Management Commands

Django management commands provided by django-growl-notifier.

runserver_growl

An enhanced version of Django’s runserver command with explicit Growl notifications.

Usage

python manage.py runserver_growl [addrport]

Arguments:

addrport - Optional address and port (default: 127.0.0.1:8000)

Examples:

# Default address and port
python manage.py runserver_growl

# Custom port
python manage.py runserver_growl 8080

# Custom address and port
python manage.py runserver_growl 0.0.0.0:8000

# IPv6
python manage.py runserver_growl [::1]:8000

Features

All standard runserver features
Explicit Growl notification when server starts
Notification includes:
- Django version
- Settings module
- Server address and port
- Success/failure status
Console output showing notification status

Notification Details

When you run the command, you’ll see:

System check identified no issues (0 silenced).
December 03, 2025 - 11:35:30
Django version 5.2.8, using settings 'myproject.settings'
Starting development server at http://0.0.0.0:8000/
✓ Growl notification sent to 2 host(s)
Quit the server with CONTROL-C.

The Growl notification shows:

Title: Django Server Started

Message:
Django version 5.2.8
Settings: myproject.settings
Starting server at http://0.0.0.0:8000/

Command Class

from django.core.management.commands.runserver import Command as RunserverCommand
from django_growl import send_notification

class Command(RunserverCommand):
    '''Enhanced runserver with Growl notifications'''

    help = 'Starts Django development server with Growl notifications.'

Comparison with Standard runserver

Standard runserver:

Relies on AppConfig.ready() for notifications
May send duplicate notifications on reload
Notification timing depends on app loading

runserver_growl:

Explicit notification in command
Clear notification timing
Better control over notification content
Shows notification status in console

When to Use

Use runserver_growl when you want:

Explicit control over notification timing
Clear console output about notification status
Consistent notification behavior
To avoid duplicate notifications from auto-reload

Use standard runserver when you want:

Standard Django behavior
Automatic notifications via AppConfig
Fewer commands to remember

Implementation

The command is a thin wrapper around Django’s built-in runserver:

from django.core.management.commands.runserver import Command as RunserverCommand
from django.conf import settings
from django_growl import send_notification
import django

class Command(RunserverCommand):
    help = 'Starts development server with Growl notifications.'

    def inner_run(self, *args, **options):
        try:
            # Send notification
            django_version = django.get_version()
            settings_module = settings.SETTINGS_MODULE
            addr = options.get('addrport', f"{self.addr}:{self.port}")

            message = (
                f"Django version {django_version}\\n"
                f"Settings: {settings_module}\\n"
                f"Starting server at http://{addr}/"
            )

            send_notification(
                title="Django Server Started",
                message=message,
                note_type='Server Status',
                sticky=getattr(settings, 'GROWL_STICKY_SERVER', False)
            )

            # Show success in console
            growl_hosts = getattr(settings, 'GROWL_HOSTS', [])
            self.stdout.write(
                self.style.SUCCESS(
                    f"✓ Growl notification sent to {len(growl_hosts)} host(s)"
                )
            )

        except Exception as e:
            # Show error but don't fail
            self.stderr.write(
                self.style.WARNING(
                    f"Failed to send Growl notification: {e}"
                )
            )

        # Run standard server
        return super().inner_run(*args, **options)