Serving static files from the project directory in Django

Question

I have the following project structure:

myproject
    - myapp
    - manage.py
    - myproject
          - settings.py
          - urls.py
          ...
    - static
    - templates

I want to serve all my static files from within this static folder. In my settings.py, I have the following:

STATIC_URL = '/static/'

However, in one of my templates, when I call static files using the following...

{% load static %}
...
<link href="{% static 'css/styles.css' %}" rel="stylesheet" />

...nothing gets loaded.

However, if I add the css file within myapp/static/css/styles.css, then everything works properly. How can I serve static files from my project root folder? Thanks for any help.

I'm unsure I understand your question, because in the code example it looks like you're trying to load the file from myproject/static/css/styles.css and in the last paragraph you mention that adding the css file in the said location works. Did I understand that correctly and from where would you like to serve static files? — Armin, Dec 29 '19 at 12:53
Can you share the following settings? `STATICFILES_DIRS`, `STATICFILES_FINDERS` and `STATIC_ROOT` — Iain Shelvington, Dec 29 '19 at 13:00
Are you working on a development server? There is an extensive explanation in this SO [link](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9181047/django-static-files-development) — Chris, Dec 29 '19 at 13:25

Iqbal Hussain · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-29T15:44:16.103

First Step: Your project structure(folder directory) seems to be ok.

myproject
- myapp
- manage.py
- myproject
      - settings.py
      - urls.py
      ...
- static
- templates

Second: Need to define the STATIC_URL = '/static/' in settings.py file.

Third: Need to load the static in the template file and use the relative path.

{% load static %}
...
<link href="{% static 'css/styles.css' %}" rel="stylesheet" />

Add this settings.py file.

# Add static file directory
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static'),
)

Installed Apps listing in settings.py is supposed to exist in the django.contrib.staticfiles in the list. if not then make sure its in the list.

This works for me, I also needed to serve static files from the root directory of my project. Just a tiny addition to above answer, make sure you import os package that is being used on the STATICFILES_DIRS tuple. — yaach, May 20 '22 at 14:09

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 27 '23 at 15:21

0

You should add STATICFILES_DIRS to settings.py as shown below to serve static files from Django project root directory:

# "settings.py"

STATIC_URL = '/static/'

STATICFILES_DIRS = [ # Here
    BASE_DIR / 'static/'
]

answered Aug 27 '23 at 15:21

Super Kai - Kazuya Ito

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Serving static files from the project directory in Django

2 Answers2