---
id: django-admin-env-notice
version: "1.0.1"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: aging
---

# django-admin-env-notice — Visually distinguish environments in Django Admin

License: permissive · Maintenance: aging · Downloads: 125.0K/mo

## What it is and what it does

django-admin-env-notice is a small Django app that injects a colored banner into the Django Admin interface to label the current environment. It solves a critical safety problem: preventing accidental administrative actions (like deleting data) in production when you meant to act on staging or development. You configure it by adding the app to INSTALLED_APPS, registering its context processor, and setting two Django settings—ENVIRONMENT_NAME and ENVIRONMENT_COLOR—to define what label and color the banner should display.

The banner is fixed to the top of the admin interface by default but can be made to float instead. You can customize the text color, choose which DOM selector the banner attaches to (useful if you use admin themes like Grappelli), and optionally hide it from unauthenticated users. It has no runtime dependencies and installs as a pure Python wheel, making it lightweight to add to any Django project.

Use it for:

- Label production admin with a red banner to make it visually distinct from staging or development environments.
- Prevent accidental data deletion or configuration changes by making the environment immediately obvious when logging into admin.
- Customize banner appearance per environment (e.g., green for dev, yellow for staging, red for production) to reinforce environment awareness.
- Hide the banner from unauthenticated users to avoid leaking environment information to unauthorized viewers.
- Integrate with Django admin themes like Grappelli by adjusting the DOM selector the banner attaches to.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Adds a colored banner to Django Admin to visually label the current environment (e.g., production, staging) and help prevent accidental changes in the wrong environment.

Yes, if you run Django Admin in multiple environments. It is a low-friction, zero-dependency safety tool that directly addresses a real operational risk—mistaking one environment for another in the admin interface. The aging maintenance status is not a blocker for a stable, focused package with no dependencies, but verify compatibility with your Django version before deploying.

## Install

pip install django-admin-env-notice
uv add django-admin-env-notice
poetry add django-admin-env-notice

## Installing django-admin-env-notice

Before you install: Low friction: pure Python wheel with no runtime dependencies. Maintenance is aging—last commit was 2026-01-22 and the package went 664 days between releases, though the repo remains active and unarchived.

License in practice: MIT license (permissive) means you can use, modify, and distribute the package freely with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install django-admin-env-notice

# In settings.py INSTALLED_APPS (before django.contrib.admin):
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django_admin_env_notice',
    'django.contrib.admin',
]

# Add context processor and set environment:
ENVIRONMENT_NAME = "Production"
ENVIRONMENT_COLOR = "#FF2222"

Requires Django 1.9+ and Python 2.7 or 3.4+; must be added to INSTALLED_APPS before django.contrib.admin and requires a context processor in TEMPLATES configuration.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package works with modern Django versions (3.2+, 4.0+) despite the oldest classifier being Django 1.9.
- Current test coverage and whether tox tests still pass on all listed Python versions.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: aging
- Downloads: 125.0K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

django admin environment banner, distinguish django admin environments, visual environment warning django, production staging admin label, django admin safety notice, environment color banner django, prevent wrong environment admin, django-admin, environment-safety, ui-enhancement

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/django-admin-env-notice) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/django-admin-env-notice/)