Django - Add Debug Toolbar

Steps to add Debug Toolbar to a Django project

This page explains how to add Django Debug Toolbar to an existing Django project. For newcomers, the Django Debug Toolbar is a configurable set of panels that bumps various information about the current request/response when clicked.

How to install

Step #1 - Add django-debug-toolbar to project dependencies or install via PIP

# File: requirements.txt
...
django-debug-toolbar
...

Or install via PIP

pip install django-debug-toolbar

Step #2 - Update project routes

# File core/urls.py

import debug_toolbar   # <-- NEW                     

from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path, include  

urlpatterns = [
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),          
    
    path('__debug__/', include(debug_toolbar.urls)),  # <-- NEW
    
    path("", include("authentication.urls")), 
    path("", include("app.urls"))             
]

Step #3 - Update Settings

# File core/settings.py
...
from decouple import config
from unipath import Path
import dj_database_url

import mimetypes                      # <-- NEW


BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).parent

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'debug_toolbar',                   # <-- NEW
    'app'  
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
    'debug_toolbar.middleware.DebugToolbarMiddleware',         # <-- NEW
]

INTERNAL_IPS = [                     # <-- NEW
    '127.0.0.1',                     # <-- NEW
]                                    # <-- NEW

def show_toolbar(request):           # <-- NEW
    return True                      # <-- NEW 

DEBUG_TOOLBAR_CONFIG = {                     # <-- NEW
    "SHOW_TOOLBAR_CALLBACK" : show_toolbar,  # <-- NEW
}                                            # <-- NEW

if DEBUG:                                                      # <-- NEW
    import mimetypes                                           # <-- NEW          
    mimetypes.add_type("application/javascript", ".js", True)  # <-- NEW

Step #4 - Execute the migration

$ python manage.py makemigrations
$ python manage.py migrate

Step #5 - Start the app (the debug toolbar should be visible)

$ python manage.py runserver

At this point, the Debug Toolbar should be visible on the right side for all pages.

Django Debug Toolbar - Soft UI Dashboard.

Resources

• Django Debug Toolbar - official docs
• Django Debug Toolbar - PyPi page
• Troubleshooting

  • Django Debug Toolbar not showing up - StackOverflow article
  • Cannot get django-debug-toolbar to appear - StackOverflow article