TSN Digital Academy — Deploy on cPanel

Follow these steps on shared hosting with cPanel Setup Python App.

Step 1 — Create MySQL database (recommended)

1. cPanel → MySQL® Databases
2. Create a database (e.g. academy)
3. Create a MySQL user with a strong password
4. Add the user to the database with ALL PRIVILEGES
5. Note the full names (often cpaneluser_dbname / cpaneluser_dbuser)

Step 2 — Create Python App

1. cPanel → Setup Python App → Create Application
2. Python version: 3.10+ (3.11 or 3.12 if available)
3. Application root: e.g. academy (folder where files will live)
4. Application URL: your domain or subdomain
5. Application startup file: passenger_wsgi.py
6. Application Entry point: application
7. Click Create

Step 3 — Upload files

1. Open File Manager → go into the Application root folder
2. Upload all contents of Main Files/ (not the folder name itself)
3. You should see manage.py, passenger_wsgi.py, apps/, config/, etc.
4. Do not upload a local .env, venv/, or db.sqlite3

Step 4 — Install packages

1. In Setup Python App, copy the command under Enter to the virtual environment
2. Open Terminal (or SSH), paste that command, press Enter
3. Run:

   cd ~/academy
   pip install -r requirements.txt
   python manage.py collectstatic --noinput

   (Replace ~/academy with your real application root.)

Step 5 — Restart & install

1. Back in Setup Python App → Restart
2. Open https://YOUR-DOMAIN/install/
3. Complete the wizard (choose MySQL and enter the DB details from Step 1)
4. Log in with the admin account you created in the installer

More detail: CPANEL-DEPLOY.txt · Documentation · Admin Guide