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

# Django

<Snippet file="redis/start-redis-snippet.mdx" />

### Introduction

In this quickstart tutorial, we will demonstrate how to use Django with Upstash Redis to build a simple web application that increments a counter every time the homepage is accessed.

### Environment Setup

First, install Django and the Upstash Redis client for Python:

```shell theme={"system"}
pip install django
pip install upstash-redis
```

### Database Setup

Create a Redis database using the [Upstash Console](https://console.upstash.com) or [Upstash CLI](https://github.com/upstash/cli) and export the `UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_URL` and `UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_TOKEN` to your environment:

```shell theme={"system"}
export UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_URL=<YOUR_URL>
export UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_TOKEN=<YOUR_TOKEN>
```

You can also use `python-dotenv` to load environment variables from your `.env` file.

### Project Setup

Create a new Django project:

```shell theme={"system"}
django-admin startproject myproject
cd myproject
python manage.py startapp myapp
```

In `myproject/settings.py`, add your new app (`myapp`) to the `INSTALLED_APPS` list.

### Application Setup

In `myapp/views.py`, add the following:

```python theme={"system"}
from django.http import HttpResponse
from upstash_redis import Redis

redis = Redis.from_env()

def index(request):
    count = redis.incr('counter')
    return HttpResponse(f'Page visited {count} times.')
```

In `myproject/urls.py`, connect the view to a URL pattern:

```python theme={"system"}
from django.urls import path
from myapp import views

urlpatterns = [
    path('', views.index),
]
```

### Running the Application

Run the development server:

```shell theme={"system"}
python manage.py runserver
```

Visit `http://127.0.0.1:8000/` in your browser, and the counter will increment with each page refresh.

### Code Breakdown

1. **Redis Setup**: We use the Upstash Redis client to connect to our Redis database using the environment variables `UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_URL` and `UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_TOKEN`. The `Redis.from_env()` method initializes this connection.

2. **Increment Counter**: In the `index` view, we increment the `counter` key each time the homepage is accessed. If the key doesn't exist, Redis creates it and starts counting from 1.

3. **Display the Count**: The updated count is returned as an HTTP response each time the page is loaded.