--- title: "Django documentation" version: 2.2 locale: en source: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ canonical: https://djangodocs.dev/en/2.2/ --- # Django documentation **Everything you need to know about Django.** ## Getting help Having trouble? We’d like to help! - Try the [FAQ](/en/2.2/faq/) – it’s got answers to many common questions. - Looking for specific information? Try the [Index](/en/2.2/genindex/), [Module Index](/en/2.2/py-modindex/) or the [detailed table of contents](/en/2.2/contents/). - Search for information in the archives of the [django-users](/en/2.2/internals/mailing-lists/#django-users-mailing-list) mailing list, or [post a question](https://groups.google.com/d/forum/django-users). - Ask a question in the [#django IRC channel](irc://irc.libera.chat/django). - Report bugs with Django in our [ticket tracker](https://code.djangoproject.com/). ## How the documentation is organized Django has a lot of documentation. A high-level overview of how it’s organized will help you know where to look for certain things: - [Tutorials](/en/2.2/intro/) take you by the hand through a series of steps to create a Web application. Start here if you’re new to Django or Web application development. Also look at the “[First steps](#index-first-steps)” below. - [Topic guides](/en/2.2/topics/) discuss key topics and concepts at a fairly high level and provide useful background information and explanation. - [Reference guides](/en/2.2/ref/) contain technical reference for APIs and other aspects of Django’s machinery. They describe how it works and how to use it but assume that you have a basic understanding of key concepts. - [How-to guides](/en/2.2/howto/) are recipes. They guide you through the steps involved in addressing key problems and use-cases. They are more advanced than tutorials and assume some knowledge of how Django works. ## First steps Are you new to Django or to programming? This is the place to start! - **From scratch:** [Overview](/en/2.2/intro/overview/) | [Installation](/en/2.2/intro/install/) - **Tutorial:** [Part 1: Requests and responses](/en/2.2/intro/tutorial01/) | [Part 2: Models and the admin site](/en/2.2/intro/tutorial02/) | [Part 3: Views and templates](/en/2.2/intro/tutorial03/) | [Part 4: Forms and generic views](/en/2.2/intro/tutorial04/) | [Part 5: Testing](/en/2.2/intro/tutorial05/) | [Part 6: Static files](/en/2.2/intro/tutorial06/) | [Part 7: Customizing the admin site](/en/2.2/intro/tutorial07/) - **Advanced Tutorials:** [How to write reusable apps](/en/2.2/intro/reusable-apps/) | [Writing your first patch for Django](/en/2.2/intro/contributing/) ## The model layer Django provides an abstraction layer (the “models”) for structuring and manipulating the data of your Web application. Learn more about it below: - **Models:** [Introduction to models](/en/2.2/topics/db/models/) | [Field types](/en/2.2/ref/models/fields/) | [Indexes](/en/2.2/ref/models/indexes/) | [Meta options](/en/2.2/ref/models/options/) | [Model class](/en/2.2/ref/models/class/) - **QuerySets:** [Making queries](/en/2.2/topics/db/queries/) | [QuerySet method reference](/en/2.2/ref/models/querysets/) | [Lookup expressions](/en/2.2/ref/models/lookups/) - **Model instances:** [Instance methods](/en/2.2/ref/models/instances/) | [Accessing related objects](/en/2.2/ref/models/relations/) - **Migrations:** [Introduction to Migrations](/en/2.2/topics/migrations/) | [Operations reference](/en/2.2/ref/migration-operations/) | [SchemaEditor](/en/2.2/ref/schema-editor/) | [Writing migrations](/en/2.2/howto/writing-migrations/) - **Advanced:** [Managers](/en/2.2/topics/db/managers/) | [Raw SQL](/en/2.2/topics/db/sql/) | [Transactions](/en/2.2/topics/db/transactions/) | [Aggregation](/en/2.2/topics/db/aggregation/) | [Search](/en/2.2/topics/db/search/) | [Custom fields](/en/2.2/howto/custom-model-fields/) | [Multiple databases](/en/2.2/topics/db/multi-db/) | [Custom lookups](/en/2.2/howto/custom-lookups/) | [Query Expressions](/en/2.2/ref/models/expressions/) | [Conditional Expressions](/en/2.2/ref/models/conditional-expressions/) | [Database Functions](/en/2.2/ref/models/database-functions/) - **Other:** [Supported databases](/en/2.2/ref/databases/) | [Legacy databases](/en/2.2/howto/legacy-databases/) | [Providing initial data](/en/2.2/howto/initial-data/) | [Optimize database access](/en/2.2/topics/db/optimization/) | [PostgreSQL specific features](/en/2.2/ref/contrib/postgres/) ## The view layer Django has the concept of “views” to encapsulate the logic responsible for processing a user’s request and for returning the response. Find all you need to know about views via the links below: - **The basics:** [URLconfs](/en/2.2/topics/http/urls/) | [View functions](/en/2.2/topics/http/views/) | [Shortcuts](/en/2.2/topics/http/shortcuts/) | [Decorators](/en/2.2/topics/http/decorators/) - **Reference:** [Built-in Views](/en/2.2/ref/views/) | [Request/response objects](/en/2.2/ref/request-response/) | [TemplateResponse objects](/en/2.2/ref/template-response/) - **File uploads:** [Overview](/en/2.2/topics/http/file-uploads/) | [File objects](/en/2.2/ref/files/file/) | [Storage API](/en/2.2/ref/files/storage/) | [Managing files](/en/2.2/topics/files/) | [Custom storage](/en/2.2/howto/custom-file-storage/) - **Class-based views:** [Overview](/en/2.2/topics/class-based-views/) | [Built-in display views](/en/2.2/topics/class-based-views/generic-display/) | [Built-in editing views](/en/2.2/topics/class-based-views/generic-editing/) | [Using mixins](/en/2.2/topics/class-based-views/mixins/) | [API reference](/en/2.2/ref/class-based-views/) | [Flattened index](/en/2.2/ref/class-based-views/flattened-index/) - **Advanced:** [Generating CSV](/en/2.2/howto/outputting-csv/) | [Generating PDF](/en/2.2/howto/outputting-pdf/) - **Middleware:** [Overview](/en/2.2/topics/http/middleware/) | [Built-in middleware classes](/en/2.2/ref/middleware/) ## The template layer The template layer provides a designer-friendly syntax for rendering the information to be presented to the user. Learn how this syntax can be used by designers and how it can be extended by programmers: - **The basics:** [Overview](/en/2.2/topics/templates/) - **For designers:** [Language overview](/en/2.2/ref/templates/language/) | [Built-in tags and filters](/en/2.2/ref/templates/builtins/) | [Humanization](/en/2.2/ref/contrib/humanize/) - **For programmers:** [Template API](/en/2.2/ref/templates/api/) | [Custom tags and filters](/en/2.2/howto/custom-template-tags/) ## Forms Django provides a rich framework to facilitate the creation of forms and the manipulation of form data. - **The basics:** [Overview](/en/2.2/topics/forms/) | [Form API](/en/2.2/ref/forms/api/) | [Built-in fields](/en/2.2/ref/forms/fields/) | [Built-in widgets](/en/2.2/ref/forms/widgets/) - **Advanced:** [Forms for models](/en/2.2/topics/forms/modelforms/) | [Integrating media](/en/2.2/topics/forms/media/) | [Formsets](/en/2.2/topics/forms/formsets/) | [Customizing validation](/en/2.2/ref/forms/validation/) ## The development process Learn about the various components and tools to help you in the development and testing of Django applications: - **Settings:** [Overview](/en/2.2/topics/settings/) | [Full list of settings](/en/2.2/ref/settings/) - **Applications:** [Overview](/en/2.2/ref/applications/) - **Exceptions:** [Overview](/en/2.2/ref/exceptions/) - **django-admin and manage.py:** [Overview](/en/2.2/ref/django-admin/) | [Adding custom commands](/en/2.2/howto/custom-management-commands/) - **Testing:** [Introduction](/en/2.2/topics/testing/) | [Writing and running tests](/en/2.2/topics/testing/overview/) | [Included testing tools](/en/2.2/topics/testing/tools/) | [Advanced topics](/en/2.2/topics/testing/advanced/) - **Deployment:** [Overview](/en/2.2/howto/deployment/) | [WSGI servers](/en/2.2/howto/deployment/wsgi/) | [Deploying static files](/en/2.2/howto/static-files/deployment/) | [Tracking code errors by email](/en/2.2/howto/error-reporting/) | [Deployment checklist](/en/2.2/howto/deployment/checklist/) ## The admin Find all you need to know about the automated admin interface, one of Django’s most popular features: - [Admin site](/en/2.2/ref/contrib/admin/) - [Admin actions](/en/2.2/ref/contrib/admin/actions/) - [Admin documentation generator](/en/2.2/ref/contrib/admin/admindocs/) ## Security Security is a topic of paramount importance in the development of Web applications and Django provides multiple protection tools and mechanisms: - [Security overview](/en/2.2/topics/security/) - [Disclosed security issues in Django](/en/2.2/releases/security/) - [Clickjacking protection](/en/2.2/ref/clickjacking/) - [Cross Site Request Forgery protection](/en/2.2/ref/csrf/) - [Cryptographic signing](/en/2.2/topics/signing/) - [Security Middleware](/en/2.2/ref/middleware/#security-middleware) ## Internationalization and localization Django offers a robust internationalization and localization framework to assist you in the development of applications for multiple languages and world regions: - [Overview](/en/2.2/topics/i18n/) | [Internationalization](/en/2.2/topics/i18n/translation/) | [Localization](/en/2.2/topics/i18n/translation/#how-to-create-language-files) | [Localized Web UI formatting and form input](/en/2.2/topics/i18n/formatting/) - [Time zones](/en/2.2/topics/i18n/timezones/) ## Performance and optimization There are a variety of techniques and tools that can help get your code running more efficiently - faster, and using fewer system resources. - [Performance and optimization overview](/en/2.2/topics/performance/) ## Geographic framework [GeoDjango](/en/2.2/ref/contrib/gis/) intends to be a world-class geographic Web framework. Its goal is to make it as easy as possible to build GIS Web applications and harness the power of spatially enabled data. ## Common Web application tools Django offers multiple tools commonly needed in the development of Web applications: - **Authentication:** [Overview](/en/2.2/topics/auth/) | [Using the authentication system](/en/2.2/topics/auth/default/) | [Password management](/en/2.2/topics/auth/passwords/) | [Customizing authentication](/en/2.2/topics/auth/customizing/) | [API Reference](/en/2.2/ref/contrib/auth/) - [Caching](/en/2.2/topics/cache/) - [Logging](/en/2.2/topics/logging/) - [Sending emails](/en/2.2/topics/email/) - [Syndication feeds (RSS/Atom)](/en/2.2/ref/contrib/syndication/) - [Pagination](/en/2.2/topics/pagination/) - [Messages framework](/en/2.2/ref/contrib/messages/) - [Serialization](/en/2.2/topics/serialization/) - [Sessions](/en/2.2/topics/http/sessions/) - [Sitemaps](/en/2.2/ref/contrib/sitemaps/) - [Static files management](/en/2.2/ref/contrib/staticfiles/) - [Data validation](/en/2.2/ref/validators/) ## Other core functionalities Learn about some other core functionalities of the Django framework: - [Conditional content processing](/en/2.2/topics/conditional-view-processing/) - [Content types and generic relations](/en/2.2/ref/contrib/contenttypes/) - [Flatpages](/en/2.2/ref/contrib/flatpages/) - [Redirects](/en/2.2/ref/contrib/redirects/) - [Signals](/en/2.2/topics/signals/) - [System check framework](/en/2.2/topics/checks/) - [The sites framework](/en/2.2/ref/contrib/sites/) - [Unicode in Django](/en/2.2/ref/unicode/) ## The Django open-source project Learn about the development process for the Django project itself and about how you can contribute: - **Community:** [How to get involved](/en/2.2/internals/contributing/) | [The release process](/en/2.2/internals/release-process/) | [Team organization](/en/2.2/internals/organization/) | [The Django source code repository](/en/2.2/internals/git/) | [Security policies](/en/2.2/internals/security/) | [Mailing lists](/en/2.2/internals/mailing-lists/) - **Design philosophies:** [Overview](/en/2.2/misc/design-philosophies/) - **Documentation:** [About this documentation](/en/2.2/internals/contributing/writing-documentation/) - **Third-party distributions:** [Overview](/en/2.2/misc/distributions/) - **Django over time:** [API stability](/en/2.2/misc/api-stability/) | [Release notes and upgrading instructions](/en/2.2/releases/) | [Deprecation Timeline](/en/2.2/internals/deprecation/)