Django Admin Forge

Modern, customizable admin UI on top of Django’s admin: same models, permissions, and ModelAdmin patterns—upgraded layout, theming, dashboard, and navigation.

Requirements: Python 3.11+, Django 4.2–5.x (see pyproject.toml).

Developing the package or running the demo? See DEVELOPMENT.md.
More detail: docs/ (architecture, configuration snippets, roadmap).

Highlights

• Django-first AdminSite replacement (forge_admin_site)
• Branded login, logout confirmation, dashboard, applications browser
• Sidebar search, header command/search, collapsible sidebar
• Light, dark, and system themes; configurable accent colors
• Improved changelist (filters modal, bulk actions, empty states) and change forms

Screenshots

Taken from the bundled demo app (accent color, quick links, rule-driven “Needs attention,” and sample models). Light, dark, and system themes use the same layout.

Light theme

Dark theme

Install

From PyPI:

pip install django-admin-forge

If you previously used the django-forge distribution name: switch INSTALLED_APPS and imports to django_admin_forge, rename settings to DJANGO_ADMIN_FORGE, then pip uninstall django-forge if it was installed, and install this package instead.

Quick integration

1. Add the app

django_admin_forge should be listed before django.contrib.admin so its admin templates take effect.

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    "django_admin_forge",
    "django.contrib.admin",
    "django.contrib.auth",
    "django.contrib.contenttypes",
    "django.contrib.sessions",
    "django.contrib.messages",
    "django.contrib.staticfiles",
    # your apps...
]

2. Mount the Forge admin site

from django.urls import path
from django_admin_forge.site import forge_admin_site

urlpatterns = [
    path("admin/", forge_admin_site.urls),
]

Register auth models on the same site (Django does not do this automatically for a custom AdminSite). Use ForgeUserAdmin so the add user screen includes staff flags, groups, and permissions in one step (instead of only after the first save):

from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
from django.contrib.auth.admin import GroupAdmin
from django.contrib.auth.models import Group

from django_admin_forge.contrib.auth_admin import ForgeUserAdmin
from django_admin_forge.site import forge_admin_site

forge_admin_site.register(get_user_model(), ForgeUserAdmin)
forge_admin_site.register(Group, GroupAdmin)

3. Optional: DJANGO_ADMIN_FORGE

DJANGO_ADMIN_FORGE = {
    "brand_name": "Forge Admin",
    "brand_logo_text": "FORGE",
    # Optional: "https://…", "/media/logo.png", or STATIC_URL path
    # "brand_logo": "/static/my-company/logo.svg",
    "brand_tagline": "Modern Django operations panel",
    "accent_color": "green",
    "default_theme": "system",  # "light" | "dark" | "system"
    "show_sidebar_search": True,
    "enable_command_bar": True,
}

Run collectstatic in production like any Django app with packaged static files.

Signing out shows a Forge-styled confirmation page (unless you set Django’s LOGOUT_REDIRECT_URL, which skips that screen and redirects immediately).

Configuration reference

Use the DJANGO_ADMIN_FORGE dictionary in Django settings.

Key	Description
brand_name	Header / site title branding
brand_logo_text	Compact sidebar logo text
brand_logo	Optional image URL or path for the brand mark (sidebar + login). When unset, the bundled Django Admin Forge logo is used
brand_tagline	Login and subtitle text
accent_color	Theme accent token (buttons, highlights)
default_theme	"light", "dark", or "system"
show_sidebar_search	Show sidebar search
enable_command_bar	Show header search / command input
menu_icons	Dict of icon overrides (see below)
menu_tabs	Optional extra sidebar shortcuts (see below); Dashboard and Applications are always shown
dashboard_analytics_cards	KPI cards backed by your models (see below)
dashboard_quick_links	Quick links shown on the dashboard (see below)
dashboard_recent_records	Configurable “Recent records” dashboard card (see below)
system_health_metrics	System health metrics shown on the dashboard (see below)
needs_attention	Rule-driven “Needs attention” alerts (recommended; see below)

Accent colors

Supported accent_color values:

blue, green, amber, violet, emerald, teal, cyan, sky, indigo, purple, pink, rose, red, orange, yellow, lime, slate, gray, zinc, neutral, stone

DJANGO_ADMIN_FORGE = {
    "accent_color": "rose",
}

Sidebar tabs (menu_tabs)

Dashboard (admin:index) and Applications (admin:forge-applications) are always added for you: first item in the main nav and last item in the section above the account menu. You do not need to list them in settings.

Use menu_tabs only for additional shortcuts (with url_name as a Django URL name or url as a path). They appear after Dashboard in the order you define.

DJANGO_ADMIN_FORGE = {
    "menu_tabs": [
        {"label": "Users", "url_name": "admin:auth_user_changelist", "icon": "user"},
        {"label": "Docs", "url": "/docs/", "icon": "external-link"},
    ]
}

If you still include Dashboard or Applications in menu_tabs, Forge uses your label and icon for those entries but keeps Dashboard first and Applications in the bottom group.

• label (required)
• url_name or url
• icon (optional; default layout-grid)

Menu icon overrides (menu_icons)

Resolution order: app_label.model_name, then model_name, then app_label, then built-in defaults (see django_admin_forge.icons).

DJANGO_ADMIN_FORGE = {
    "menu_icons": {
        "auth": "shield",
        "auth.user": "user",
        "auth.group": "users",
        "myapp.mymodel": "building",
    }
}

Dashboard analytics cards

Configure KPI tiles with real data from your models (metric: count today; optional queryset_filter).

DJANGO_ADMIN_FORGE = {
    "dashboard_analytics_cards": [
        {
            "label": "Orders",
            "app_label": "orders",
            "model": "Order",
            "metric": "count",
            "icon": "inbox",
            "hint": "All orders",
        },
        {
            "label": "Open orders",
            "app_label": "orders",
            "model": "Order",
            "metric": "count",
            "queryset_filter": {"status": "open"},
            "icon": "activity",
            "hint": "status = open",
        },
    ]
}

Fields: label, app_label, model, metric, optional queryset_filter, value, icon, hint / trend.

Dashboard quick links

Add a “Quick links” section right after the KPI cards on the dashboard.

Each entry supports:

• label (required)
• url_name (Django URL name) or url (path/URL) (required)
• icon (optional)

DJANGO_ADMIN_FORGE = {
    "dashboard_quick_links": [
        {"label": "Applications", "url_name": "admin:forge-applications", "icon": "layers"},
        {"label": "Users", "url_name": "admin:auth_user_changelist", "icon": "user"},
        {"label": "Docs", "url": "/docs/", "icon": "external-link"},
    ]
}

Dashboard “Recent records” card

Replace the “Model groups” panel on the dashboard with a configurable “Recent records” card sourced from any model.

Config keys:

• title (optional)
• model (required): "app_label.ModelName"
• icon (optional)
• limit (optional, default 5; max 10)
• order_by (optional, default -pk)
• primary_field (optional; falls back to str(obj))
• secondary_field (optional)
• meta_field (optional)

Example:

DJANGO_ADMIN_FORGE = {
    "dashboard_recent_records": {
        "title": "Recent customers",
        "model": "demo_app.Customer",
        "icon": "building",
        "limit": 5,
        "order_by": "-created_at",
        "primary_field": "company_name",
        "secondary_field": "contact_email",
        "meta_field": "plan",
    },
}

System health metrics

The “System health” dashboard card supports a configurable list of metrics. If you don’t configure anything, Forge shows a sensible default set based on Django itself (no Celery/Sentry/etc. required).

Supported built-in metrics:

• uptime
• django_version
• database (optional alias, default "default")
• cache (optional alias, default "default")
• debug
• celery (optional; requires Celery; optional timeout, default 1.0)
• sentry (optional; requires sentry-sdk)

DJANGO_ADMIN_FORGE = {
    "system_health_metrics": [
        {"metric": "uptime"},
        {"metric": "django_version"},
        {"metric": "database", "alias": "default"},
        {"metric": "cache", "alias": "default"},
        {"metric": "debug"},
        # Optional integrations (safe to include; will show "Not installed" if missing)
        {"metric": "celery", "timeout": 1.0},
        {"metric": "sentry"},
    ]
}

Rule-driven “Needs attention” alerts

For most projects, you don’t want to hand-author every alert. Use needs_attention to generate alerts from model data (expiring subscriptions, stuck records, low quotas, etc.) with a small, robust config.

Top-level keys:

• enabled (default True)
• rules: list of rule dicts
• display: { "mode": "grouped"|"per_row"|"hybrid", "max_rows": 5 }
• defaults: { "timezone": "current"|"utc", "date_window_days": 14 }

Supported rule types:

• date_due (DateField/DateTimeField): within / overdue / both
• numeric_threshold
• bool_flag
• callable (escape hatch): dotted path returning alert dict(s)

Example:

DJANGO_ADMIN_FORGE = {
    "needs_attention": {
        "display": {"mode": "hybrid", "max_rows": 5},
        "defaults": {"date_window_days": 14},
        "rules": [
            {
                "id": "customers-inactive",
                "type": "bool_flag",
                "title": "Inactive customers",
                "model": "demo_app.Customer",
                "field": "is_active",
                "value": False,
                "level": "warning",
                "icon": "building",
                "cta": "Review",
            },
            {
                "id": "low-seats",
                "type": "numeric_threshold",
                "title": "Large customers to review",
                "model": "demo_app.Customer",
                "field": "seats",
                "op": \">=\",
                "value": 50,
                "level": "info",
                "icon": "users",
            },
            {
                "id": "subscription-expiry",
                "type": "date_due",
                "title": "Subscriptions expiring soon",
                "model": "billing.Subscription",
                "field": "subscription_expiry",
                "window_days": 14,
                "direction": "within_or_past",
                "level": "danger",
                "icon": "clock",
            },
            {
                "id": "custom-check",
                "type": "callable",
                "title": "Custom checks",
                "callable": "myapp.admin_alerts.custom_alerts",
            },
        ],
    }
}

License

MIT. See LICENSE.