Python sqlite3.OperationalError: no such table:

You are assuming that the current working directory is the same as the directory your script lives in. It is not an assumption you can make. Your script is opening a new database in a different directory, one that is empty.

Use an absolute path for your database file. You can base it on the absolute path of your script:

import os.path

BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
db_path = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "PupilPremiumTable.db")
with sqlite3.connect(db_path) as db:

You can verify what the current working directory is with os.getcwd() if you want to figure out where instead you are opening the new database file; you probably want to clean up the extra file you created there.


I had the same problem and here's how I solved it.

  1. I killed the server by pressing Ctrl+C
  2. I deleted the pychache folder. You'll find this folder in your project folder.
  3. I deleted the sqlite db.
  4. I made migrations with python manage.py makemigrations <app_name> where <app_name> is the specific app that contains the model that's causing the error. In my case it was the mail app so I ran python manage.py makemigrations app.
  5. I migrated in the normal way.
  6. Then I started the server and it was all solved.

I believe the issue is as Jorge Cardenas said:

Maybe you are loading views or queries to database but you haven´t granted enough time for Django to migrate the models to DB. That's why the "table doesn't exist".

This solution is based on this youtube video


First, you need to check if that table 100% exist in the database. You can use sqlite viewer for that: https://inloop.github.io/sqlite-viewer/.

If the table exists, then you can write your table name in '', for example:

Select * from 'TableName'

Whatever your query is, I am just using Select * as an example.