django-silk

library5.5.2pypypi✓ verified 25d ago

Django Silk is a live profiling and inspection tool for the Django framework, designed to help developers identify performance bottlenecks. It intercepts and stores HTTP requests, responses, and database queries, presenting them in an intuitive user interface for detailed analysis. Currently at version 5.5.0, it maintains an active release cadence, supporting recent Django and Python versions.

web-framework observability

pip install django-silk

github ↗package ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · DJANGO-SILK

django-silk

web-frameworkpythonv5.5.2

Install

3.8s avg

Import

106ms

Disk

71MB

Pass rate

10/ 10

Env Coverage10 / 10

glibc

3.9–3.13

musl

3.9–3.13

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v5.5.2 · pip install

no network on importno background threads

Install × environment matrix

Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux

musl

py 3.10–3.910 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 0.0s · import 0.113s · 72.1MB

glibc

py 3.10–3.910 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 3.8s · import 0.099s · 73MB

71MB installed

● package 71MB

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

version

✓ from silk import version

✗ import silk

To quickly set up Django Silk, add 'silk' to `INSTALLED_APPS` and 'silk.middleware.SilkyMiddleware' to `MIDDLEWARE` in your Django settings. It's crucial to place `SilkyMiddleware` early in your `MIDDLEWARE` list to capture the entire request/response cycle; if using `GZipMiddleware`, place it before `SilkyMiddleware`. Finally, include 'silk.urls' in your project's `urls.py` and run `python manage.py migrate`.

# settings.py INSTALLED_APPS = [ # ... other apps 'silk', ] MIDDLEWARE = [ # Place SilkyMiddleware near the top to capture full request cycle # If using GZipMiddleware, place it *before* SilkyMiddleware. # 'django.middleware.gzip.GZipMiddleware', 'silk.middleware.SilkyMiddleware', # ... other middleware ] # Optional: Restrict access to Silk UI # SILKY_AUTHENTICATION = True # Requires user to be logged in # SILKY_AUTHORISATION = True # Requires logged-in user to be staff # LOGIN_URL = '/admin/login/' # Example for custom login URL if SILKY_AUTHENTICATION is True # urls.py from django.contrib import admin from django.urls import path, include urlpatterns = [ path('admin/', admin.site.urls), path('silk/', include('silk.urls', namespace='silk')), # ... other url patterns ] # After configuration, run migrations: # python manage.py migrate # Access the UI at /silk/

Debug

Known issues

breakingDjango Silk v5.3.0 removed support for Django 3.2 and Python 3.8. Ensure your environment meets the minimum requirements (Python >= 3.10, Django >= 4.2).

fix

Upgrade Python to 3.10+ and Django to 4.2+ or pin django-silk to a version prior to 5.3.0 (e.g., `django-silk==5.2.0`).

affects: >=5.3.0

deprecatedThe `SILKY_STORAGE_CLASS` setting was deprecated in version 5.1.0. Users should now leverage Django's standard `STORAGES` configuration for specifying storage backends.

fix

Migrate your storage configuration from `SILKY_STORAGE_CLASS` to the `STORAGES` setting as per Django's official documentation.

affects: >=5.1.0

gotchaThe order of middleware is sensitive. If `silk.middleware.SilkyMiddleware` is placed after another middleware that returns a response without calling `get_response`, Silk will not profile that request. If using `django.middleware.gzip.GZipMiddleware`, it must be placed *before* `SilkyMiddleware` to avoid encoding errors.

fix

Place `silk.middleware.SilkyMiddleware` as high as possible in your `MIDDLEWARE` list. Ensure `django.middleware.gzip.GZipMiddleware` is positioned before it if used.

affects: all

gotchaUsing Django Silk in production environments is generally not recommended due to performance overhead (intercepting and storing all request/response data), potential for significant database storage growth, and security implications (exposing application internals).

fix

Restrict Django Silk to development and staging environments. Use environment variables or Django settings to enable/disable it conditionally.

affects: all

gotchaThere have been recurring fixes related to serialization issues for binary and JSON fields, as well as race conditions when modifying SQL execution, in versions 5.4.x. While fixed, this indicates potential instability in complex serialization scenarios.

fix

Ensure you are on the latest patch release (e.g., 5.4.3 or newer) and thoroughly test profiling with custom binary or JSON fields. Report any new issues to the maintainers.

affects: 5.4.x

gotchaWhen using Python 3.12 or later, the built-in `cProfile` (used by Silk for Python profiling) cannot run concurrently. This means if another profile is already running, Silk's Python profiler will not execute.

fix

Be aware of this limitation when profiling in multi-threaded or concurrent environments with Python 3.12+. Consider other profiling approaches for concurrent code sections if precise timing is needed across concurrent operations.

affects: >=3.12

Upgrade

Version history

5.5.2latest on PyPI · released Aug 13, 2026

Audit

Dependencies

DjangorequiredCore framework integration; tested with Django 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.0.

Agent activity

26 hits · last 30 days

node

OpenAI (training)

Resources

githubhttps://github.com/jazzband/django-silk ↗

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/django-silk/ ↗