Django Simorgh

A beautiful, modern, fully redesigned Django admin interface.

Django Simorgh replaces the default Django admin UI with a complete custom design: dark sidebar, collapsible app groups, responsive tables, modern forms, RTL layout, 9 color themes, light/dark mode, and all assets bundled — no CDN required.

Installation

pip install django-simorgh

Django Configuration

1. Add to INSTALLED_APPS

django_simorgh must appear before your project apps and before django.contrib.admin so its custom model Meta options are registered before models are imported:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    "django_simorgh",          # ← MUST be before django.contrib.admin
    "django.contrib.admin",
    "django.contrib.auth",
    "django.contrib.contenttypes",
    "django.contrib.sessions",
    "django.contrib.messages",
    "django.contrib.staticfiles",
    # ... your apps
]

2. Add context processor

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        "BACKEND": "django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates",
        "DIRS": [],
        "APP_DIRS": True,
        "OPTIONS": {
            "context_processors": [
                "django.template.context_processors.debug",
                "django.template.context_processors.request",   # required
                "django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth",
                "django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages",
                "django_simorgh.context_processors.simorgh_context",  # ← add this
            ],
        },
    },
]

3. Collect static files

python manage.py collectstatic

Theme Color Configuration

# settings.py
DJANGO_ADMIN_THEME_COLOR = "green"   # default

Available values: green, blue, red, yellow, black, purple, orange, pink, navy

Branding, Logo, and Favicon Configuration

DJANGO_ADMIN_SITE_HEADER = "My Admin Panel"   # default: "Simorgh Admin"
DJANGO_ADMIN_LOGO        = "path/to/logo.png"
DJANGO_ADMIN_FAVICON     = "path/to/favicon.ico"

If logo or favicon are not set, the bundled default assets are used automatically.

Model Icon Configuration

Option 1 — Model Meta (recommended)

from django.db import models

class Product(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=120)

    class Meta:
        simorgh_icon = "fa-solid fa-box"
        simorgh_app_icon = "fa-solid fa-store"

simorgh_icon controls the model icon. simorgh_app_icon can be defined on any model in the app and controls the sidebar app-group icon.

Because these are custom Django Meta options, keep django_simorgh before your own apps in INSTALLED_APPS.

Option 2 — Per-ModelAdmin

from django.contrib import admin
from .models import Product

@admin.register(Product)
class ProductAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    icon = "fa-solid fa-box"   # any Font Awesome 6 Free class string

Option 3 — Via settings

DJANGO_ADMIN_ICONS = {
    "shop": {
        "_app_icon": "fa-solid fa-store",   # icon for the app group in the sidebar
        "Product":   "fa-solid fa-box",
        "Category":  "fa-solid fa-tag",
        "Order":     "fa-solid fa-receipt",
    },
    "auth": {
        "_app_icon": "fa-solid fa-shield-halved",
        "User":      "fa-solid fa-user",
        "Group":     "fa-solid fa-users",
    },
}

Keys: app_label (outer), ModelName / _app_icon (inner).

Resolution order:

1. Model Meta.simorgh_icon
2. ModelAdmin.icon attribute
3. DJANGO_ADMIN_ICONS settings dict
4. Built-in defaults for auth, admin, contenttypes, etc.
5. Generic fallback fa-solid fa-circle-dot

RTL Support

Set LANGUAGE_CODE to a RTL language and Django's LANGUAGE_BIDI will be True automatically. The template uses this to set dir="rtl" on the <html> element, which flips the sidebar, navbar, and tables.

Font selection is handled entirely by CSS unicode-range — no settings needed:

• Latin/English characters → Sniglet
• Arabic/Persian characters → Vazirmatn

LANGUAGE_CODE = "fa-ir"   # RTL layout + correct fonts — no extra config needed

License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.