How to Create a Django Project with UV Package Manager (Step-by-Step Guide)

Getting Started with Python’s UV Package Manager (with Django Example)

Python developers have long relied on package managers like pip and pipenv, but a new tool called uv is gaining traction for its speed, simplicity, and modern developer experience. Built by Astral, uv is designed to be a drop-in replacement for pip/pip-tools/poetry while being significantly faster.

In this guide, we’ll explore the basics of uv and see how to create and run a Django project using it.

Why UV?

Blazing fast: uv is written in Rust and optimized for speed.
Simple workflows: It unifies dependency management, environments, and project scaffolding.
Modern replacement: Works as an alternative to pip, pip-tools, and poetry.
Cross-platform: Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Install UV via PIP.

pip install uv

or go to https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/installation/ for more details.

Step 1: Initialize a New Project

uv init

This creates a new project directory with configuration files (pyproject.toml) that uv uses to manage dependencies.

Step 2: Add Django as a Dependency

uv add django

uv will update the pyproject.toml and lock file, and install Django into a virtual environment automatically.

Step 3: Start a New Django Project

uv run django-admin startproject django_project .

This creates a new Django project in the current directory.

Step 4: Run the Development Server

uv run manage.py runserver

Open http://127.0.0.1:8000/ in your browser and you’ll see the default Django welcome page.

Step 5: Create a Django App

uv run manage.py startapp app1

This generates a new app structure (app1/) where you can define models, views, and templates.

Step 6: Apply Migrations

Whenever you add or modify models, you need to create and apply migrations.

Create new migration files:

uv run manage.py makemigrations

Apply migrations to the database:

uv run manage.py migrate

This sets up Django’s default tables (auth, admin, sessions, etc.) in your database and applies your app’s model changes.

Why Use UV for Django?

No need to activate/deactivate venvs – uv handles environments automatically.
Cleaner dependency management – no more juggling requirements.txt manually.
Modern tooling – uv is built for performance and scales well for bigger projects.

Final Workflow Recap

Here’s the full set of commands to get started with Django using uv:

uv init
uv add django
uv run django-admin startproject django_project .
uv run manage.py runserver
uv run manage.py startapp app1
uv run manage.py makemigrations
uv run manage.py migrate

With just these commands, you have a fully working Django project managed by uv .