# Static files not found if SCRIPT\_NAME is defined? **URL:** \ **Category:** Deployment\ **Created:** [June 21, 2025, 11:08am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/static-files-not-found-if-script-name-is-defined/41520 "2025-06-21T11:08:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![petasis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/petasis/32/6393_2.png) [@petasis](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/petasis)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 11:08am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/static-files-not-found-if-script-name-is-defined/41520/1 "2025-06-21T11:08:54Z")
Hi all, I have a django application (containerised), which works and serves static files. I want to serve this application under a nginx proxy. But suddenly, the static files are not found by django. In urls.txt, I have the following code: ```auto urlpatterns = [ path('admin/', admin.site.urls), path('scrape/', include('crawlerScrapy.urls')), path('api/', include('api.urls')), ] + static(settings.STATIC_URL, document_root=settings.STATIC_ROOT) print('STATIC_URL:', settings.STATIC_URL) print('STATIC_ROOT:', settings.STATIC_ROOT) print('URL Patterns:', urlpatterns) import os print(os.listdir(settings.STATIC_ROOT + 'rest_framework/js')) ``` When the code runs, I get the following: ```auto STATIC_URL: /disinformation_data_server/static/ STATIC_ROOT: /app/static/ URL Patterns: [ (admin:admin) 'admin/'>, (None:None) 'scrape/'>, (None:None) 'api/'>, .*)$'>] ['load-ajax-form.js', 'jquery-3.7.1.min.js', 'bootstrap.min.js', 'prettify-min.js', 'coreapi-0.1.1.js', 'csrf.js', 'ajax-form.js', 'default.js'] ``` So, everything seems fine from inside django. But when the static files are requested, I see in the logs: ```auto Not Found: /disinformation_data_server/static/rest_framework/js/jquery-3.7.1.min.js Not Found: /disinformation_data_server/static/rest_framework/js/ajax-form.js Not Found: /disinformation_data_server/static/rest_framework/js/csrf.js ``` Since the files exist in the static folder, why I am getting that they are not found? ---
**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 11:24am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/static-files-not-found-if-script-name-is-defined/41520/2 "2025-06-21T11:24:41Z")
Please post your nginx configuration for project entries. ---
**Author:** ![petasis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/petasis/32/6393_2.png) [@petasis](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/petasis)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 11:39am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/static-files-not-found-if-script-name-is-defined/41520/3 "2025-06-21T11:39:49Z")
Here it is: ```auto location /disinformation_data_server/ { proxy_http_version 1.1; proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme; proxy_set_header Host $http_host; proxy_set_header SCRIPT_NAME /disinformation_data_server/; proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8020; proxy_redirect off; } ``` ---
**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 11:58am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/static-files-not-found-if-script-name-is-defined/41520/4 "2025-06-21T11:58:01Z")
How are you running Django in its container? (gunicorn? uwsgi? something else?) In the general case, for a production-quality deployment behind nginx, you will want to have `collectstatic` copy your files to a data volume that nginx also has mounted, and have a _separate_ nginx configuration paragraph to read the static files from that volume. You don’t want to have Django serving your static files. ---
**Author:** ![petasis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/petasis/32/6393_2.png) [@petasis](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/petasis)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 12:09pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/static-files-not-found-if-script-name-is-defined/41520/5 "2025-06-21T12:09:35Z")
Here is my container entry point: ```auto #!/bin/env bash SCRIPT_DIR=$( cd -- "$( dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" &> /dev/null && pwd ) cd $SCRIPT_DIR while ! nc -z $SQL_HOST $SQL_HOST_PORT; do sleep 0.1 done echo "Database started" case $* in *gunicorn* | *runserver*) echo "Appling database migrations..." python manage.py makemigrations runuser -u appuser -- python manage.py migrate echo "Collect static files..." python manage.py collectstatic --no-input echo "Starting Celery Worker..." runuser -u appuser -- watchmedo auto-restart -d /app -p '*.py' -R -D -- celery --app disinformationDataServer worker --loglevel INFO -E & echo "Executing CMD with watchmedo: \"$@\"" runuser -u appuser -- watchmedo auto-restart -d /app -p '*.py' -R -D -- $@ ;; *) echo "Executing CMD: \"$@\"" exec $@ ;; esac ``` The container logs are: ```auto Database started Appling database migrations... STATIC_URL: /static/ STATIC_ROOT: /app/static URL Patterns: [ (admin:admin) 'admin/'>, (None:None) 'scrape/'>, (None:None) 'api/'>, .*)$'>] ['load-ajax-form.js', 'jquery-3.7.1.min.js', 'bootstrap.min.js', 'prettify-min.js', 'coreapi-0.1.1.js', 'csrf.js', 'ajax-form.js', 'default.js'] No changes detected STATIC_URL: /static/ STATIC_ROOT: /app/static URL Patterns: [ (admin:admin) 'admin/'>, (None:None) 'scrape/'>, (None:None) 'api/'>, .*)$'>] ['load-ajax-form.js', 'jquery-3.7.1.min.js', 'bootstrap.min.js', 'prettify-min.js', 'coreapi-0.1.1.js', 'csrf.js', 'ajax-form.js', 'default.js'] Operations to perform: Apply all migrations: admin, auth, contenttypes, crawlerScrapy, sessions Running migrations: No migrations to apply. Collect static files... 163 static files copied to '/app/static'. Starting Celery Worker... Executing CMD with watchmedo: "gunicorn --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 --workers 3 disinformationDataServer.wsgi:application" ``` If you look the logs in the original post, where I list a directory files, the files are there. ---
**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 12:12pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/static-files-not-found-if-script-name-is-defined/41520/6 "2025-06-21T12:12:36Z")
> [@petasis](#): > > If you look the logs in the original post, where I list a directory files, the files are there. Yes, but is that a separate data volume that nginx can access directly? You also didn’t show a separate location directive for nginx to do that. Static files should _not_ be served by Django. They should be served by nginx like it would serve any other file. ---
**Author:** ![petasis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/petasis/32/6393_2.png) [@petasis](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/petasis)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 12:22pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/static-files-not-found-if-script-name-is-defined/41520/7 "2025-06-21T12:22:36Z")
I want static data to be served by django. The static data are inside the container, nginx has no access to them. Nginx runs on a server, and serves 10+ other containers. Actually, they are the static data of django rest framework. The problem is why they are not found by django when proxied (the only change is the SCRIPT\_NAME env variable). How can I debug the view that handles the static files, that says “not found”? ---
**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 12:25pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/static-files-not-found-if-script-name-is-defined/41520/8 "2025-06-21T12:25:02Z")
> [@petasis](#): > > I want static data to be served by django. You don’t. > [@petasis](#): > > The static data are inside the container, nginx has no access to them. That’s a mistake. > [@petasis](#): > > Nginx runs on a server, and serves 10+ other containers. Not a big deal. > [@petasis](#): > > Actually, they are the static data of django rest framework. This does not make a difference. > [@petasis](#): > > The problem is why they are not found by django when proxied (the only change is the SCRIPT\_NAME env variable). I suspect that the other difference is that you’re running this under gunicorn (production quality) instead of runserver (development only). ---
**Author:** ![petasis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/petasis/32/6393_2.png) [@petasis](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/petasis)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 1:04pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/static-files-not-found-if-script-name-is-defined/41520/9 "2025-06-21T13:04:34Z")
In the same container, with gunicorn, static files are found and served, if env variable SCRIPT\_NAME is not defined. On the other hand, I looked the code of the view that serves the static files, it does not print “Not Found:”. It just returns 404. It may not be a django problem, but a gunicorn one. Needs more debugging. ---
**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 1:48pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/static-files-not-found-if-script-name-is-defined/41520/10 "2025-06-21T13:48:54Z")
You might get it to “work”, but that’s still not how you _should_ be deploying in a production-quality environment. ---
**Author:** ![petasis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/petasis/32/6393_2.png) [@petasis](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/petasis)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 3:12pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/static-files-not-found-if-script-name-is-defined/41520/11 "2025-06-21T15:12:42Z")
Its a django bug. To make it work, I had to do this: ```auto urlpatterns = [ path('admin/', admin.site.urls), path('scrape/', include('crawlerScrapy.urls')), path('api/', include('api.urls')), ] + static(settings.STATIC_URL, document_root=settings.STATIC_ROOT) + static('static/', document_root=settings.STATIC_ROOT) ``` Django will modify STATIC\_URL and prepend it with SCRIPT\_NAME if it does not start with /. But this will add SCRIPT\_NAME also in the regular expression that matches the request url. The rest of the patterns do not have the SCRIPT\_NAME prefix… So the not found is more fundamental, there is no match between the urls and the request url, the file serve view is never called. So, if SCRIPT\_NAME is defined, `static(settings.STATIC_URL, document_root=settings.STATIC_ROOT)` is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 6:58pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/static-files-not-found-if-script-name-is-defined/41520/12 "2025-06-21T18:58:38Z")
> [@petasis](#): > > Its a django bug. Actually, it is **not** “a Django bug”, because you’re using Django in a situation for which it is neither designed nor intended to be used. From the docs for [Serving static files in production](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.2/howto/static-files/deployment/#serving-static-files-in-production): > The basic outline of putting static files into production consists of two steps: run the [`collectstatic`](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.2/ref/contrib/staticfiles/#django-admin-collectstatic) command when static files change, **then arrange for the collected static files directory ([`STATIC_ROOT`](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.2/ref/settings/#std-setting-STATIC_ROOT)) to be moved to the static file server and served.** [Emphasis added] And in the docs for [How to manage static files (e.g. images, JavaScript, CSS) | Django documentation | Django](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.2/howto/static-files/) : > Serving the files > > In addition to these configuration steps, you’ll also need to actually serve the static files. > > During development, if you use [`django.contrib.staticfiles`](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.2/ref/contrib/staticfiles/#module-django.contrib.staticfiles), this will be done automatically by [`runserver`](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.2/ref/django-admin/#django-admin-runserver) when [`DEBUG`](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.2/ref/settings/#std-setting-DEBUG) is set to `True` (see [`django.contrib.staticfiles.views.serve()`](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.2/ref/contrib/staticfiles/#django.contrib.staticfiles.views.serve)). > > This method is **grossly inefficient** and probably **insecure** , so it is **unsuitable for production**. > > See [How to deploy static files](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.2/howto/static-files/deployment/) for proper strategies to serve static files in production environments. And in the [Deployment](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.2/howto/static-files/#deployment) section of that same page: > 1. Use a web server of your choice to serve the files. [How to deploy static files](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.2/howto/static-files/deployment/) covers some common deployment strategies for static files. So while what you’ve found is technically accurate - it doesn’t matter, because you shouldn’t even be trying to do this.