Add warning to runserver that it should not be used for production

[Andy Miller]

As per this discussion on the ​forum, I think adding a warning to the start of runserver would be valuable to those new to Django and a healthy reminder to those coming back to Django.

The wording of the warning is:

WARNING: This is a development server. Do not use it in a production deployment. Use a production WSGI server instead.

For more information on production servers see the documentation: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.0/howto/deployment/

Additionally a flag should be added to optionally hide the warning. --hide-unsuitable-for-production was a suggestion.

Finally the following 2 pages of the documentation should have add some wording to highlight that a deployed project should not use runserver.

• ​https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.0/howto/deployment/ (Add a warning or paragraph that mentions switching)
• ​https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.0/howto/deployment/checklist/ (Add a section to switch away from runserver)

[Sarah Boyce]

I think it's worth highlighting that it does say "development server":

Starting development server at http://127.0.0.1:8000/
Quit the server with CTRL-BREAK.

We also have a warning in the ​runserver docs and a ​warning in the tutorial (note that the tutorial runserver output would need to be updated if we make a change here).

So I think this is not that we don't have this already but a request to make this information more prominent

[Suraj Bahuguna]

This will be the new output by default. Warning can be disabled by using --hide-unsuitable-for-production flag

Starting development server at http://127.0.0.1:8000/
Quit the server with CTRL-BREAK.

WARNING: This is a development server. Do not use it in a production deployment. Use a production WSGI server instead.
For more information on production servers see the documentation: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.0/howto/deployment/

[Andy Miller]

Task list:

• add flag to runserver command
• add new message with flag to hide it
• update output at ​https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.0/intro/tutorial01/#the-development-server
• update reference docs: ​https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.0/ref/django-admin/#runserver
• update deployment checklist
• update deployment docs with a warning
• add tests for new flag
• update existing tests to include extended output

[Andy Miller]

​PR

[Andy Miller]

Updated the PR.

[Sarah Boyce <42296566+sarahboyce@…>]

In cec62fb9:

Refs #35591 -- Emphasized that runserver is not suitable for production.

[Sarah Boyce <42296566+sarahboyce@…>]

In 73fcb14:

[5.1.x] Refs #35591 -- Emphasized that runserver is not suitable for production.

Backport of cec62fb99e8ff63f30c7871a048ab15081142668 from main.

[Sarah Boyce <42296566+sarahboyce@…>]

In 69aa13f:

Fixed #35591 -- Added unsuitable for production console warning to runserver.

[Sarah Boyce <42296566+sarahboyce@…>]

In f883bef0:

Refs #35591 -- Removed hardcoded "stable" version in runserver warning.