django-class-based-admin-actions

Django admin actions written as classes and composed from mixins, the way class-based views are. AdminAction.as_action() is to admin actions what View.as_view() is to views.

INSTALLED_APPS = [..., "class_based_admin_actions"]   # needed for the confirmation template

from class_based_admin_actions import (
    ClassActionsMixin, ConfirmationMixin, CsvExportAction, FormUpdateAction, UpdateAction,
)

class PublishAction(UpdateAction):
    description = "Publish selected %(verbose_name_plural)s"
    update_fields = {"status": "published"}
    success_message = "Published %(count)d %(name)s."
    allowed_permissions = ("change",)

class ArchiveAction(ConfirmationMixin, PublishAction):      # reuse + ask first
    update_fields = {"status": "archived"}

class SetStatusAction(FormUpdateAction):                    # ask for values in a form
    form_class = StatusForm

@admin.register(Article)
class ArticleAdmin(ClassActionsMixin, admin.ModelAdmin):
    actions = [PublishAction, ArchiveAction, SetStatusAction,
               CsvExportAction.as_action(fields=["title", "status"])]

Classes can go straight in actions with ClassActionsMixin; without it use X.as_action(**overrides) (also fine for admin.site.add_action).

Hierarchy

AdminAction                       setup / dispatch / has_permission / handle / run / perform / finish
├─ BulkAction = QuerysetMixin + SuccessMessageMixin + AtomicMixin + AdminAction
│   ├─ ObjectAction               process_object(obj), skip_errors, log_message
│   └─ UpdateAction               update_fields -> queryset.update()
│       └─ FormUpdateAction       FormMixin + UpdateAction
└─ CsvExportAction                fields, filename, CSV-injection safe

All hooks call super(), so mixins combine in any order; put them before the base class. Write your own by overriding a hook (check_preconditions, get_queryset, run, on_success, ...). Raise ActionError("msg") anywhere to abort with an error message (and roll back under AtomicMixin).

Notes

• Permissions: allowed_permissions is Django's mechanism (action hidden unless any listed has_<perm>_permission passes) and is re-checked on dispatch. Override has_permission() for more.
• description is %-formatted by Django with verbose_name/verbose_name_plural; escape literal % as %%.
• The confirmation page posts back to the changelist; the form must not define fields named action, select_across or _selected_action.
• UpdateAction uses QuerySet.update() (no save(), signals, or auto_now); use ObjectAction if you need them.

Development

uv pip install -e . pytest pytest-django && pytest