.. _managing_python_path:

Managing the Python path
========================

pytest needs to be able to import the code in your project. Normally, when
interacting with Django code, the interaction happens via ``manage.py``, which
will implicitly add that directory to the Python path.

However, when Python is started via the ``pytest`` command, some extra care is
needed to have the Python path setup properly. There are two ways to handle
this problem, described below.

Automatic looking for Django projects
-------------------------------------

By default, pytest-django tries to find Django projects by automatically
looking for the project's ``manage.py`` file and adding its directory to the
Python path.

Looking for the ``manage.py`` file uses the same algorithm as pytest uses to
find ``pyproject.toml``, ``pytest.ini``, ``tox.ini`` and ``setup.cfg``: Each
test root directories parents will be searched for ``manage.py`` files, and it
will stop when the first file is found.

If you have a custom project setup, have none or multiple ``manage.py`` files
in your project, the automatic detection may not be correct. See
:ref:`managing_the_python_path_explicitly` for more details on how to configure
your environment in that case.

.. _managing_the_python_path_explicitly:

Managing the Python path explicitly
-----------------------------------

First, disable the automatic Django project finder. Add this to
``pytest.ini``, ``setup.cfg`` or ``tox.ini``::

    [pytest]
    django_find_project = false


Next, you need to make sure that your project code is available on the Python
path. There are multiple ways to achieve this:

Managing your project with virtualenv, pip and editable mode
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The easiest way to have your code available on the Python path when using
virtualenv and pip is to install your project in editable mode when developing.

If you don't already have a pyproject.toml file, creating a pyproject.toml file
with this content will get you started::

    # pyproject.toml
    [build-system]
    requires = [
        "setuptools>=61.0.0",
    ]
    build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"

This ``pyproject.toml`` file is not sufficient to distribute your package to PyPI or
more general packaging, but it should help you get started. Please refer to the
`Python Packaging User Guide
<https://python-packaging-user-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/tutorial.html#creating-your-own-project>`_
for more information on packaging Python applications.

To install the project afterwards::

    pip install --editable .

Your code should then be importable from any Python application. You can also
add this directly to your project's requirements.txt file like this::

    # requirements.txt
    -e .
    django
    pytest-django


Using pytest's ``pythonpath`` option
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can explicitly add paths to the Python search path using pytest's
:pytest-confval:`pythonpath` option.

Example: project with src layout
````````````````````````````````

For a Django package using the ``src`` layout, with test settings located in a
``tests`` package at the top level::

    myproj
    ├── pytest.ini
    ├── src
    │   └── myproj
    │       ├── __init__.py
    │       └── main.py
    └── tests
        ├── testapp
        |   ├── __init__.py
        |   └── apps.py
        ├── __init__.py
        ├── settings.py
        └── test_main.py

You'll need to specify both the top level directory and ``src`` for things to work::

    [pytest]
    DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE = tests.settings
    pythonpath = . src

If you don't specify ``.``, the settings module won't be found and
you'll get an import error: ``ImportError: No module named 'tests'``.
