Get started¶
Get your code online¶
We will deploy the app on pythonanywhere because it is very friendly to people who have not much experience in administration and hosting.
- Cost free plan is already powerful enough to host a simple web app that does not have too much traffic
- Already includes a URL (
https://<your pythonanywhere username>.pythonanywhere.com) to have a site online in minutes
There is still a learning curve though and you will be required to do a few things in the shell (through a web interface in the browser), but I'll guide you through it.
Python Anywhere also has really good documentation. What follows is the step-by-step guide how to get this specific app online.
NOTE: In paths you have to replace the parts in angled brackets (<your username>) with your pythonanywhere username.
Create an account on pythonanywhere¶
Keep in mind that the username will be a part of the url - e.g. if your username is batman83 your app will be reachable at https://batman83.pythonanywhere.com. If you switch to a paid plan you can connect any domain you own to your web app.
Create the Web app¶
- Log into pythonanywhere with your account credentials.
- In the web app tab create a web app choosing the Manual configuration method.
- Choose Python3.5 as interpreter
Now you have an app that needs to be further configured.
Create a virtualenv for the app¶
Go to the "Consoles" tab and Open a Bash Console from your dashboard.
In Bash console:
$ cd ~
$ mkvirtualenv codecats-cv --python=/usr/bin/python3.5
$ cd .virtualenvs/codecats-cv
$ pwd
Copy the output of pwd which is the absolute path to the virtualenv (/home/<your username>/.virtualenvs/codecats-cv) into your clipboard.
Click on the "Dashboard" link and got to the "Web" Tab.
Go to the Virtualenv: section and set the path from your clipoard - make sure to klick the checkmark next to the path to save the change.
If the path is correct a link will turn up directly below the virtualenv path: "Start a console in this virtualenv" - click on the link to got to a bash console with the active virtualenv.
Fetch code from Github¶
In Bash console:
$ cd ~ # change into your home directory
$ git clone https://github.com/<your username>/codecats-cv.git
$ cd codecats-cv
$ pip install -e . # installs the app
$ pwd
Copy the output of pwd which is the absolute path to the code of your web app (/home/<your username>/codecats-cv) into your clipboard.
Click on the "Dashboard" link and got to the "Web" Tab.
Go to the Code: section, click on Source Code, copy the path from your clipoard into the field and klick the checkmark next to the field to save the change.
Congfigure WSGI app¶
Go to the Code: section, click on the path in WSGI configuration you can edit that file directly in the web browser then. Delete all the contents and replace them with this:
import sys
path = '/home/<your username>/codecats-cv'
if path not in sys.path:
sys.path.insert(0, path)
from codecats_cv.controller import app as application
Do not forget to replace <your username>** with your actual username.
Set path for static files¶
Not necessary but makes your app load faster.
Go to Dashboard > Web and add /static/ as URL and the absolute path to the static path in your checkout.
Set a password¶
If you want your CV to be only accessible to specific people you can also set a password in Dashboard > Web (Web app needs to be reloaded to activate protection).
This makes only sense though if you also keep the private data out of your Repository.
Troubleshooting¶
If you run into trouble there is some more help here: I've got an existing web app that I'm trying to deploy.