Migrating from django.contrib.admin

This guide covers switching from Django's built-in admin to django_admin_boost.admin. The migration is designed to be zero-friction — your existing ModelAdmin classes, templates, and third-party admin packages continue to work without changes.

1. Install django-admin-boost

pip install django-admin-boost[jinja2]

2. Update settings.py

Replace django.contrib.admin with django_admin_boost.admin in INSTALLED_APPS:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # "django.contrib.admin",       # remove this
    "django_admin_boost.admin",          # add this
    "django.contrib.auth",
    "django.contrib.contenttypes",
    "django.contrib.sessions",
    "django.contrib.messages",
    "django.contrib.staticfiles",
    ...
]

Add the Jinja2 template backend before the DTL backend:

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        "BACKEND": "django.template.backends.jinja2.Jinja2",
        "APP_DIRS": True,
        "OPTIONS": {
            "environment": "django_admin_boost.admin.jinja2_env.environment",
            "context_processors": [
                "django.template.context_processors.request",
                "django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth",
                "django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages",
            ],
        },
    },
    {
        "BACKEND": "django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates",
        "APP_DIRS": True,
        "OPTIONS": {
            "context_processors": [
                "django.template.context_processors.request",
                "django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth",
                "django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages",
            ],
        },
    },
]

If you don't want Jinja2, just keep the DTL backend — django-admin-boost works with both.

3. Update admin.py imports

# Before
from django.contrib import admin

# After
import django_admin_boost.admin as admin

Everything else stays the same — @admin.register(), admin.ModelAdmin, admin.TabularInline, admin.site, etc.

4. Update urls.py (optional)

# Before
from django.contrib import admin

# After (optional — the old import still works via monkey-patching)
from django_admin_boost.admin import site

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

The old from django.contrib import admin / admin.site.urls pattern continues to work because django_admin_boost.admin redirects Django's admin site singleton. But using the direct import is cleaner.

That's it

No database migrations needed — django_admin_boost.admin shares the same django_admin_log table.

No template changes needed — your custom admin templates continue to work (DTL templates are found via the DTL backend fallback).

Third-party admin packages (django-import-export, django-debug-toolbar, etc.) continue to work — they register on Django's admin site singleton, which is redirected to ours.

What you get

• All admin pages rendered via Jinja2 (faster template rendering)
• ListOnlyFieldsMixin baked into ModelAdmin — set list_only_fields to optimize changelist queries
• EstimatedCountPaginator baked in — fast pg_class.reltuples counts on PostgreSQL
• DTL fallback for any template that doesn't have a Jinja2 version yet

FAQ

Do I need to keep django.contrib.admin in INSTALLED_APPS? No. Remove it entirely. django_admin_boost.admin is a complete standalone replacement.

Will my existing admin log entries be preserved? Yes. django_admin_boost.admin uses the same django_admin_log database table.

What about django.contrib.auth's User/Group admin? They register automatically on our admin site via the monkey-patched singleton. You'll see Users and Groups in the admin as usual.

Can I use django-admin-boost's mixins without the full replacement? Yes. Just pip install django-admin-boost (no [jinja2] extra needed) and use the mixins directly with stock Django admin:

from django.contrib.admin import ModelAdmin
from django_admin_boost import ListOnlyFieldsMixin

class MyAdmin(ListOnlyFieldsMixin, ModelAdmin):
    list_only_fields = ["id", "name"]