django-helpapp

Drop-in in-app help center for Django projects, designed for Any Project.

• Django MVT — plain server-rendered views/templates, no required build step.
• Tailwind CSS — Use the Play CDN to try Tailwind right in the browser without any build step.
• Vanilla JS — a single dependency-free helpapp.js. Works with or without a JS framework in your project.
• Embeddable anywhere — a floating help widget, inline contextual hints, and a full standalone help portal.

Install

pip install django-helpapp

# settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...,
    "froala_editor",
    "helpapp",
]

HELPAPP_SETTINGS = {
    "BRAND_NAME": "Brand Name (Help Center)",
    "PRIMARY_COLOR": "#1c088b",

}

# urls.py
from django.urls import include, path

urlpatterns = [
    ...,
    path("froala_editor/", include('froala_editor.urls')),
    path("help/", include("helpapp.urls")),
]

python manage.py migrate
python manage.py seed_helpapp_demo   # optional: loads sample content

Add the floating widget to every page

<!-- base.html -->
{% load helpapp_tags %}
...
  {% helpapp_announcements %}
  {% helpapp_widget %}
</body>
</html>

Use the Play CDN to try Tailwind right in the browser without any build step

<!-- base.html -->
{% load helpapp_tags %}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>{% block title %}Your Django Project{% endblock %}</title>
  <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@tailwindcss/browser@4"></script>
</head>
<body>
...
  {% helpapp_announcements %}
  {% helpapp_widget %}
</body>
</html>

Content authoring

Articles are authored in Django admin (HelpArticle), written in Markdown, organized into HelpCategory, tagged with HelpTag, and can be restricted by role (all, user, admin, staff). Visibility is enforced by helpapp.permissions.can_view_article, which you can override entirely via PERMISSION_CALLBACK.

Building a custom frontend (API-only mode)

If you don't want the bundled templates, use the JSON endpoints directly:

• GET /help/api/search/?q=...
• GET /help/api/articles/<slug>/
• GET /help/api/hints/<key>/

Overriding templates

Any template can be overridden by creating a matching path in your project's own templates/helpapp/ directory (standard Django template-loading precedence), e.g. templates/helpapp/widget.html.

Compatibility

Django 5.0 LTS, 5.x ,6.x; Python 3.10+. SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL.

django-helpapp