Django

Warnings

• breaking Django 6.0 requires Python >=3.12. Python 3.10 and 3.11 support dropped. Projects on Python 3.10/3.11 must stay on Django 5.2 LTS (EOL Apr 2028).
  Fix: Use Django 5.2 LTS for Python 3.10/3.11 projects. Upgrade Python to 3.12+ to use Django 6.0.
• breaking cx_Oracle driver removed in Django 6.0. Oracle users must migrate to the oracledb driver (>=1.3.2). cx_Oracle was deprecated in Django 5.0.
  Fix: pip install oracledb and update DATABASE ENGINE to django.db.backends.oracle. The oracledb driver uses the same connection parameters.
• breaking QuerySet.return_insert_columns renamed to returning_columns in Django 6.0.
  Fix: Replace return_insert_columns= with returning_columns= in bulk_create() calls.
• breaking Django 6.0 overhauled email internals to use Python's modern email API. SafeMIMEText, SafeMIMEMultipart, and BadHeaderError are deprecated. Custom email subclasses relying on internal underscore methods may break silently.
  Fix: Audit any custom EmailMessage subclasses. Replace SafeMIMEText/SafeMIMEMultipart references. BadHeaderError replaced by ValueError.
• breaking MariaDB minimum version raised to 10.6 in Django 6.0. MariaDB 10.5 support dropped.
  Fix: Upgrade MariaDB to 10.6+ before upgrading Django to 6.0.
• gotcha DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD must be set in settings.py. Omitting it causes W042 system check warnings for every model in the project. LLMs frequently omit this from generated settings files.
  Fix: Add DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD = 'django.db.models.BigAutoField' to settings.py.
• gotcha Two active release lines with different Python requirements. Django 6.0 (Python >=3.12) and Django 5.2 LTS (Python >=3.10). LLM-generated code often installs the latest without checking Python version compatibility.
  Fix: Pin Django version explicitly: Django>=5.2,<6 for Python 3.10/3.11. Django>=6.0 for Python 3.12+.
• gotcha ADMINS and MANAGERS setting format changed in Django 6.0: list of (name, email) tuples is deprecated. Must be a list of email strings. Format as '"Name" <email>' for named addresses.
  Fix: ADMINS = ['admin@example.com'] or ADMINS = ['"Admin Name" <admin@example.com>']

Install

• pip install Django Latest (6.0.x, requires Python >=3.12)
• pip install "Django>=5.2,<6" LTS 5.2.x (Python >=3.10, EOL Apr 2028)
• pip install "Django[argon2]" With Argon2 password hasher

Imports

• django.setup

  import django
  os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'myproject.settings')
  django.setup()

  DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE must be set before django.setup(). Required for standalone scripts using Django ORM outside of manage.py.
• DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD

  # In settings.py
  DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD = 'django.db.models.BigAutoField'

  DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD must be set in settings.py since Django 3.2. LLMs frequently generate settings files without it, causing W042 warnings on every model.

Quickstart

Minimal Django settings and model. Always set DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD.

# settings.py (minimal)
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.auth',
]
DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': BASE_DIR / 'db.sqlite3',
    }
}
DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD = 'django.db.models.BigAutoField'

# models.py
from django.db import models

class Article(models.Model):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)

    class Meta:
        ordering = ['-created_at']

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