Django Silk

5.5.0 · active · verified Fri Apr 10

Django Silk is a live profiling and inspection tool for the Django framework, designed to help developers identify performance bottlenecks. It intercepts and stores HTTP requests, responses, and database queries, presenting them in an intuitive user interface for detailed analysis. Currently at version 5.5.0, it maintains an active release cadence, supporting recent Django and Python versions.

Warnings

breaking Django Silk v5.3.0 removed support for Django 3.2 and Python 3.8. Ensure your environment meets the minimum requirements (Python >= 3.10, Django >= 4.2).
Fix: Upgrade Python to 3.10+ and Django to 4.2+ or pin django-silk to a version prior to 5.3.0 (e.g., `django-silk==5.2.0`).
deprecated The `SILKY_STORAGE_CLASS` setting was deprecated in version 5.1.0. Users should now leverage Django's standard `STORAGES` configuration for specifying storage backends.
Fix: Migrate your storage configuration from `SILKY_STORAGE_CLASS` to the `STORAGES` setting as per Django's official documentation.
gotcha The order of middleware is sensitive. If `silk.middleware.SilkyMiddleware` is placed after another middleware that returns a response without calling `get_response`, Silk will not profile that request. If using `django.middleware.gzip.GZipMiddleware`, it must be placed *before* `SilkyMiddleware` to avoid encoding errors.
Fix: Place `silk.middleware.SilkyMiddleware` as high as possible in your `MIDDLEWARE` list. Ensure `django.middleware.gzip.GZipMiddleware` is positioned before it if used.
gotcha Using Django Silk in production environments is generally not recommended due to performance overhead (intercepting and storing all request/response data), potential for significant database storage growth, and security implications (exposing application internals).
Fix: Restrict Django Silk to development and staging environments. Use environment variables or Django settings to enable/disable it conditionally.
gotcha There have been recurring fixes related to serialization issues for binary and JSON fields, as well as race conditions when modifying SQL execution, in versions 5.4.x. While fixed, this indicates potential instability in complex serialization scenarios.
Fix: Ensure you are on the latest patch release (e.g., 5.4.3 or newer) and thoroughly test profiling with custom binary or JSON fields. Report any new issues to the maintainers.
gotcha When using Python 3.12 or later, the built-in `cProfile` (used by Silk for Python profiling) cannot run concurrently. This means if another profile is already running, Silk's Python profiler will not execute.
Fix: Be aware of this limitation when profiling in multi-threaded or concurrent environments with Python 3.12+. Consider other profiling approaches for concurrent code sections if precise timing is needed across concurrent operations.

Install

pip install django-silk Standard Installation
pip install django-silk[formatting] With optional Python snippet formatting

Imports

silk
```
INSTALLED_APPS = [... 'silk', ...]
```
Add 'silk' to your Django project's INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py.
SilkyMiddleware
```
MIDDLEWARE = [... 'silk.middleware.SilkyMiddleware', ...]
```
Use MIDDLEWARE for modern Django versions (>= 1.10). Place SilkyMiddleware early in the list for comprehensive profiling.

silk.urls

from django.urls import path, include

urlpatterns = [
    path('silk/', include('silk.urls', namespace='silk'))
]

Include 'silk.urls' in your project's main urls.py to access the Silk UI at '/silk/'.

Quickstart

To quickly set up Django Silk, add 'silk' to `INSTALLED_APPS` and 'silk.middleware.SilkyMiddleware' to `MIDDLEWARE` in your Django settings. It's crucial to place `SilkyMiddleware` early in your `MIDDLEWARE` list to capture the entire request/response cycle; if using `GZipMiddleware`, place it before `SilkyMiddleware`. Finally, include 'silk.urls' in your project's `urls.py` and run `python manage.py migrate`.

# settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ... other apps
    'silk',
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    # Place SilkyMiddleware near the top to capture full request cycle
    # If using GZipMiddleware, place it *before* SilkyMiddleware.
    # 'django.middleware.gzip.GZipMiddleware',
    'silk.middleware.SilkyMiddleware',
    # ... other middleware
]

# Optional: Restrict access to Silk UI
# SILKY_AUTHENTICATION = True # Requires user to be logged in
# SILKY_AUTHORISATION = True  # Requires logged-in user to be staff
# LOGIN_URL = '/admin/login/' # Example for custom login URL if SILKY_AUTHENTICATION is True

# urls.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path, include

urlpatterns = [
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
    path('silk/', include('silk.urls', namespace='silk')),
    # ... other url patterns
]

# After configuration, run migrations:
# python manage.py migrate
# Access the UI at /silk/

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