django-admin-forge 0.1.1

A modern, extensible, premium Django admin framework.

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, 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

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),
]

3. Optional: DJANGO_ADMIN_FORGE

DJANGO_ADMIN_FORGE = {
    "brand_name": "Forge Admin",
    "brand_logo_text": "FORGE",
    "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.

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_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	Sidebar tab entries (see below)
dashboard_analytics_cards	KPI cards backed by your models (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)

Default: Dashboard only. Add entries with url_name (Django URL name) or url (path).

DJANGO_ADMIN_FORGE = {
    "menu_tabs": [
        {"label": "Dashboard", "url_name": "admin:index", "icon": "layout-grid"},
        {"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"},
    ]
}

• 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.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.