fasthx-admin 0.3.1

FastAPI + HTMX + Jinja2 admin interface framework — a modern replacement for Flask-Admin

fasthx-admin

A modern admin interface framework for FastAPI built with HTMX, Jinja2, and Bootstrap 5. Designed as a drop-in replacement for Flask-Admin with full control over rendering.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
• Quick Start
• Architecture Overview
• Database Setup
• Defining Models
• The Admin Class
• CRUDView Configuration
  • Basic Attributes
  • Column Configuration
  • Column Formatters
  • Form Configuration
  • Form Sections (Accordion Groups)
  • Form Widget Overrides
  • AJAX Select (Searchable Foreign Keys)
  • Row Actions
  • HTMX Polling Columns
  • Permissions
• Custom Endpoints
  • Endpoint Decorator (Recommended)
  • setup_endpoints Override (Legacy)
  • Instance State in Custom Endpoints
• Dependent Dropdowns
• Toast Notifications
• Validation
• Progress Bar
• Authentication
• AI Chat (Optional)
  • Enabling AI Chat
  • Installing the AI Dependency
  • Registering Tools
  • Configuring via the Settings UI
  • How It Works
  • Custom Providers
  • AI Chat API Endpoints
• Custom Pages (Dashboard, Wizard, etc.)
• Templates
• Theming
• Auto-Generated Routes
• Environment Variables
• Flask-Admin Migration Guide
• Running the Demo
• Tech Stack

---

Features

• Auto-generated CRUD -- list, detail, create, edit, delete routes from SQLAlchemy models
• Dark/light theme -- toggle with localStorage persistence, no flash on load
• HTMX-powered -- live search, sortable columns, auto-polling status cells, dependent dropdowns, progress bars
• Accordion form sections -- group form fields into collapsible sections
• Custom column formatters -- render badges, links, icons, code blocks in table cells
• Custom row actions -- per-row buttons with HTMX (deploy, build, reset, etc.)
• Responsive sidebar -- auto-grouped from model metadata, collapses on mobile
• OIDC/Keycloak auth -- Resource Owner Password Credentials flow with group-based access
• Dev mode -- set AUTH_DISABLED=1 to bypass auth entirely
• Foreign key dropdowns -- auto-populated from related models
• AJAX select fields -- searchable, paginated foreign key selects via HTMX (replaces Flask-Admin's form_ajax_refs)
• Pagination -- configurable page size with prev/next navigation
• Built-in templates -- 7 page templates + 8 partials, all customizable
• AI chat widget (optional) -- pluggable LLM-powered assistant with tool calling, settings UI, and OpenAI-compatible provider

---

Installation

pip install fasthx-admin

With AI chat support (adds httpx):

pip install fasthx-admin[ai]

With development extras (uvicorn, pytest, httpx):

pip install fasthx-admin[dev]

---

Quick Start

A minimal working app in one file:

import os
from contextlib import asynccontextmanager

from fastapi import FastAPI
from sqlalchemy import Column, Integer, String
from starlette.middleware.sessions import SessionMiddleware

from fasthx_admin import Admin, CRUDView, Base, init_db

# 1. Initialise the database
engine = init_db("sqlite:///./app.db", connect_args={"check_same_thread": False})

# 2. Define a model
class Customer(Base):
    __tablename__ = "customers"
    id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
    name = Column(String(100), nullable=False)
    email = Column(String(200))

    __admin_category__ = "CRM"
    __admin_icon__ = "people"
    __admin_name__ = "Customers"

    def __repr__(self):
        return f"<Customer {self.name}>"

# 3. Create the app with lifespan
@asynccontextmanager
async def lifespan(app):
    Base.metadata.create_all(bind=engine)
    yield

app = FastAPI(lifespan=lifespan)
app.add_middleware(SessionMiddleware, secret_key=os.environ.get("SESSION_SECRET", "change-me"))

# 4. Create admin and register views
admin = Admin(app, title="My Admin")

class CustomerView(CRUDView):
    model = Customer
    column_list = ["id", "name", "email"]

admin.add_view(CustomerView)

Run it:

AUTH_DISABLED=1 uvicorn app:app --reload
# Open http://127.0.0.1:8000/customers

This gives you a full CRUD interface with list/detail/create/edit/delete, search, sorting, pagination, and a sidebar -- all from 30 lines of code.

---

Architecture Overview

fasthx_admin/
├── __init__.py       # Public API exports
├── database.py       # init_db(), get_db(), Base
├── auth.py           # OIDC login, get_current_user, AUTH_DISABLED
├── crud.py           # CRUDView base class + Admin factory
├── templates/        # Jinja2 templates (base, list, form, detail, wizard, partials)
└── static/           # CSS (dark/light theme) + JS (theme toggle, HTMX hooks)

How it works:

1. You define SQLAlchemy models inheriting from Base
2. You subclass CRUDView for each model, setting class-level configuration
3. The Admin factory instantiates your views, introspects the models, and auto-registers FastAPI routes
4. Built-in Jinja2 templates render list tables, detail pages, and forms
5. HTMX handles dynamic interactions (search, polling, dropdowns) without page reloads

---

Database Setup

fasthx_admin uses a configurable database via init_db(). Call it once at startup before creating tables.

from fasthx_admin import init_db, Base

# SQLite (development)
engine = init_db(
    "sqlite:///./app.db",
    connect_args={"check_same_thread": False}
)

# PostgreSQL (production)
engine = init_db("postgresql://user:pass@localhost/mydb")

# Create tables
Base.metadata.create_all(bind=engine)

Available functions

Function	Description
init_db(url, **kwargs)	Create engine + session factory. Returns the engine. kwargs are passed to create_engine().
get_db()	FastAPI dependency that yields a database session. Auto-closes when done.
get_engine()	Returns the current engine (raises RuntimeError if init_db not called).
Base	SQLAlchemy declarative base -- use this for all your models.

---

Defining Models

Models are standard SQLAlchemy models that inherit from Base. Add optional metadata attributes to control how they appear in the admin sidebar:

from sqlalchemy import Column, Integer, String, ForeignKey, Boolean, Enum as SAEnum
from sqlalchemy.orm import relationship
from fasthx_admin import Base
import enum

class DeviceStatus(str, enum.Enum):
    ONLINE = "online"
    OFFLINE = "offline"
    ERROR = "error"

class Device(Base):
    __tablename__ = "devices"

    id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True, index=True)
    hostname = Column(String(100), nullable=False)
    ip_address = Column(String(45))
    status = Column(SAEnum(DeviceStatus), default=DeviceStatus.OFFLINE)
    site_id = Column(Integer, ForeignKey("sites.id"))

    site = relationship("Site", back_populates="devices")

    # --- Admin UI metadata ---
    __admin_category__ = "Network"     # Sidebar group heading
    __admin_icon__ = "router"          # Bootstrap Icons name (https://icons.getbootstrap.com)
    __admin_name__ = "Devices"         # Display label in sidebar

    def __repr__(self):
        return f"<Device {self.hostname}>"

Model metadata attributes

Attribute	Purpose	Default
__admin_category__	Groups this model under a sidebar heading	"Other"
__admin_icon__	Bootstrap Icons icon name	"table"
__admin_name__	Display name in the sidebar and page titles	Table name, title-cased

The __repr__ method is used to display items in foreign key dropdowns, so make it human-readable.

---

The Admin Class

Admin is the central factory that ties everything together.

from fasthx_admin import Admin

admin = Admin(
    app,                                    # Your FastAPI app (required)
    title="My Admin",                       # Brand name in sidebar + page titles
    static_url="/static/fasthx-admin",      # Where package CSS/JS are served
    mount_statics=True,                     # Auto-mount built-in static files
    public_pages={"login.html"},            # Templates that skip auth check
)

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
app	FastAPI	required	Your FastAPI application instance
templates	Jinja2Templates	None	Custom templates (uses built-in if None)
title	str	"Admin"	Brand name shown in sidebar header and page titles
static_url	str	"/static/fasthx-admin"	URL path where static assets are mounted
mount_statics	bool	True	Whether to auto-mount built-in CSS/JS
public_pages	set[str]	{"login.html"}	Template names that don't require authentication
ai_chat	bool	False	Enable the AI chat widget and settings pages (requires fasthx-admin[ai])

Methods

Method	Description
admin.add_view(ViewClass)	Instantiate a CRUDView subclass and register its routes. Returns the instance.
admin.get_view("name")	Look up a registered view by its name attribute.
admin.get_nav_categories()	Returns the sidebar navigation structure as a dict.
admin.templates	The Jinja2Templates instance -- use for rendering custom pages.

What Admin does automatically

1. Mounts static files -- CSS and JS at the configured static_url
2. Sets up Jinja2 templates -- uses the package's built-in templates
3. Wraps TemplateResponse -- every template automatically gets:
   • current_user -- the logged-in user (or mock user if auth disabled)
   • nav_categories -- sidebar navigation built from all registered views
   • static_url -- path to static assets
   • admin_title -- the configured title
   • Auth redirect -- non-public pages redirect to /login if unauthenticated

---

CRUDView Configuration

CRUDView is the heart of fasthx-admin. Subclass it and set class-level attributes to configure each model's admin interface.

Basic Attributes

class DeviceView(CRUDView):
    model = Device                  # Required: SQLAlchemy model class
    name = "devices"                # URL prefix (default: model.__tablename__)
    display_name = "Network Devices"  # Sidebar + page title (default: model.__admin_name__)
    category = "Network"            # Sidebar group (default: model.__admin_category__)
    icon = "router"                 # Bootstrap Icons name (default: model.__admin_icon__)
    page_size = 25                  # Records per page (default: 20)

Column Configuration

Control which columns appear in the list table:

class DeviceView(CRUDView):
    model = Device

    # Option A: Explicitly list columns to show (in order)
    column_list = ["id", "hostname", "ip_address", "status", "site_id"]

    # Option B: Exclude specific columns (show everything else)
    column_exclude = ["deploy_progress"]

    # If neither is set, all model columns are shown

    # Rename column headers
    column_labels = {
        "site_id": "Site",
        "ip_address": "IP Address",
    }

    # Restrict which columns are searchable (default: all String columns)
    column_searchable = ["hostname", "ip_address"]

    # Restrict which columns are sortable (default: all columns)
    column_sortable = ["id", "hostname", "status"]

Column Formatters

Column formatters are functions that transform raw values into HTML for display. They receive (value, obj) where value is the column value and obj is the full SQLAlchemy model instance.

def format_status_badge(value, obj):
    """Render an enum value as a coloured badge."""
    colors = {
        DeviceStatus.ONLINE: "success",
        DeviceStatus.OFFLINE: "secondary",
        DeviceStatus.ERROR: "danger",
    }
    color = colors.get(value, "secondary")
    label = value.value.title() if hasattr(value, "value") else str(value)
    return f'<span class="badge bg-{color}">{label}</span>'

def format_ip_code(value, obj):
    """Render a value in monospace."""
    return f'<code>{value}</code>'

def format_site_link(value, obj):
    """Render a foreign key as a clickable link to the related item."""
    if obj.site:
        return f'<a href="/sites/{obj.site.id}">{obj.site.name}</a>'
    return str(value) if value else ""

def format_external_link(value, obj):
    """Render a URL as a clickable external link."""
    return f'<a href="https://{value}" target="_blank">{value} <i class="bi bi-box-arrow-up-right"></i></a>'

class DeviceView(CRUDView):
    model = Device
    column_formatters = {
        "status": format_status_badge,
        "ip_address": format_ip_code,
        "site_id": format_site_link,
    }

Formatters return raw HTML strings. The templates render them with | safe so Bootstrap classes, icons, and links all work.

Form Configuration

Control which fields appear in create/edit forms:

class DeviceView(CRUDView):
    model = Device

    # Explicitly list form fields (default: all columns except 'id')
    form_columns = ["hostname", "ip_address", "status", "site_id"]

Field types are auto-detected from the SQLAlchemy column type:

SQLAlchemy Type	HTML Input Type
Integer, Float	<input type="number">
String, VARCHAR	<input type="text">
Text	<textarea>
Boolean	<input type="checkbox"> (toggle switch)
DateTime	<input type="datetime-local">
Date	<input type="date">
Enum	<select> with enum values
Foreign Key	<select> auto-populated from related model

Form Sections (Accordion Groups)

Group form fields into collapsible accordion sections:

class DeviceView(CRUDView):
    model = Device
    form_sections = {
        "Device Info": ["hostname", "ip_address"],
        "Status": ["status"],
        "Relationships": ["site_id"],
    }

The first section is expanded by default. If form_sections is None, all fields render in a flat list.

Form Widget Overrides

Customize individual form fields with extra attributes or replace their type entirely:

class OrchestratorView(CRUDView):
    model = Orchestrator
    form_widget_overrides = {
        # Turn a text field into a select with static choices
        "version": {
            "type": "select",
            "choices": [
                ("6.4", "Version 6.4"),
                ("7.2", "Version 7.2"),
                ("7.4", "Version 7.4"),
            ],
        },
        # Add HTMX attributes to trigger dependent dropdowns
        "customer_id": {
            "hx_get": "/api/orchestrators-for-customer",
            "hx_target": "#orchestrator_id",
        },
        # Add placeholder text
        "hostname": {
            "placeholder": "e.g. edge-001",
        },
    }

AJAX Select (Searchable Foreign Keys)

For foreign key fields with large option sets, use form_ajax_refs to replace the standard dropdown with a searchable, paginated select powered by HTMX. This is the fasthx-admin equivalent of Flask-Admin's form_ajax_refs.

from myapp.models import Offering, Server

class OfferingView(CRUDView):
    model = Offering

    form_ajax_refs = {
        "serverid": {
            "model": Server,           # The related SQLAlchemy model
            "fields": ["hostname"],     # Columns to search against (ilike)
            "placeholder": "Please select uCPE",  # Search input placeholder
            "page_size": 10,            # Results per page (default: 10)
        }
    }

How it works:

1. The form renders a text search input above a multi-row <select> (instead of a single dropdown with all options)
2. As the user types, HTMX fires a GET /{view}/ajax/{field}?q=<term> request after a 300ms debounce
3. The endpoint filters the target model using ilike on the configured fields and returns paginated <option> HTML fragments
4. If more results exist beyond page_size, an "infinite scroll" trigger auto-loads the next page when the user scrolls to the bottom of the select list (using hx-trigger="intersect once")
5. On edit forms, the currently selected value is pre-populated in the select

Configuration options:

Key	Type	Default	Description
model	SQLAlchemy model	(required)	The related model to search
fields	list[str]	[]	Model columns to search with ilike
placeholder	str	"Type to search..."	Placeholder text for the search input
page_size	int	10	Number of results per HTMX request

Auto-registered endpoint:

Each form_ajax_refs entry registers a GET /{view_name}/ajax/{field_key} route that accepts:

• q -- search term (optional)
• page -- page number (default: 1)

Row Actions

Add custom action buttons to each row in the list table:

class EdgeView(CRUDView):
    model = FortiEdge
    row_actions = [
        {
            "label": "Deploy",              # Button text
            "icon": "rocket",               # Bootstrap Icons name
            "hx_post": "/edges/{id}/deploy",  # HTMX POST URL ({id} is replaced per row)
            "hx_target": "closest tr",      # HTMX target element
            "hx_swap": "afterend",          # HTMX swap strategy
            "class": "btn-outline-success", # Bootstrap button class
        },
        {
            "label": "Reset",
            "icon": "arrow-counterclockwise",
            "hx_post": "/edges/{id}/reset",
            "hx_target": "closest tr",
            "hx_swap": "outerHTML",
            "class": "btn-outline-warning",
            "confirm": "Reset this edge device?",  # Confirmation dialog
        },
    ]

Every row also gets View and Edit buttons automatically (based on permissions), plus a Delete button with confirmation.

Row action fields

Field	Description
label	Button text
icon	Bootstrap Icons name (optional)
hx_post	HTMX POST URL. {id} is replaced with the row's primary key.
hx_target	HTMX target selector (default: "closest tr")
hx_swap	HTMX swap strategy (default: "afterend")
class	CSS class for the button (default: "btn-outline-primary")
confirm	If set, shows a confirmation dialog before executing

HTMX Polling Columns

Auto-refresh specific table cells at an interval. The framework auto-generates GET endpoints that return the current value.

class EdgeView(CRUDView):
    model = FortiEdge
    htmx_columns = {
        "status": {
            "url": "/edges/{id}/status",    # Polling URL ({id} replaced per row)
            "trigger": "every 5s",          # HTMX trigger interval
        },
    }

This auto-generates a GET /edges/{item_id}/status endpoint that returns the current status value rendered through partials/status_cell.html. No custom endpoint code needed.

You can combine this with column formatters -- the initial render uses your formatter, and polling updates use the status_cell partial.

Permissions

Control which operations are available:

class AuditLogView(CRUDView):
    model = AuditLog
    can_create = False    # Hide "Create" button
    can_edit = False      # Hide "Edit" button on each row
    can_delete = False    # Hide "Delete" button on each row

All default to True.

---

Custom Endpoints

Add custom routes to a CRUDView using the @CRUDView.endpoint decorator. These are registered alongside the auto-generated CRUD routes.

Endpoint Decorator (Recommended)

Decorate methods directly on the class. Use {name} in the path — it's automatically replaced with self.name at init time.

from fastapi import Request, Depends
from fastapi.responses import HTMLResponse
from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
from fasthx_admin import CRUDView, get_db

class OrchestratorView(CRUDView):
    model = Orchestrator

    # Custom action: trigger a build
    @CRUDView.endpoint("/{name}/{item_id}/build", methods=["POST"], response_class=HTMLResponse)
    async def build(self, request: Request, item_id: int, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
        orch = db.query(self.model).filter(self.model.id == item_id).first()
        if not orch:
            return HTMLResponse("Not found", status_code=404)
        orch.build_status = BuildStatus.BUILDING
        db.commit()
        # HX-Redirect tells HTMX to do a full page navigation
        return HTMLResponse("", headers={"HX-Redirect": f"/{self.name}"})

    # Custom API: return filtered options for a dependent dropdown
    # For non-{name} paths, use the literal path string
    @CRUDView.endpoint("/api/devices-for-site", methods=["GET"], response_class=HTMLResponse)
    async def devices_for_site(self, request: Request, site_id: int = 0, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
        options = []
        if site_id:
            devices = db.query(Device).filter(Device.site_id == site_id).all()
            options = [{"id": d.id, "label": d.hostname} for d in devices]
        return self.templates.TemplateResponse("partials/dropdown_options.html", {
            "request": request,
            "options": options,
            "selected": None,
        })

Key points:

• {name} in the path is replaced with the view's name attribute
• methods=["POST"] or methods=["GET"] — defaults to ["GET"] if omitted
• Any extra kwargs (e.g. response_class) are passed to FastAPI's add_api_route
• self gives direct access to self.model, self.name, self.templates, etc.

setup_endpoints Override (Legacy)

The older setup_endpoints() override still works and can be used alongside decorators:

class MyView(CRUDView):
    model = MyModel

    def setup_endpoints(self):
        @self.router.post(f"/{self.name}/{{item_id}}/action", response_class=HTMLResponse)
        async def action(request: Request, item_id: int, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
            ...

Instance State in Custom Endpoints

If your view needs to track state (like deployment progress), add it in __init__:

class EdgeView(CRUDView):
    model = FortiEdge

    def __init__(self, templates):
        self.deploy_progress = {}   # Must be set BEFORE super().__init__
        super().__init__(templates)

    @CRUDView.endpoint("/{name}/{item_id}/deploy", methods=["POST"], response_class=HTMLResponse)
    async def deploy(self, request: Request, item_id: int, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
        self.deploy_progress[item_id] = {"progress": 0, "status": "deploying"}
        # ... start deployment logic

---

Dependent Dropdowns

A common pattern: selecting a value in one dropdown filters the options in another. This uses HTMX + form_widget_overrides + a custom endpoint.

Step 1: Configure the trigger dropdown

class DeviceView(CRUDView):
    model = Device
    form_widget_overrides = {
        "site_id": {
            "hx_get": "/api/devices-for-site",   # Endpoint to call on change
            "hx_target": "#device_id",            # Target <select> to update
        },
    }

Step 2: Create the endpoint

    @CRUDView.endpoint("/api/devices-for-site", methods=["GET"], response_class=HTMLResponse)
    async def devices_for_site(self, request: Request, site_id: int = 0, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
        options = []
        if site_id:
            items = db.query(Device).filter(Device.site_id == site_id).all()
            options = [{"id": d.id, "label": d.hostname} for d in items]
        return self.templates.TemplateResponse("partials/dropdown_options.html", {
            "request": request,
            "options": options,
            "selected": None,
        })

The partials/dropdown_options.html template renders <option> tags that replace the target <select>'s contents.

---

Toast Notifications

fasthx-admin includes a built-in toast notification system powered by Bootstrap toasts and HTMX triggers. Toasts appear in the bottom-right corner and auto-dismiss after 5 seconds.

toast_response helper

Use toast_response() in custom endpoints to show a toast after an action:

from fasthx_admin import CRUDView, toast_response

class EdgeView(CRUDView):
    model = FortiEdge

    @CRUDView.endpoint("/{name}/{item_id}/deploy", methods=["POST"])
    async def deploy(self, request: Request, item_id: int, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
        edge = db.query(self.model).filter(self.model.id == item_id).first()
        if not edge:
            return toast_response("Edge not found", type="danger", status_code=404)

        # ... start deployment ...
        return toast_response("Deployment started!", type="success", redirect=f"/{self.name}")

Parameters:

Parameter	Description
message	The toast message text
type	"success", "danger", "warning", or "info" (default)
title	Optional title (defaults to capitalised type)
redirect	Optional URL — adds HX-Redirect header for page navigation after toast
status_code	HTTP status code (default 200)

JavaScript API

You can also trigger toasts from client-side JavaScript:

showToast({ message: "Saved!", type: "success" });
showToast({ message: "Something went wrong", type: "danger", title: "Error" });

---

Validation

Override the validate() method on a CRUDView to add custom validation to create and edit forms. When validation fails, the form re-renders with the user's values preserved and a danger toast is shown.

from fasthx_admin import CRUDView, ValidationError

class CustomerView(CRUDView):
    model = Customer

    def validate(self, item, form_data, is_new):
        if not item.name or len(item.name.strip()) < 2:
            raise ValidationError("Customer name must be at least 2 characters")
        if is_new and not item.sid:
            raise ValidationError("SID is required for new customers")

How it works:

1. User submits the create or edit form
2. _apply_form_data() sets values on the model instance
3. validate(item, form_data, is_new) is called
4. If ValidationError is raised, the form re-renders with values intact and a toast shows the error
5. If no error, the item is saved and the user is redirected

You can also raise ValidationError from _apply_form_data() if you need to validate during data transformation:

class OfferingView(CRUDView):
    model = Offering

    def _apply_form_data(self, item, form_data):
        super()._apply_form_data(item, form_data)
        if item.serverid and not item.ipaddress:
            raise ValidationError("IP address is required when a server is selected")

---

Progress Bar

fasthx-admin includes a built-in progress bar partial (partials/progress_bar.html) that uses HTMX auto-polling to show real-time deployment or task progress. The progress bar appears inline in the list table, polls the server every 500ms, and stops polling automatically when it reaches 100%.

How it works

1. A row action button sends an HTMX POST to start the operation
2. The POST endpoint returns the progress_bar.html partial, which is inserted after the row (hx-swap="afterend")
3. The progress bar contains hx-get and hx-trigger="every 500ms" -- HTMX auto-polls the server
4. Each poll response returns an updated progress bar (with a higher percentage)
5. When progress reaches 100%, the template removes the hx-get/hx-trigger attributes, stopping polling

Step 1: Add instance state

Your view needs a dictionary to track in-progress operations. Set it before calling super().__init__():

from typing import Dict

class EdgeView(CRUDView):
    model = FortiEdge

    def __init__(self, templates):
        self.deploy_progress: Dict[int, dict] = {}  # {item_id: {"progress": int, "status": str}}
        super().__init__(templates)

Step 2: Add a row action button

Configure a "Deploy" button that triggers the operation. The key settings are hx_swap: "afterend" and hx_target: "closest tr" -- this inserts the progress bar as a new row directly below the clicked row.

class EdgeView(CRUDView):
    model = FortiEdge
    row_actions = [
        {
            "label": "Deploy",
            "icon": "rocket",
            "hx_post": "/edges/{id}/deploy",   # {id} is replaced with the row's primary key
            "hx_swap": "afterend",             # Insert the progress bar AFTER this row
            "hx_target": "closest tr",         # Target the current table row
            "class": "btn-outline-success",
        },
    ]

Step 3: Create the deploy endpoint

This endpoint starts the operation, initializes tracking state, and returns the initial progress bar (at 0%). Use get_colspan() to make the progress bar span the full table width.

import time
from fastapi import Request, Depends
from fastapi.responses import HTMLResponse
from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
from fasthx_admin import get_db

class EdgeView(CRUDView):
    model = FortiEdge

    def setup_endpoints(self):
        view = self
        model = self.model
        templates = self.templates

        @self.router.post(f"/{self.name}/{{item_id}}/deploy", response_class=HTMLResponse)
        async def deploy(request: Request, item_id: int, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
            # 1. Update the database record
            item = db.query(model).filter(model.id == item_id).first()
            if not item:
                return HTMLResponse("Not found", status_code=404)
            item.status = "deploying"
            item.deploy_progress = 0
            db.commit()

            # 2. Initialize in-memory progress tracking
            view.deploy_progress[item_id] = {
                "progress": 0,
                "status": "deploying",
                "started": time.time(),
            }

            # 3. Return the progress bar partial (starts auto-polling)
            return templates.TemplateResponse("partials/progress_bar.html", {
                "request": request,
                "edge_id": item_id,
                "progress": 0,
                "status": "Starting...",
                "colspan": view.get_colspan(),  # Spans all table columns
            })

Step 4: Create the progress polling endpoint

This endpoint is called automatically by HTMX every 500ms. It increments the progress, and when done, updates the database and marks the operation complete.

        @self.router.get(f"/{self.name}/{{item_id}}/progress", response_class=HTMLResponse)
        async def progress(request: Request, item_id: int, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
            state = view.deploy_progress.get(item_id, {"progress": 0, "status": "unknown"})

            # Increment progress (replace with your real logic)
            if state["progress"] < 100:
                state["progress"] = min(100, state["progress"] + random.randint(5, 15))
                view.deploy_progress[item_id] = state

            # When complete, update the database
            if state["progress"] >= 100:
                item = db.query(model).filter(model.id == item_id).first()
                if item:
                    item.status = "online"
                    item.deploy_progress = 100
                    db.commit()
                state["status"] = "Complete"

            return templates.TemplateResponse("partials/progress_bar.html", {
                "request": request,
                "edge_id": item_id,
                "progress": state["progress"],
                "status": state.get("status", "deploying"),
                "colspan": view.get_colspan(),
            })

How the template works

The partials/progress_bar.html template renders a <tr> element with a Bootstrap progress bar inside. Here's what makes it tick:

<tr class="progress-row" id="progress-{{ edge_id }}"
    {% if progress < 100 %}
    hx-get="/edges/{{ edge_id }}/progress"
    hx-trigger="every 500ms"
    hx-swap="outerHTML"
    {% endif %}>
    <td colspan="{{ colspan | default(8) }}">
        <!-- Progress bar with animated stripes while in progress -->
        <div class="progress" style="height: 20px;">
            <div class="progress-bar progress-bar-striped
                 {% if progress < 100 %}progress-bar-animated{% endif %}
                 {% if progress >= 100 %}bg-success{% endif %}"
                 style="width: {{ progress }}%">
                {{ progress }}%
            </div>
        </div>
        <!-- Status badge: "deploying" while running, "Complete" when done -->
        <span class="badge {% if progress >= 100 %}bg-success{% else %}bg-primary{% endif %}">
            {% if progress >= 100 %}Complete{% else %}{{ status }}{% endif %}
        </span>
    </td>
</tr>

Key details:

• hx-get + hx-trigger="every 500ms" -- HTMX polls the progress endpoint twice per second
• hx-swap="outerHTML" -- each poll response replaces the entire <tr>, updating the progress bar
• {% if progress < 100 %} -- when progress reaches 100%, the hx-get and hx-trigger attributes are omitted, which stops polling automatically
• progress-bar-animated -- Bootstrap's animated striped effect while in progress, removed on completion
• bg-success -- the bar turns green when complete
• colspan -- spans all table columns so the progress bar stretches across the full row width

Template variables

Variable	Type	Description
edge_id	int	The item's primary key (used in the polling URL and element ID)
progress	int	Current progress percentage (0-100)
status	str	Status text shown in the badge (e.g. "deploying", "Complete")
colspan	int	Number of table columns to span (use view.get_colspan())

Optional: Reset / cleanup

Add a reset endpoint to cancel or clean up after a deployment:

        @self.router.post(f"/{self.name}/{{item_id}}/reset", response_class=HTMLResponse)
        async def reset(request: Request, item_id: int, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
            item = db.query(model).filter(model.id == item_id).first()
            if not item:
                return HTMLResponse("Not found", status_code=404)
            item.status = "pending"
            item.deploy_progress = 0
            db.commit()
            # Remove from in-memory tracking
            view.deploy_progress.pop(item_id, None)
            # Redirect to refresh the list page
            return HTMLResponse("", headers={"HX-Redirect": f"/{view.name}"})

Using the progress bar in a wizard

The progress bar can also be used outside list tables. In the demo's deploy wizard, step 4 triggers a deployment and shows progress inline:

# In the wizard step handler, start deployment:
edge_view = admin.get_view("edges")
edge_view.deploy_progress[edge_id] = {
    "progress": 0,
    "status": "deploying",
    "started": time.time(),
}

# Then poll a separate wizard-specific endpoint:
@app.get("/wizard/deploy-status/{edge_id}", response_class=HTMLResponse)
async def wizard_deploy_status(request: Request, edge_id: int, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
    state = admin.get_view("edges").deploy_progress.get(edge_id, {"progress": 0})

    if state["progress"] < 100:
        state["progress"] = min(100, state["progress"] + random.randint(3, 10))

    if state["progress"] >= 100:
        # Update DB and show completion UI
        return HTMLResponse("""
            <div class="text-center">
                <i class="bi bi-check-circle-fill text-success" style="font-size: 3rem;"></i>
                <h5 class="mt-2 text-success">Deployment Complete!</h5>
            </div>
        """)

    # Show inline progress (polled via hx-get + hx-trigger="every 1s")
    return HTMLResponse(f"""
        <div hx-get="/wizard/deploy-status/{edge_id}" hx-trigger="every 1s" hx-swap="outerHTML">
            <div class="progress" style="height: 20px;">
                <div class="progress-bar progress-bar-striped progress-bar-animated"
                     style="width: {state['progress']}%">{state['progress']}%</div>
            </div>
        </div>
    """)

Replacing simulated progress with real logic

The demo uses random.randint(5, 15) to simulate progress. In a real application, replace this with actual task tracking:

# Example: Track a background task
import asyncio

async def real_deploy(item_id: int, view: EdgeView):
    """Run the actual deployment steps and update progress."""
    steps = ["Uploading config", "Applying policies", "Verifying connectivity"]
    for i, step in enumerate(steps):
        await do_deployment_step(item_id, step)  # Your real logic
        progress = int((i + 1) / len(steps) * 100)
        view.deploy_progress[item_id] = {"progress": progress, "status": step}

# In the deploy endpoint, kick off the background task:
@self.router.post(f"/{self.name}/{{item_id}}/deploy", response_class=HTMLResponse)
async def deploy(request: Request, item_id: int, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
    view.deploy_progress[item_id] = {"progress": 0, "status": "Starting..."}
    asyncio.create_task(real_deploy(item_id, view))  # Runs in background
    return templates.TemplateResponse("partials/progress_bar.html", {
        "request": request,
        "edge_id": item_id,
        "progress": 0,
        "status": "Starting...",
        "colspan": view.get_colspan(),
    })

The polling endpoint then just reads the current state -- no need to increment it since the background task handles that.

---

Authentication

fasthx-admin includes OIDC/Keycloak authentication out of the box.

Development mode (no auth server needed)

AUTH_DISABLED=1 uvicorn app:app --reload

When AUTH_DISABLED=1, all requests get a mock user {"username": "dev", "groups": ["/Edge-Admins"]}.

Production mode (Keycloak)

1. Create a client_secrets.json in your project root:

{
  "web": {
    "token_uri": "https://keycloak.example.com/realms/myrealm/protocol/openid-connect/token",
    "userinfo_uri": "https://keycloak.example.com/realms/myrealm/protocol/openid-connect/userinfo",
    "client_id": "my-admin-client",
    "client_secret": "your-client-secret"
  }
}

2. Add login/logout routes to your app:

from fasthx_admin import get_current_user, oidc_login, AuthError

@app.get("/login", response_class=HTMLResponse)
async def login_page(request: Request):
    if get_current_user(request):
        return RedirectResponse("/dashboard", status_code=303)
    return admin.templates.TemplateResponse("login.html", {
        "request": request,
        "error": None,
        "username": None,
    })

@app.post("/login", response_class=HTMLResponse)
async def login_submit(request: Request):
    form = await request.form()
    username = form.get("username", "").strip()
    password = form.get("password", "")

    try:
        user = oidc_login(username, password)
    except AuthError as e:
        return admin.templates.TemplateResponse("login.html", {
            "request": request,
            "error": str(e),
            "username": username,
        })

    request.session["user"] = user
    return RedirectResponse("/dashboard", status_code=303)

@app.get("/logout")
async def logout(request: Request):
    request.session.clear()
    return RedirectResponse("/login", status_code=303)

Auth functions

Function	Description
get_current_user(request)	Returns user dict from session, or mock user if AUTH_DISABLED
oidc_login(username, password)	Exchanges credentials via Keycloak, returns {"username": ..., "groups": [...]}
AuthError	Exception raised on auth failure (invalid creds, wrong group, network error)
AUTH_DISABLED	Boolean, True when AUTH_DISABLED env var is set

Configuring allowed groups

By default, users must be in one of these Keycloak groups:

from fasthx_admin.auth import ALLOWED_GROUPS

# Modify at startup to match your Keycloak groups
ALLOWED_GROUPS.clear()
ALLOWED_GROUPS.extend(["/my-admin-group", "/superusers"])

---

AI Chat (Optional)

fasthx-admin ships with an optional AI chat widget that adds a floating assistant to every page. It supports any OpenAI-compatible API (OpenAI, vLLM, Ollama, LiteLLM, etc.), a decorator-based tool registry so the AI can call your Python functions, and a settings UI stored in the database.

Enabling AI Chat

Pass ai_chat=True when creating the Admin instance:

from fasthx_admin import Admin

admin = Admin(app, title="My Admin", ai_chat=True)

This automatically:

• Creates a fasthx_admin_ai_settings table in your database
• Mounts chat API endpoints under /ai/
• Adds "AI Settings" and "AI Context & Tools" links in the sidebar under a "Settings" category
• Includes the chat widget on every page (once enabled in settings)

Installing the AI Dependency

The AI chat uses httpx for async HTTP calls to the LLM API. Install it via the ai extra:

pip install fasthx-admin[ai]

If you already have httpx installed (e.g. from the dev extra), no additional install is needed.

Registering Tools

Tools let the AI call your Python functions to answer questions with live data. Use the @tool_registry.tool() decorator:

from fasthx_admin import tool_registry

@tool_registry.tool(description="Get the total number of customers")
def customer_count(db=None):
    """Returns the total number of customers."""
    count = db.query(Customer).count()
    return f"There are {count} customers."

@tool_registry.tool(description="Look up a customer by name")
def find_customer(name: str, db=None):
    """Find a customer by name (partial match)."""
    results = db.query(Customer).filter(Customer.name.ilike(f"%{name}%")).all()
    if not results:
        return f"No customers found matching '{name}'."
    return "\n".join(f"- {c.name} (SID: {c.sid})" for c in results)

@tool_registry.tool(description="Get edge device statistics")
async def edge_stats(db=None):
    """Returns edge device status breakdown."""
    total = db.query(FortiEdge).count()
    return f"Total edges: {total}"

Key points:

• db parameter -- if your function accepts a db parameter, it automatically receives the current SQLAlchemy session
• Async support -- tools can be async def or regular def
• Type hints -- parameter types (str, int, float, bool) are extracted and sent to the AI in OpenAI function-calling format
• Return a string -- the return value is sent back to the AI as the tool result
• Tools must be enabled in the settings UI before the AI can use them

Configuring via the Settings UI

After enabling ai_chat=True, navigate to Settings > AI Settings in the sidebar. The settings page has four sections:

Section	Fields	Description
General	Enable/disable toggle	Master switch for the chat widget
Connection	Base URL, API key, model	Your LLM endpoint (e.g. https://api.openai.com, http://localhost:11434)
Parameters	Temperature, max tokens, timeout	Generation parameters
System Prompt	Large text area	Base instructions for the AI

The Context & Tools page (linked from the settings page) lets you:

• Add context items -- named text segments injected into the system prompt (e.g. business rules, schema descriptions)
• Toggle context items on/off
• Enable/disable registered tools individually

All settings are stored in the fasthx_admin_ai_settings database table as key-value pairs.

How It Works

User types message in chat widget
    → POST /ai/chat {message: "..."}
    → Load settings from DB (cached 30s)
    → Build system prompt (base + enabled context items)
    → Load session history (in-memory, keyed by cookie)
    → Call LLM provider with messages + enabled tools
    → If AI requests tool calls:
        → Execute tools via registry (with DB session)
        → Send tool results back to AI
        → Get final response
    → Save to session history (max 50 messages)
    → Return {response, tool_calls_made}

• Session history is stored in-memory on the server, keyed by a fasthx_chat_sid cookie
• History persists across page navigations but resets on server restart
• The chat widget renders markdown responses using marked.js + DOMPurify (loaded from CDN)
• Widget size and expanded/minimized state persist in localStorage

Custom Providers

The built-in OpenAICompatibleProvider works with any API that speaks the OpenAI chat completions format. To integrate a different API, subclass AIProvider:

from fasthx_admin import AIProvider

class MyCustomProvider(AIProvider):
    name = "my_provider"

    async def chat(self, messages, tools=None, **kwargs):
        # Call your LLM API here
        # Must return: {"response": str, "tool_calls": list | None}
        ...

    def get_config_fields(self):
        # Return list of settings fields for the UI
        return [
            {"key": "api_key", "label": "API Key", "type": "password", "default": ""},
        ]

AI Chat API Endpoints

All endpoints are mounted under /ai/:

Method	Path	Description
POST	/ai/chat	Send a message, get AI response (JSON)
POST	/ai/clear	Clear the current session's chat history
GET	/ai/history	Get the current session's message history (JSON)
GET	/ai/settings	AI settings page (HTML)
POST	/ai/settings	Save AI settings
GET	/ai/settings/context	Context & tools settings page (HTML)
POST	/ai/settings/context	Save context items and tool toggles

The POST /ai/chat endpoint expects JSON {"message": "..."} and returns:

{
    "response": "The AI's markdown response",
    "tool_calls": [
        {"name": "customer_count", "arguments": {}, "result": "There are 4 customers."}
    ]
}

---

Custom Pages (Dashboard, Wizard, etc.)

The auto-generated CRUD views handle model pages. For custom pages like dashboards, wizards, or tools, add standard FastAPI routes and use admin.templates for rendering.

Dashboard example

@app.get("/dashboard", response_class=HTMLResponse)
async def dashboard(request: Request, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
    stats = {
        "total_devices": db.query(Device).count(),
        "online": db.query(Device).filter(Device.status == DeviceStatus.ONLINE).count(),
    }
    return admin.templates.TemplateResponse("dashboard.html", {
        "request": request,
        "stats": stats,
        "active_page": "dashboard",   # Highlights "Dashboard" in the sidebar
    })

Set active_page to match a sidebar link's name to highlight it. The built-in dashboard template (dashboard.html) provides summary cards, a recent items table, status breakdown, and quick action buttons.

Root redirect

@app.get("/")
async def root():
    return RedirectResponse("/dashboard")

---

Templates

fasthx-admin ships with these built-in templates:

Template	Purpose
base.html	Main layout -- sidebar, topbar, theme toggle, content area
login.html	Standalone login page with Keycloak SSO branding
dashboard.html	Summary cards, recent items table, status breakdown, quick actions
list.html	CRUD list view with search, sortable columns, pagination, row actions
detail.html	Read-only detail view showing all fields
form.html	Create/edit form with optional accordion sections
wizard.html	Multi-step wizard container

Partials (HTMX targets and includes)

Partial	Purpose
partials/table_body.html	Table rows (HTMX target for live search)
partials/row_actions.html	View/Edit/Delete + custom action buttons
partials/status_cell.html	Status badge renderer (online/offline/deploying/error/etc.)
partials/_form_field.html	Single form field renderer (text/select/checkbox/textarea)
partials/dropdown_options.html	<option> tags for dependent dropdown responses
partials/progress_bar.html	Animated deployment progress bar with auto-polling
partials/_wizard_indicators.html	Wizard step progress indicators
partials/wizard_step.html	Wizard step content (all 4 steps)

Using custom templates

Pass your own Jinja2Templates instance to override any template:

from fastapi.templating import Jinja2Templates

# Your templates directory can extend/override the built-in ones
templates = Jinja2Templates(directory="my_templates")
admin = Admin(app, templates=templates, mount_statics=True)

Template context variables

Every template rendered through admin.templates.TemplateResponse() automatically receives:

Variable	Description
current_user	Dict with username and groups, or None
nav_categories	Sidebar navigation structure
active_page	Which sidebar item to highlight
static_url	URL prefix for static assets
admin_title	The configured admin title

---

Theming

The built-in CSS supports dark and light themes via Bootstrap's data-bs-theme attribute. Dark is the default.

Color palette

Variable	Dark	Light
--accent	#10b981 (emerald green)	same
--bg-base	#1f1f1f	#f3f4f6
--bg-surface	#303030	#ffffff
--text	#ffffff	#1f1f1f
--danger	#ef4444	same
--warning	#f59e0b	same
--info	#3b82f6	same

Theme is toggled via the sun/moon button in the topbar and persisted in localStorage.

---

Auto-Generated Routes

For each registered CRUDView, these routes are created automatically:

Method	URL	Description
GET	/{name}	List view with search, sort, pagination
GET	/{name}/create	Create form
POST	/{name}/create	Submit new record
GET	/{name}/{id}	Detail view
GET	/{name}/{id}/edit	Edit form
POST	/{name}/{id}/edit	Submit edit
POST	/{name}/{id}/delete	Delete record

Plus for each htmx_columns entry:

Method	URL	Description
GET	/{name}/{id}/{field}	Returns current field value (for polling)

Example: A view with name = "devices" generates:

• GET /devices -- list all devices
• GET /devices/create -- show create form
• POST /devices/create -- create a device
• GET /devices/42 -- show device #42
• GET /devices/42/edit -- edit form for device #42
• POST /devices/42/edit -- save edits
• POST /devices/42/delete -- delete device #42

---

Environment Variables

Variable	Purpose	Default
AUTH_DISABLED	Set to 1, true, or yes to bypass authentication	auth enabled
SESSION_SECRET	Secret key for session cookie signing	set in your app
OIDC_SECRETS	Path to Keycloak client_secrets.json	./client_secrets.json

---

Flask-Admin Migration Guide

fasthx-admin is designed as a drop-in conceptual replacement for Flask-Admin. Here's how the concepts map:

Flask-Admin	fasthx-admin	Notes
ModelView	CRUDView subclass	Same pattern: subclass + class attributes
admin.add_view(MyView(Model, db.session))	admin.add_view(MyView)	No session arg needed; uses get_db dependency
column_formatters	column_formatters	Same API: {col: fn(value, obj) -> html}
column_list	column_list	Identical
column_labels	column_labels	Identical
column_searchable_list	column_searchable	Renamed
column_sortable_list	column_sortable	Renamed
column_exclude_list	column_exclude	Renamed
form_columns	form_columns	Identical
form_create_rules + FieldSet()	form_sections	Dict instead of list of rules
form_args	form_widget_overrides	Renamed, supports HTMX attrs
form_ajax_refs	form_ajax_refs	Same concept; uses HTMX instead of Select2
column_extra_row_actions	row_actions	List of dicts with HTMX attrs
@expose() custom endpoints	setup_endpoints() override	Define on self.router
Markup() in formatters	Raw HTML strings	Templates use | safe filter

---

Running the Demo

The package includes a full demo application in examples/demo/:

git clone https://github.com/talbiston/fasthx-admin.git
cd fasthx-admin
pip install -e .[dev]       # install from project root
cd examples/demo
AUTH_DISABLED=1 uvicorn app:app --reload

Open http://127.0.0.1:8000

The demo includes:

• 3 CRUD views -- Customers, Orchestrators, FortiEdges
• Dashboard -- summary cards, recent items, status breakdown
• Deploy Wizard -- 4-step wizard with dependent dropdowns and live progress
• Custom formatters -- status badges, links, monospace serial numbers
• Row actions -- Build, Deploy, Reset with HTMX
• HTMX polling -- live status updates on build_status and edge status columns
• 25 seed records -- auto-generated on first startup

---

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Backend	FastAPI
ORM	SQLAlchemy
Templates	Jinja2
Frontend	HTMX 2.0 (CDN)
CSS	Bootstrap 5.3 (CDN)
Icons	Bootstrap Icons (CDN)
Auth	OIDC / Keycloak (via requests)
AI Chat	httpx (optional [ai] extra) + marked.js / DOMPurify (CDN)
Server	Uvicorn (dev dependency)
JavaScript	Minimal -- theme toggle + HTMX event hooks + AI chat widget