diff --git a/src/command_builder.rs b/src/command_builder.rs
index 01faca1..89a0101 100644
--- a/src/command_builder.rs
+++ b/src/command_builder.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ use std::{
     process::{Child, Command, Stdio},
 };
 
-use crate::debug_println;
+use crate::debug_eprintln;
 
 pub struct Args(Vec<String>);
 
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ impl CommandBuilder {
     }
 
     pub fn build(self) -> Result<Command> {
-        debug_println!("-----\n{self}\n-----");
+        debug_eprintln!("-----\n{self}\n-----");
 
         let (first, rest) = self.args.split_first().context("empty args")?;
         let mut command = Command::new(first);
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index ba75b2c..c24d234 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ pub mod scripts;
 
 // NOTE: stolen from https://docs.rs/debug_print/latest/debug_print/
 #[macro_export]
-macro_rules! debug_println {
-    ($($arg:tt)*) => (if ::std::cfg!(debug_assertions) { ::std::println!($($arg)*); })
+macro_rules! debug_eprintln {
+    ($($arg:tt)*) => (#[cfg(debug_assertions)] eprintln!($($arg)*));
 }
 
 fn safe_create_file(path: PathBuf) -> Result<File, std::io::Error> {
diff --git a/src/scripts/django.rs b/src/scripts/django.rs
index 38fe376..16cbe72 100644
--- a/src/scripts/django.rs
+++ b/src/scripts/django.rs
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ use crate::{create_file, safe_create_file};
 
 fn get_django_settings_module() -> Result<String> {
     let dsm = env::var("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE")?;
-    println!("USING: {dsm}");
+    eprintln!("USING: {dsm}");
 
     Ok(dsm)
 }
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ pub fn make_command(app: &PathBuf, name: &str) -> Result<()> {
         return Err(anyhow!("directory {app_name} does not exist"));
     }
 
-    println!("found app {app_name}");
+    eprintln!("found app {app_name}");
 
     let management_dir = app_dir.join("management");
 
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ pub fn make_command(app: &PathBuf, name: &str) -> Result<()> {
         create_dir(&management_dir)?;
         create_file(management_dir.join("__init__.py"))?;
 
-        println!("created module {app_name}.management")
+        eprintln!("created module {app_name}.management")
     };
 
     let commands_dir = management_dir.join("commands");
@@ -51,20 +51,20 @@ pub fn make_command(app: &PathBuf, name: &str) -> Result<()> {
         create_dir(&commands_dir)?;
         create_file(commands_dir.join("__init__.py"))?;
 
-        println!("created module {app_name}.management.commands")
+        eprintln!("created module {app_name}.management.commands")
     };
 
     let mut file = safe_create_file(commands_dir.join(format!("{name}.py")))?;
     file.write_all(DEBUG_TEMPLATE.as_bytes())?;
 
-    println!("created command {app_name}.management.commands.{name}");
+    eprintln!("created command {app_name}.management.commands.{name}");
     Ok(())
 }
 
 pub fn manage(rest: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
     let dsm = get_django_settings_module()?;
     let joined = rest.join(" ");
-    let command = format!("exec appserver python manage.py {joined} --settings={dsm}");
+    let command = format!("run --rm appserver python manage.py {joined} --settings={dsm}");
     CommandBuilder::docker_compose().args(&command).exec()
 }
 
diff --git a/src/scripts/postgres.rs b/src/scripts/postgres.rs
index 0153fe4..0285da1 100644
--- a/src/scripts/postgres.rs
+++ b/src/scripts/postgres.rs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ use std::{
 };
 
 use super::docker_compose;
-use crate::{command_builder::CommandBuilder, debug_println};
+use crate::{command_builder::CommandBuilder, debug_eprintln};
 
 fn get_containers() -> Result<[String; 2]> {
     // get db container
@@ -40,13 +40,13 @@ pub fn import(file: &Path) -> Result<()> {
     let [db_container, app_containers] = get_containers()?;
     let dump_file = file.to_string_lossy();
 
-    println!("stopping all containers");
+    eprintln!("stopping all containers");
     docker_compose::stop()?;
 
-    println!("starting db container");
+    eprintln!("starting db container");
     docker_compose::start(Some("postgresdb"))?;
 
-    println!("restoring database");
+    eprintln!("restoring database");
     let commands = [
         format!("cp {dump_file} {db_container}:/tmp/dbdump"),
         format!("exec {db_container} dropdb -U db db"),
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ pub fn import(file: &Path) -> Result<()> {
     ];
 
     for command in commands {
-        debug_println!("waiting until pg_isready");
+        debug_eprintln!("waiting until pg_isready");
         while !CommandBuilder::docker()
             .args(&format!(
                 "exec {db_container} pg_isready -h postgresdb -p 5432 -U db",
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ pub fn import(file: &Path) -> Result<()> {
         CommandBuilder::docker().args(&command).exec()?;
     }
 
-    println!("restarting containers");
+    eprintln!("restarting containers");
     docker_compose::stop()?;
     docker_compose::up()?;
 
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ pub fn import(file: &Path) -> Result<()> {
 pub fn dump(file: &PathBuf) -> Result<()> {
     let [db_container, _] = get_containers()?;
 
-    println!("dumping to local file {}", file.to_string_lossy());
+    eprintln!("dumping to local file {}", file.to_string_lossy());
 
     let file = File::create(file)?;
     let stdout = Stdio::from(file);