On loading, Wagtail will search for any app with the file ``wagtail_hooks.py`` and execute the contents. This provides a way to register your own functions to execute at certain points in Wagtail's execution, such as when a page is saved or when the main menu is constructed.
..note::
Hooks are typically used to customise the view-level behaviour of the Wagtail admin and front-end. For customisations that only deal with model-level behaviour - such as calling an external service when a page or document is added - it is often better to use :doc:`Django's signal mechanism <django:topics/signals>` (see also: :ref:`Wagtail signals <signals>`), as these are not dependent on a user taking a particular path through the admin interface.
If you need your hooks to run in a particular order, you can pass the ``order`` parameter. If order is not specified then the hooks proceed in the order given by INSTALLED_APPS. Wagtail uses hooks internally, too, so you need to be aware of order when overriding built-in Wagtail functionality (i.e. removing default summary items):
Add or remove panels from the Wagtail admin homepage. The callable passed into this hook should take a ``request`` object and a list of ``panels``, objects which have a ``render()`` method returning a string. The objects also have an ``order`` property, an integer used for ordering the panels. The default panels use integers between ``100`` and ``300``. Hook functions should modify the ``panels`` list in-place as required.
Add or remove items from the 'site summary' bar on the admin homepage (which shows the number of pages and other object that exist on the site). The callable passed into this hook should take a ``request`` object and a list of ``SummaryItem`` objects to be modified as required. These objects have a ``render()`` method, which returns an HTML string, and an ``order`` property, which is an integer that specifies the order in which the items will appear.
Called just before the Wagtail admin menu is output, to allow the list of menu items to be modified. The callable passed to this hook will receive a ``request`` object and a list of ``menu_items``, and should modify ``menu_items`` in-place as required. Adding menu items should generally be done through the ``register_admin_menu_item`` hook instead - items added through ``construct_main_menu`` will be missing any associated JavaScript includes, and their ``is_shown`` check will not be applied.
Called when Wagtail needs to find out what objects exist in a collection, if any. Currently this happens on the confirmation before deleting a collection, to ensure that non-empty collections cannot be deleted. The callable passed to this hook will receive a ``collection`` object, and should return either ``None`` (to indicate no objects in this collection), or a dict containing the following keys:
A human-readable string describing the number of items in this collection, such as "3 documents". (Sites with multi-language support should return a translatable string here, most likely using the ``django.utils.translation.ngettext`` function.)
Add an item to the Wagtail admin menu. The callable passed to this hook must return an instance of ``wagtail.admin.menu.MenuItem``. New items can be constructed from the ``MenuItem`` class by passing in a ``label`` which will be the text in the menu item, and the URL of the admin page you want the menu item to link to (usually by calling ``reverse()`` on the admin view you've set up). Additionally, the following keyword arguments are accepted:
For menu items that are only available to superusers, the subclass ``wagtail.admin.menu.AdminOnlyMenuItem`` can be used in place of ``MenuItem``.
``MenuItem`` can be further subclassed to customise the HTML output, specify JavaScript files required by the menu item, or conditionally show or hide the item for specific requests (for example, to apply permission checks); see the source code (``wagtail/admin/menu.py``) for details.
Register additional admin page URLs. The callable fed into this hook should return a list of Django URL patterns which define the structure of the pages and endpoints of your extension to the Wagtail admin. For more about vanilla Django URLconfs and views, see :doc:`url dispatcher <django:topics/http/urls>`.
Add a new panel to the Groups form in the 'settings' area. The callable passed to this hook must return a ModelForm / ModelFormSet-like class, with a constructor that accepts a group object as its ``instance`` keyword argument, and which implements the methods ``save``, ``is_valid``, and ``as_admin_panel`` (which returns the HTML to be included on the group edit page).
Add an item to the Wagtail admin search "Other Searches". Behaviour of this hook is similar to ``register_admin_menu_item``. The callable passed to this hook must return an instance of ``wagtail.admin.search.SearchArea``. New items can be constructed from the ``SearchArea`` class by passing the following parameters:
:label:text displayed in the "Other Searches" option box.
:name:an internal name used to identify the search option; defaults to the slugified form of the label.
:url:the URL of the target search page.
:classnames:additional CSS classnames applied to the link, used to give it an icon.
:attrs:additional HTML attributes to apply to the link.
:order:an integer which determines the item's position in the list of options.
Setting the URL can be achieved using reverse() on the target search page. The GET parameter 'q' will be appended to the given URL.
A template tag, ``search_other`` is provided by the ``wagtailadmin_tags`` template module. This tag takes a single, optional parameter, ``current``, which allows you to specify the ``name`` of the search option currently active. If the parameter is not given, the hook defaults to a reverse lookup of the page's URL for comparison against the ``url`` parameter.
``SearchArea`` can be subclassed to customise the HTML output, specify JavaScript files required by the option, or conditionally show or hide the item for specific requests (for example, to apply permission checks); see the source code (``wagtail/admin/search.py``) for details.
Rich text fields in Wagtail work with a list of 'feature' identifiers that determine which editing controls are available in the editor, and which elements are allowed in the output; for example, a rich text field defined as ``RichTextField(features=['h2', 'h3', 'bold', 'italic', 'link'])`` would allow headings, bold / italic formatting and links, but not (for example) bullet lists or images. The ``register_rich_text_features`` hook allows new feature identifiers to be defined - see :ref:`rich_text_features` for details.
Hooks for customising the way users are directed through the process of creating page content.
.._after_create_page:
``after_create_page``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do something with a ``Page`` object after it has been saved to the database (as a published page or a revision). The callable passed to this hook should take a ``request`` object and a ``page`` object. The function does not have to return anything, but if an object with a ``status_code`` property is returned, Wagtail will use it as a response object. By default, Wagtail will instead redirect to the Explorer page for the new page's parent.
Called at the beginning of the "create page" view passing in the request, the parent page and page model class.
The function does not have to return anything, but if an object with a ``status_code`` property is returned, Wagtail will use it as a response object and skip the rest of the view.
Unlike, ``after_create_page``, this is run both for both ``GET`` and ``POST`` requests.
This can be used to completely override the editor on a per-view basis:
Do something with a ``Page`` object after it has been published via page create view or page edit view.
The function does not have to return anything, but if an object with a ``status_code`` property is returned, Wagtail will use it as a response object and skip the rest of the view.
.._before_publish_page:
``before_publish_page``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do something with a ``Page`` object before it has been published via page create view or page edit view.
The function does not have to return anything, but if an object with a ``status_code`` property is returned, Wagtail will use it as a response object and skip the rest of the view.
.._after_unpublish_page:
``after_unpublish_page``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Called after unpublish action in "unpublish" view passing in the request and the page object.
The function does not have to return anything, but if an object with a ``status_code`` property is returned, Wagtail will use it as a response object and skip the rest of the view.
.._before_unpublish_page:
``before_unpublish_page``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Called before unpublish action in "unpublish" view passing in the request and the page object.
The function does not have to return anything, but if an object with a ``status_code`` property is returned, Wagtail will use it as a response object and skip the rest of the view.
Do something with a ``Page`` object after it has been copied passing in the request, page object and the new copied page. Uses the same behaviour as ``after_create_page``.
Add an item to the popup menu of actions on the page creation and edit views. The callable passed to this hook must return an instance of ``wagtail.admin.action_menu.ActionMenuItem``. The following attributes and methods are available to be overridden on subclasses of ``ActionMenuItem``:
:order:an integer (default 100) which determines the item's position in the menu. Can also be passed as a keyword argument to the object constructor. The lowest-numbered item in this sequence will be selected as the default menu item; as standard, this is "Save draft" (which has an ``order`` of 0).
:get_url:a method which returns a URL for the menu item to link to; by default, returns ``None`` which causes the menu item to behave as a form submit button instead
:name:value of the ``name`` attribute of the submit button, if no URL is specified
:Media:an inner class defining JavaScript and CSS to import when this menu item is shown - see `Django form media <https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/stable/topics/forms/media/>`_
The ``get_url``, ``is_shown``, ``get_context`` and ``render_html`` methods all accept a request object and a context dictionary containing the following fields:
:view:name of the current view: ``'create'``, ``'edit'`` or ``'revisions_revert'``
:page:For ``view`` = ``'edit'`` or ``'revisions_revert'``, the page being edited
:parent_page:For ``view`` = ``'create'``, the parent page of the page being created
:user_page_permissions:a ``UserPagePermissionsProxy`` object for the current user, to test permissions against
Modify the final list of action menu items on the page creation and edit views. The callable passed to this hook receives a list of ``ActionMenuItem`` objects, a request object and a context dictionary as per ``register_page_action_menu_item``, and should modify the list of menu items in-place.
The ``construct_page_action_menu`` hook is called after the menu items have been sorted by their order attributes, and so setting a menu item's order will have no effect at this point. Instead, items can be reordered by changing their position in the list, with the first item being selected as the default action. For example, to change the default action to Publish:
Add or remove items from the wagtail userbar. Add, edit, and moderation tools are provided by default. The callable passed into the hook must take the ``request`` object and a list of menu objects, ``items``. The menu item objects must have a ``render`` method which can take a ``request`` object and return the HTML string representing the menu item. See the userbar templates and menu item classes for more information.
Hooks for customising the way admins are directed through the process of editing users.
.._after_create_user:
``after_create_user``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do something with a ``User`` object after it has been saved to the database. The callable passed to this hook should take a ``request`` object and a ``user`` object. The function does not have to return anything, but if an object with a ``status_code`` property is returned, Wagtail will use it as a response object. By default, Wagtail will instead redirect to the User index page.
return HttpResponse("Congrats on creating a new user!", content_type="text/plain")
.._before_create_user:
``before_create_user``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Called at the beginning of the "create user" view passing in the request.
The function does not have to return anything, but if an object with a ``status_code`` property is returned, Wagtail will use it as a response object and skip the rest of the view.
Unlike, ``after_create_user``, this is run both for both ``GET`` and ``POST`` requests.
This can be used to completely override the user editor on a per-view basis:
Called when rendering the page chooser view, to allow the page listing QuerySet to be customised. The callable passed into the hook will receive the current page QuerySet and the request object, and must return a Page QuerySet (either the original one, or a new one).
Called when rendering the document chooser view, to allow the document listing QuerySet to be customised. The callable passed into the hook will receive the current document QuerySet and the request object, and must return a Document QuerySet (either the original one, or a new one).
Called when rendering the image chooser view, to allow the image listing QuerySet to be customised. The callable passed into the hook will receive the current image QuerySet and the request object, and must return an Image QuerySet (either the original one, or a new one).
Called when rendering the page explorer view, to allow the page listing QuerySet to be customised. The callable passed into the hook will receive the parent page object, the current page QuerySet, and the request object, and must return a Page QuerySet (either the original one, or a new one).
Add buttons to the actions list for a page in the page explorer. This is useful when adding custom actions to the listing, such as translations or a complex workflow.
This example will add a simple button to the listing:
The ``priority`` argument controls the order the buttons are displayed in. Buttons are ordered from low to high priority, so a button with ``priority=10`` will be displayed before a button with ``priority=20``.
Add buttons to the "More" dropdown menu for a page in the page explorer. This works similarly to the ``register_page_listing_buttons`` hook but is useful for lesser-used custom actions that are better suited for the dropdown.
The ``priority`` argument controls the order the buttons are displayed in the dropdown. Buttons are ordered from low to high priority, so a button with ``priority=10`` will be displayed before a button with ``priority=60``.
The admin widgets also provide ``ButtonWithDropdownFromHook``, which allows you to define a custom hook for generating a dropdown menu that gets attached to your button.
Creating a button with a dropdown menu involves two steps. Firstly, you add your button to the ``register_page_listing_buttons`` hook, just like the example above.
Secondly, you register a new hook that yields the contents of the dropdown menu.
This example shows how Wagtail's default admin dropdown is implemented. You can also see how to register buttons conditionally, in this case by evaluating the ``page_perms``:
The template for the dropdown button can be customised by overriding ``wagtailadmin/pages/listing/_button_with_dropdown.html``. The JavaScript that runs the dropdowns makes use of custom data attributes, so you should leave ``data-dropdown`` and ``data-dropdown-toggle`` in the markup if you customise it.
Called when Wagtail is about to serve a page. The callable passed into the hook will receive the page object, the request object, and the ``args`` and ``kwargs`` that will be passed to the page's ``serve()`` method. If the callable returns an ``HttpResponse``, that response will be returned immediately to the user, and Wagtail will not proceed to call ``serve()`` on the page.
Called when Wagtail is about to serve a document. The callable passed into the hook will receive the document object and the request object. If the callable returns an ``HttpResponse``, that response will be returned immediately to the user, instead of serving the document. Note that this hook will be skipped if the :ref:`WAGTAILDOCS_SERVE_METHOD <wagtaildocs_serve_method>` setting is set to ``direct``.
Called when a Snippet is edited. The callable passed into the hook will receive the model instance, the request object. If the callable returns an ``HttpResponse``, that response will be returned immediately to the user, and Wagtail will not proceed to call ``redirect()`` to the listing view.
..code-block:: python
from django.http import HttpResponse
from wagtail.core import hooks
@hooks.register('after_edit_snippet')
def after_snippet_update(request, instance):
return HttpResponse(f"Congrats on editing a snippet with id {instance.pk}", content_type="text/plain")
Called at the beginning of the edit snippet view. The callable passed into the hook will receive the model instance, the request object. If the callable returns an ``HttpResponse``, that response will be returned immediately to the user, and Wagtail will not proceed to call ``redirect()`` to the listing view.
..code-block:: python
from django.http import HttpResponse
from wagtail.core import hooks
@hooks.register('before_edit_snippet')
def block_snippet_edit(request, instance):
if isinstance(instance, RestrictedSnippet) and instance.prevent_edit:
return HttpResponse("Sorry, you can't edit this snippet", content_type="text/plain")
Called at the beginning of the create snippet view. Works in a similar way to `before_edit_snippet` except the model is passed as an argument instead of an instance.
Called when a Snippet is deleted. The callable passed into the hook will receive the model instance(s) as a queryset along with the request object. If the callable returns an ``HttpResponse``, that response will be returned immediately to the user, and Wagtail will not proceed to call ``redirect()`` to the listing view.
..code-block:: python
from django.http import HttpResponse
from wagtail.core import hooks
@hooks.register('after_delete_snippet')
def after_snippet_delete(request, instances):
# "instances" is a QuerySet
total = len(instances)
return HttpResponse(f"{total} snippets have been deleted", content_type="text/plain")
Called at the beginning of the delete snippet view. The callable passed into the hook will receive the model instance(s) as a queryset along with the request object. If the callable returns an ``HttpResponse``, that response will be returned immediately to the user, and Wagtail will not proceed to call ``redirect()`` to the listing view.
..code-block:: python
from django.http import HttpResponse
from wagtail.core import hooks
@hooks.register('before_delete_snippet')
def before_snippet_delete(request, instances):
# "instances" is a QuerySet
total = len(instances)
if request.method == 'POST':
# Override the deletion behaviour
instances.delete()
return HttpResponse(f"{total} snippets have been deleted", content_type="text/plain")
Add buttons to the actions list for a snippet in the snippets listing. This is useful when adding custom actions to the listing, such as translations or a complex workflow.
This example will add a simple button to the listing:
..code-block:: python
from wagtail.snippets import widgets as wagtailsnippets_widgets
*``snippet`` - the snippet object to generate the button for
*``user`` - the user who is viewing the snippets listing
*``next_url`` - the URL that the linked action should redirect back to on completion of the action, if the view supports it
The ``priority`` argument controls the order the buttons are displayed in. Buttons are ordered from low to high priority, so a button with ``priority=10`` will be displayed before a button with ``priority=20``.
To add new actions to the registry, call the ``register_action`` method with the action type, its label and the message to be displayed in administrative listings.
..code-block:: python
from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _
from wagtail.core import hooks
@hook.register('register_log_actions')
def additional_log_actions(actions):
actions.register_action('wagtail_package.echo', _('Echo'), _('Sent an echo'))
