## The short version

Move Django compute from AWS EC2 app to Ample, one component at a time. Destination verified on Ample: the app built, started and answered on its public HTTPS URL with encrypted configuration delivered. Source procedure: Collect the process environment from the instance (systemd unit or process manager config) into an env file kept out of the repository. Not migrated automatically: Cron jobs, local files on the instance disk, security-group networking and IAM instance roles are not migrated; use managed databases, buckets and encrypted env instead. Cutover: Add the custom domain with `ample domain add`, update DNS from the instance or load balancer, keep the instance until verified, then stop it. Rollback: keep the source untouched until you confirm; nothing at the source is changed or deleted by this guide.

## What it needs

- [Compute](/content/discover/primitive/compute/index.html): verified (Apps run in isolated x86_64 Firecracker microVMs; sizes are the priced VM sizes.)
- [Postgres](/content/discover/primitive/postgres/index.html): verified (Managed PostgreSQL 16 runs in its own microVM and is auto-provisioned when an app needs a database and no DATABASE_URL is supplied.)

## Before you start

- Authorized access to the AWS EC2 app source and its export tooling
- An inventory of every component in scope and out of scope
- A validated backup or copy before any cutover
- An Ample account token with servers:write, databases:read

## How to do it

1. 1

### Inventory the source

List what AWS EC2 app provides beyond the component you are moving. Out of scope here: Cron jobs, local files on the instance disk, security-group networking and IAM instance roles are not migrated; use managed databases, buckets and encrypted env instead.

2. 2

### Source step 1

Collect the process environment from the instance (systemd unit or process manager config) into an env file kept out of the repository

3. 3

### Source step 2

Replace the instance's process manager with the repository's start command; Ample supervises the process and restarts it

4. 4

### Source step 3

Inventory what else runs on the instance: databases, cron, reverse proxy rules, local files

5. 5

### Deploy on Ample in parallel

pip install into .ample/python from requirements.txt, then waitress serving project.wsgi from run.py reading PORT on the python-3.12 template. Pass the exported variables with --env; keep the source running.

```
ample deploy . --name <app-name> --public --start "python3 run.py" --env-file .env.production
```

6. 6

### Validate before cutover

Run the app's own checks and, for data, compare counts and checksums; the example checks are the pattern self-tests (/p/configuration-secrets, /p/relational-records).

7. 7

### Cut over

Add the custom domain with `ample domain add`, update DNS from the instance or load balancer, keep the instance until verified, then stop it.

8. 8

### Rollback

Point DNS or configuration back to the source. The source was never modified; deletion is a separate, user-executed step after validation.

## Tested examples

- **Django pattern fixture (destination)** (`tests/deploy-canaries/django-patterns`): Verified destination basis: Django compute.

## How to know it worked

- destination app responds on its public URL (`/` on the live URL, expect ample canary django patterns)
- configuration-secrets check from the destination example (`/p/configuration-secrets` on the live URL, expect see the pattern fixture checks)
- relational-records check from the destination example (`/p/relational-records` on the live URL, expect see the pattern fixture checks)
- data or object counts and checksums match the source

## Cost estimate

Estimated 10.00 USD per month (size prices from pricing.toml at build revision ca0b484a7a9957c573a88d3a32dc603c3c10135a).

- app server x1 `s-1vcpu-1gb`: 5.00 USD
- managed PostgreSQL database x1 `s-1vcpu-1gb`: 5.00 USD

Upper-bound monthly price of the tested sizes at the destination. Source costs are unknown to Ample.

## Verification evidence

- canary_run on 2026-09-20T03:31:44Z at revision `03b6402b1b3e19178985f08ea4033804521d85d4 (CLI b75e104)`: Destination side verified: the Django pattern fixture deployed on Ample (pip install into .ample/python from requirements.txt, then waitress serving project.wsgi from run.py reading PORT on the python-3.12 template) and its checks passed (the app built, started and answered on its public HTTPS URL with encrypted configuration delivered). The source-side export from AWS EC2 app is documented from the vendor's standard tooling and was not executed by this catalog's evidence. (expires 2027-03-19T03:31:44Z)

## Identifiers and status

Recipe `page:migrate:aws-ec2-app:django`. Revision r1.

release **published** support **verified** execution **unbound**