Introducing Adminita: a modern Tailwind-powered Django admin
If you have ever felt that Django’s default admin does the job but looks a little dated, Adminita exists to solve exactly that problem—without rewriting the admin or adding unnecessary complexity.
Adminita is a drop-in Django admin theme built with Tailwind CSS v4, designed to modernise the admin interface while keeping Django’s excellent defaults intact. It’s now live, installable via PyPI, open-source on GitHub, and you can explore a read-only demo before using it in your own projects.
What is Adminita?
Adminita is a Django app that overrides the core admin templates and styles them using Tailwind CSS v4. The result is an admin interface that feels like a modern dashboard:
- Clean typography and spacing
- Responsive layout that works on desktop and mobile
- Built-in dark mode support
- No JavaScript frameworks layered on top of Django
- No custom admin rewrites or fragile hacks
You keep Django’s admin. Adminita simply changes the look and layout of it.
Why Adminita exists
Django’s admin is one of its greatest strengths—but visually it hasn’t changed much in years. Many developers either live with it or replace it entirely with custom dashboards.
Adminita takes a different approach:
- Respect Django’s admin instead of replacing it
- Use Tailwind CSS v4, not v3, with its newer CSS-first approach
- Stay simple: templates, CSS, and a small amount of JavaScript
- Remain self-hosted and dependency-light, aligned with long-term maintainability
Try the read-only demo
You can explore Adminita in a live Django environment here:
👉 https://adminita.todiane.com
The demo is intentionally read-only, so you can click around, explore models, and get a feel for the layout without worrying about changing data. It’s the easiest way to see how Adminita behaves in a real project.
Install Adminita via PyPI
Adminita is now published on PyPI, so installation is straightforward.
pip install adminita
Then add it before Django’s admin app:
INSTALLED_APPS = [
"adminita", # must be first
"django.contrib.admin",
"django.contrib.auth",
"django.contrib.contenttypes",
"django.contrib.sessions",
"django.contrib.messages",
"django.contrib.staticfiles",
]
Add customization to project urls.py file:
Adminita uses Django's built-in admin site customization. Add these lines to your urls.py:
from django.contrib import admin
admin.site.site_header = "Your Site Name"
admin.site.site_title = "Your Site Title"
admin.site.index_title = "Welcome to Your Site"
Collect static files as usual: python manage.py collectstatic --noinput
Visit /admin/ and your admin will be running with the Adminita theme applied.
That’s it - no extra configuration required.
Open source on GitHub
Adminita is fully open source and hosted on GitHub:
Adminita (theme package) GitHub
https://github.com/djangify/adminita
Adminita demo project GitHub
https://github.com/djangify/adminita_demo
The main repository contains the Django app, Tailwind source files, and template overrides. The demo repo shows how it’s wired into a real Django project.
If you want to:
- inspect the templates
- tweak colours
- fix bugs
- or contribute improvements
the code is there and easy to follow.
Built with Tailwind CSS v4 (on purpose)
Adminita uses Tailwind CSS v4, not v3. That means:
No tailwind.config.js required
Theme customisation happens directly in CSS using @theme {}
A simpler, CSS-first mental model
This makes Adminita easier to reason about and customise over time, especially for Django developers who don’t want a heavy front-end toolchain.
Who Adminita is for
Adminita is a good fit if you:
- Use Django regularly and rely on the admin
- Want a modern UI without rebuilding everything
- Prefer self-hosted, dependency-light tools
- Like Tailwind, but don’t want a full SPA
If you are building internal tools, SaaS back-offices, content systems, or client dashboards, Adminita gives you a professional admin without extra baggage.
What’s next
Adminita is already usable today, but it’s also evolving. Planned improvements include:
- Additional theme presets
- Accessibility improvements
- Broader testing across devices
Because it’s open source, you can follow along—or shape its direction.
Explore Adminita
🔍 Live demo: https://adminita.todiane.com
📦 PyPI package: https://pypi.org/project/adminita/
💻 GitHub (theme): https://github.com/djangify/adminita
🧪 GitHub (demo project): https://github.com/djangify/adminita_demo
If you’ve ever wished the Django admin felt a bit more 2026 without losing its soul, Adminita is worth a look.
