GeneralManager 0.65.0

Modular Django-based data management framework with ORM, GraphQL, fine-grained permissions, rule validation, calculations and caching.

GeneralManager

GeneralManager is a typed, declarative framework for building data-rich Django applications. Define domain objects once, then use the same model through the Django ORM, generated GraphQL, permission policies, validation, calculations, search, and workflows.

GeneralManager is pre-1.0. The main branch and latest PyPI release can differ; use the release history to distinguish published behavior from current development.

What GeneralManager provides

Domain models and interfaces

• Generate Django-backed models from typed manager definitions.
• Wrap existing Django models or expose calculated, request-backed, and remote data through the same manager API.

Start with the architecture overview and interface concepts.

APIs, permissions, and validation

• Generate GraphQL queries, mutations, subscriptions, filters, and pagination.
• Apply manager-, operation-, object-, and field-level permission policies.
• Keep business validation close to the domain with declarative rules.

Data and operations

• Work with unit- and currency-aware measurements and dataframe conversion helpers.
• Coordinate derived values with dependency-aware caching, search, workflows, audit logging, and metrics.

Development and optional integrations

• Seed realistic data with generated factories and manager-landscape helpers.
• Opt into secure GraphQL file uploads and provider-based LLM chat when those subsystems fit the application.

Compatibility

• Python 3.12 or newer
• Django 5.2.15 or newer
• CI exercises Python 3.12, 3.13, and 3.14 on SQLite

GeneralManager builds on Django's database layer, but this project only claims backend support covered by its tests or maintained examples. SQLite, PostgreSQL, and MariaDB are exercised by CI and are fully supported. Other Django-supported backends may work, but are not currently claimed as supported by GeneralManager.

Five-minute setup

Start in an empty directory. On macOS or Linux:

mkdir general-manager-demo
cd general-manager-demo
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install GeneralManager
django-admin startproject gm_demo .
python manage.py startapp projects

Append the following to gm_demo/settings.py:

INSTALLED_APPS += [
    "general_manager",
    "projects.apps.ProjectsConfig",
]

AUTOCREATE_GRAPHQL = True
GRAPHQL_URL = "graphql/"
ALLOWED_HOSTS = ["127.0.0.1", "localhost", "testserver"]

Create projects/managers.py:

from typing import ClassVar

from django.db.models import CharField

from general_manager import GeneralManager
from general_manager.interface import DatabaseInterface
from general_manager.permission import AdditiveManagerPermission


class Project(GeneralManager):
    name: str

    class Interface(DatabaseInterface):
        name = CharField(max_length=100)

    class Permission(AdditiveManagerPermission):
        __read__: ClassVar[list[str]] = ["public"]
        __create__: ClassVar[list[str]] = ["isAuthenticated"]
        __update__: ClassVar[list[str]] = ["isAuthenticated"]
        __delete__: ClassVar[list[str]] = ["isAuthenticated"]

GeneralManager discovers managers.py modules in installed Django applications during startup, so no manual import in AppConfig.ready() is needed. Create the generated model's migration, initialize the database, and seed one demo record:

python manage.py makemigrations projects
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py shell -c 'from projects.managers import Project; Project.Factory.create(name="Apollo")'
python manage.py runserver

Project.Factory.create(...) is intended here for demo seeding. Application writes should run through an authenticated permission context.

In another terminal, retrieve the record through generated GraphQL. This GET request is copyable without a CSRF token:

curl --get 'http://127.0.0.1:8000/graphql/' \
  --data-urlencode 'query=query { projectList { items { name } } }'

Expected response:

{"data":{"projectList":{"items":[{"name":"Apollo"}]}}}

You now have a typed manager, generated Django model, migration, persisted record, permission policy, and generated GraphQL query. Continue with the annotated quickstart for Windows activation, framework behavior, and troubleshooting.

Documentation

• Documentation home
• Quickstart
• Installation and optional extras
• Concept guides
• API reference
• Examples and recipes

Project links

• Releases
• Issues
• Contributing
• MIT License