Before you begin configuring your Django project for production, you must first set up your Fly.io account and install the essential command-line interface, flyctl.

Step A: Fly.io Account Setup

1. Sign Up for a Fly.io Account

Navigate to the Fly.io website or use the CLI command to begin the account creation process.

fly auth signup

2. Add Payment Information

Fly.io requires payment information for new accounts (even for the free tier) to handle potential usage overages. This is typically handled during the sign-up process.

Step B: flyctl Installation and Authentication

3. Install the flyctl CLI

Install the command-line tool appropriate for your operating system.

• macOS (via Homebrew):

  brew install flyctl

• Linux (via Script):

  curl -L https://fly.io/install.sh | sh

• Windows (via PowerShell):

  pwsh -Command "iwr https://fly.io/install.ps1 -useb | iex"

  powershell -Command "iwr https://fly.io/install.ps1 -useb | iex"

4. Verify Installation

Check that the command works and is in your system's path.

fly version

If fly error occurs due to not being recognised, add to env path.

$env:Path += ";C:\Users\[YourUsername]\.fly\bin"

5. Log In to Fly.io

Authenticate your local CLI session with your Fly.io account. This command will open a browser window for you to sign in.

fly auth login

Once these five pre-steps are complete, you can start on the 10 steps for preparing and deploying your Django application.