Create a Superuser in Django

What a superuser is

A superuser can do everything in the Django admin interface. You make one with the command createsuperuser. You need a working Django project first.

Install Django on Linux

1. Install Python 3:

sudo apt install python3

1. Install Django with pip:

pip install django

If pip is missing, install it with sudo apt install python3-pip. A virtual environment keeps each project clean.

Create a project and the superuser

1. Create a folder:

mkdir my_django_project

1. Go into it:

cd my_django_project

1. Start a project:

django-admin startproject my_project

1. Go into the project:

cd my_project

1. If you use a virtual environment, activate it. Create one with python3 -m venv myenv and then:

source myenv/bin/activate

1. Apply the migrations. Without them the user table does not exist:

python manage.py migrate

1. Create the superuser:

python manage.py createsuperuser

Django asks for a user name, an email address and a password. Type the password twice. Then start the server and open the admin page:

python manage.py runserver

Visit http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/ and sign in.

Main parts of Django

• Models define your data and the database tables.
• Views handle requests and send answers.
• Templates control how pages look.
• URLs link addresses to views.
• Forms check what users type.
• Admin is the ready-made site to manage your data.

Why people use Django

• Fast development, because Django reuses code (the DRY idea).
• A built-in admin site.
• An ORM that makes database work easier.
• Many security features by default.
• It scales well and has a large community.

Quick recap

• Install Django, create a project and run migrate.
• Run python manage.py createsuperuser.
• Sign in at /admin/.