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Get started with the Wagtail Bakery Demo in just a few minutes. This guide will help you quickly set up a running instance and explore Wagtail’s features.
The Wagtail Bakery Demo is designed as a learning tool and reference implementation. It’s not intended to be used as a starting point for your own site—instead, use wagtail start for new projects.

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Quick Start with Gitpod

The fastest way to try the Wagtail Bakery Demo is through Gitpod, which provides a complete development environment in your browser.
1

Launch Gitpod

Click the button below to open the project in Gitpod (requires a GitHub account):Open in GitpodGitpod will automatically:
  • Set up the Python environment
  • Install all dependencies
  • Create and migrate the database
  • Load demo content
  • Start the development server
2

Access the Demo Site

Once Gitpod has fully started, a preview of the bakery website will appear in the “Simple Browser” panel. Click the arrow button to the right of the URL bar to open the website in a new tab.The site will be running at a URL like: https://8080-yourworkspace.gitpod.io
3

Login to the Admin

Navigate to /admin/ on your Gitpod URL and log in with:
Username: admin
Password: changeme

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Quick Start with Docker

If you prefer to run locally, Docker is the fastest method.
1

Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/wagtail/bakerydemo.git --config core.autocrlf=input
cd bakerydemo
The --config core.autocrlf=input flag ensures proper line endings across different operating systems.
2

Build and Start Services

docker compose up --build -d
This command will:
  • Build the Docker image
  • Start PostgreSQL database
  • Start Redis cache
  • Start the Django application
3

Set Up the Database

Wait 10 seconds for the database to be ready, then run:
docker compose run app /venv/bin/python manage.py migrate
docker compose run app /venv/bin/python manage.py load_initial_data
If you get a database error, wait another 10 seconds and try again. The PostgreSQL container needs time to initialize.
The load_initial_data command will:
  • Copy media files (images) to the configured storage
  • Load all demo content from fixtures
  • Create sample pages, blog posts, breads, and locations
  • Update the search index
4

Start the Server

docker compose up
The demo site will be available at:Login with: admin / changeme

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Docker Commands Reference

# Tail logs from all containers
docker compose logs -f

# View logs from specific service
docker compose logs -f app

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Exploring the Demo

Once you have the demo running, here’s what to explore:

Admin Interface

Navigate to /admin/ to explore Wagtail’s editorial interface. Try creating, editing, and publishing pages.

Content Types

Explore the different content types:
  • Blog posts with rich text and images
  • Bread pages with ingredients and recipes
  • Location pages with operating hours
  • Gallery pages

Wagtail Features

Test out features like:
  • StreamField for flexible page layouts
  • Image management and focal points
  • Page tree organization
  • Workflow and moderation

API Endpoints

The demo includes Wagtail’s API:
  • /api/v2/pages/ - Pages API
  • /api/v2/images/ - Images API
  • /api/v2/documents/ - Documents API

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Demo Users

The demo includes several users with different roles for testing permissions:
UsernamePasswordRoleSuperuser
adminchangemeFull accessYes
editorchangemeCan edit contentNo
moderatorchangemeCan approve contentNo
germanchangemeGerman localeYes
arabicchangemeArabic localeYes
inactivechangemeInactive userYes
Try logging in with different users to see how Wagtail’s permission system works.

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What’s Included

The Bakery Demo showcases:
  • Multiple Apps: Organized project structure with separate apps for blog, breads, locations, and recipes
  • Custom Models: Examples of content types with custom fields and behaviors
  • StreamField: Flexible content blocks for rich page layouts
  • Snippets: Reusable content like bread categories, countries, and ingredients
  • Relationships: Many-to-many relationships via the ingredients feature
  • Wagtail Hooks: Customizations to the admin interface
  • Search: Database-powered search implementation
  • Forms: Contact forms with form builder
  • API: REST API endpoints for headless CMS usage

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Next Steps

1

Explore the Code

The demo is designed for developers to read and learn from. Check out:
  • bakerydemo/base/models.py - Base page models and mixins
  • bakerydemo/blog/models.py - Blog implementation
  • bakerydemo/breads/models.py - Custom content with relationships
  • bakerydemo/base/wagtail_hooks.py - Admin customizations
2

Read the Installation Guide

For detailed setup instructions including Vagrant and venv methods, see the Installation Guide.
3

Create Your Own Site

Ready to build your own Wagtail site? Use the official starter:
pip install wagtail
wagtail start mysite
See the Wagtail Getting Started docs for more information.
The Docker configuration (docker-compose.yml) is for local development only and is not suitable for production use.

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