django-clone

What it is and what it does

django-clone provides a mixin and model base class that lets you duplicate Django model instances with explicit control over which fields and relationships get copied. Instead of the naive `instance.pk = None; instance.save()` approach—which copies more state than intended—this package lets you specify exactly which fields, many-to-many relationships, and one-to-many relationships should be included in the clone. It automatically detects unique fields and appends a suffix to avoid constraint violations.

The package integrates with Django Admin, allowing cloning directly from list and change views. It supports multi-database operations, signals for pre- and post-clone hooks, and both explicit (include-only) and implicit (exclude-only) field selection. It has been actively maintained since its first release, supports Django 2.x through 4.x, and works with Python 3.6 and later.

Use it for:

• Duplicate a product listing in an e-commerce app while automatically handling unique SKU fields.
• Clone a survey or form template with all its questions and options, excluding responses.
• Create a copy of a project or task in a project management tool without duplicating timestamps or status fields.
• Bulk-clone model instances across multiple databases in a multi-tenant application.
• Add a 'Duplicate' action to Django Admin for quick instance copying with controlled field selection.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Duplicates Django model instances with fine-grained control over which fields and relationships are copied, automatically handling unique field conflicts.

Yes. The package solves a real Django problem (safe model duplication) with low install friction, active maintenance, no known vulnerabilities, and permissive licensing. It is well-tested and integrates cleanly with Django Admin. Install it if you need to duplicate model instances with control over which fields and relationships are copied.

Install

django-clone on PyPI

pip install django-clone

uv add django-clone

poetry add django-clone

Installing django-clone

Before you install

Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel distribution. Actively maintained with recent commits and no known vulnerabilities. Depends only on django, conditional, and six.

License in practice

Dual-licensed under MIT and Apache-2.0 (permissive). Either license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart

pip install django-clone

from django_clone import CloneMixin

class MyModel(CloneMixin, models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=100)

original = MyModel.objects.get(pk=1)
clone = original.clone()

Requires Django 2.0 or later; Python 3.6+. Must add django-clone to INSTALLED_APPS before django.contrib.admin if using admin integration.

Verify before relying

• Whether the package handles all Django ORM field types without manual intervention.
• Performance characteristics when cloning instances with large many-to-many or one-to-many relationship sets.
• Exact behavior of unique field suffix generation when multiple clones are created in rapid succession.

Package facts

Evidence: django_clone-5.5.0-py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: django, django-clone, django clone, django object clone, clone-django, model cloning, django instance duplication, django duplication

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