How to Install Wagtail CMS on Ubuntu Linux

Wagtail CMS, a free, fast, elegant, open-source Python web framework for developing dynamic apps and websites is easy to install in Ubuntu. It is a powerful and modern content management system for developing modern websites.

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to get Wagtail web framework installed on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 and 18.10.

If you’re a developer who is going to be developing apps in Python, it may be a good thing to use Wagtail web framework to make the process seamless with rapid development and clean pragmatic design.

For more about Wagtail, please visit its homepage.

There are multiple ways to install Wagtail on Ubuntu, however, the quickest way is go use Python and PIP to get it installed. Below, we’ll show you how to do that.When you’re ready to get Wagtail on Ubuntu, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Install Prerequisites

By default, Ubuntu comes with some packages but not everything that allows you to install Wagtail web framework. For example, Python might not come standard with Ubuntu so you may have to install it. Run the commands below to install Python and Python-pip.

sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install python3 python3-pip

That should install what you need to get Wagtail installed on Ubuntu.

To verify what version of Python is installed, run the commands below

python3 -V

and for PIP, run the commands below

pip3 -V

Step 2: Install Wagtail

Now that the basic requirements to get Wagtail on Ubuntu are installed, run the commands below to download and install Wagtail packages.

Wagtail has its source code on Github that you can use to download and use. however, the quickest way is to use Python PIP.

Run the commands below to download and install Wagtail using Python-Pip into your home directory.

cd ~/
pip3 install wagtail

That should get Wagtail installed and ready to use.

Step 3: Create Wagtail App

Now that Wagtail is installed, go and create your first app environment. You can create it in your home directory or anywhere on the system. For this tutorial, we’re going to create the app in home directory.

cd ~/
wagtail start myproject
cd myproject
pip3 install -r requirements.txt
python3 manage.py migrate

That should setup Wagtail environment. When you’re done, run the commands below to create Wagtail super user account. this account will be used to access Wagtail backend portal.

python3 manage.py createsuperuser

That should prompt you to create a superuser account.

Username (leave blank to use 'richard'): admin
Email address: [email protected]
Password: admin_password
Password (again): admin_password
Superuser created successfully.

When you’re done, run the commands below to start up and run Wagtail server.

python3 manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000

Now, open your browser and go to the server hostname or IP address followed by port 8000


You should see Wagtail welcome page similar to the one below

Wagtail ubuntu install

To go to the admin backend portal, type

/admin

That should prompt you for the superuser account and password… and allow you to logon to the backend…

Wagtail ubuntu setup

That’s it!

Although that are many other settings you must configure to suit your environment, the steps above is the bare minimum to get Wagtail installed…

To get external access to Wagtail server, open its settings.py page and add the IP address.