django-global-search 0.0.4

Global search for Django Admin, search across all registered models with permissions and search_fields support

Django Global Search

A global search extension for Django Admin that allows searching across multiple models from a single page. Search through all registered models with permission handling and respect for existing search_fields configurations.

Documentation can be found at https://django-global-search.readthedocs.io/

Features

• Unified Search Interface - Search across multiple models from a single page
• Django Admin Integration - Seamlessly integrates with Django Admin UI
• Model Selection - Filter search by specific models or apps

Installation

Install using pip:

pip install django-global-search

Or using uv:

uv add django-global-search

Usage

Basic Setup (Automatic Integration)

1. Add django_global_search to your INSTALLED_APPS:

# settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django_global_search',  # Add after admin
    # ... other apps
]

2. The global search will be automatically available at /admin/global-search/

That's it! The package will automatically inject itself into the default Django admin site.

Adding a Navigation Button (Optional)

Add a search button to the admin interface by creating templates/admin/base_site.html:

{% extends "admin/base_site.html" %}

{% block userlinks %}
    {{ block.super }}
    {% include 'global_search/button.html' %}
{% endblock %}

This adds a convenient "Global Search" button in the admin header.

Advanced Setup (Custom Admin Site)

If you're using a custom admin site, you can explicitly inherit from the mixin:

# admin.py
from django.contrib.admin import AdminSite
from django_global_search.admin import GlobalSearchAdminSiteMixin

class MyAdminSite(GlobalSearchAdminSiteMixin, AdminSite):
    site_header = "My Custom Admin"

# Replace the default admin site
admin_site = MyAdminSite(name='myadmin')

# urls.py
from myproject.admin import admin_site

urlpatterns = [
    path('admin/', admin_site.urls),
]

Configuration

Configure global search behavior in your settings.py:

# Minimum query length (default: 2)
GLOBAL_SEARCH_MIN_QUERY_LENGTH = 2

# Maximum results per model (default: 10)
GLOBAL_SEARCH_MAX_RESULTS_PER_MODEL = 10

# Search timeout in milliseconds (default: 20000)
GLOBAL_SEARCH_TIMEOUT_MS = 20000

# Exclude specific models from search
GLOBAL_SEARCH_EXCLUDED_MODELS = [
    'admin.logentry',
    'auth.permission',
    'contenttypes.contenttype',
]

# Disable automatic injection (if using custom admin site)
GLOBAL_SEARCH_INJECT_DEFAULT_ADMIN_SITE_ENABLED = False

Model Configuration

No additional configuration needed. automatically uses your existing ModelAdmin settings:

from django.contrib import admin
from .models import Article

@admin.register(Article)
class ArticleAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    search_fields = ['title', 'content', 'author__name']  # Used by global search
    list_display = ['title', 'author', 'published_date']

How It Works

1. Automatic Model Detection - Discovers all registered ModelAdmin classes
2. Permission Checking - Filters models based on user's view/change permissions
3. Search Execution - Uses Django's built-in get_search_results() method
4. Result Aggregation - Groups results by app and model
5. Performance Control - Applies timeout and result limits to prevent slow queries

Screenshots

Global Search Interface

Search across all models with permission-based filtering and model selection

Search Results

Results grouped by app and model with direct links to detail and changelist views

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• Django 4.2+

Development

Setup Development Environment

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/2ykwang/django-global-search.git
cd django-global-search

# Install dependencies
uv sync

# Run linter
just lint

# Format code
just format

# Build package
just build

Documentation

# Serve documentation locally
just docs-serve

# Build documentation
just docs-build

# Deploy to GitHub Pages
just docs-deploy

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Support

• Email: [e-mail]
• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Documentation: Read the Docs