// the find
geex-arts/django-jet
Modern responsive template for the Django admin interface with improved functionality. We are proud to announce completely new Jet. Please check out Live Demo
Django JET is a replacement admin theme for Django that gives the built-in admin interface a cleaner, more modern look with a sidebar nav, autocomplete fields, and an optional configurable dashboard. It targets Django shops that need something better-looking than the stock admin without building a custom backend. The project is effectively in maintenance mode — the authors have moved on to a commercial SaaS product (jet-admin.io) and frozen new feature work here.
Drop-in installation with minimal template overriding — you add two apps, one URL include, and run migrate; no need to rewrite your ModelAdmin classes. The dashboard module system is genuinely useful: you get draggable, user-configurable widgets for model lists, feeds, Google Analytics, and Yandex Metrika out of the box, and writing a custom module is straightforward. Select2 autocomplete on ForeignKey/M2M fields is a meaningful UX upgrade over the default raw-id widget, and it works without any per-field configuration. Good i18n coverage across a dozen languages including RTL support for Arabic and Persian.
The project is abandoned in practice — the README announces that new features are frozen and points you to a commercial product. Issues and PRs on GitHub have been rotting for years. The AGPLv3 license is a land mine for anyone shipping a commercial SaaS: it infects your whole application, which is exactly why the authors sell a commercial license. The frontend stack is jQuery + jQuery UI bundled as a minified blob with no source map shipped — good luck debugging or upgrading it. Django version support is also unclear; the docs reference Django 1.8-era patterns and there is no matrix telling you which current Django versions are actually tested.