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Deployment

How to deploy Django Ninja AIO to production.

ASGI Server

Django Ninja AIO is async-first, so you need an ASGI server. Django's built-in runserver is for development only.

Bash
pip install uvicorn
uvicorn myproject.asgi:application --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000 --workers 4

Tip

Uvicorn is the most popular ASGI server with excellent performance. Use --workers to match your CPU cores.

Bash
pip install daphne
daphne -b 0.0.0.0 -p 8000 myproject.asgi:application
Bash
pip install hypercorn
hypercorn myproject.asgi:application --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 --workers 4

ASGI Configuration

Make sure your asgi.py is set up correctly:

Python
# myproject/asgi.py
import os
from django.core.asgi import get_asgi_application

os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "myproject.settings")
application = get_asgi_application()

Docker

A production-ready Dockerfile:

Docker
FROM python:3.12-slim

WORKDIR /app

# Install dependencies
COPY pyproject.toml .
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir .

# Copy application code
COPY . .

# Collect static files
RUN python manage.py collectstatic --noinput

# Run with Uvicorn
EXPOSE 8000
CMD ["uvicorn", "myproject.asgi:application", "--host", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "8000", "--workers", "4"]

With Docker Compose:

YAML
# docker-compose.yml
services:
  web:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    environment:
      - DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=myproject.settings
      - DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:pass@db:5432/mydb
    depends_on:
      - db

  db:
    image: postgres:16
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: mydb
      POSTGRES_USER: user
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: pass
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes:
  pgdata:

Production Checklist

Before deploying, make sure you've addressed these items:

Django settings

Python
# settings.py

DEBUG = False
ALLOWED_HOSTS = ["yourdomain.com"]
SECRET_KEY = os.environ["SECRET_KEY"]  # Never hardcode!

# Security headers
SECURE_BROWSER_XSS_FILTER = True
SECURE_CONTENT_TYPE_NOSNIFF = True
SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = True
CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE = True
SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT = True

Database

Don't use SQLite in production

SQLite is great for development but not suitable for production workloads. Use PostgreSQL for best async Django performance.

Python
DATABASES = {
    "default": {
        "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.postgresql",
        "NAME": os.environ["DB_NAME"],
        "USER": os.environ["DB_USER"],
        "PASSWORD": os.environ["DB_PASSWORD"],
        "HOST": os.environ["DB_HOST"],
        "PORT": os.environ.get("DB_PORT", "5432"),
    }
}

Static files

Bash
python manage.py collectstatic --noinput

Serve static files via a CDN or reverse proxy (Nginx, Caddy), not through Django.

Performance Tips

  • Query Optimization

    Use QuerySet config on models for automatic select_related / prefetch_related

  • Pagination

    Always keep pagination enabled — never return unbounded querysets

  • Database Indexes

    Add db_index=True to frequently filtered fields

  • ORJSON

    Already enabled via NinjaAIO — fast JSON serialization out of the box

Connection pooling

For high-traffic applications, use a connection pooler:

Bash
pip install django-pgpool
Python
DATABASES = {
    "default": {
        "ENGINE": "django_pgpool.backends.postgresql",
        # ... other settings
        "POOL_OPTIONS": {
            "max_size": 20,
            "min_size": 5,
        },
    }
}

Reverse Proxy

Run behind Nginx or Caddy for TLS termination, static file serving, and load balancing:

Nginx Configuration File
upstream django {
    server 127.0.0.1:8000;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name yourdomain.com;

    ssl_certificate /path/to/cert.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /path/to/key.pem;

    location /static/ {
        alias /app/staticfiles/;
    }

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://django;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}
Text Only
yourdomain.com {
    handle /static/* {
        root * /app/staticfiles
        file_server
    }

    handle {
        reverse_proxy localhost:8000
    }
}

Tip

Caddy handles TLS certificates automatically via Let's Encrypt.

See Also

  • Performance Benchmarks

    See how Django Ninja AIO performs under load

    View Benchmarks

  • ORJSON Renderer

    Configure JSON serialization options

    Learn more

  • Troubleshooting

    Common issues and solutions

    FAQ