django-admin-extended

Enhance UI/UX of the Django admin — view/edit/add modes, object-tool buttons, tabbed inlines, auto-registration, custom table pages, bookmarks, and database-driven time-series charts.

• Django 5.2 LTS / Django 6.0 on Python 3.12 / 3.13
• Typed (py.typed), mypy --strict, ruff-linted, tested on a Python × Django matrix
• No URL configuration required — works by overriding admin templates

Features

• View / Edit / Add page modes — change pages open read-only by default; users opt in to edit via the object-tools strip. Per-mode field visibility with view_only_fields / edit_only_fields / superuser_only_fields.
• Object tools — @object_tool decorator turns any admin method into a button on the change form or change list. GET / POST methods, FontAwesome icons, per-tool permission checks.
• Display helpers — html_img, html_link, html_color, html_json for list/detail columns, plus automatic FK-to-link rendering in list_display.
• Auto-registration — DefaultModelAdmin builds list_display / list_filter / select_related from the model; auto_register() registers every model in every non-Django app.
• Tabbed inlines — render inlines as tabs instead of stacked sections.
• Custom table pages — CustomTableAdminPage replaces a model's changelist with a fully custom HTML table backed by a TableData dataclass.
• Bookmarks (optional sub-app) — pin admin or external URLs to the top of the sidebar; cached with signal-based invalidation.
• Time-series charts (optional sub-app) — define charts in the admin (bar / line, stacked, split series, filters, scales). No chart code needed; values are aggregated from any model.
• Sidebar app/model ordering + per-app icons via ADMIN_EXTENDED settings.

Installation

pip install "git+https://github.com/cuongnbms/django-admin-extended.git@v6.0.0"

# settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'admin_extended',                  # required
    'admin_extended.bookmarks',        # optional — bookmark sidebar
    'admin_extended.charts',           # optional — time-series charts
    'fontawesomefree',                 # required — bundles FontAwesome 5 static files
    # ... django.contrib.admin, auth, contenttypes, sessions, messages, staticfiles
]

Run python manage.py migrate if you added the bookmarks or charts sub-apps.

Quickstart

from admin_extended.core import ExtendedModelAdmin
from admin_extended.display import html_color, html_link
from admin_extended.display.html import SUCCESS, ERROR
from admin_extended.object_tools import object_tool
from django.contrib import admin, messages
from django.http import HttpResponseRedirect
from django.urls import reverse


@admin.register(Order)
class OrderAdmin(ExtendedModelAdmin):
    list_display = ('id', 'customer', 'status_badge', 'invoice_link')
    view_only_fields = ('total',)
    edit_only_fields = ('internal_notes',)
    change_form_tools = ('send_invoice',)
    tabbed_inlines = True

    def status_badge(self, obj):
        return html_color(obj.get_status_display(),
                          SUCCESS if obj.is_paid else ERROR)

    def invoice_link(self, obj):
        return html_link(obj.invoice_url, title='Open')

    @object_tool(label='Send invoice', icon='fas fa-envelope')
    def send_invoice(self, request, object_id):
        order = self.get_object(request, object_id)
        # ... do work ...
        messages.success(request, f'Invoice sent for #{order.pk}')
        return HttpResponseRedirect(
            reverse('admin:shop_order_change', args=[object_id])
        )

Configuration

All keys optional; defaults shown.

ADMIN_EXTENDED = {
    'MENU_APP_ORDER': [],          # list[str]: sidebar app ordering by app_label
    'MENU_MODEL_ORDER': [],        # list[str]: model ordering within an app
    'APP_ICON': {},                # {'shop': 'fas fa-shopping-cart', ...}
    'DEFAULT_APP_ICON': 'fas fa-layer-group',
    'TABBED_INLINES': True,
    'AUTO_RAW_ID_FIELDS': False,
    'BOOKMARK_CACHE_SECONDS': 60,
}

Settings are read lazily via admin_extended.conf.settings, so override_settings works in tests.

Screenshots

View mode (read-only by default)	Edit mode (?edit=1)
Custom change-list object tools	Sidebar bookmarks
Change-form object tools	Custom-styled tools
Define a chart in the admin	Rendered chart with filters

Using with coding agents

llms.md is a single-file reference covering every public API, configuration key, and template hook in this package — formatted for LLM consumption.

Point Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, or any other coding agent at the version-matched copy:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cuongnbms/django-admin-extended/v6.0.0/llms.md

This avoids the agent hallucinating outdated v5-style APIs or invented setting keys.

Development

pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest                  # full test suite
tox                     # Python 3.12/3.13 × Django 5.2/6.0 + lint + type + build
python -m build         # sdist + wheel

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the contribution workflow.

Compatibility & migration

v6 is a complete re-architecture with no automatic upgrade path from v5.x. See CHANGELOG.md for the full v5 → v6 rename table and breaking changes.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.