href="#with-a-template-tag" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>The second option is the <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#std:templatetag-get_static_prefix"><tt class="xref std std-ttag docutils literal"><span class="pre">get_static_prefix</span></tt></a> template tag. You can
use this if you're not using <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/templates/api.html#django.template.RequestContext" title="django.template.RequestContext"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">RequestContext</span></tt></a>, or if you
need more control over exactly where and how <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_URL"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_URL</span></tt></a> is
injected into the template. Here's an example:</p>
<div class="highlight-html+django"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="cp">{%</span> <span class="k">load</span> <span class="nv">static</span> <span class="cp">%}</span>
<span class="nt"><img</span> <span class="na">src=</span><span class="s">"</span><span class="cp">{%</span> <span class="k">get_static_prefix</span> <span class="cp">%}</span><span class="s">images/hi.jpg"</span> <span class="nt">/></span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>There's also a second form you can use to avoid extra processing if you need the
value multiple times:</p>
<div class="highlight-html+django"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="cp">{%</span> <span class="k">load</span> <span class="nv">static</span> <span class="cp">%}</span>
<span class="cp">{%</span> <span class="k">get_static_prefix</span> <span class="k">as</span> <span class="nv">STATIC_PREFIX</span> <span class="cp">%}</span>
<span class="nt"><img</span> <span class="na">src=</span><span class="s">"</span><span class="cp">{{</span> <span class="nv">STATIC_PREFIX</span> <span class="cp">}}</span><span class="s">images/hi.jpg"</span> <span class="nt">/></span>
<span class="nt"><img</span> <span class="na">src=</span><span class="s">"</span><span class="cp">{{</span> <span class="nv">STATIC_PREFIX</span> <span class="cp">}}</span><span class="s">images/hi2.jpg"</span> <span class="nt">/></span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="s-serving-static-files-in-development">
<span id="s-staticfiles-development"></span><span id="serving-static-files-in-development"></span><span id="staticfiles-development"></span><h2>Serving static files in development<a class="headerlink" href="#serving-static-files-in-development" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The static files tools are mostly designed to help with getting static files
successfully deployed into production. This usually means a separate,
dedicated static file server, which is a lot of overhead to mess with when
developing locally. Thus, the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">staticfiles</span></tt> app ships with a
<strong>quick and dirty helper view</strong> that you can use to serve files locally in
development.</p>
<p>This view is automatically enabled and will serve your static files at
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_URL"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_URL</span></tt></a> when you use the built-in
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#staticfiles-runserver"><em>runserver</em></a> management command.</p>
<p>To enable this view if you are using some other server for local development,
you'll add a couple of lines to your URLconf. The first line goes at the top
of the file, and the last line at the bottom:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">django.contrib.staticfiles.urls</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="n">staticfiles_urlpatterns</span>
<span class="c"># ... the rest of your URLconf goes here ...</span>
<span class="n">urlpatterns</span> <span class="o">+=</span> <span class="n">staticfiles_urlpatterns</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>This will inspect your <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_URL"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_URL</span></tt></a> setting and wire up the view
to serve static files accordingly. Don't forget to set the
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#std:setting-STATICFILES_DIRS"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATICFILES_DIRS</span></tt></a> setting appropriately to let
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">django.contrib.staticfiles</span></tt> know where to look for files additionally to
files in app directories.</p>
<div class="admonition warning">
<p class="first admonition-title">Warning</p>
<p>This will only work if <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-DEBUG"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">DEBUG</span></tt></a> is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></tt>.</p>
<p>That's because this view is <strong>grossly inefficient</strong> and probably
<strong>insecure</strong>. This is only intended for local development, and should
<strong>never be used in production</strong>.</p>
<p class="last">Additionally, when using <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">staticfiles_urlpatterns</span></tt> your
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_URL"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_URL</span></tt></a> setting can't be empty or a full URL, such as
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">http://static.example.com/</span></tt>.</p>
</div>
<p>For a few more details on how the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">staticfiles</span></tt> can be used during
development, see <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#staticfiles-development-view"><em>Static file development view</em></a>.</p>
<div class="section" id="s-serving-other-directories">
<span id="s-staticfiles-other-directories"></span><span id="serving-other-directories"></span><span id="staticfiles-other-directories"></span><h3>Serving other directories<a class="headerlink" href="#serving-other-directories" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="django.views.static.serve">
<tt class="descname">serve</tt>(<em>request</em>, <em>path</em>, <em>document_root</em>, <em>show_indexes=False</em>)<a class="headerlink" href="#django.views.static.serve" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd></dd></dl>
<p>There may be files other than your project's static assets that, for
convenience, you'd like to have Django serve for you in local development.
The <a class="reference internal" href="#django.views.static.serve" title="django.views.static.serve"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">serve()</span></tt></a> view can be used to serve any directory
you give it. (Again, this view is <strong>not</strong> hardened for production
use, and should be used only as a development aid; you should serve these files
in production using a real front-end webserver).</p>
<p>The most likely example is user-uploaded content in <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-MEDIA_ROOT"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">MEDIA_ROOT</span></tt></a>.
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">staticfiles</span></tt> is intended for static assets and has no built-in handling
for user-uploaded files, but you can have Django serve your
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-MEDIA_ROOT"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">MEDIA_ROOT</span></tt></a> by appending something like this to your URLconf:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">django.conf</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="n">settings</span>
<span class="c"># ... the rest of your URLconf goes here ...</span>
<span class="k">if</span> <span class="n">settings</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">DEBUG</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="n">urlpatterns</span> <span class="o">+=</span> <span class="n">patterns</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">''</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="n">url</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">r'^media/(?P<path>.*)$'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s">'django.views.static.serve'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">{</span>
<span class="s">'document_root'</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">settings</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">MEDIA_ROOT</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="p">}),</span>
<span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Note, the snippet assumes your <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-MEDIA_URL"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">MEDIA_URL</span></tt></a> has a value of
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'/media/'</span></tt>. This will call the <a class="reference internal" href="#django.views.static.serve" title="django.views.static.serve"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">serve()</span></tt></a> view,
passing in the path from the URLconf and the (required) <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">document_root</span></tt>
parameter.</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="django.conf.urls.static.static">
<tt class="descname">static</tt>(<em>prefix</em>, <em>view='django.views.static.serve'</em>, <em>**kwargs</em>)<a class="headerlink" href="#django.conf.urls.static.static" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd></dd></dl>
<p>Since it can become a bit cumbersome to define this URL pattern, Django
ships with a small URL helper function
<a class="reference internal" href="#django.conf.urls.static.static" title="django.conf.urls.static.static"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">static()</span></tt></a> that takes as parameters the prefix
such as <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-MEDIA_URL"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">MEDIA_URL</span></tt></a> and a dotted path to a view, such as
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'django.views.static.serve'</span></tt>. Any other function parameter will be
transparently passed to the view.</p>
<p>An example for serving <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-MEDIA_URL"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">MEDIA_URL</span></tt></a> (<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'/media/'</span></tt>) during
development:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">django.conf</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="n">settings</span>
<span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">django.conf.urls.static</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="n">static</span>
<span class="n">urlpatterns</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">patterns</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">''</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="c"># ... the rest of your URLconf goes here ...</span>
<span class="p">)</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="n">static</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">settings</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">MEDIA_URL</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">document_root</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="n">settings</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">MEDIA_ROOT</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="first admonition-title">Note</p>
<p class="last">This helper function will only be operational in debug mode and if
the given prefix is local (e.g. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">/static/</span></tt>) and not a URL (e.g.
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">http://static.example.com/</span></tt>).</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="s-serving-static-files-in-production">
<span id="s-staticfiles-production"></span><span id="serving-static-files-in-production"></span><span id="staticfiles-production"></span><h2>Serving static files in production<a class="headerlink" href="#serving-static-files-in-production" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The basic outline of putting static files into production is simple: run the
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#django-admin-collectstatic"><tt class="xref std std-djadmin docutils literal"><span class="pre">collectstatic</span></tt></a> command when static files change, then arrange for
the collected static files directory (<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_ROOT"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_ROOT</span></tt></a>) to be moved to
the static file server and served.</p>
<p>Of course, as with all deployment tasks, the devil's in the details. Every
production setup will be a bit different, so you'll need to adapt the basic
outline to fit your needs. Below are a few common patterns that might help.</p>
<div class="section" id="s-serving-the-app-and-your-static-files-from-the-same-server">
<span id="serving-the-app-and-your-static-files-from-the-same-server"></span><h3>Serving the app and your static files from the same server<a class="headerlink" href="#serving-the-app-and-your-static-files-from-the-same-server" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>If you want to serve your static files from the same server that's already
serving your site, the basic outline gets modified to look something like:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Push your code up to the deployment server.</li>
<li>On the server, run <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#django-admin-collectstatic"><tt class="xref std std-djadmin docutils literal"><span class="pre">collectstatic</span></tt></a> to copy all the static files
into <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_ROOT"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_ROOT</span></tt></a>.</li>
<li>Point your web server at <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_ROOT"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_ROOT</span></tt></a>. For example, here's
<a class="reference internal" href="deployment/modwsgi.html#serving-files"><em>how to do this under Apache and mod_wsgi</em></a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>You'll probably want to automate this process, especially if you've got
multiple web servers. There's any number of ways to do this automation, but
one option that many Django developers enjoy is <a class="reference external" href="http://fabfile.org/">Fabric</a>.</p>
<p>Below, and in the following sections, we'll show off a few example fabfiles
(i.e. Fabric scripts) that automate these file deployment options. The syntax
of a fabfile is fairly straightforward but won't be covered here; consult
<a class="reference external" href="http://docs.fabfile.org/">Fabric's documentation</a>, for a complete explanation of the syntax..</p>
<p>So, a fabfile to deploy static files to a couple of web servers might look
something like:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">fabric.api</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="o">*</span>
<span class="c"># Hosts to deploy onto</span>
<span class="n">env</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">hosts</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">[</span><span class="s">'www1.example.com'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s">'www2.example.com'</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="c"># Where your project code lives on the server</span>
<span class="n">env</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">project_root</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="s">'/home/www/myproject'</span>
<span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">deploy_static</span><span class="p">():</span>
<span class="k">with</span> <span class="n">cd</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">env</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">project_root</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="n">run</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'./manage.py collectstatic -v0 --noinput'</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="s-serving-static-files-from-a-dedicated-server">
<span id="serving-static-files-from-a-dedicated-server"></span><h3>Serving static files from a dedicated server<a class="headerlink" href="#serving-static-files-from-a-dedicated-server" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>Most larger Django apps use a separate Web server -- i.e., one that's not also
running Django -- for serving static files. This server often runs a different
type of web server -- faster but less full-featured. Some good choices are:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.lighttpd.net/">lighttpd</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://wiki.nginx.org/Main">Nginx</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TUX_web_server">TUX</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.cherokee-project.com/">Cherokee</a></li>
<li>A stripped-down version of <a class="reference external" href="http://httpd.apache.org/">Apache</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Configuring these servers is out of scope of this document; check each
server's respective documentation for instructions.</p>
<p>Since your static file server won't be running Django, you'll need to modify
the deployment strategy to look something like:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li>When your static files change, run <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#django-admin-collectstatic"><tt class="xref std std-djadmin docutils literal"><span class="pre">collectstatic</span></tt></a> locally.</li>
<li>Push your local <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-STATIC_ROOT"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATIC_ROOT</span></tt></a> up to the static file server
into the directory that's being served. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">rsync</span></tt> is a good
choice for this step since it only needs to transfer the
bits of static files that have changed.</li>
</ul>
<p>Here's how this might look in a fabfile:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">fabric.api</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="o">*</span>
<span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">fabric.contrib</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="n">project</span>
<span class="c"># Where the static files get collected locally</span>
<span class="n">env</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">local_static_root</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="s">'/tmp/static'</span>
<span class="c"># Where the static files should go remotely</span>
<span class="n">env</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">remote_static_root</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="s">'/home/www/static.example.com'</span>
<span class="nd">@roles</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'static'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">deploy_static</span><span class="p">():</span>
<span class="n">local</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'./manage.py collectstatic'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">project</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">rysnc_project</span><span class="p">(</span>
<span class="n">remote_dir</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">env</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">remote_static_root</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="n">local_dir</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">env</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">local_static_root</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="n">delete</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="bp">True</span>
<span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="s-serving-static-files-from-a-cloud-service-or-cdn">
<span id="s-staticfiles-from-cdn"></span><span id="serving-static-files-from-a-cloud-service-or-cdn"></span><span id="staticfiles-from-cdn"></span><h3>Serving static files from a cloud service or CDN<a class="headerlink" href="#serving-static-files-from-a-cloud-service-or-cdn" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>Another common tactic is to serve static files from a cloud storage provider
like Amazon's <a class="reference external" href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/">S3</a> and/or a CDN (content delivery network). This lets you
ignore the problems of serving static files, and can often make for
faster-loading webpages (especially when using a CDN).</p>
<p>When using these services, the basic workflow would look a bit like the above,
except that instead of using <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">rsync</span></tt> to transfer your static files to the
server you'd need to transfer the static files to the storage provider or CDN.</p>
<p>There's any number of ways you might do this, but if the provider has an API a
<a class="reference internal" href="custom-file-storage.html"><em>custom file storage backend</em></a> will make the
process incredibly simple. If you've written or are using a 3rd party custom
storage backend, you can tell <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#django-admin-collectstatic"><tt class="xref std std-djadmin docutils literal"><span class="pre">collectstatic</span></tt></a> to use it by setting
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#std:setting-STATICFILES_STORAGE"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATICFILES_STORAGE</span></tt></a> to the storage engine.</p>
<p>For example, if you've written an S3 storage backend in
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">myproject.storage.S3Storage</span></tt> you could use it with:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="n">STATICFILES_STORAGE</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="s">'myproject.storage.S3Storage'</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Once that's done, all you have to do is run <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#django-admin-collectstatic"><tt class="xref std std-djadmin docutils literal"><span class="pre">collectstatic</span></tt></a> and your
static files would be pushed through your storage package up to S3. If you
later needed to switch to a different storage provider, it could be as simple
as changing your <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#std:setting-STATICFILES_STORAGE"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATICFILES_STORAGE</span></tt></a> setting.</p>
<p>For details on how you'd write one of these backends,
<a class="reference internal" href="custom-file-storage.html"><em>Writing a custom storage system</em></a>.</p>
<div class="admonition-see-also admonition seealso">
<p class="first admonition-title">See also</p>
<p class="last">The <a class="reference external" href="http://code.welldev.org/django-storages/">django-storages</a> project is a 3rd party app that provides many
storage backends for many common file storage APIs (including <a class="reference external" href="http://code.welldev.org/django-storages/wiki/S3Storage">S3</a>).</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="s-upgrading-from-django-staticfiles">
<span id="upgrading-from-django-staticfiles"></span><h2>Upgrading from <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">django-staticfiles</span></tt><a class="headerlink" href="#upgrading-from-django-staticfiles" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">django.contrib.staticfiles</span></tt> began its life as <a class="reference external" href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/django-staticfiles/">django-staticfiles</a>. If
you're upgrading from <a class="reference external" href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/django-staticfiles/">django-staticfiles</a> older than 1.0 (e.g. 0.3.4) to
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">django.contrib.staticfiles</span></tt>, you'll need to make a few changes:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Application files should now live in a <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">static</span></tt> directory in each app
(<a class="reference external" href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/django-staticfiles/">django-staticfiles</a> used the name <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">media</span></tt>, which was slightly
confusing).</li>
<li>The management commands <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">build_static</span></tt> and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">resolve_static</span></tt> are now
called <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#django-admin-collectstatic"><tt class="xref std std-djadmin docutils literal"><span class="pre">collectstatic</span></tt></a> and <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#django-admin-findstatic"><tt class="xref std std-djadmin docutils literal"><span class="pre">findstatic</span></tt></a>.</li>
<li>The settings <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATICFILES_PREPEND_LABEL_APPS</span></tt>,
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATICFILES_MEDIA_DIRNAMES</span></tt> and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATICFILES_EXCLUDED_APPS</span></tt> were
removed.</li>
<li>The setting <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATICFILES_RESOLVERS</span></tt> was removed, and replaced by the
new <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#std:setting-STATICFILES_FINDERS"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATICFILES_FINDERS</span></tt></a>.</li>
<li>The default for <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#std:setting-STATICFILES_STORAGE"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">STATICFILES_STORAGE</span></tt></a> was renamed from
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">staticfiles.storage.StaticFileStorage</span></tt> to
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage</span></tt></li>
<li>If using <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html#staticfiles-runserver"><em>runserver</em></a> for local development
(and the <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/settings.html#std:setting-DEBUG"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">DEBUG</span></tt></a> setting is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></tt>), you no longer need to add
anything to your URLconf for serving static files in development.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="s-learn-more">
<span id="learn-more"></span><h2>Learn more<a class="headerlink" href="#learn-more" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This document has covered the basics and some common usage patterns. For
complete details on all the settings, commands, template tags, and other pieces
include in <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">django.contrib.staticfiles</span></tt>, see <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/contrib/staticfiles.html"><em>the staticfiles reference</em></a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="yui-b" id="sidebar">
<div class="sphinxsidebar">
<div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper">
<h3><a href="../contents.html">Table Of Contents</a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">Managing static files</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#using-django-contrib-staticfiles">Using <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">django.contrib.staticfiles</span></tt></a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#basic-usage">Basic usage</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#deploying-static-files-in-a-nutshell">Deploying static files in a nutshell</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#referring-to-static-files-in-templates">Referring to static files in templates</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#with-a-context-processor">With a context processor</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#with-a-template-tag">With a template tag</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#serving-static-files-in-development">Serving static files in development</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#serving-other-directories">Serving other directories</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#serving-static-files-in-production">Serving static files in production</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#serving-the-app-and-your-static-files-from-the-same-server">Serving the app and your static files from the same server</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#serving-static-files-from-a-dedicated-server">Serving static files from a dedicated server</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#serving-static-files-from-a-cloud-service-or-cdn">Serving static files from a cloud service or CDN</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#upgrading-from-django-staticfiles">Upgrading from <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">django-staticfiles</span></tt></a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#learn-more">Learn more</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Browse</h3>
<ul>
<li>Prev: <a href="outputting-pdf.html">Outputting PDFs with Django</a></li>
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<a href="../index.html">Django v1.3.1 documentation</a>
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