Engineering Journal14 May 2026

Django 101 CRUD: Todo Project - Part 01 Setup

Bhuvan

Technical Staff

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Django 101 CRUD: Todo Project - Part 01 Setup

Django 101 Topics

We Cover these topics in our Django 101 Series

Django Setup
MVT Logic
Models
Views
Templates
Model Forms
CRUD
URL Routing

1. Verifying Your Engine: Python Installation

Before we build the house, we need to make sure our primary power tool—Python—is ready to go. Think of Python as the engine of your car; without it, nothing moves.

Checking Requirements

Action: Open your terminal or command prompt.
Version Check: Ensure you have Python 3.10 or higher for the best compatibility with modern Django features.
Documentation Link: Official Python Installation Guide

Terminal

# Check if Python is installed
python --version

# Check if pip (Python package manager) is ready
pip --version

2. Preparing the Ground: The Virtual Environment

It is best practice to keep your project dependencies isolated. This ensures your To-Do app doesn’t conflict with other Python projects on your machine. Imagine if updating a tool for one project accidentally broke a completely different project—virtual environments prevent this "dependency chaos."

Why use `venv`?

Isolation: Keeps the project's libraries separate from your global system.
Consistency: Ensures every developer on the team uses the exact same version of Django.

Terminal

# 1. Create the environment folder
python -m venv venv

# 2. Activate the environment
# Windows:
venv\Scripts\activate

# macOS/Linux:
source venv/bin/activate

3. Installing the Framework: Django

With your isolated environment active (you should see (venv) in your terminal), it's time to bring in the heavy machinery.

Installation Workflow

Command: We use pip to fetch the latest stable version of Django from the Python Package Index (PyPI).
Verification: Always double-check that the installation was successful before moving to project creation.
Documentation Link: Django Installation Guide

Terminal

# Install Django
pip install django

# Verify the Django version
python -m django --version

4. Framing the Structure: `startproject`

Now, use the Django admin tool to generate the boilerplate code. We will call the project todo_site.

Terminal

# Generate the project structure
django-admin startproject todo_site .

Pro Tip: The . at the end is crucial. It tells Django to create the project files in the current folder rather than nesting them inside a new sub-directory. This keeps your file path clean.

Understanding the Files

manage.py: Your command-line "remote control" for the project. You'll use this to migrate databases and start the server.
todo_site/: The inner directory containing settings.py (the heart of your config) and urls.py (your project's GPS).

5. Visualizing the Setup Workflow

graph TD %% Dark Mode Theme Settings %%{init: {'theme': 'dark', 'themeVariables': { 'primaryColor': '#f8f8f8', 'primaryTextColor': '#f3f4f6', 'lineColor': '#9ca3af', 'tertiaryColor': '#3f60a5' }}}%% Start[Start: Terminal] --> PythonCheck{Check Python} PythonCheck -->|Installed| Venv[Create Virtual Environment] Venv --> Activate[Activate venv] Activate --> Install[pip install django] Install --> Create[django-admin startproject] Create --> Run[python manage.py runserver] Run --> Browser[Success: Rocket Ship Page] classDef user fill:#4b5563,stroke:#9ca3af,stroke-width:2px,color:#f3f4f6; classDef django fill:#065f46,stroke:#34d399,stroke-width:2px,color:#f3f4f6; class Start,PythonCheck user; class Install,Create,Run,Browser django;

6. Running the Engine

Before we build the "To-Do" logic, let’s make sure the engine is running. Django comes with a built-in lightweight web server for development.

TypeScript

python manage.py runserver

Final Verification

URL: Open your browser and go to [http://127.0.0.1:8000](http://127.0.0.1:8000).
The Result: You should see the famous Django "The install worked successfully!" rocket ship page.
Next Steps: In the next part, we will create our first App and define the database models to store our tasks!