You must either define the environment variable DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE or call settings.configure() before accessing settings

# You must either define the environment variable DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE or call settings.configure() before accessing settings

The error "ImproperlyConfigured: You must either define the environment variable DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE or call settings.configure() before accessing settings" occurs when Django doesn't know which settings you're using.

To solve the error, set the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE environment variable and restart your development server.

If you are on macOS or Linux, set the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE environment variable as follows.

shell

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# On macOS and Linux
export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=mysite.settings

set django settings module environment variable

Make sure to replace the mysite placeholder with the name of your project.

If you are on Windows and use CMD (Command Prompt), use the set command instead.

CMD

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# On Windows, CMD
set DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=mysite.settings

If you are on Windows and use PowerShell, use the following command instead.

PowerShell

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# On Windows, PowerShell
$env:DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE="mysite.settings"

Make sure to replace the mysite placeholder with the name of your project.

If you've deployed your project to Heroku, you would also have to issue the heroku config:set command.

shell

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heroku config:set DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=mysite.settings --account <YOUR_ACCOUNT_NAME>

As shown in this section of the docs, the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE environment variable informs Django which settings you're using.

# Issue the `python manage.py shell` command

If the error persists, issue the python manage.py shell command.

shell

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python manage.py shell

# Or python3
python3 manage.py shell

# Or with the py alias (Windows)
py manage.py shell

issue python manage py shell command

When you use the python manage.py shell command, it tells Django which settings file to use before starting the interactive interpreter.

In other words, when you run the python manage.py shell command, it takes care of setting DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE for you.

Make sure your terminal is opened in your project's root directory (right next to your manage.py) file before you run the command.

# Update the contents of your `manage.py` file

If none of the suggestions worked, try to update the contents of your manage.py file by adding the following lines at the top.

manage.py

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import os

# ⛔️ Make sure to replace `mysite` with your project's name
os.environ.setdefault(
  'DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE',
  'mysite.settings'
)

import django

django.setup()

Make sure to replace the mysite placeholder with the name of your project.

Also note that the order in which the lines are added matters.

We first set the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE environment variable and then import django.

# Additional Resources

You can learn more about the related topics by checking out the following tutorials:

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You must either define the environment variable DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE or call settings.configure() before accessing settings