django-viewflow 2.4.0

Reusable library to build business applications fast

Viewflow

The low-code for developers with yesterday's deadline

Viewflow is a low-code library for building business applications with Django. It gives you ready-made components for user management, workflows, and reporting. You write less code but keep full control. You can customize everything and connect it to your existing systems.

Build full-featured business applications in a few lines of code. Viewflow ships as one package with everything included. Each part works on its own, but they all work well together.

GPT assisted with Viewflow documentation: Viewflow Pair Programming Buddy

Viewflow comes in two versions:

• Viewflow Core: Open-source library with base classes. Build your own solution on top.
• Viewflow PRO: Full package with ready-to-use features and third-party integrations. Commercial license allows private forks and modifications.

Features

• Modern, responsive interface with SPA-style navigation
• Reusable workflow library for BPMN processes
• Built-in CRUD for complex forms and data
• Reporting dashboard included
• Small, easy-to-learn API

Installation

Viewflow works with Python 3.10+ and Django 4.2+

Viewflow:

pip install django-viewflow

Viewflow PRO:

pip install django-viewflow-pro  --extra-index-url https://pypi.viewflow.io/<licence_id>/simple/

Add to INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py:

    INSTALLED_APPS = [
        ....
        'viewflow',
        'viewflow.workflow',  # if you need workflows
    ]

Quick start

Here is a pizza ordering workflow example.

1. Create a model for process data

Viewflow provides a Process base model. Use jsonstore fields to store data without extra database joins:

    from viewflow import jsonstore
    from viewflow.workflow.models import Process

    class PizzaOrder(Process):
        customer_name = jsonstore.CharField(max_length=250)
        address = jsonstore.TextField()
        toppings = jsonstore.TextField()
        tips_received = jsonstore.IntegerField(default=0)
        baking_time = jsonstore.IntegerField(default=10)

        class Meta:
            proxy = True

2. Create flows.py with your workflow

Define a flow class with steps. Use CreateProcessView and UpdateProcessView for the forms:

    from viewflow import this
    from viewflow.workflow import flow
    from viewflow.workflow.flow.views import CreateProcessView, UpdateProcessView
    from .models import PizzaOrder

    class PizzaFlow(flow.Flow):
        process_class = PizzaOrder

        start = flow.Start(
            CreateProcessView.as_view(
                fields=["customer_name", "address", "toppings"]
            )
        ).Next(this.bake)

        bake = flow.View(
            UpdateProcessView.as_view(fields=["baking_time"])
        ).Next(this.deliver)

        deliver = flow.View(
            UpdateProcessView.as_view(fields=["tips_received"])
        ).Next(this.end)

        end = flow.End()

3. Add URLs

Register the workflow with the frontend:

    from django.urls import path
    from viewflow.contrib.auth import AuthViewset
    from viewflow.urls import Application, Site
    from viewflow.workflow.flow import FlowAppViewset
    from my_pizza.flows import PizzaFlow

    site = Site(
        title="Pizza Flow Demo",
        viewsets=[
            FlowAppViewset(PizzaFlow, icon="local_pizza"),
        ]
    )

    urlpatterns = [
        path("accounts/", AuthViewset().urls),
        path("", site.urls),
    ]

4. Run migrations and start the server

Run migrations, start Django, and open the browser. You can now create and track pizza orders through the workflow.

Next steps: https://docs.viewflow.io/workflow/writing.html

Documentation

Latest version: http://docs.viewflow.io/

Version 1.xx: http://v1-docs.viewflow.io

Demo

http://demo.viewflow.io/

Cookbook

Code samples and examples: https://github.com/viewflow/cookbook

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License

Viewflow is an Open Source project licensed under the terms of the AGPL license - The GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 with the Additional Permissions described in LICENSE_EXCEPTION

The AGPL license with Additional Permissions is a free software license that allows commercial use and distribution of the software. It is similar to the GNU GCC Runtime Library license, and it includes additional permissions that make it more friendly for commercial development.

You can read more about AGPL and its compatibility with commercial use at the AGPL FAQ

If you use Linux already, this package license likely won't bring anything new to your stack.

Viewflow PRO has a commercial-friendly license allowing private forks and modifications of Viewflow. You can find the commercial license terms in COMM-LICENSE.

Changelog

For older releases, see CHANGELOG.rst.

2.4.0 2026-07-30

The largest feature release of the 2.x line: complete BPMN 2.0 node coverage, document-oriented JSON Store fields, and a drop-in replacement for django-fsm.

Workflow and BPMN

• New database-backed flow.Timer and flow.StartTimer(interval=...) nodes. The due moment is stored on the task row (new Task.scheduled field, migration included), so a timer survives a broker restart, unlike celery.Timer. Due timers fire from the workflow_timers management command or the workflow_fire_timers celery beat task
• Boundary events, declared on the host task before .Next(): .OnTimeout(delay, then) for deadlines and escalation, .OnError(then, code=...) to catch a background task failure. Interrupting by default; interrupting=False starts a parallel path
• flow.TerminateEnd() cancels all other active tasks and finishes the process; flow.ErrorEnd(code) fails it. Inside a subprocess, ErrorEnd marks the parent task ERROR, so the parent's .OnError(..., code=...) boundary catches it
• Compensation: .CompensateWith(this.handler) registers an undo handler on any task, and flow.CompensateThrow() runs the handlers of completed tasks in reverse completion order, each at most once
• New intermediate events: MessageCatch/MessageThrow, SignalCatch/SignalThrow (one throw releases every armed catch, across processes and flow classes), EscalationThrow with a non-interrupting .OnEscalation boundary, and ConditionalCatch, which waits until a condition over process data holds
• New task types: flow.SendHandle, flow.BusinessRule, and flow.ManualTask for work done outside any system, marked done with a no-field confirmation. NSubprocess(..., sequential=True) runs one child process at a time
• BPMN 2.0 export overhaul: exported files validate against the official OMG schema and open in bpmn.io and Camunda Modeler. Switch, Subprocess and NSubprocess are no longer dropped from the export, Handle maps to a receive task, celery Job to a service task, and the new nodes above to their real BPMN counterparts. Download a flow as .bpmn from the chart view, the REST API (?format=bpmn), the diagram dialog, or the flowexport command
• Chart layout: empty grid rows and columns are collapsed, cell collisions resolved, parallel edge channels staggered and routed around node shapes, and If branches labeled yes/no
• The flow diagram dialog is now pan- and zoom-able: scroll to zoom toward the cursor, drag to pan, pinch on touch, double-click to reset
• Every built-in control node is cancellable, Flow.cancel raises the intended FlowRuntimeError instead of AttributeError for a node with no cancel transition, and the process cancel view refuses cleanly instead of returning a 500 when a task can't be cancelled
• flow.View gained a reassign_view_class hook that finishes the built-in reassign transition and shows a "Reassign" action on the task (off by default)
• New cookbook samples, all in application code with no core changes: substitute (reassignment), snooze (hide a task from the inbox until a chosen time, #219), and dynamic_subprocess (attach another NSubprocess child while the parent task still runs, #258)

JSON Store

• Relation fields stored inside the JSON document, with no column, migration or join table: jsonstore.ForeignKey (pk under <name>_id, lazy load, ModelChoiceField in forms), jsonstore.OneToOneField, and jsonstore.ManyToManyField (a manager with all/add/remove/set/clear/count). Non-integer primary keys, e.g. UUIDField, are supported (#366)
• jsonstore.EmbeddedModel with EmbeddedField and EmbeddedListField: schema-only virtual models (typed fields, no table) stored as a nested JSON document, or a list of them. Embedded models nest, and reading returns an instance bound to the stored sub-document, so in-place edits are saved
• viewflow.forms edits embedded documents as nested forms: EmbeddedModelForm builds a form from an embedded schema, and EmbeddedFormField / EmbeddedFormSetField bind it to the model field, so a document edits as a nested form and a list of them as inlines, all in one JSON column. New cookbook/embed101 demo
• New field types: BigIntegerField, SmallIntegerField, the three Positive*IntegerFields, SlugField, FilePathField, UUIDField, DurationField (ISO-8601, read back as a timedelta) and BinaryField (base64, read back as bytes)
• A json_key argument controls where a value lives in the document: a custom key, or a list/tuple for a nested path (json_key=("address", "city")), honored by reading, writing, filtering and ordering for every field type

FSM

• viewflow.fsm.FSMField: a same-column drop-in for django-fsm's FSMField. Swap the import and @transition(field=..., source=..., target=...) keeps working, on top of the conditions/permission/on_success machinery viewflow.fsm already has. Two guarantees django-fsm didn't have are opt-in and off by default: protected=True blocks direct assignment after the first value is set, and enforce_initial=True raises NonInitialStateOnCreate when a new row would be inserted at a non-default value
• Dynamic transition targets, ported from django-fsm: target=State.RETURN_VALUE(*states) takes the target from the method's return value, and target=State.GET_STATE(func, states=[...]) computes it from the call's arguments before the method runs. Declared states are charted and enforced with InvalidTargetState
• TransitionNotAllowed split into NoTransition (nothing registered from the current state) and TransitionConditionsUnmet (a conditions= callback returned false, carrying the failed condition and its message). Existing except TransitionNotAllowed handlers keep working
• The FlowViewsMixin list page shows the state diagram next to the object table in a click-to-zoom dialog, exportable as PNG. The admin change-list diagram no longer blows out the filter sidebar

Viewsets and forms

• A virtual list column (a viewset or model method or property) can be made sortable with orderby_column — a field lookup like "data__price", or a query expression like Cast("data__price", IntegerField()) for a numeric sort (#361)
• Bulk actions now scope their queryset through the viewset's get_queryset(request), so "Select All" no longer touches rows outside the viewset's scope, and no longer crash for a viewset with no configured filter (#422)
• InlineFormSetField and the other composite fields honor a field-level initial=[...] as a fallback, so pre-populated formset rows render their values
• process_dashboard.html exposes a flow_start_card_actions block, so projects can add start-card controls by extending the template instead of copying it

Plus fixes for a 500 on the admin process changelist (#523) and on the task detail page of an unregistered subprocess. See CHANGELOG.rst for the full list.