Daphne - ASGI Server

4.2.1 · active · verified Thu Apr 09

Daphne is a pure-Python HTTP, HTTP/2, and WebSocket protocol server for ASGI (Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface) applications. It is primarily developed to power Django Channels and acts as the reference server for ASGI. It supports automatic negotiation of protocols, removing the need for URL prefixing for different endpoints. The current version is 4.2.1.

Warnings

gotcha Daphne requires Python 3.9 or later. Using older Python versions will lead to installation or runtime errors.
Fix: Ensure your environment uses Python 3.9 or a newer compatible version.
gotcha When `daphne` is added to `INSTALLED_APPS` for `runserver` integration, it can conflict with other third-party apps that also overload or replace the `runserver` command (e.g., Whitenoise's `runserver_nostatic`).
Fix: Place `daphne` at the very beginning of your `INSTALLED_APPS` list in your Django settings to give it precedence.
gotcha Daphne's HTTP/2 support is limited to 'normal' requests and does not include extended features like Server Push. If using a reverse proxy in front of Daphne for HTTP/2, ensure the proxy correctly understands and passes through the HTTP/2 connection.
Fix: Be aware of the limitations for HTTP/2 features. Configure your reverse proxy to correctly handle HTTP/2 passthrough if you intend to use it with Daphne.
gotcha Setting a root path (equivalent to WSGI's `SCRIPT_NAME`) can be done via the `Daphne-Root-Path` HTTP header or the `--root-path` command-line option. The header takes precedence. The root path value should start with a slash but not end with one.
Fix: Use either the `Daphne-Root-Path` header or `--root-path` option, ensuring the format is `/your_path` (e.g., `/forum`, not `/forum/`).

Install

pip install daphne Install Daphne

Quickstart

Daphne is typically run from the command line, pointing it to your ASGI application. For a Django project, this involves creating or modifying the `asgi.py` file to define your ASGI application, then invoking Daphne as shown below. The example `asgi.py` demonstrates a basic setup for a Django project without WebSockets.

# myproject/asgi.py
import os
from channels.routing import ProtocolTypeRouter
from django.core.asgi import get_asgi_application

os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'myproject.settings')

# Initialize Django ASGI application early to ensure the AppRegistry
# is populated before importing code that may import ORM models.
django_asgi_app = get_asgi_application()

application = ProtocolTypeRouter({
    "http": django_asgi_app,
    # Add WebSocket protocol here if using Django Channels
    # "websocket": URLRouter(websocket_urlpatterns)
})

# To run:
# Ensure myproject is on the Python path (e.g., run from parent directory of myproject)
# daphne -b 0.0.0.0 -p 8000 myproject.asgi:application

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