Problem

I am trying to start the project with

django-admin startproject <project_name>

but it either makes more files that already exist (like manage.py, and other configuration files) or gives an error - CommandError: ~/Dev/r4c/R4C/manage.py already exists. Overlaying a project into an existing directory won't replace conflicting files.

My project structure:

I just need to start the project and apps with already existing directories and files

I tried to start the project command but can't get an idea of not just starting a project from the beginning, just working with existing files and directories.

Solution

As you have already the Django structure and configuration, you don't need to use django-admin to start the project again.

If you want to make sure that your directories like customers, orders, and robots are Django apps, you can follow these steps:

• First, make sure each of these directories has an init.py file (even if it's empty) so that Python recognizes them as modules.

• Then, in each directory, create or ensure there's a models.py file. This file is essential for Django to recognize the directory as an app.

• Finally, in your main project's settings.py, add these apps to the INSTALLED_APPS list:

As long as you maintain the correct structure and contents required by Django in your directories and files, you don't need to use the start project or startup commands. They are convenience commands provided by Django to help set up the initial structure, but once that structure exists (as in your case), you can proceed with the development directly.

Answered by: >Yuri R

Credit: >StackOverflow

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