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Troubleshooting

Missing Dependency Errors

MySQL Support Not Installed

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MySQL Support Not Installed
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MySQL was detected in your Django settings:
  → DATABASES['default']['ENGINE']

To enable MySQL support, install the required dependencies:
  pip install django-testcontainers-plus[mysql]
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Cause: MySQL was detected in your DATABASES settings, but mysql-connector-python is not installed.

Fix: 

pip install django-testcontainers-plus[mysql]


pip install django-testcontainers-plus[all]

Redis Support Not Installed

Same pattern as MySQL - install the redis extra:

pip install django-testcontainers-plus[redis]

Common Questions

Q: Why do I need extras for MySQL/Redis but not PostgreSQL?

PostgreSQL works without extras because the base testcontainers package includes PostgreSQL support. MySQL and Redis require their respective Python client libraries.

Q: Can I disable auto-detection for a service I'm not using?

Yes - set auto: False in your TESTCONTAINERS config:

TESTCONTAINERS = {
    'redis': {
        'auto': False,
    }
}

Q: A service was detected but I don't actually use it in tests

Check your settings for indirect references to Redis or MySQL in:

  • DATABASES - database engines
  • CACHES - cache backends
  • CELERY_BROKER_URL - Celery broker
  • SESSION_ENGINE - session storage

Disable detection for that service with auto: False.

Q: Tests work locally but fail in CI

Ensure your CI environment has:

  1. Docker available - most CI providers (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI) include it
  2. All required extras installed - pip install django-testcontainers-plus[all]
  3. Sufficient Docker permissions - some environments require sudo or a docker group

Q: Container startup is slow

Docker needs to pull images on first run. After that, images are cached locally. In CI, use Docker layer caching to speed this up.

Q: Port conflicts

Containers use randomly assigned ports, so conflicts are rare. If you're seeing connection issues, ensure no other services are binding to the same port range.

Getting Help

If you can't find your answer here, please open an issue on GitHub with:

  • Your DATABASES / CACHES settings (redact sensitive values)
  • The full error traceback
  • Your Python, Django, and package versions