Model admins¶

A model admin controls how a model appears and behaves in the dashboard. All attributes are optional and mirror Django Admin where possible.

List page attributes¶

Attribute	Default	Description
`list_display`	`()`	Fields shown as columns on the list page. Without it, a single `__str__` column is shown.
`list_display_links`	`()`	Which `list_display` fields link to the change page.
`list_display_widths`	`{}`	Column widths per field (`{"id": "100px"}`).
`list_filter`	`()`	Fields that get a filter in the table columns.
`list_per_page`	`10`	Items per paginated page.
`list_max_show_all`	`200`	Max total count for which a "Show all" link is displayed.
`list_select_related`	`()`	Relations passed to the ORM's `select_related` to save queries.
`ordering`	`()`	Default ordering, e.g. `("-created_at",)`.
`preserve_filters`	`True`	Keep applied filters after add/edit/delete.
`search_fields`	`()`	Fields searched by the search box.
`search_help_text`	`""`	Help text under the search box.
`show_full_result_count`	`False`	Show "99 results (103 total)" on filtered pages.
`sortable_by`	`()`	Restrict sortable columns (empty = all sortable).
`empty_value_display`	`"-"`	Display value for empty fields.
`verbose_name` / `verbose_name_plural`	`None`	Override the model's display name.
`menu_section`	`None`	Group the model under a section in the left menu.
`model_name_prefix`	`None`	Prefix to disambiguate models when using several ORMs.

Form page attributes¶

Attribute	Default	Description
`fields`	`()`	Subset/order of fields on add/change forms.
`fieldsets`	`()`	Two-tuples grouping fields into form sections.
`exclude`	`()`	Fields to exclude from the form.
`readonly_fields`	`()`	Fields rendered non-editable.
`formfield_overrides`	`{}`	Per-field widget overrides — see Form widgets.
`filter_horizontal` / `filter_vertical`	`()`	Use a search-friendly two-box UI for M2M fields.
`radio_fields`	`()`	Use radio buttons instead of a select for FK/choice fields.
`raw_id_fields`	`()`	Use a plain input instead of a select for FK/M2M fields.
`save_as`	`False`	Replace "Save and add another" with "Save as new".
`save_as_continue`	`False`	Where "Save as new" redirects: the changelist by default, or the new object's change view when `True`.
`save_on_top`	`False`	Show save buttons at the top of the form too.
`view_on_site`	`None`	URL for a "View on site" link.
`inlines`	`()`	Inline admin classes — see Inline admins.

Actions¶

Define bulk actions with the @action decorator and list them in actions:

from fastadmin import TortoiseModelAdmin, action, register
from fastadmin import ActionResponseSchema, ActionResponseType


@register(Story)
class StoryAdmin(TortoiseModelAdmin):
    actions = ("make_published",)
    actions_on_top = False        # actions bar at the top of the list page
    actions_on_bottom = True      # actions bar at the bottom
    actions_selection_counter = True

    @action(description="Mark selected stories as published")
    async def make_published(self, objs: list) -> ActionResponseSchema | None:
        for obj in objs:
            obj.status = "published"
            await obj.save()
        return ActionResponseSchema(type=ActionResponseType.MESSAGE, data="Published!")

An action can return None, a MESSAGE response, or a DOWNLOAD_BASE64 response (data is base64 file content, file_name names the download).

Display fields¶

Add computed, read-only columns with the @display decorator and include them in list_display:

from fastadmin import display


class EventAdmin(TortoiseModelAdmin):
    list_display = ("id", "name", "is_published", "author")

    @display
    async def is_published(self, obj):
        return obj.publish_date is not None

    @display(sorter="user__username")  # sortable by a related field
    async def author(self, obj):
        return (await obj.user).username

sorter=True sorts by the function name as a field; a string sorts by that ORM expression.

Warning

String sorter expressions are supported only for Django and Tortoise ORM.

Save / delete hooks¶

Override these to customize persistence (always call super() unless you replace the behavior entirely):

class EventAdmin(TortoiseModelAdmin):
    async def save_model(self, id, payload: dict) -> dict | None:
        payload["updated_by"] = self.user["id"] if self.user else None
        return await super().save_model(id, payload)

    async def delete_model(self, id) -> None:
        await super().delete_model(id)

Other useful hooks:

orm_get_list(offset, limit, search, sort_by, filters) — low-level list query; override for custom querysets.
serialize_obj(obj, list_view=False) — object → dict serialization.
pre_generate_models_schema() — pre-generate the models schema (e.g. warm caches) before the configuration is served.
get_export(...) — CSV/JSON export used by the export button (gate it with has_export_permission).

Permissions and request context¶

See Authentication for has_add/change/delete/export_permission and the self.request / self.user context.

The full class reference lives in the API reference.