"django.db.utils.NutSupportedError: extension 'postgis' not available" error being thrown despite having postgis installed in Python virtualenv

I am attempting to migrate model changes I have made to my codebase to a PostgreSQL server (PostgreSQL 18.1 on x86_64-linux, compiled by gcc-11.4.0, 64-bit), but every time I do this error is thrown. Specifically, the migrate sequence throws the error when reading the file /home/[username]/[project]/[project_directory]/newenv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/django/db/backends/utils.py on return self.cursor.execute(sql). (Note: the system environment is Linux DESKTOP-7C9U6H4 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2).

The function called looks like this:

def _execute(self, sql, params, *ignored_wrapper_args): # Raise a warning during app initialization (stored_app_configs is only # ever set during testing). if not apps.ready and not apps.stored_app_configs: warnings.warn(self.APPS_NOT_READY_WARNING_MSG, category=RuntimeWarning) self.db.validate_no_broken_transaction() with self.db.wrap_database_errors: if params is None: # params default might be backend specific. return self.cursor.execute(sql) else: return self.cursor.execute(sql, params)

In my project settings my Databases dictionary looks like the following:

DATABASES = { 'default': { 'ENGINE': 'django.contrib.gis.db.backends.postgis', 'NAME': '[name]', 'USER': '[user]', 'PASSWORD': '', 'HOST': '127.0.0.1', # localhost 'PORT': '5432', } }

When I try to enter the command CREATE extension postgis; on the database side (the server is located at /usr/local/pgsql/data), I get the following error thrown: ERROR: extension "postgis" is not available. Hint: The extension must first be installed on the system where PostgreSQL is running.

I am unclear why the extension is not available because I have already run (in my project's local virtualenv)

sudo apt install postgis sudo apt install postgresql-18 sudo apt install ca-certificates gnupg curl https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/apt.postgresql.org.gpg >/dev/null sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt $(lsb_release -cs)-pgdg main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list'

When I run apt search postgis, these items appear for postgresql-18

postgresql-18-postgis-3/jammy-pgdg-testing,jammy-pgdg,now 3.6.1+dfsg-1.pgdg22.04+1 amd64 [installed,automatic] Geographic objects support for PostgreSQL 18 postgresql-18-postgis-3-dbgsym/jammy-pgdg-testing,jammy-pgdg 3.6.1+dfsg-1.pgdg22.04+1 amd64 debug symbols for postgresql-18-postgis-3 postgresql-18-postgis-3-scripts/jammy-pgdg-testing,jammy-pgdg,now 3.6.1+dfsg-1.pgdg22.04+1 all [installed,automatic] Geographic objects support for PostgreSQL 18 -- SQL scripts