Wagtail Starter Kit - Django Project Template

This Django project template is designed for creating Wagtail builds quickly, intended for developers to bootstrap their Wagtail site development using wagtail start --template=. The template comes with pre-defined pages, blocks, functionalities, and fixtures to streamline the initial setup process.

Getting Started

1. Check that you have an appropriate version of Python 3 You want to make sure that you have a compatible version installed:

   python --version
   # Or:
   python3 --version
   # **On Windows** (cmd.exe, with the Python Launcher for Windows):
   py --version

2. Create a Virtual Environment: Set up a virtual environment to isolate your project dependencies. These instructions are for GNU/Linux or MacOS, but there are other operating systems in the Wagtail docs.

   python -m venv myproject/env
   source myproject/env/bin/activate

3. Navigate to Project Directory: Move into the newly created project directory.

   cd myproject

4. Install Wagtail: Install the Wagtail CMS package using pip.

   pip install wagtail

5. Initialize Project: Use the wagtail start command to create a new project based on the Wagtail Starter Kit template.

   wagtail start --template=https://github.com/torchbox/wagtail-news-template/archive/refs/heads/main.zip myproject .

6. Install Project Dependencies: Install the project's dependencies into a virtual environment.

   pip install -r requirements.txt

All commands from now on should be run from inside the virtual environment.

8. Load Dummy Data: Load in some dummy data to populate the site with some content.

   make load-data

9. Start the Server: Start the Django development server.

   make start

10. Access the Site and Admin: Once the server is running, you can view the site at localhost:8000 and access the Wagtail admin interface at localhost:8000/admin. Log in with the default credentials provided by :

    • Username: admin
    • Password: password

Deploying

Once you have your own copy of the template, you can extend and configure it however you like.

To get it deployed, follow the instructions below for your hosting provider of choice.

Don't see your preference here? Contributions are always welcome!

fly.io

Before you can deploy to fly.io, you will need an account and the fly CLI tool will need to be installed on your machine.

1. In the root directory of your project (the one with a fly.toml file), run fly launch
   1. When prompted about copying the existing fly.toml file to a new app, choose "Yes".

Caution

Choosing "No" (the default) here will result in a broken deployment, as the fly.toml file requires configuration needed for the project to run correctly.

2. When prompted about continuing the setup in the web UI, or tweak the generated settings, choose "No".
   1. The "Region" will be selected automatically. If you wish to change this, choose "Yes" instead, and modify the region in the browser.
3. Once the launch is successful, you'll need to generate a secret key
   1. This can be done using fly secrets set SECRET_KEY=<key>, or through the web UI.
4. Finally (optional), load in the dummy data, to help get you started
   1. fly ssh console -u wagtail -C "./manage.py load_initial_data"

Note

If you receive "error connecting to SSH server" when running the above command, It likely means the fly.toml above wasn't picked up correctly. Unfortunately, you'll need to delete your application and start again, resetting the changes to the fly.toml file. If the error still persists, check the application logs.

You can now visit your wagtail site at the URL provided by fly. We strongly recommend setting strong password for your user.

The database and user-uploaded media are stored in the attached volume. To save costs and improve efficiency, the app will automatically stop when not in use, but will automatically restart when the browser loads.

Contributing

To customize this template, you can either make changes directly or backport changes from a generated project (via the wagtail start command) by following these steps:

1. Create a new project using the provided instructions in the Getting Started section.

2. Make changes within the new project.

3. Once you've completed your changes, you'll need to copy them over to the original project template, making sure to:

   3.1. Replace occurrences of myproject with {{ project_name }}

   3.2. Rename the project directory from myproject to project_name (without double curly brackets this time).

   3.3. Wrap template code (.html files under the templates directory), with a verbatim tag or similar templatetag to prevent template tags being rendered on wagtail start (see django's rendering warning).

4. Update compiled static assets using npm run build:prod.

5. Update fixtures using make dump-data

Make sure to test any changes by reviewing them against a newly created project, by following the Getting Started instructions again.

Happy coding with Wagtail! If you encounter any issues or have suggestions for improvement, feel free to contribute or open an issue.