🚀 Migrating from SQLite3 to MySQL in My Django REST API – Step by Step

🛠️ Step-by-step Migration Process
✅ 1. Install MySQL Driver
Inside my virtual environment:

pip install mysqlclient 

(Alternatively, you can use pymysql if you face issues with mysqlclient.)

✅ 2. Create a New MySQL Database
Using MySQL Workbench or CLI:

CREATE DATABASE myproject_db CHARACTER SET UTF8MB4; 

✅ 3. Update settings.py
I replaced the default SQLite configuration with MySQL:

DATABASES = { 'default': { 'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql', 'NAME': 'myproject_db', 'USER': 'root', 'PASSWORD': 'your_password', 'HOST': 'localhost', 'PORT': '3306', 'OPTIONS': { 'init_command': "SET sql_mode='STRICT_TRANS_TABLES'", }, } } 

✅ 4. Apply Migrations

python manage.py makemigrations python manage.py migrate 

✅ 5. Create a New Superuser
Since the database is clean, I recreated the admin user:

python manage.py createsuperuser 

✅ 6. Test Functionality

• All API endpoints were tested via Postman.

• Admin panel access was verified.

• Existing unit tests were re-run to confirm stability.

✅ 7. Optional: Migrate data from SQLite to MySQL

python manage.py dumpdata > data.json # after switching DB python manage.py loaddata data.json 

🔗 My Work Online
🔹 Portfolio: https://nicolasandrescl.github.io/

🔹 GitHub Repo: https://github.com/NicolasAndresCL/API_con_DRF

💬 Final Thoughts
This migration helped me take my backend to the next level. Whether it's for performance, structure, or readiness for deployment, using MySQL brings me closer to a professional production setup.

Would love to hear your thoughts – which DB do you prefer for your Django projects?