django-admin-home

A tree-navigation sidebar, home dashboard and header user menu for the Django admin.

By default, the Django admin's home page is a flat, alphabetical list of every app/model the current user can access, and the built-in sidebar has no favorites or usage-based shortcuts. This package replaces both with:

Features

• A collapsible sidebar, grouped by app, built from the admin's own get_app_list — so it always respects the current user's permissions.
• A "Favorites" section and a star to pin/unpin any app or model (persisted per user).
• A home page with cards for favorites, most-accessed items (tracked per user), and every module, in a responsive grid (with an optional compact "masonry" layout).
• An optional "Pages" group for custom, non-model links (dashboards, API docs, external tools, ...), entirely configured via settings.
• A header user menu: identity, a language switcher (driven by settings.LANGUAGES), an explicit Auto/Light/Dark theme switcher, and account shortcuts (change password, log out).
• A dependency-free, offline SVG icon set (no external font/CDN).
• Defensive by design: any unexpected failure falls back to the native admin behaviour instead of breaking the page.

Installation

pip install django-admin-home

Add it to INSTALLED_APPS (it ships models, so run migrate afterwards):

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    "django_admin_home",
    ...
    "django.contrib.admin",
]

Enable it, once — e.g. in your own app's AppConfig.ready():

from django.apps import AppConfig


class MyAppConfig(AppConfig):
    def ready(self):
        from django_admin_home import install

        install()

Include the bundled CSS/JS in your admin/base_site.html:

{% load static %}
<link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'django_admin_home/css/nav.css' %}">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'django_admin_home/css/home.css' %}">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'django_admin_home/css/user_menu.css' %}">
<script src="{% static 'django_admin_home/js/nav.js' %}" defer></script>
<script src="{% static 'django_admin_home/js/user_menu.js' %}" defer></script>

Run migrations:

python manage.py migrate django_admin_home

Header user menu (optional)

The user menu (identity, language switcher, theme switcher, account shortcuts) needs two context processors and a template include:

TEMPLATES = [{
    ...,
    "OPTIONS": {"context_processors": [
        "django.template.context_processors.request",
        "django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth",
        ...,
        "django_admin_home.context_processors.admin_user",
        "django_admin_home.context_processors.admin_languages",
    ]},
}]

{% block usertools %}
    {% if has_permission %}
        <div id="user-tools">{% include "admin_home/_user_menu.html" %}</div>
    {% endif %}
{% endblock %}

The language switcher lists whatever is in settings.LANGUAGES and posts to Django's own set_language view — make sure django.middleware.locale.LocaleMiddleware and django.contrib.admin's i18n URLs are enabled. The theme switcher reuses the Django admin's own localStorage.theme + data-theme contract, so it stays in sync with the native toggle (which this menu hides, in favour of the explicit picker).

To add project-specific links to the menu (e.g. an internal tool), override the template admin_home/_user_menu_extra_actions.html (empty by default).

Settings (all optional)

# Icon per app/model. Value is a symbol name from the bundled SVG sprite
# (admin_home/_icon_sprite.html) — add your own <symbol> there via a
# template override if you need more icons.
ADMIN_HOME_APP_ICONS = {"buyers": "building", "cards": "card"}
ADMIN_HOME_MODEL_ICONS = {"buyers.buyer": "building"}

# Extra, non-model links shown in a "Pages" group.
ADMIN_HOME_CUSTOM_PAGES = [
    {
        "key": "page.dashboard",
        "name": "Dashboard",
        "icon": "gauge",
        "url_name": "dashboard_index",
        "permission": "account.view_menu_dashboard",  # optional
        "new_tab": True,
    },
]

# How many "most accessed" cards to show on the home page (default 8).
ADMIN_HOME_MAX_MOST_ACCESSED = 8

# Native label / sprite icon per language code, for the user menu's
# language switcher. A language missing here still works, with Django's
# own label and the bundled "globe" icon. The package ships no flag
# icons — any name in ADMIN_HOME_LANGUAGE_FLAGS must exist in the sprite,
# which means adding your own <symbol> via a template override of
# admin_home/_icon_sprite.html (see "Overriding the brand/logo" below).
ADMIN_HOME_LANGUAGE_LABELS = {"pt-br": "Português (BR)", "es": "Español"}
ADMIN_HOME_LANGUAGE_FLAGS = {"pt-br": "flag-br", "es": "flag-es"}

Overriding the brand/logo

The sidebar header includes admin_home/_brand.html, which by default just shows site_header as text. To show your own logo, place a template at the same path earlier in your project's template resolution (e.g. templates/admin_home/_brand.html in your project, with APP_DIRS search order putting your project templates before installed apps).

What this package intentionally does not do

• It does not set site_header / site_title / index_title — that stays a project-level decision.
• It does not touch AdminSite.has_permission — any extra access rules are the host project's responsibility.
• It does not migrate data from a previous, project-specific favorites/access-tracking implementation.
• It does not ship any country flag icons, or a Rosetta/translation-tool link — both are left to the host project via settings/template overrides (see above).