ImproperlyConfigured` Error When Deploying Django to Vercel with Supabase PostgreSQL

Question

I'm currently trying to deploy my Django project to Vercel, using Supabase as the PostgreSQL database provider. I have separated my settings into base.py, development.py, and production.py to manage environment-specific configurations.

Problem:

When attempting to migrate the database using python manage.py migrate, I encounter the following error:

```bash
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: settings.DATABASES is improperly configured.              Please supply the ENGINE value. Check settings documentation for more details.
```

Setup Details:

1. Database Configuration (production.py):

   from decouple import config
   import dj_database_url
   from urllib.parse import urlparse
   
   # Production-specific settings
   DEBUG = True
   
   # Parse the DATABASE_URL to extract components
   url = urlparse(config('DATABASE_URL'))
   
   # Configure your production database (example using PostgreSQL)
   DATABASES = {
       'default': dj_database_url.config(
           default=config('DATABASE_URL')
       )
   }
   
   # configure the database ENGINE to use the Postgres database
   DATABASES['default']['ENGINE'] = 'django.db.backends.postgresql'
   
   # Optional: Additional database settings
   DATABASES['default']['ATOMIC_REQUESTS'] = True
   
   # Cache configuration
   CACHES = {
       'default': {
           'BACKEND': 'django_redis.cache.RedisCache',
           'LOCATION': config('UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_URL'),
           'OPTIONS': {
               'CLIENT_CLASS': 'django_redis.client.DefaultClient',
           }
       }
   }
   
   # Static and media files settings for production
   STATIC_URL = '/static/'
   MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
   
   # Use proper email backend for production (e.g., SMTP)
   EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'
   EMAIL_USE_TLS = True
   EMAIL_HOST = config('EMAIL_HOST')
   EMAIL_PORT = config('EMAIL_PORT', default=587)
   EMAIL_HOST_USER = config('EMAIL_HOST_USER')
   EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = config('EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD')
   
   # Cloudinary storage for production
   DEFAULT_FILE_STORAGE = 'cloudinary_storage.storage.MediaCloudinaryStorage'
   
   SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT = True
   SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER = ('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO', 'https')
   SECURE_HSTS_SECONDS = 60
   SECURE_HSTS_INCLUDE_SUBDOMAINS = True
   SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT = True
   SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = True
   CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE = True
   SECURE_BROWSER_XSS_FILTER = True
   SECURE_HSTS_PRELOAD = True
   
   DOMAIN = "https://car-zone-dealership.vercel.app
   

2. Environment Setup:

• DATABASE_URL is set correctly in the .env file and verified locally.
• Necessary environment variables (UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_URL, EMAIL_HOST, EMAIL_PORT, EMAIL_HOST_USER, EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD, CLOUD_NAME, API_KEY, API_SECRET) are configured in the .env file.

3. Error Screenshot:

the error message encountered during python manage.py migrate.

on vercel domain

Request:

I would appreciate any insights or suggestions on how to resolve this ImproperlyConfigured error and successfully migrate my Django project's database on Vercel with Supabase PostgreSQL.

Thank you in advance for your help!

I have tried to google about it and tried the answers given including using url parser to get use the connection string and get the variables but still nothing worked