Usage

Basic Commands

Start a web/ASGI/WSGI process with the server command:

python manage.py server <process_name>

Start a background task worker with the worker command:

python manage.py worker <process_name>

Both commands read from the same PRODUCTION_PROCESSES setting. server only accepts server backends and worker only accepts worker backends; pointing one at the wrong kind of backend produces an error telling you which command to use. Pass --list to either command to print the configured process names.

Deprecated since version 3.0.0: The prodserver command has been renamed to server. The old name continues to work as an alias but will be removed in django-prodserver 4.0.0.

Common Patterns

Single Web Server

PRODUCTION_PROCESSES = {
    "web": {
        "BACKEND": "django_prodserver.backends.servers.gunicorn.GunicornServer",
        "ARGS": {"bind": "0.0.0.0:8000", "workers": "4"},
    }
}

python manage.py server web

Web + Worker

PRODUCTION_PROCESSES = {
    "web": {
        "BACKEND": "django_prodserver.backends.servers.gunicorn.GunicornServer",
        "ARGS": {"bind": "0.0.0.0:8000", "workers": "4"},
    },
    "worker": {
        "BACKEND": "django_prodserver.backends.workers.celery.CeleryWorker",
        "APP": "myproject.celery.app",
        "ARGS": {"concurrency": "4"},
    },
}

# Run in separate terminals/services
python manage.py server web
python manage.py worker worker

Full Stack (Web + Worker + Scheduler)

PRODUCTION_PROCESSES = {
    "web": {
        "BACKEND": "django_prodserver.backends.servers.uvicorn.UvicornServer",
        "ARGS": {"host": "0.0.0.0", "port": "8000", "workers": "4"},
    },
    "worker": {
        "BACKEND": "django_prodserver.backends.workers.celery.CeleryWorker",
        "APP": "myproject.celery.app",
        "ARGS": {"concurrency": "4"},
    },
    "beat": {
        "BACKEND": "django_prodserver.backends.workers.celery.CeleryBeat",
        "APP": "myproject.celery.app",
        "ARGS": {"loglevel": "info"},
    },
}

Process Management

Understanding Process Names

Process names in PRODUCTION_PROCESSES are arbitrary - you can use any name that makes sense for your application:

PRODUCTION_PROCESSES = {
    "web": {...},           # Common convention for web servers
    "api": {...},           # Could be a separate API server
    "worker": {...},        # Background task worker
    "beat": {...},          # Scheduled task runner
    "priority_worker": {...},  # High-priority task worker
    "email_worker": {...},  # Dedicated email worker
}

Process Supervision

systemd:

# /etc/systemd/system/myapp-web.service
[Unit]
Description=MyApp Web Server
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/path/to/myproject
ExecStart=/path/to/venv/bin/python manage.py server web
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Docker Compose:

services:
  web:
    command: python manage.py server web
  worker:
    command: python manage.py worker worker

See Multi-Process Deployment Guide for complete examples.

Development vs Production

Command

Use Case

python manage.py devserver

Local development (auto-reload, debug)

python manage.py server web

Production (multi-worker, optimized)

Environment-Specific Settings

# settings_prod.py
PRODUCTION_PROCESSES = {
    "web": {
        "BACKEND": "django_prodserver.backends.servers.gunicorn.GunicornServer",
        "ARGS": {"bind": "0.0.0.0:8000", "workers": "4", "timeout": "60"},
    },
}

python manage.py server web --settings=myproject.settings_prod

Advanced Usage

Custom Backends

Subclass BaseServerBackend for a web server, or BaseWorkerBackend for a background task worker:

from django_prodserver.backends.base import BaseServerBackend

class CustomServer(BaseServerBackend):
    def start_server(self, *args: str) -> None:
        # Custom startup logic
        pass

from django_prodserver.backends.base import BaseWorkerBackend

class CustomWorker(BaseWorkerBackend):
    def start_server(self, *args: str) -> None:
        # Custom worker startup logic
        pass

PRODUCTION_PROCESSES = {
    "custom": {
        "BACKEND": "myproject.backends.CustomServer",
        "ARGS": {...},
    }
}

ARGS Translation

ARGS are converted to CLI arguments:

"ARGS": {
    "bind": "0.0.0.0:8000",  # --bind=0.0.0.0:8000
    "workers": "4",           # --workers=4
}

See Backend Reference for backend-specific ARGS.

Next Steps