Django Error: django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Error loading MySQLdb module

Question

I'm new to Python and Django, And I'm trying to run a Django app which uses MySQL as a database,
I installed mysqlclient using pip, which it shows as Requirement already satisfied: mysqlclient in ./env/lib/python3.7/site-packages (1.4.4)

But when I run the project or try to create a superuser,
it throws me the following error -

Aniruddhas-MacBook-Pro:python_django aniruddhanarendraraje$ ls
djangocrashcourse-master        env                             projectNameHere
Aniruddhas-MacBook-Pro:python_django aniruddhanarendraraje$ source env/bin/activate
(env) Aniruddhas-MacBook-Pro:python_django aniruddhanarendraraje$ pip install mysqlclient
Requirement already satisfied: mysqlclient in ./env/lib/python3.7/site-packages (1.4.4)
(env) Aniruddhas-MacBook-Pro:python_django aniruddhanarendraraje$ cd djangocrashcourse-master/
(env) Aniruddhas-MacBook-Pro:djangocrashcourse-master aniruddhanarendraraje$ python manage.py runserver
Watching for file changes with StatReloader
Exception in thread django-main-thread:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py", line 15, in <module>
    import MySQLdb as Database
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/MySQLdb/__init__.py", line 18, in <module>
    from . import _mysql
ImportError: dlopen(/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/MySQLdb/_mysql.cpython-37m-darwin.so, 2): Library not loaded: @rpath/libmysqlclient.21.dylib
  Referenced from: /Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/MySQLdb/_mysql.cpython-37m-darwin.so
  Reason: image not found

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/threading.py", line 926, in _bootstrap_inner
    self.run()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/threading.py", line 870, in run
    self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/utils/autoreload.py", line 54, in wrapper
    fn(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/core/management/commands/runserver.py", line 109, in inner_run
    autoreload.raise_last_exception()
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/utils/autoreload.py", line 77, in raise_last_exception
    raise _exception[1]
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 337, in execute
    autoreload.check_errors(django.setup)()
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/utils/autoreload.py", line 54, in wrapper
    fn(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/__init__.py", line 24, in setup
    apps.populate(settings.INSTALLED_APPS)
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/apps/registry.py", line 114, in populate
    app_config.import_models()
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/apps/config.py", line 211, in import_models
    self.models_module = import_module(models_module_name)
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/importlib/__init__.py", line 127, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1006, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 967, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 677, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 728, in exec_module
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 219, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/djangocrashcourse-master/posts/models.py", line 5, in <module>
    class Posts(models.Model):
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py", line 117, in __new__
    new_class.add_to_class('_meta', Options(meta, app_label))
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py", line 321, in add_to_class
    value.contribute_to_class(cls, name)
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/models/options.py", line 204, in contribute_to_class
    self.db_table = truncate_name(self.db_table, connection.ops.max_name_length())
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/__init__.py", line 28, in __getattr__
    return getattr(connections[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS], item)
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/utils.py", line 201, in __getitem__
    backend = load_backend(db['ENGINE'])
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/utils.py", line 110, in load_backend
    return import_module('%s.base' % backend_name)
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/importlib/__init__.py", line 127, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1006, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 967, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 677, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 728, in exec_module
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 219, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "/Users/aniruddhanarendraraje/Documents/work/pocs/pythonBasics/python_django/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py", line 20, in <module>
    ) from err
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Error loading MySQLdb module.
Did you install mysqlclient?

After adding the following to __init__.py-

import pymysql
pymysql.install_as_MySQLdb()

Answer 1

Install mysqlclient on virtualenv by which you run your django project

Install mysqlclient and pymysql

pip install pymysql
pip install mysqlclient==1.4.4

Then add following lines on project root (belong with settings.py) __init__.py

import pymysql
pymysql.install_as_MySQLdb()

Example project structure

├── manage.py
├── stackoverflow
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── settings.py
│   ├── urls.py
│   └── wsgi.py
└── templates