django-yp-admin 0.1.0a1

htmx-powered theme + helpers for django.contrib.admin. Picnic CSS, native HTML5 widgets, two mandatory dependencies.

django-yp-admin

An htmx-powered theme + helpers for django.contrib.admin. Two dependencies. Zero jQuery.

django-yp-admin is an htmx-powered admin theme plus a small set of helpers for django.contrib.admin. It ships template overrides (Picnic CSS, native HTML5 widgets, htmx) and a handful of reusable abstract models and admin mixins (OrderedModel, SingletonModel, lightweight history, htmx widgets). It is not a full drop-in replacement for django.contrib.admin — it layers on top of the stock AdminSite.

Status: v0.1, pre-alpha. ~19 tests in the suite. We have not yet validated against custom AdminSite subclasses or third-party admin packages (django-cms, wagtail, allauth, django-guardian, django-polymorphic, etc.). API will change.

What you get

• htmx-powered theme. Template overrides for changelist/change form/login. Picnic CSS base, themable via CSS custom properties. Dark mode via prefers-color-scheme.
• No jQuery. ~62KB gzipped of total JS instead of ~250KB of jQuery + Select2 + xregexp.
• Two mandatory deps. Django + django-htmx. Optional extras when you want them.
• Native HTML5. <input type="date">, <dialog>, <details> instead of jQuery widgets.
• Helpers (opt-in). Abstract models and admin mixins you can mix into your own code:
  • OrderedModel + drag-and-drop admin
  • SingletonModel + admin
  • Lightweight history (Revision/Version)
  • htmx-native filters (Dropdown, DateRange, DateTimeRange, NumericRange)
  • htmx + Tom Select autocomplete widget
  • htmx-native nested/sortable inlines

What is NOT yet supported / tested

This is v0.1. The following are roadmap, not promises:

• Custom AdminSite subclasses — untested.
• django-cms, wagtail, allauth admin integrations — untested.
• django-guardian (GuardedModelAdmin), django-polymorphic (PolymorphicChildModelAdmin), django-reversion (VersionAdmin), django-import-export (ImportExportModelAdmin) — not yet validated end-to-end.
• Third-party themes that target legacy admin CSS classes — selectors are preserved as DOM hooks but not regression-tested.
• Legacy admin JS extensions that depend on django.jQuery — will break.

If you depend on any of the above, stay on django.contrib.admin for now and watch this project.

Optional extras

pip install django-yp-admin[history]        # django-simple-history
pip install django-yp-admin[import-export]  # django-import-export
pip install django-yp-admin[full]           # all of the above

When the optional package is installed, the matching admin integration in django_yp_admin.contrib activates automatically via importlib.util.find_spec. These integrations are exercised by the test suite at a basic level — production hardening pending.

Quickstart

pip install django-yp-admin

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    "django_yp_admin",        # before django.contrib.admin
    "django.contrib.admin",
    "django_htmx",
    # ...
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    # ...
    "django_htmx.middleware.HtmxMiddleware",
]

Open /admin/. Stock admins keep working with the new theme. To opt into htmx-native filters/widgets per model, switch your ModelAdmin base class to django_yp_admin.options.ModelAdmin.

Browser support

Modern browsers only — last 3 years of releases.

Browser	Minimum
Firefox	115 (ESR, July 2023)
Chrome	115 (July 2023)
Safari	16.4 (March 2023)
Edge	115 (Chromium)

This unlocks native <dialog>, :has(), CSS nesting, container queries, reliable date inputs, and ES2022 — which is why the JS bundle is so small.

If you need legacy browser support, stick with django.contrib.admin.

Stack

Layer	Tool	Size (gzip)
AJAX	htmx	~14KB
Local UI state (optional)	Alpine.js	~15KB
Autocomplete	Tom Select	~25KB
CSS base	Picnic CSS	~10KB
Our code	TypeScript bundled with Bun	~8KB
Total		~62KB

vs the default admin's ~250KB of jQuery + Select2 + xregexp + custom JS.

Status

v0.1, pre-alpha. ~19 tests. API will change. Star the repo, file issues, send PRs. Real-world compat reports against custom AdminSite and third-party admin packages are especially welcome.

License

MIT. © Yp Software [e-mail].

Links

• Source: https://github.com/ypsoftware/django-yp-admin
• Docs: https://django-yp-admin.readthedocs.io/
• Issues: https://github.com/ypsoftware/django-yp-admin/issues