diff --git a/manage.py b/manage.py
index 3146a599f8..2423c81943 100755
--- a/manage.py
+++ b/manage.py
@@ -4,17 +4,21 @@ import sys
 import logging
 import subprocess
 
+BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+sys.path.append(BASE_DIR)
+import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     if 'posix' in os.name and os.geteuid() == 0:
         from django.core.management.base import CommandError
         raise CommandError("manage.py should not be run as root.")
     os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "zproject.settings")
-    os.environ.setdefault("PYTHONSTARTUP", os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "scripts/lib/pythonrc.py"))
+    os.environ.setdefault("PYTHONSTARTUP", os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "scripts/lib/pythonrc.py"))
 
     from django.conf import settings
 
     logger = logging.getLogger("zulip.management")
-    subprocess.check_call([os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "scripts", "lib", "log-management-command"),
+    subprocess.check_call([os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "scripts", "lib", "log-management-command"),
                            " ".join(sys.argv)])
 
     if "--no-traceback" not in sys.argv and len(sys.argv) > 1:
diff --git a/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_app_frontend/check_queue_worker_errors b/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_app_frontend/check_queue_worker_errors
index 821b1fdd26..cdf9c98090 100755
--- a/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_app_frontend/check_queue_worker_errors
+++ b/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_app_frontend/check_queue_worker_errors
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ from __future__ import print_function
 
 import sys
 sys.path.append('/home/zulip/deployments/current')
+import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import
+
 from zproject import settings
 
 import glob
diff --git a/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_app_frontend/check_send_receive_time b/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_app_frontend/check_send_receive_time
index de03780924..b3ab4fee18 100755
--- a/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_app_frontend/check_send_receive_time
+++ b/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_app_frontend/check_send_receive_time
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ import random
 import traceback
 import os
 
+sys.path.append('/home/zulip/deployments/current')
+import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import
+
 import django
 
 def total_seconds(timedelta):
diff --git a/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_postgres_appdb/check_fts_update_log b/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_postgres_appdb/check_fts_update_log
index 02bdfdc4f1..bc308274bd 100755
--- a/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_postgres_appdb/check_fts_update_log
+++ b/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_postgres_appdb/check_fts_update_log
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@ Nagios plugin to check the length of the FTS update log.
 """
 from __future__ import print_function
 
+import sys
+sys.path.append('/home/zulip/deployments/current')
+import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import
+
 import psycopg2
 
 states = {
diff --git a/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_postgres_common/check_postgres_backup b/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_postgres_common/check_postgres_backup
index 59e445b008..e65a1edaa4 100755
--- a/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_postgres_common/check_postgres_backup
+++ b/puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_postgres_common/check_postgres_backup
@@ -1,11 +1,16 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
 from __future__ import print_function
-import dateutil.parser
-import pytz
 import subprocess
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 
+import sys
+sys.path.append('/home/zulip/deployments/current')
+import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import
+
+import dateutil.parser
+import pytz
+
 states = {
     "OK": 0,
     "WARNING": 1,
diff --git a/puppet/zulip/files/postgresql/process_fts_updates b/puppet/zulip/files/postgresql/process_fts_updates
index 7943802052..ac84aa285c 100755
--- a/puppet/zulip/files/postgresql/process_fts_updates
+++ b/puppet/zulip/files/postgresql/process_fts_updates
@@ -8,6 +8,20 @@
 # search column search_tsvector in the main zerver_message.
 from __future__ import print_function
 
+import sys
+
+# We want to use a virtualenv in production, which will be in /home/zulip/deployments/current.
+# So we should add that path to sys.path and then import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import.
+# But this file is also used in development, where the above path will not exist.
+# So `import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import` will raise an ImportError.
+# In development, we just want to skip this step since we know that virtualenv will already be in use.
+# So catch the ImportError and do nothing.
+sys.path.append('/home/zulip/deployments/current')
+try:
+    import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import
+except ImportError:
+    pass
+
 import psycopg2
 import psycopg2.extensions
 import select
diff --git a/puppet/zulip_internal/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_zephyr_mirror/check_user_zephyr_mirror_liveness b/puppet/zulip_internal/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_zephyr_mirror/check_user_zephyr_mirror_liveness
index bd5e35bf46..2a64e03ea0 100755
--- a/puppet/zulip_internal/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_zephyr_mirror/check_user_zephyr_mirror_liveness
+++ b/puppet/zulip_internal/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_zephyr_mirror/check_user_zephyr_mirror_liveness
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@ import datetime
 import os
 import sys
 
+import sys
+sys.path.append('/home/zulip/deployments/current')
+import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import
+
 import django
 
 os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = "zproject.settings"
diff --git a/puppet/zulip_internal/files/postgresql/pg_backup_and_purge.py b/puppet/zulip_internal/files/postgresql/pg_backup_and_purge.py
index 4b884042fa..1cde564439 100644
--- a/puppet/zulip_internal/files/postgresql/pg_backup_and_purge.py
+++ b/puppet/zulip_internal/files/postgresql/pg_backup_and_purge.py
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
 from __future__ import print_function
+
+import sys
+sys.path.append('/home/zulip/deployments/current')
+import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import
+
 import subprocess
 import sys
 import logging
diff --git a/puppet/zulip_internal/files/zulip-ec2-configure-interfaces b/puppet/zulip_internal/files/zulip-ec2-configure-interfaces
index 6e33d675f1..47210fdcf7 100755
--- a/puppet/zulip_internal/files/zulip-ec2-configure-interfaces
+++ b/puppet/zulip_internal/files/zulip-ec2-configure-interfaces
@@ -49,6 +49,10 @@ import logging.handlers
 import subprocess
 import re
 
+import sys
+sys.path.append('/home/zulip/deployments/current')
+import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import
+
 import boto.utils
 import netifaces
 from six.moves import range
diff --git a/scripts/get-django-setting b/scripts/get-django-setting
index 58eaecff6c..1f623b06ef 100755
--- a/scripts/get-django-setting
+++ b/scripts/get-django-setting
@@ -3,9 +3,13 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import
 from __future__ import print_function
 
 import os
+from os.path import dirname, abspath
 import sys
 
-sys.path.insert(0, os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..'))
+BASE_DIR = dirname(dirname(abspath(__file__)))
+sys.path.append(BASE_DIR)
+import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import
+
 os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'zproject.settings'
 from django.conf import settings
 
diff --git a/scripts/lib/log-management-command b/scripts/lib/log-management-command
index 3296ad3f69..26615a152b 100755
--- a/scripts/lib/log-management-command
+++ b/scripts/lib/log-management-command
@@ -2,7 +2,12 @@
 import sys
 import logging
 import os
-sys.path.append(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "..", ".."))
+from os.path import dirname, abspath
+
+BASE_DIR = dirname(dirname(dirname(abspath(__file__))))
+sys.path.append(BASE_DIR)
+import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import
+
 os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "zproject.settings")
 from django.conf import settings
 
diff --git a/scripts/lib/setup_path_on_import.py b/scripts/lib/setup_path_on_import.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a843dc2129
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/lib/setup_path_on_import.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+"""
+Use libraries from a virtualenv (by modifying sys.path) in production.
+Also add Zulip's root directory to sys.path
+"""
+
+import os
+from os.path import dirname, abspath
+import sys
+
+BASE_DIR = dirname(dirname(dirname(abspath(__file__))))
+activate_this = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "zulip-venv", "bin", "activate_this.py")
+if os.path.exists(activate_this):
+    # this file will exist in production
+    exec(open(activate_this).read(), {}, dict(__file__=activate_this)) # type: ignore # https://github.com/python/mypy/issues/1577
+sys.path.append(BASE_DIR)
diff --git a/scripts/setup/generate_secrets.py b/scripts/setup/generate_secrets.py
index 6f40419eb7..308dd11e38 100755
--- a/scripts/setup/generate_secrets.py
+++ b/scripts/setup/generate_secrets.py
@@ -3,8 +3,12 @@
 
 from __future__ import print_function
 import sys, os, os.path
+from os.path import dirname, abspath
+
+BASE_DIR = dirname(dirname(dirname(abspath(__file__))))
+sys.path.append(BASE_DIR)
+import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import
 
-sys.path.insert(0, os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', '..'))
 os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'zproject.settings'
 
 from django.utils.crypto import get_random_string
diff --git a/zproject/wsgi.py b/zproject/wsgi.py
index 2e849f027e..d32a46e5fd 100644
--- a/zproject/wsgi.py
+++ b/zproject/wsgi.py
@@ -14,6 +14,12 @@ framework.
 
 """
 import os
+from os.path import dirname, abspath
+import sys
+
+BASE_DIR = dirname(dirname(abspath(__file__)))
+sys.path.append(BASE_DIR)
+import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import
 
 os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "zproject.settings")