Assets & build

The front-end CSS/JS can be delivered two ways, selected by ADMINLTE["assets_mode"].

Vite (default)

A full django-vite pipeline with HMR — the right choice when you want to customise SCSS or add JS plugins.

python manage.py adminlte_install   # copy assets/app.js, assets/app.scss, vite.config.js stubs
npm install
npm run dev                          # dev server with HMR (when DEBUG=True)
# production:
npm run build
python manage.py collectstatic

app.js keeps AdminLTE/Bootstrap in the always-loaded core and code-splits every optional plugin (ApexCharts, jsVectorMap, Tabulator, Quill, SortableJS, FullCalendar) behind dynamic imports — install only the ones you use, and each is fetched only on pages that need it. The Tool components load their plugin automatically when present in the DOM; page scripts opt in explicitly:

document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => {
  adminlteUse("apexcharts").then(([ApexCharts]) => {
    new ApexCharts(el, options).render();
  });
});

Static (Node-optional)

Serve the pre-built bundle shipped in the package — zero Node/npm:

ADMINLTE = {"assets_mode": "static"}

Then just python manage.py collectstatic. The bundle (static/adminlte/dist/) includes AdminLTE + Bootstrap + Bootstrap Icons + OverlayScrollbars CSS/JS plus a small init.js (color-mode toggle + sidebar scrollbar). django-vite is not imported in static mode, so it isn't even a required dependency for this path.

The themed Django admin always uses this pre-built bundle.

How it's wired

master.html / auth-master.html include _assets_vite.html or _assets_prebuilt.html based on assets_mode. Override {% block adminlte_assets %} for full control.

RTL

Set ADMINLTE["layout_rtl"] = True to load the prebuilt RTL stylesheet and flip the layout direction.