Easy Django CLI

October 28, 2025 ยท View on GitHub

A modern CLI tool that simplifies Django development by replacing python manage.py and django-admin commands with simpler django or dj commands.

CI PyPI version Python Versions Django Versions License: MIT

Features

  • Simpler commands: Use django or dj instead of python manage.py
  • Smart project detection: Automatically finds your manage.py file
  • Drop-in replacement: Works with all Django management commands
  • Zero configuration: Just install and use

Installation

uv pip install easy-django-cli

Using pip

pip install easy-django-cli

Usage

After installation, you can use django or dj commands instead of python manage.py:

Before (traditional Django)

python manage.py runserver
python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py createsuperuser
python manage.py shell

After (with easy-django-cli)

django runserver
django makemigrations
django migrate
django createsuperuser
django shell

Or use the even shorter dj alias:

dj runserver
dj makemigrations
dj migrate
dj createsuperuser
dj shell

How It Works

easy-django-cli automatically:

  1. Searches for manage.py in the current directory
  2. If found, executes commands through your project's manage.py
  3. If not found, falls back to django-admin for project creation and other admin commands

This means you can run Django commands from any subdirectory of your project!

Examples

Start the development server

django runserver
# or
dj runserver 0.0.0.0:8000

Create and apply migrations

django makemigrations
django migrate

Create a new Django project

django startproject myproject

Create a new app

django startapp myapp

Run tests

django test

Open Django shell

django shell

Collect static files

django collectstatic --noinput

Requirements

  • Python 3.11 or higher
  • Django 4.2 or higher

Compatibility

This package is tested with:

  • Python: 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, 3.14
  • Django: 4.2, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 6.0

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

  1. Fork the repository
  2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
  3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
  4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
  5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Author

Tim Kamanin - A Freelance Django and Wagtail Developer