news-application-project

News 4 U

News 4 U is a Django news application for readers, independent journalists, editors, and curated publications. Every workflow is available through the website; the Django admin is optional and only needed for superuser tasks.

• Readers browse published stories and newsletters and subscribe to publications and individual journalists.
• Journalists submit articles, manage their own work, and create newsletters.
• Editors review and approve articles, manage articles and newsletters, and create and manage publishers and their affiliated editors and journalists.
• Approving an article emails subscribers and logs the approval through this application’s own REST API (/api/approved/).
• The same role and ownership rules apply to website pages and API actions.

Documentation

• User guide: registration, roles, publishers, and every role’s workflow on the site.
• API reference: authentication, endpoints, permissions, and example requests.
• Architecture and data model: project structure, relationships, approval flow, and design decisions.
• Development and operations: setup, MariaDB, email, testing, troubleshooting, and deployment.
• Generated Sphinx reference: browsable HTML documentation for application roles, models, and services.

Quick start (Windows PowerShell)

Run these commands from this directory (the one containing manage.py):

py -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
if (-not (Test-Path .env)) { Copy-Item .env.example .env }
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py runserver

.env.example selects MariaDB. For a quick demo without MariaDB, set DB_ENGINE=sqlite in .env before running migrate. See Development and operations for the MariaDB setup. Never overwrite an existing .env, and never commit it.

Open http://127.0.0.1:8000/ and use Join to register. Choose a role on the sign-up form:

Role	What you can do
Reader	Subscribe to publishers/journalists and read approved stories.
Journalist	Write and manage your own articles and newsletters.
Editor	Approve articles, manage content, and manage publishers.

Build and run with Docker

Install and start Docker Desktop, then run these commands from the project root:

docker build -t news-4-u .
docker run --rm -p 8000:8000 -v news-4-u-data:/data `
  -e DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS=localhost,127.0.0.1 news-4-u

The image uses SQLite for a self-contained demo, applies migrations on startup, and keeps the database in the news-4-u-data Docker volume. Browse http://127.0.0.1:8000/. For a hosted playground, add its exact host name to DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS; do not use a wildcard for a public deployment.

This image runs Django’s development server and is for local learning and testing, not production. Before deploying, configure a unique DJANGO_SECRET_KEY, a separate random INTERNAL_API_KEY, DJANGO_DEBUG=false, and the exact production DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS through private environment variables. Generate keys with Django’s get_random_secret_key() and Python’s secrets.token_urlsafe(32):

python -c "from django.core.management.utils import get_random_secret_key; print(get_random_secret_key())"
python -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(32))"

Add the generated values to your ignored local .env or pass them as runtime environment variables. Never put real credentials in the Dockerfile, README, .env.example, or Git history.

Try the whole workflow

1. Register an Editor and sign in. Open Publishers > Create publisher, name it, and tick the editors and journalists to affiliate.
2. Register a Journalist, then have the editor open Publishers > Manage members and tick that journalist.
3. As the journalist, use Write article (pick the publisher or leave it independent).
4. As the editor, open Editor review and approve the article.
5. Register a Reader, subscribe under My subscriptions, and read the approved story. Subscribers are emailed on approval (printed in the server console unless SMTP is configured).

Tests

python manage.py test

Project layout

Path	Purpose
config/	Settings, root URL configuration, WSGI/ASGI entry points
accounts/	Custom user and roles, registration, subscriptions, permissions
publications/	Publisher model, website management pages
articles/	Articles, newsletters, approval workflow, REST API
templates/, static/	Website templates and styles
tests/	Automated tests
docs/	Detailed guides

Security

Do not commit .env, database passwords, email credentials, Django secret keys, or the internal API key. See Development and operations for the deployment checklist.