What this series is, and who it is for

What this episode covers

Wagtail Unboxed is a build-along series: we open a brand new Wagtail project, read every single file it generates, and then build a real client site from it — pages, StreamField, a blog, snippets, navigation, a contact form, search, and a live deploy.

This first episode sets expectations. It covers what Wagtail actually is, why it is not a fork of Django or a rival to it, and why a Django developer already knows most of what is coming. It also says plainly what the series is not.

Before you start: You need basic Django — models, migrations, templates, settings.py. Not deeply, but Wagtail is Django, so this series teaches Wagtail, not Django. New to Django? Do the official Django tutorial first, about a weekend of work, then come back.

Chapters

1. 0:00 The site we're building
2. 0:18 What Wagtail actually is
3. 0:25 Not a fork, not a rival
4. 0:48 If you write Django, you know 70% of this
5. 0:57 Who this series is for
6. 1:19 What you need to know first
7. 1:48 If you don't know Django yet
8. 2:08 What is NOT required
9. 2:21 A note for Mac and Linux viewers
10. 2:37 The 14-episode roadmap
11. 2:50 Act 1 — Unboxing
12. 3:08 Act 2 — Building the site
13. 3:25 Act 3 — Shipping it
14. 3:38 How to follow along with the repo
15. 3:53 Why the database isn't committed
16. 4:07 What this series is NOT
17. 4:34 Pinned versions
18. 4:56 Next episode

Versions on screen

Wagtail 7.4.3 · Django 6.1.1 · Python 3.12. Recorded on Windows; macOS and Linux commands are in the repository for every episode.