Django Instagram Clone is a photo sharing networking service. This app allows users to upload to the service. An account's post can be shared publicly or with preapproaved followers. Users can 'like' photos.

As a user of the application I should be able to:

1. Sign in to the application to start using.
2. Upload my pictures to the application.
3. See my profile with all my pictures.
4. Follow other users and see their pictures on my timeline.
5. Like a picture and leave a comment on it.

Create a folder, instagram-clone, by running

$ mkdir instagram-clone

Navigate to instagram-clone folder(this is where instagram cloned version will be stored)

$ cd instagram-clone

Next, we download instagram repository by running:

$ git clone https://github.com/lwairore/instagram.git

Python3.6 and up comes with a tool called venv that allows the creation of a virtual environment.

$ python3.6 -m venv --without-pip virtual

Above we used venv tool to create a virtual environment and called it virtual.

To activate the virtual environment we run the following command:

$ source virtual/bin/activate

(virtual)$ curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py | python

Myinstagram heavily relies on pip to install Django and any other packages that we will need.

Next we need to install the latst django release of version 1.11

(virtual)$ pip install django==1.11

To avoid issues, I recommend you install to you the exact version used above.

Django projects come preconfigured to work with sqlite databases which are small dynamic SQL databases. But these prove difficult to scale when our content grows. Django also supports other kinds of databases. We will use our Postgresql Database to store data in our application.

First deactivate virtual environment

(virtual)$ deactivate

1. Ubuntu To Install Postgres on Ubuntu we need to run the following commands in our terminal.

$ sudo apt-get update

To install Postgres

$ sudo apt-get install postgresql postgresql-contrib libpq-dev

Enter y when prompted “Do you want to continue? [Y/n]” and wait as the installation completes. Postgres uses "roles" to aid in authentication and authorization. By default, Postgres creates a Postgres user and is the only user who can connect to the server.

We want to create our own superuser role to connect to the server.

For those running on elementary or parrot, run the following command first;

$ sudo service postgresql start

$ sudo -u postgres createuser --superuser $USER

Enter your desired password when prompted.

We then have to create a database with that $USER login name, this is what Postgres expects as default.

$ sudo -u postgres createdb $USER

Navigate to your home directory and enter the following command to create the .psql_history in order to save your history:

$ touch .psql_history

You can now connect to the postgres server by typing :

$ psql

2. Mac Homebrew makes it really easy to install Postgres. Just run:

 $ brew install postgres

After it finishes installing, you'll need to configure your computer a bit. First, you need to tell Postgres where to find the database cluster where your databases will be stored:

$ echo "export PGDATA=/usr/local/var/postgres" >> ~/.bash_profile

This command will help some programs find Postgres more easily:

$ echo "export PGHOST=/tmp" >> ~/.bash_profile

To load these configuration changes, run:

$ source ~/.bash_profile

To start the Postgres server, simply run:

$ postgres

You'll have to leave that window open while you need the server. To stop the server, press Ctrl + C (not Cmd + C). If you want Postgres to boot at startup and run in the background, run:

 $ ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/postgresql/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents

And to start it now (since it won't boot automatically until you restart your computer), run:

$ pg_ctl start

First, we need to create a new database for instagram. Type in psql to connect to the postgres server.

$ psql

We then use an SQL command to create a database instagram.Note that all SQL commands end with a semicolon.

james=#  CREATE DATABASE instagram;

Finally, activate virtual environment.

$ source virtual/bin/activate

To connect Postgres to our project we need to install psycopg2. This is a Postgres dependency to connect and communicate with Django.

(virtual)$ pip install psycopg2

Navigate to the .env file and add configure DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORDand DEBUG

DEBUG=True
DB_NAME=<name of database>
DB_USER=<postgres username>
DB_PASSWORD=<postgres password>

Django provides an ImageField model field that manages Image uploads. The Images are stored in the file system and not in the database.

The ImageField requires a Python image Library called pillow for it to run.

(virtual) $ pip install pillow

The ImageField stores a reference to where the Image is stored in the file system.

Last but not least we need to start the Django server. Django comes loaded with a fully functional development server that contains everything from debug settings and also automatic reload when we change something in our code.

(virtual)$ python3.6 manage.py runserver
Performing system checks...

System check identified no issues (0 silenced).
October 04, 2017 - 01:10:12
Django version 1.11.5, using settings 'heyapp.settings'
Starting development server at http:https://127.0.0.1:8000/
Quit the server with CONTROL-C.

Django checks if there are any errors in your program then start a development server at localhost port 8000. If everything works you should see the instagram homepage.

1. Google Chrome
2. Mozilla Firefox
3. Internet Exploer
4. Safari
5. Microsoft Edge
6. Opera
7. UC Browser
8. Yandex Browser
9. Chromium
10. Sogou Explorer
11. QQ Browser

1. Django v1.11 - To handle routing and navigation.
2. MDB v.4.8.2 - To create an intuitive and simple responsive UI elements.

Your opinion matters. Have some ideas how to improve my product? Ping me at https://github.com/lwairore/feedback

Email - (https://[email protected])

Github username - lwairore

instagram is run by Karangu Lucas Wairore, fullstack developer.

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2019 Karangu Lucas Wairore