Django custom command and cron - django

Question

I want my custom made Django command to be executed every minute. However it seems like python /path/to/project/myapp/manage.py mycommand doesn't seem to work while at the directory python manage.py mycommand works perfectly.
How can I achieve this ? I use /etc/crontab with:
****** root python /path/to/project/myapp/manage.py mycommand

Answer 1

I think the problem is that cron is going to run your scripts in a "bare" environment, so your DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE is likely undefined. You may want to wrap this up in a shell script that first defines DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE
Something like this:
#!/bin/bash
export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=myproject.settings
./manage.py mycommand
Make it executable (chmod +x) and then set up cron to run the script instead.
Edit
I also wanted to say that you can "modularize" this concept a little bit and make it such that your script accepts the manage commands as arguments.
#!/bin/bash
export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=myproject.settings
./manage.py ${*}
Now, your cron job can simply pass "mycommand" or any other manage.py command you want to run from a cron job.

Answer 2

cd /path/to/project/myapp && python manage.py mycommand
By chaining your commands like this, python will not be executed unless cd correctly changes the directory.

Answer 3

If you want your Django life a lot more simple, use django-command-extensions within your project:
http://code.google.com/p/django-command-extensions/
You'll find a command named "runscript" so you simply add the command to your crontab line:
****** root python /path/to/project/myapp/manage.py runscript mycommand
And such a script will execute with the Django context environment.

Answer 4

This is what i have done recently in one of my projects,(i maintain venvs for every project i work, so i am assumning you have venvs)
***** /path/to/venvs/bin/python /path/to/app/manage.py command_name
This worked perfectly for me.

Answer 5

How to Schedule Django custom Commands on AWS EC-2 Instance?
Step -1
First, you need to write a .cron file
Step-2
Write your script in .cron file.
MyScript.cron
* * * * * /home/ubuntu/kuzo1/venv/bin/python3 /home/ubuntu/Myproject/manage.py transfer_funds >> /home/ubuntu/Myproject/cron.log 2>&1
Where * * * * * means that the script will be run at every minute. you can change according to need (https://crontab.guru/#*_*_*_*_*). Where /home/ubuntu/kuzo1/venv/bin/python3 is python virtual environment path. Where /home/ubuntu/kuzo1/manage.py transfer_funds is Django custom command path & /home/ubuntu/kuzo1/cron.log 2>&1 is a log file where you can check your running cron log
Step-3
Run this script
$ crontab MyScript.cron
Step-4
Some useful command
1. $ crontab -l (Check current running cron job)
2. $ crontab -r (Remove cron job)

Answer 6

The runscript extension wasn't well documented. Unlike the django command this one can go anywhere in your project and requires a scripts folder. The .py file requires a run() function.

Answer 7

If its a standalone script, you need to do this:
from django.conf import settings
from django.core.management import setup_environ
setup_environ(settings)
#your code here which uses django code, like django model
If its a django command, its easier: https://coderwall.com/p/k5p6ag
In (management/commands/exporter.py)
from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand, CommandError
class Command(BaseCommand):
args = ''
help = 'Export data to remote server'
def handle(self, *args, **options):
# do something here
And then, in the command line:
$ python manage.py exporter
Now, it's easy to add a new cron task to a Linux system, using crontab:
$ crontab -e
or $ sudo crontab -e if you need root privileges
In the crontab file, for example for run this command every 15 minutes, something like this:
# m h dom mon dow command
*/15 * * * * python /var/www/myapp/manage.py exporter