Run Django shell in IPython

Question

I attempt to run a Django shell in IPython:

ipython manage.py shell

It reports the following error:

Type 'manage.py help ' for help on a specific subcommand.

I searched and found a popular solution which guides you to install django.extensions and to enable it in settings.

I am creating a minimal project while the solution is heavy. Meanwhile, I have to install and enable it on every project.

Is there a lightweight way?

I start a new project, python manage.py shell -i ipython fails to work

$ python manage.py shell -i ipython
CommandError: Couldn't import ipython interface.
$ ipython --version
6.4.0

Answer 1

Simply install ipython into your virtualenv. manage.py shell should use it by default.

You can also use manage.py shell with the -i option to explicitly select a shell (the options are ipython, bpython, or python for a regular Python shell):

python manage.py shell -i ipython

Either way, you do need to install ipython into your environment, but you don't need to make any changes to your project settings.

Answer 2

I appreciate above answer and based on that I have written this answer.

If ipython is already installed in your virtualenv then any of the below command will work same (which has been already presented below after commands with sample snippets, point wise).

• python manage.py shell
• python manage.py -i ipython

---

How I solved (steps with problem & solution)?

Note: Make sure you have already activated your virtualenv.

1. I didn't have ipython installed in my Django project. Below is the error I got while trying to run Django shell in ipython environment.

(venv3.6.7) Rishikeshs-MacBook-Air:src hygull$ python manage.py shell -i ipython
CommandError: Couldn't import ipython interface.
(venv3.6.7) Rishikeshs-MacBook-Air:src hygull$

Next I installed ipython using below command.

2. pip install ipython

(venv3.6.7) Rishikeshs-MacBook-Air:src hygull$ pip install ipython
Collecting ipython
  Downloading https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/05/d7/77b7a1988c99227f52402f93fb0f7e88c97239960516f53907ebbc44149c/ipython-7.11.0-py3-none-any.whl (777kB)
   ...
   ...
     |████████████████████████████████| 102kB 524kB/s 
Installing collected packages: ipython-genutils, six, decorator, traitlets, pygments, ptyprocess, pexpect, wcwidth, prompt-toolkit, backcall, parso, jedi, appnope, pickleshare, ipython
Successfully installed appnope-0.1.0 backcall-0.1.0 decorator-4.4.1 ipython-7.11.0 ipython-genutils-0.2.0 jedi-0.15.2 parso-0.5.2 pexpect-4.7.0 pickleshare-0.7.5 prompt-toolkit-3.0.2 ptyprocess-0.6.0 pygments-2.5.2 six-1.13.0 traitlets-4.3.3 wcwidth-0.1.7
(venv3.6.7) Rishikeshs-MacBook-Air:src hygull$

3.a) python manage.py shell -i ipython

(venv3.6.7) Rishikeshs-MacBook-Air:src hygull$ python manage.py shell -i ipython
Python 3.6.7 (v3.6.7:6ec5cf24b7, Oct 20 2018, 03:02:14) 
Type 'copyright', 'credits' or 'license' for more information
IPython 7.11.0 -- An enhanced Interactive Python. Type '?' for help.

In [1]: exit()

3.b) python manage.py shell

(venv3.6.7) Rishikeshs-MacBook-Air:src hygull$ python manage.py shell
Python 3.6.7 (v3.6.7:6ec5cf24b7, Oct 20 2018, 03:02:14) 
Type 'copyright', 'credits' or 'license' for more information
IPython 7.11.0 -- An enhanced Interactive Python. Type '?' for help.

In [1]:  

Thank you.