Deploy Cookiecutter Django on DigitalOcean: A No-BS Guide

If you've ever tried to manually deploy a Django project, you know the drill: endless apt-get install, nginx dance, and praying to systemctl status. The author of this guide decided to spare us the pain and wrote a straightforward runbook for deploying Cookiecutter Django on a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 droplet on DigitalOcean.

It's honest work: no Docker Compose, no Kubernetes, no "just use our cloud service". Just SSH, git, virtualenv, and a couple of config files. Think of it as IKEA furniture assembly, but instead of extra screws, you get extra Python packages.

What's inside:

• Server setup from scratch (yes, including ufw and fail2ban to keep the neighbor's bot out).
• Cloning the repo, setting up .env and secrets (spoiler: don't commit SECRET_KEY, even if you're tempted).
• Configuring PostgreSQL, Gunicorn, and Nginx — the classic Django developer triangle.
• SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt (because a site without HTTPS in 2024 is like decaf coffee).

The guide is written in a "do this, then that" style — perfect for those who want to get a project live quickly without the ceremony. The only thing that can go wrong is deploying on a Friday evening. But no guide can fix that.

METABYTE studio comment: Deployment is like brushing your teeth: better do it regularly and follow the instructions. At METABYTE, we help set up CI/CD so you can commit and forget. Almost.