> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://thenile.dev/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Schema Migrations with Django

Django has built-in support for schema migrations. Below, we'll walk through the process of setting up a Django project
with Nile and running your first migration.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Install Django">
    If you don't already have Django installed, you can install it using pip:

    ```bash theme={null}
    pip install django
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a new Django project">
    ```bash theme={null}
    django-admin startproject myproject
    ```

    This will create a new Django project in the `myproject` directory.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a new app">
    ```bash theme={null}
    cd myproject
    python manage.py startapp myapp
    ```

    This will create a new Django app in the `myproject` directory.

    If all went well, the `myproject` directory should now have the following structure:

    ```
    myproject/
        manage.py
        myproject/
            __init__.py
            settings.py
            urls.py
            wsgi.py
        myapp/
            __init__.py
            admin.py
            apps.py
            migrations/
                __init__.py
            models.py
            tests.py
            views.py
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Setting up Nile Database">
    Edit the `myproject/settings.py` file to include the Nile database URL:

    ```python theme={null}
    DATABASES = {
        "default": {
            "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.postgresql",
            "NAME": "mydb",
            "USER": "myuser",
            "PASSWORD": "mypassword",
            "HOST": "us-west-2.db.thenile.dev",
            "PORT": "5432",
        }
    }
    ```

    You can find your database credentials in the Nile dashboard.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Run the migrations built-in migrations">
    Django has several default modules that need database tables created. To create these tables, run the following command:

    ```bash theme={null}
    python manage.py migrate
    ```

    This will create the tables in the database.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a new model">
    In `myapp/models.py`, create a new model:

    ```python theme={null}
    from django.db import models

    class MyModel(models.Model):
        name = models.CharField(max_length=255)
    ```

    And update the installed apps in `myproject/settings.py` to include your app:

    ```python theme={null}
    INSTALLED_APPS = [
        'myapp.apps.MyappConfig',
        'django.contrib.admin',
        'django.contrib.auth',
        'django.contrib.contenttypes',
        'django.contrib.sessions',
        'django.contrib.messages',
        'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    ]
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a new migration">
    To create a new migration, run the following command:

    ```bash theme={null}
    python manage.py makemigrations myapp
    ```

    This will create a new migration file in the `myapp/migrations` directory.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Run the migration">
    To run the migration, run the following command:

    ```bash theme={null}
    python manage.py migrate
    ```

    This will apply the migration to the database.

    Connect to your database and see a new table created, called `myapp_mymodel`.
  </Step>
</Steps>