Installation¶

Requirements¶

Django Language Server needs a discoverable project environment with a supported Python and Django version. An LSP client is required only for editor features through djls serve; djls check runs in a terminal. See Versioning for supported versions and the version support policy.

Try it out¶

To try the language server without installing using uvx:

uvx --from django-language-server djls serve

Note

The server will automatically detect and use your project's Python environment when you open a Django project. It needs access to your project's Django installation and other dependencies, but should be able to find these regardless of where the server itself is installed.

Package manager¶

The language server is published to PyPI with pre-built wheels for the following platforms:

Linux: x86_64, aarch64 (both glibc and musl)
macOS: x86_64, aarch64
Windows: x64
Source distribution: Available for other platforms

Installing it adds the djls command-line tool to your environment. See the command-line reference for djls check and djls serve.

Homebrew¶

Install the standalone macOS binary from the personal Homebrew tap:

brew install joshuadavidthomas/homebrew/django-language-server

System-wide tool installation¶

Install it globally in an isolated environment using uv or pipx:

# Using uv
uv tool install django-language-server

# Or using pipx
pipx install django-language-server

Install with pip¶

Install from PyPI using pip:

pip install django-language-server

Or add as a development dependency with uv:

uv add --dev django-language-server

Standalone binaries¶

Standalone binaries are available for macOS, Linux, and Windows from GitHub Releases.

Linux/macOSWindows

# Set the release and platform: linux-x64, linux-arm64,
# darwin-x64, or darwin-arm64.
VERSION="6.0.3"
PLATFORM="linux-x64"
ARCHIVE="django-language-server-v${VERSION}-${PLATFORM}"

curl -LO "https://github.com/joshuadavidthomas/django-language-server/releases/download/v${VERSION}/${ARCHIVE}.tar.gz"
tar -xzf "${ARCHIVE}.tar.gz"

# Move the binary to a location in your PATH.
sudo mv "${ARCHIVE}/djls" /usr/local/bin/

# Set this to the release you want to install.
$Version = "6.0.3"
$Archive = "django-language-server-v$Version-windows-x64.zip"

# Download and extract the Windows x64 archive.
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/joshuadavidthomas/django-language-server/releases/download/v$Version/$Archive" -OutFile $Archive
Expand-Archive -Path $Archive -DestinationPath .

# Move the binary to a location in your PATH (requires admin),
# or add its extracted directory to your PATH.
Move-Item -Path "django-language-server-v$Version-windows-x64\djls.exe" -Destination "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\djls.exe"

Building from source¶

Build and install directly from source using Rust's cargo:

cargo install --git https://github.com/joshuadavidthomas/django-language-server djls --locked

This requires a Rust toolchain (see rust-toolchain.toml for the required version) and will compile the language server from source.