nkscoder-django-tickets 1.0.2

Open-source Django ticket system by Nitesh Kumar Singh (nkscoder): assignments, Q&A, notifications & REST API. Generic plugin for any Django project.

django-tickets

Author: Nitesh Kumar Singh (nkscoder)

Generic, open-source Django ticket system by Nitesh Kumar Singh (nkscoder) — for any Django project.
Self-contained plugin — uses Django’s user model and standard permissions only.

Author / Maintainer	Nitesh Kumar Singh (nkscoder)
Site	nkscoder.in
Package (PyPI)	nkscoder-django-tickets
Django app	tickets
Version	1.0.2
License	MIT

---

Features

• Create, assign, reassign, and close tickets
• Per-user questions & answers (draft / final submit)
• Status history and in-app notifications
• Soft delete (superuser)
• REST API: user search + ticket create
• Optional sign-off ranks (Signater)
• Configurable via TICKETS_* settings

---

Requirements

Package	Version
Python	3.10+
Django	4.2+
djangorestframework	3.14+

---

Project layout

Copy or clone this folder into your Django project:

your-django-project/
├── manage.py
├── your_project/
│   ├── settings.py
│   └── urls.py
└── tickets/                    ← this app
    ├── apps.py
    ├── conf.py
    ├── models.py
    ├── urls.py
    ├── views/
    ├── templates/tickets/
    ├── migrations/             ← run makemigrations (new installs)
    ├── migrations_legacy/      ← archived DB history only — not for fresh installs
    ├── legacy_archive/         ← old host-specific code (not loaded)
    └── README.md

---

Publish to PyPI

To upload this package to PyPI (account: pypi.org/manage/account):

1. Create an API token at pypi.org/manage/account/token
2. Build and upload — full steps in PUBLISHING.md

pip install build twine
python -m build
twine upload dist/*
# Username: __token__
# Password: <your-pypi-api-token>

---

Setup in your Django project

Step 1 — Add the app

Option A — Copy the folder

cp -r /path/to/tickets /path/to/your-django-project/tickets

Option B — Install from PyPI (after publish)

pip install nkscoder-django-tickets

Option C — Install from source (development)

git clone https://github.com/nkscoder/django-tickets.git
cd django-tickets
pip install -e .

Then use app label tickets the same way as below.

---

Step 2 — Install dependencies

pip install "Django>=4.2" "djangorestframework>=3.14"

---

Step 3 — Update settings.py

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    "django.contrib.admin",
    "django.contrib.auth",
    "django.contrib.contenttypes",
    "django.contrib.sessions",
    "django.contrib.messages",
    "django.contrib.staticfiles",
    "rest_framework",
    "tickets.apps.TicketsConfig",   # add this
]

# Required: template variable for {% extends TICKETS_BASE_TEMPLATE %}
TEMPLATES = [
    {
        "BACKEND": "django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates",
        "DIRS": [BASE_DIR / "templates"],
        "APP_DIRS": True,
        "OPTIONS": {
            "context_processors": [
                "django.template.context_processors.request",
                "django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth",
                "django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages",
                "tickets.context_processors.tickets_settings",  # add this
            ],
        },
    },
]

# Auth (use your existing user model)
# AUTH_USER_MODEL = "accounts.User"   # if you use a custom user

# --- Tickets configuration (all optional) ---

# Base layout for ticket pages (use your site template or built-in)
TICKETS_BASE_TEMPLATE = "tickets/base.html"
# TICKETS_BASE_TEMPLATE = "your_project/base.html"

TICKETS_LOGIN_URL = "login"                    # URL name for @login_required
TICKETS_DB_ALIAS = "default"                   # database alias
TICKETS_CREATE_PERMISSION = "tickets.add_ticket"
TICKETS_ENABLE_SIGNATERS = True
TICKETS_ENABLE_ACTIVITY_DASHBOARD = False      # needs optional `activity` app
TICKETS_USER_SEARCH_FIELDS = ["first_name", "last_name", "email", "username"]
TICKETS_LINK_TYPES = [
    ("generic", "Generic"),
    ("external", "External record"),
]

# Media for file uploads (reports, attachments)
MEDIA_URL = "/media/"
MEDIA_ROOT = BASE_DIR / "media"

# REST framework (minimal)
REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    "DEFAULT_PERMISSION_CLASSES": [
        "rest_framework.permissions.IsAuthenticated",
    ],
}

---

Step 4 — Update root urls.py

from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path, include
from django.conf import settings
from django.conf.urls.static import static

urlpatterns = [
    path("admin/", admin.site.urls),
    path("accounts/", include("django.contrib.auth.urls")),  # login/logout
    path("tickets/", include("tickets.urls", namespace="tickets")),
]

if settings.DEBUG:
    urlpatterns += static(settings.MEDIA_URL, document_root=settings.MEDIA_ROOT)

Ensure you have a login URL named login (or change TICKETS_LOGIN_URL).

Example minimal login in urls.py:

from django.contrib.auth import views as auth_views

urlpatterns += [
    path("login/", auth_views.LoginView.as_view(), name="login"),
    path("logout/", auth_views.LogoutView.as_view(), name="logout"),
]

---

Step 5 — Database migrations

New project (empty database):

cd your-django-project
python manage.py makemigrations tickets
python manage.py migrate

Existing database (already has ticket tables from an older custom build):

• Keep using migrations_legacy/ only if that matches how the DB was created.
• Do not run a new 0001_initial on that database without a migration plan.
• See migrations_legacy/README.md.

---

Step 6 — Create permissions & superuser

python manage.py createsuperuser

Django creates default permissions for the tickets app. Grant Can add ticket to users who should create tickets:

• Admin → Users → Permissions → tickets | ticket | Can add ticket
  or use a group with tickets.add_ticket.

---

Step 7 — Static files (optional but recommended)

Ticket UI uses Bootstrap and icons under static/ in your project. Either:

1. Use the built-in tickets/base.html (includes vendor paths), and collect static:

python manage.py collectstatic

2. Or set TICKETS_BASE_TEMPLATE to your own base.html that already loads Bootstrap.

Expected static paths (if using bundled layout):

static/vendor/bootstrap/
static/vendor/fontawesome/
static/ticket/css/

---

Step 8 — Run the server

python manage.py runserver

Open:

Page	URL
Ticket list	http://127.0.0.1:8000/tickets/
Create ticket	http://127.0.0.1:8000/tickets/create_ticket/
Dashboard	http://127.0.0.1:8000/tickets/dashboard/
Notifications	http://127.0.0.1:8000/tickets/notifications/
Admin	http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/

---

Step 9 — Seed questions (optional)

In Django admin (/admin/) add:

1. Categories (e.g. General, Technical)
2. Questions linked to categories (status = active)

Assignees receive answer slots for selected question IDs when a ticket is created.

---

Step 10 — Run tests

python manage.py test tickets.tests.test_notifications

---

Settings reference

Setting	Default	Description
TICKETS_BASE_TEMPLATE	tickets/base.html	Parent template for all ticket pages
TICKETS_LOGIN_URL	login	URL name for login redirect
TICKETS_DB_ALIAS	default	Database to use
TICKETS_CREATE_PERMISSION	tickets.add_ticket	Permission to create tickets
TICKETS_ENABLE_SIGNATERS	True	Sign-off ranks on submit form
TICKETS_ENABLE_ACTIVITY_DASHBOARD	False	Integrate with activity app if installed
TICKETS_USER_SEARCH_FIELDS	first_name, last_name, email, username	User API search columns
TICKETS_LINK_TYPES	generic, external	Choices on create form

---

Main URL routes

Name	Path
tickets:ticket_list	/tickets/
tickets:create_ticket	/tickets/create_ticket/
tickets:store_ticket	/tickets/create_ticket/store-create/ (POST)
tickets:ticket_detail	/tickets/ticket_detail/<id>/
tickets:reassign_ticket	/tickets/reassign_ticket/<id>/ (POST JSON)
tickets:ticket_notifications	/tickets/notifications/
tickets:user-list-search	/tickets/api/users/
tickets:api-ticket-create	/tickets/api/tickets/

---

REST API examples

Search users (authenticated):

GET /tickets/api/users/?search=john
Authorization: Session or Token

Create ticket (authenticated):

POST /tickets/api/tickets/
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "title": "Support request",
  "description": "Details here",
  "link_type": "generic",
  "assignee_ids": [2, 3],
  "question_ids": [1, 2]
}

---

Integrate with your site template

To use your project’s header/footer instead of tickets/base.html:

# settings.py
TICKETS_BASE_TEMPLATE = "base.html"

Your base.html must define a {% block content %}{% endblock %} block (same as standard Django layouts).

---

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
TemplateDoesNotExist for TICKETS_BASE_TEMPLATE	Add context processor tickets.context_processors.tickets_settings
No module named 'tickets'	Ensure tickets/ is on PYTHONPATH / inside project root
Permission denied creating ticket	Grant tickets.add_ticket or login as superuser
Redirect loop on login	Set LOGIN_URL / TICKETS_LOGIN_URL to a valid route name
relation "tickets_ticket" does not exist	Run makemigrations + migrate
Need custom domain features	Build a separate extension app on top of this core; see legacy_archive/ for reference only

---

Archived code

Host-specific integrations (not used by this package) are stored under legacy_archive/ for private migration reference only. They are not imported by URLs or INSTALLED_APPS.

• legacy_archive/ — archived views and models (optional reference)
• migrations_legacy/ — old migrations for existing databases only

---

About the author

Nitesh Kumar Singh (nkscoder) maintains this package at nkscoder.in as a reusable Django plugin for ticket workflows (assignments, Q&A, notifications, and status tracking).

For support, custom extensions (e.g. domain-specific modules), or integration help, visit https://nkscoder.in.

---

License

Copyright © 2026 Nitesh Kumar Singh (nkscoder).

Released under the MIT License. You may use, copy, modify, and distribute this software with attribution to Nitesh Kumar Singh (nkscoder).