How do you reload a Django model module using the interactive interpreter via “manage.py shell”?

Question

I know how to reload a regular Python module within a regular Python interpreter session. This question documents how to do that pretty well:

How do I unload (reload

Answer 1

Well, I think I have to answer to this. The problem is that Django caches its models in a singleton (singleton like structure) called AppCache. Basically, to reload Django models you need to first reload and re-import all the model modules stored in the AppCache. Then you need to wipe out the AppCache. Here's the code for it:

import os
from django.db.models.loading import AppCache
cache = AppCache()

curdir = os.getcwd()

for app in cache.get_apps():
    f = app.__file__
    if f.startswith(curdir) and f.endswith('.pyc'):
        os.remove(f)
    __import__(app.__name__)
    reload(app)

from django.utils.datastructures import SortedDict
cache.app_store = SortedDict()
cache.app_models = SortedDict()
cache.app_errors = {}
cache.handled = {}
cache.loaded = False

I've put all of this in a separate file called reloadmodels.py in the root directory of my Django site. Using IPython I can reload everything by running:

%run ~/mysite/reloadmodels.py