Subclassing SnapModel is the full route. If your model layer already exists — a brownfield schema, a base class from a third-party package, fields from django-money or phonenumber_field — opt in from the outside instead. @snap_model adds no field and no attribute, so it needs no migration:

from django.db import models
from snapadmin import snap_model

@snap_model(
    api_write_fields=["name", "price"],   # what an API client may set
    api_exclude_fields=["cost_price"],    # never leaves the server
    search_fields=["name"],               # what ?search= matches on
)
class Product(models.Model):
    name       = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    price      = models.DecimalField(max_digits=10, decimal_places=2)
    cost_price = models.DecimalField(max_digits=10, decimal_places=2)

You get the REST API, the GraphQL schema, the offline endpoints, the system checks and the snapadmin-info inventory. You do not get the parts that need SnapModel's machinery — Elasticsearch mirroring, the retention purge, the generated admin — and those sweeps skip the model rather than half-work. The full comparison table says exactly which is which.

Need this for one field rather than a whole model — a single django-money or phonenumber_field column on an otherwise ordinary model? snap_field() is the same idea at field scope:

from django.db import models
from snapadmin.fields import snap_field

class Product(models.Model):
    name = snap_field(models.CharField(max_length=255), searchable=True, filterable=True)

It sets the same attributes a Snap*Field sets on itself, on a field instance you already have — every reader treats the result identically, and it adds no migration either.

snapadmin-new myshop --app-name storefront   # name the example app yourself
snapadmin-new myshop --full                  # + Dockerfile, compose, Postgres/Redis/ES

snapadmin-init --api --graphql               # also check the REST / GraphQL config

snapadmin-info --section features            # just the ✓/✗ capability checklist
snapadmin-info --health-check                # probes only; non-zero exit if one fails
snapadmin-info --json                        # the same report for CI / monitoring

snapadmin-license-check --critical-only      # only what blocks commercial use

snapadmin-info and snapadmin-license-check inspect a live project, so run them from inside one. Every spelling works — snapadmin-info ≡ python manage.py snapadmin_info.

Opt-in background commands, none of which run on their own: snapadmin_reindex, snapadmin_health_alert, snapadmin_db_backup, snapadmin_send_error_digest, snapadmin_purge_expired_data, snapadmin_audit_export.

⏱ Nothing runs on a schedule by itself. SnapAdmin ships no daemon — backups, digests and the data purge need a Celery Beat entry or a cron line. → Background tasks & scheduling

Those are themes. They restyle the admin you already wrote — you still write the ModelAdmin, the list_display, the search_fields, and they make it look modern.

SnapAdmin generates that admin from your field declarations, and generates the REST API, the GraphQL schema and the search mapping from the same ones. It is not a competing theme — it sits a layer above, and it uses Unfold as its optional theme.

If you only want a better-looking admin, use a theme — it is less machinery. SnapAdmin earns its place when the same models must also be an API, a search index and an auditable system of record.

Your hand-written ModelAdmin classes are never replaced — SnapAdmin skips any model you registered yourself.

There are no published benchmark numbers, so this README will not quote any. What ships instead is the means to measure it on your own hardware and data:

python demo/manage.py seed_large            # 100,000 customers and orders
python demo/manage.py benchmark_list_view   # query count + wall time

What is designed in rather than measured is documented under large-dataset tuning: automatic list_select_related (no admin N+1), estimated counts instead of COUNT(*) on large tables, paging caps, and streaming exports that hold memory flat regardless of result size.

Everything below is already installed by pip install django-snapadmin; you only have to list it.

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ── Django itself ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
    "django.contrib.admin",          # SnapAdmin generates ModelAdmins into this site
    "django.contrib.auth",           # permissions gate both the admin and the API
    "django.contrib.contenttypes",   # required by auth; the audit trail keys off it
    "django.contrib.sessions",       # admin login
    "django.contrib.messages",       # admin "saved successfully" banners
    "django.contrib.staticfiles",    # serves SnapAdmin's CSS/JS

    # ── The API stack (pulled in as dependencies — just list them) ───────────
    "rest_framework",                # the generated REST endpoints are DRF viewsets
    "drf_spectacular",               # builds the OpenAPI schema behind /api/docs/
    "django_filters",                # backs the auto-generated ?field=… query filters
    "graphene_django",               # the generated GraphQL schema

    # ── SnapAdmin ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
    "snapadmin",

    "myapp",                         # …your own apps
]

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

urlpatterns = [
    path("admin/", admin.site.urls),
    path("api/", include("snapadmin.urls")),   # REST + Swagger + GraphQL
]

That is a working install. Turning a surface off with SNAPADMIN_*_ENABLED = False removes its routes entirely (404), but you still list the app.

Each block corresponds to one optional extra. Add the block and the extra, or neither.

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ── Themed UI — pip install django-snapadmin[theme] ─────────────────────
    # MUST come before django.contrib.admin: Unfold overrides admin templates,
    # and Django resolves templates in INSTALLED_APPS order.
    "unfold",
    "unfold.contrib.filters",        # the sidebar range/dropdown filters SnapAdmin generates
    "unfold.contrib.forms",          # themed form widgets
    "unfold.contrib.inlines",        # themed inline formsets

    # ── Rich text — pip install django-snapadmin[wysiwyg] ───────────────────
    # Only needed for wysiwyg=True / SnapRichTextField. Bundles CKEditor 5,
    # which is GPL-or-commercial — that is why it is not a core dependency.
    "django_ckeditor_5",

    # ── Django itself ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
    "django.contrib.admin",
    "django.contrib.auth",
    "django.contrib.contenttypes",
    "django.contrib.sessions",
    "django.contrib.messages",
    "django.contrib.staticfiles",

    # ── The API stack (always required) ─────────────────────────────────────
    "rest_framework",
    "drf_spectacular",
    "django_filters",
    "graphene_django",

    # ── SnapAdmin ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
    "snapadmin",

    # ── Background tasks — pip install django-snapadmin[celery] ─────────────
    # Needed for the GDPR purge, async exports, error digests and backups.
    "django_celery_beat",            # edit the schedule from the admin
    "django_celery_results",         # store task results in the database

    # ── Admin-editable settings — pip install django-snapadmin[extra-settings]
    # SnapAdmin does not use it; add it if you want a runtime key/value Setting
    # model in the admin (the demo shows the pattern).
    "extra_settings",

    # ── Autocomplete list filters — [autocomplete-filter] (LGPL) ────────────
    # For your own AutocompleteFilter admin filters; SnapAdmin core never imports it.
    "admin_auto_filters",

    "myapp",
]

Elasticsearch needs no app entry — pip install django-snapadmin[elasticsearch] and set ELASTICSEARCH_ENABLED = True. Same for [backup] (SFTP offsite backups): a dependency, not an app.

The base install is self-contained and carries only permissive licences (MIT/BSD/Apache), so it is safe for commercial and proprietary use. Everything with a licence caveat is opt-in:

Run snapadmin-license-check after installing to see exactly what you ended up with and whether it is still proprietary-safe.

→ Full installation guide — compatibility matrix, extras gotchas, and the MySQL driver licence note.

• Add field types — subclass SnapField with your own admin introspection
• Extend a SnapModel — override save(), add managers, mix in your own behaviour
• Add or override REST endpoints — mount your router before SnapAdmin's
• Swap auth, permissions and the ES client — configuration, no code
• Override admin templates and the dashboard — standard Django template resolution

→ Extending & Overriding guide

snapadmin-demo is the fast path. From a clone you also get PostgreSQL, Redis and Elasticsearch:

git clone https://github.com/drofji/django-snapadmin.git
cd django-snapadmin
cp demo/dist.env demo/.env
docker compose -f demo/docker-compose.yml up --build

Then open http://localhost:8000/admin/ (admin / admin). The demo lives under demo/ and is not published to PyPI — only snapadmin/ is.

→ Demo guide