admin_notes

Reusable Django app for internal append-only admin notes on users.

What this app provides

• AdminNote model:
  • user (target user)
  • text
  • created_by (staff/system user, nullable)
  • created_at
• Django admin list view with:
  • text search
  • filter by date
  • newest-first ordering
  • add/edit blocked from list/change UI
  • delete allowed when user has admin delete permission
• Reusable admin integration helpers for User admin pages:
  • AdminNotesInlineFormMixin
  • AdminNotesProfileInlineMixin
  • AdminNotesUserAdminMixin
  • AdminNotesDirectUserAdminMixin

Files

• admin_notes/models.py
• admin_notes/admin.py
• admin_notes/apps.py
• admin_notes/migrations/0001_initial.py

Install in another project

1. Copy the admin_notes/ directory into the target project.
2. Add 'admin_notes' to INSTALLED_APPS.
3. Run migrations:
   • python manage.py migrate admin_notes
4. Add note writes in your code paths, for example:
   • AdminNote.objects.create(user=target_user, text="...", created_by=request.user)
5. Wire User admin integration (pick one of the examples below).

Explicit mixin examples

Example A: Custom UserProfile inline with legacy field

Use this when your profile model has a historical text column like admin_notes.

from django import forms
from django.contrib import admin
from django.contrib.auth.admin import UserAdmin as DjangoUserAdmin
from django.contrib.auth.models import User

from admin_notes.integrations import (
    AdminNotesInlineFormMixin,
    AdminNotesProfileInlineMixin,
    AdminNotesUserAdminMixin,
)
from yourapp.models import UserProfile


class UserProfileInline(AdminNotesProfileInlineMixin, admin.StackedInline):
    class Form(AdminNotesInlineFormMixin, forms.ModelForm):
        class Meta:
            model = UserProfile
            fields = "__all__"

    model = UserProfile
    form = Form
    can_delete = False
    max_num = 1
    admin_notes_legacy_field = "admin_notes"   # show old notes as read-only
    admin_notes_target_user_attr = "user"      # how inline maps to auth user
    admin_notes_history_limit = 25


class UserAdmin(AdminNotesUserAdminMixin, DjangoUserAdmin):
    inlines = [UserProfileInline]


admin.site.unregister(User)
admin.site.register(User, UserAdmin)

Example B: Custom UserProfile inline without legacy field

Use this when you only want new AdminNote entries and no old text field.

class UserProfileInline(AdminNotesProfileInlineMixin, admin.StackedInline):
    class Form(AdminNotesInlineFormMixin, forms.ModelForm):
        class Meta:
            model = UserProfile
            fields = "__all__"

    model = UserProfile
    form = Form
    can_delete = False
    max_num = 1
    admin_notes_legacy_field = None            # hide legacy notes block
    admin_notes_target_user_attr = "user"

Example C: No profile model, direct UserAdmin integration (simple)

Use this when you want notes directly on the user admin page without a profile inline.

from django.contrib import admin
from django.contrib.auth.admin import UserAdmin as DjangoUserAdmin
from django.contrib.auth.models import User

from admin_notes.integrations import AdminNotesDirectUserAdminMixin


class UserAdmin(AdminNotesDirectUserAdminMixin, DjangoUserAdmin):
    list_display = ('username', 'email', 'is_staff', 'is_active')
    search_fields = ('username', 'email')

    # Optional customization:
    # admin_notes_field_name = 'internal_note'
    # admin_notes_fieldset_title = 'Internal Notes'
    # admin_notes_target_user_attr = None  # default: note user is obj itself


admin.site.unregister(User)
admin.site.register(User, UserAdmin)

How this works:

• Shows recent admin note history (with delete links).
• Adds a textarea field to the user edit form.
• On save, creates an AdminNote row if text was entered.

Optional direct-mixin settings:

• admin_notes_show_history = True (default)
• admin_notes_history_limit = 25

Writing notes in views/services

Use this pattern anywhere in your app:

from admin_notes.models import AdminNote

AdminNote.objects.create(
    user=target_user,
    text="Sent warning for outside payment",
    created_by=request.user,  # or None for system/automation
)

If your project has a helper like profile.add_admin_note(...), keep that helper thin and call AdminNote.objects.create(...) inside it.

Delete behavior

• Delete links shown in inline history go to Django admin delete page for AdminNote.
• Deleting requires normal Django admin delete permission for admin_notes.AdminNote.

Example install from Git:

pip install "git+ssh://git@github.com/<org>/<repo>.git@main#subdirectory=admin_notes"

django-admin-notes @ git+https://github.com/ARezaK/Django-Admin-Notes.git

Compatibility

• Built against Django 3.2 patterns used in this codebase.
• Uses ugettext_lazy to match existing translation style.