App Engine with Django and Python

1. Take a test drive in the Cloud Playground

   When you're done experimenting, you can download a copy of the project. You have two options:

   • Press ZIP to download the code you just edited. Unzip the downloaded file and note the new project-directory.
   • Use the git clone command to download a copy of the original files in the project. This will create a new project-directory. Make a note of it:

     git clone --recursive https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/appengine-django-skeleton

   Now you're ready to begin working locally. Follow the remaining steps on this page.

   1. Run locally

      Before you start:

      • You need to be running Python 2.7
      • You must install pip1.4 or later.
      • You must also install mercurial (the build shell uses mercurial's hg command). If you're missing hg you can install it with pip install mercurial once you have pip installed.
      • Download and unzip the Python SDK. This will create a sdk-directory named google_appengine. Make a note of its location, and add it to your PATH.
      • App Engine only uses libraries that are inside your project directory. If you downloaded the project as a zip file, it already contains all the needed libraries. If you cloned the original repository, install dependencies in the project's lib directory by running this command:

        cd <project-directory>
        ./build.sh

      To run the downloaded project from your machine:

      • Start a local server for the project with the command:

        cd <project-directory>
        ./manage.py runserver

      • Point your browser at http://localhost:8080.

2. Deploy to Google Cloud Platform

   You need to give your app a title and an application identifier. The title is displayed in the browser window when users access your app. The identifier is used to create the app's URL. App Engine URLs look like this: your-app-identifier.appspot.com.

   Name and create your app

   Go to appengine.google.com and create an application. (If you've already created a new project using the Google Cloud Console, you can skip this step. The project title and id are the same as an app title and id.)

   Deploy your app

   • Use the appcfg command. Supply your application identifier for the -A argument:

     appcfg.py --oauth2 -A <your-app-or-project-id> update <project-directory>

   • The --oauth2 flag is used to provide password-less login to your App Engine account. This is necessary to authenticate the user who's uploading code. The first time you use oauth2, a browser page will pop up telling you that Google App Engine appcfg would like to view and manage apps deployed on Google App Engine. Click Accept. Your machine now has an appcfg token that will be used for automatic verification when you run the appcfg command again.
   • Point your browser to https://<your-app-identifer>.appspot.com.

3. What next?

   • Try one of the tutorials in Python, Java, PHP, or Go.
   • Join the community of App Engine developers.
   • Read the Google Cloud Platform Blog.

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