Connect to TiDB with Django

TiDB is a MySQL-compatible database, and Django is a popular web framework for Python, which includes a powerful Object Relational Mapper (ORM) library.

In this tutorial, you can learn how to use TiDB and Django to accomplish the following tasks:

• Set up your environment.
• Connect to your TiDB cluster using Django.
• Build and run your application. Optionally, you can find sample code snippets for basic CRUD operations.

Prerequisites

To complete this tutorial, you need:

• Python 3.8 or higher.
• Git.
• A TiDB cluster.

If you don't have a TiDB cluster, you can create one as follows:

• (Recommended) Follow Creating a TiDB Serverless cluster to create your own TiDB Cloud cluster.
• Follow Deploy a local test TiDB cluster or Deploy a production TiDB cluster to create a local cluster.

If you don't have a TiDB cluster, you can create one as follows:

• (Recommended) Follow Creating a TiDB Serverless cluster to create your own TiDB Cloud cluster.
• Follow Deploy a local test TiDB cluster or Deploy a production TiDB cluster to create a local cluster.

Run the sample app to connect to TiDB

This section demonstrates how to run the sample application code and connect to TiDB.

Step 1: Clone the sample app repository

Run the following commands in your terminal window to clone the sample code repository:

git clone https://github.com/tidb-samples/tidb-python-django-quickstart.git
cd tidb-python-django-quickstart

Step 2: Install dependencies

Run the following command to install the required packages (including Django, django-tidb, and mysqlclient) for the sample app:

pip install -r requirements.txt

If you encounter installation issues with mysqlclient, refer to the mysqlclient official documentation.

What is django-tidb?

django-tidb is a TiDB dialect for Django that resolves compatibility issues between TiDB and Django.

To install django-tidb, choose a version that matches your Django version. For example, if you are using django==4.2.*, install django-tidb==4.2.*. The minor version does not need to be the same. It is recommended to use the latest minor version.

For more information, refer to django-tidb repository.

Step 3: Configure connection information

Connect to your TiDB cluster depending on the TiDB deployment option you've selected.

• TiDB Serverless
• TiDB Dedicated
• TiDB Self-Hosted

Step 4: Initialize the database

In the root directory of the project, run the following command to initialize the database:

python manage.py migrate

Step 5: Run the sample application

1. Run the application in the development mode:

   python manage.py runserver
   

   The application runs on port 8000 by default. To use a different port, you can append the port number to the command. The following is an example:

   python manage.py runserver 8080
   

2. To access the application, open your browser and go to http://localhost:8000/. In the sample application, you can:

   • Create a new player.
   • Bulk create players.
   • View all players.
   • Update a player.
   • Delete a player.
   • Trade goods between two players.

Sample code snippets

You can refer to the following sample code snippets to complete your own application development.

For complete sample code and how to run it, check out the tidb-samples/tidb-python-django-quickstart repository.

Connect to TiDB

In the file sample_project/settings.py, add the following configurations:

DATABASES = {
    "default": {
        "ENGINE": "django_tidb",
        "HOST": ${tidb_host},
        "PORT": ${tidb_port},
        "USER": ${tidb_user},
        "PASSWORD": ${tidb_password},
        "NAME": ${tidb_db_name},
        "OPTIONS": {
            "charset": "utf8mb4",
        },
    }
}

TIDB_CA_PATH = ${ca_path}
if TIDB_CA_PATH:
    DATABASES["default"]["OPTIONS"]["ssl_mode"] = "VERIFY_IDENTITY"
    DATABASES["default"]["OPTIONS"]["ssl"] = {
        "ca": TIDB_CA_PATH,
    }

You need to replace ${tidb_host}, ${tidb_port}, ${tidb_user}, ${tidb_password}, ${tidb_db_name}, and ${ca_path} with the actual values of your TiDB cluster.

Define the data model

from django.db import models

class Player(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=32, blank=False, null=False)
    coins = models.IntegerField(default=100)
    goods = models.IntegerField(default=1)
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
    updated_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)

For more information, refer to Django models.

Insert data

# insert a single object
player = Player.objects.create(name="player1", coins=100, goods=1)

# bulk insert multiple objects
Player.objects.bulk_create([
    Player(name="player1", coins=100, goods=1),
    Player(name="player2", coins=200, goods=2),
    Player(name="player3", coins=300, goods=3),
])

For more information, refer to Insert data.

Query data

# get a single object
player = Player.objects.get(name="player1")

# get multiple objects
filtered_players = Player.objects.filter(name="player1")

# get all objects
all_players = Player.objects.all()

For more information, refer to Query data.

Update data

# update a single object
player = Player.objects.get(name="player1")
player.coins = 200
player.save()

# update multiple objects
Player.objects.filter(coins=100).update(coins=200)

For more information, refer to Update data.

Delete data

# delete a single object
player = Player.objects.get(name="player1")
player.delete()

# delete multiple objects
Player.objects.filter(coins=100).delete()

For more information, refer to Delete data.

Next steps

• Learn more usage of Django from the documentation of Django.
• Learn the best practices for TiDB application development with the chapters in the Developer guide, such as Insert data, Update data, Delete data, Single table reading, Transactions, and SQL performance optimization.
• Learn through the professional TiDB developer courses and earn TiDB certifications after passing the exam.

Need help?

Ask questions on the Discord, or create a support ticket.