What is STATICFILES_DIRS in Django: Explanation and Example

STATICFILES_DIRS in Django is a setting that tells Django where to look for static files like images, CSS, and JavaScript outside of each app's static folder. It is a list of folder paths that Django will search when collecting static files for your project.

How It Works

Imagine you have a big art studio with many rooms (apps), and each room has its own supplies (static files). But sometimes, you want to keep some supplies in a shared closet outside the rooms. STATICFILES_DIRS is like telling Django where that shared closet is.

When Django needs to gather all the static files to serve them, it looks inside each app's static folder and also checks the folders listed in STATICFILES_DIRS. This way, you can organize your static files both inside apps and in common places.

Example

This example shows how to set STATICFILES_DIRS in your Django settings.py to include a folder named assets at the project root.

python

import os

BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))

STATIC_URL = '/static/'

STATICFILES_DIRS = [
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'assets'),
]

Output

No direct output; Django will look for static files inside the 'assets' folder when running collectstatic or serving static files.

When to Use

Use STATICFILES_DIRS when you have static files that are not tied to a specific app but shared across your whole project. For example, a common CSS file or JavaScript library used by multiple apps.

This setting is helpful in bigger projects where you want to keep shared static files organized separately from app-specific files.

Key Points

• STATICFILES_DIRS is a list of folders for extra static files outside apps.
• Django searches these folders when collecting static files.
• It helps organize shared static resources in one place.
• Works together with app static folders and STATIC_ROOT.

Key Takeaways

STATICFILES_DIRS tells Django where to find extra static files outside app folders.

It is useful for storing shared static files used by multiple apps.

You list folder paths in STATICFILES_DIRS as a Python list in settings.py.

Django combines these folders with app static folders when collecting static files.

Use it to keep your project’s static files organized and easy to manage.