Django friendly finite state machine support

Django FSM-2 adds simple, declarative state management to Django models.

Introduction

FSM really helps to structure the code, and centralize the lifecycle of your Models.

Instead of adding a CharField field to a django model and manage its values by hand everywhere, FSMFields offer the ability to declare your transitions once with the decorator. These methods could contain side-effects, permissions, or logic to make the lifecycle management easier.

Nice introduction is available here: https://gist.github.com/Nagyman/9502133

Important

Django FSM-2 is a maintained fork of Django FSM.

Big thanks to Mikhail Podgurskiy for starting this project and maintaining it for so many years.

Unfortunately, after 2 years without any releases, the project was brutally archived. Viewflow is presented as an alternative but the transition is not that easy.

If what you need is just a simple state machine, tailor-made for Django, Django FSM-2 is the successor of Django FSM, with dependencies updates, typing (planned)

Quick start

from django.db import models
from django_fsm import FSMField, FSMModelMixin, transition

class BlogPost(FSMModelMixin, models.Model):
    state = FSMField(default='new')

    @transition(field=state, source='new', target='published')
    def publish(self, **kwargs):
        pass

from django_fsm import can_proceed

post = BlogPost.objects.get(pk=1)
if can_proceed(post.publish):
    post.publish()
    post.save()

Installation

Install the package:

uv pip install django-fsm-2

Or install from git:

uv pip install -e git://github.com/django-commons/django-fsm-2.git#egg=django-fsm

Add django_fsm to your Django apps (required to graph transitions or use Admin integration):

INSTALLED_APPS = (
    ...,
    'django_fsm',
    ...,
)

[!IMPORTANT] Migration from django-fsm

Django FSM-2 is a drop-in replacement. Update your dependency from django-fsm to django-fsm-2 and keep your existing code.

uv pip install django-fsm-2

Usage

Core ideas

• Store a state in an FSMField (or FSMIntegerField/FSMKeyField).
• Declare transitions once with the @transition decorator.
• Transition methods can contain business logic and side effects.
• The in-memory state changes on success; save() persists it.

Adding an FSM field

from django_fsm import FSMField, FSMModelMixin

class BlogPost(FSMModelMixin, models.Model):
    state = FSMField(default='new')

Declaring a transition

from django_fsm import transition

@transition(field=state, source='new', target='published')
def publish(self, **kwargs):
    """
    This function may contain side effects,
    like updating caches, notifying users, etc.
    The return value will be discarded.
    """

The field parameter accepts a string attribute name or a field instance. If calling publish() succeeds without raising an exception, the state changes in memory. You must call save() to persist it.

from django_fsm import can_proceed

def publish_view(request, post_id, **kwargs):
    post = get_object_or_404(BlogPost, pk=post_id)
    if not can_proceed(post.publish):
        raise PermissionDenied

    post.publish()
    post.save()
    return redirect('/')

Preconditions (conditions)

Use conditions to restrict transitions. Each function receives the instance and must return truthy/falsey. The functions should not have side effects.

def can_publish(instance):
    # No publishing after 17 hours
    return datetime.datetime.now().hour <= 17

class XXX(FSMModelMixin, models.Model):
    @transition(
        field=state,
        source='new',
        target='published',
        conditions=[can_publish]
    )
    def publish(self, **kwargs):
        pass

You can also use model methods:

class XXX(FSMModelMixin, models.Model):
    def can_destroy(self):
        return self.is_under_investigation()

    @transition(
        field=state,
        source='*',
        target='destroyed',
        conditions=[can_destroy]
    )
    def destroy(self, **kwargs):
        pass

Protected state fields

Use protected=True to prevent direct assignment. Only transitions may change the state.

Because refresh_from_db assigns to the field, protected fields raise there as well unless you use FSMModelMixin. Use FSMModelMixin by default to allow refresh without enabling arbitrary writes elsewhere.

from django_fsm import FSMModelMixin

class BlogPost(FSMModelMixin, models.Model):
    state = FSMField(default='new', protected=True)

model = BlogPost()
model.state = 'invalid'  # Raises AttributeError
model.refresh_from_db()  # Works

Source and target states

source accepts a list of states, a single state, or a django_fsm.State implementation.

• source='*' allows switching to target from any state.
• source='+' allows switching to target from any state except target.

target can be a specific state or a django_fsm.State implementation.

from django_fsm import FSMField, transition, RETURN_VALUE, GET_STATE

@transition(
    field=state,
    source='*',
    target=RETURN_VALUE('for_moderators', 'published'),
)
def publish(self, is_public=False, **kwargs):
    return 'for_moderators' if is_public else 'published'

@transition(
    field=state,
    source='for_moderators',
    target=GET_STATE(
        lambda self, allowed: 'published' if allowed else 'rejected',
        states=['published', 'rejected'],
    ),
)
def moderate(self, allowed, **kwargs):
    pass

@transition(
    field=state,
    source='for_moderators',
    target=GET_STATE(
        lambda self, **kwargs: 'published' if kwargs.get('allowed', True) else 'rejected',
        states=['published', 'rejected'],
    ),
)
def moderate(self, allowed=True, **kwargs):
    pass

Custom transition metadata

Use custom to attach arbitrary data to a transition.

@transition(
    field=state,
    source='*',
    target='onhold',
    custom=dict(verbose='Hold for legal reasons'),
)
def legal_hold(self, **kwargs):
    pass

Error target state

If a transition method raises an exception, you can specify an on_error state.

@transition(
    field=state,
    source='new',
    target='published',
    on_error='failed'
)
def publish(self, **kwargs):
    """
    Some exception could happen here
    """

Permissions

Attach permissions to transitions with the permission argument. It accepts a permission string or a callable that receives (instance, user).

@transition(
    field=state,
    source='*',
    target='published',
    permission=lambda instance, user: not user.has_perm('myapp.can_make_mistakes'),
)
def publish(self, **kwargs):
    pass

@transition(
    field=state,
    source='*',
    target='removed',
    permission='myapp.can_remove_post',
)
def remove(self, **kwargs):
    pass

Check permission with has_transition_perm:

from django_fsm import has_transition_perm

def publish_view(request, post_id):
    post = get_object_or_404(BlogPost, pk=post_id)
    if not has_transition_perm(post.publish, request.user):
        raise PermissionDenied

    post.publish()
    post.save()
    return redirect('/')

Model helpers

Considering a model with a state field called "FIELD"

• get_all_FIELD_transitions enumerates all declared transitions.
• get_available_FIELD_transitions returns transitions available in the current state.
• get_available_user_FIELD_transitions returns transitions available in the current state for a given user.

Example: If your state field is called status

my_model_instance.get_all_status_transitions()
my_model_instance.get_available_status_transitions()
my_model_instance.get_available_user_status_transitions()

FSMKeyField (foreign key support)

Use FSMKeyField to store state values in a table and maintain FK integrity.

class DbState(FSMModelMixin, models.Model):
    id = models.CharField(primary_key=True)
    label = models.CharField()

    def __str__(self):
        return self.label


class BlogPost(FSMModelMixin, models.Model):
    state = FSMKeyField(DbState, default='new')

    @transition(field=state, source='new', target='published')
    def publish(self, **kwargs):
        pass

In your fixtures/initial_data.json:

[
    {
        "pk": "new",
        "model": "myapp.dbstate",
        "fields": {
            "label": "_NEW_"
        }
    },
    {
        "pk": "published",
        "model": "myapp.dbstate",
        "fields": {
            "label": "_PUBLISHED_"
        }
    }
]

Note: source and target use the PK values of the DbState model as names, even if the field is accessed without the _id postfix.

FSMIntegerField (enum-style states)

class BlogPostStateEnum(object):
    NEW = 10
    PUBLISHED = 20
    HIDDEN = 30

class BlogPostWithIntegerField(FSMModelMixin, models.Model):
    state = FSMIntegerField(default=BlogPostStateEnum.NEW)

    @transition(
        field=state,
        source=BlogPostStateEnum.NEW,
        target=BlogPostStateEnum.PUBLISHED,
    )
    def publish(self, **kwargs):
        pass

Signals

django_fsm.signals.pre_transition and django_fsm.signals.post_transition fire before and after an allowed transition. No signals fire for invalid transitions.

Arguments sent with these signals:

• sender The model class.
• instance The actual instance being processed.
• name Transition name.
• source Source model state.
• target Target model state.

Optimistic locking

Use ConcurrentTransitionMixin to avoid concurrent state changes. If the state changed in the database, django_fsm.ConcurrentTransition is raised on save().

from django_fsm import FSMField, ConcurrentTransitionMixin, FSMModelMixin

class BlogPost(ConcurrentTransitionMixin, FSMModelMixin, models.Model):
    state = FSMField(default='new')

For guaranteed protection against race conditions caused by concurrently executed transitions, make sure:

• Your transitions do not have side effects except for database changes.
• You always call save() within a django.db.transaction.atomic() block.

Following these recommendations, ConcurrentTransitionMixin will cause a rollback of all changes executed in an inconsistent state.

Admin Integration

NB: If you're migrating from django-fsm-admin (or any alternative), make sure it's not installed anymore to avoid installing the old django-fsm.

Update import path:

- from django_fsm_admin.mixins import FSMTransitionMixin
+ from django_fsm.admin import FSMAdminMixin

1. In your admin.py file, use FSMAdminMixin to add behaviour to your ModelAdmin. FSMAdminMixin should be before ModelAdmin, the order is important.

from django_fsm.admin import FSMAdminMixin

@admin.register(AdminBlogPost)
class MyAdmin(FSMAdminMixin, admin.ModelAdmin):
    # Declare the fsm fields you want to manage
    fsm_fields = ['my_fsm_field']
    ...

2. You can customize the buttons by adding label and help_text to the custom attribute of the transition decorator

@transition(
    field='state',
    source=['startstate'],
    target='finalstate',
    custom={
        "label": "My awesome transition",  # this
        "help_text": "Rename blog post",  # and this
    },
)
def do_something(self, **kwargs):
       ...

or by overriding some methods in FSMAdminMixin

@admin.register(AdminBlogPost)
class MyAdmin(FSMAdminMixin, admin.ModelAdmin):
    ...

    def get_fsm_label(self, transition):  # this method
        if transition.name == "do_something":
            return "My awesome transition"
        return super().get_fsm_label(transition)

    def get_help_text(self, transition):  # and this method
        if transition.name == "do_something":
            return "Rename blog post"
        return super().get_help_text(transition)

3. For forms in the admin transition flow, see the Custom Forms section below.

4. Hiding a transition is possible by adding custom={"admin": False} to the transition decorator:

    @transition(
        field='state',
        source=['startstate'],
        target='finalstate',
        custom={
            "admin": False,  # this
        },
    )
    def do_something(self, **kwargs):
       # will not add a button "Do Something" to your admin model interface

or from the admin:

@admin.register(AdminBlogPost)
class MyAdmin(FSMAdminMixin, admin.ModelAdmin):
    ...

    def is_fsm_transition_visible(self, transition: fsm.Transition) -> bool:
        if transition.name == "do_something":
            return False
        return super().is_fsm_transition_visible(transition)

NB: By adding FSM_ADMIN_FORCE_PERMIT = True to your configuration settings (or fsm_default_disallow_transition = False to your admin), the above restriction becomes the default. Then one must explicitly allow that a transition method shows up in the admin interface using custom={"admin": True}

@admin.register(AdminBlogPost)
class MyAdmin(FSMAdminMixin, admin.ModelAdmin):
    fsm_default_disallow_transition = False
    ...

Custom Forms

You can attach a custom form to a transition so the admin prompts for input before the transition runs. Add a form entry to custom on the transition, or define an admin-level mapping via fsm_forms. Both accept a forms.Form/ forms.ModelForm class or a dotted import path.

from django import forms
from django_fsm import FSMModelMixin, transition

class RenameForm(forms.Form):
    new_title = forms.CharField(max_length=255)
    # it's also possible to declare fsm log description
    description = forms.CharField(max_length=255)

class BlogPost(FSMModelMixin, models.Model):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=255)
    state = FSMField(default="created")

    @transition(
        field=state,
        source="*",
        target="created",
        custom={
            "label": "Rename",
            "help_text": "Rename blog post",
            "form": "path.to.RenameForm",
        },
    )
    def rename(self, new_title, **kwargs):
        self.title = new_title

You can also define forms directly on your ModelAdmin without touching the transition definition:

from django_fsm.admin import FSMAdminMixin
from .admin_forms import RenameForm

@admin.register(AdminBlogPost)
class MyAdmin(FSMAdminMixin, admin.ModelAdmin):
    fsm_fields = ["state"]
    fsm_forms = {
        "rename": "path.to.RenameForm",  # use import path
        "rename": RenameForm,  # or FormClass
    }

Behavior details:

• When form is set, the transition button redirects to a form view instead of executing immediately.
• If both are defined, fsm_forms on the admin takes precedence over custom["form"] on the transition.
• On submit, cleaned_data is passed to the transition method as keyword arguments and the object is saved.
• RenameForm receives the current instance automatically.
• You can override the transition form template by setting fsm_transition_form_template on your ModelAdmin (or override globally templates/django_fsm/fsm_admin_transition_form.html).

Drawing transitions

Render a graphical overview of your model transitions.

1. Install graphviz support:

uv pip install django-fsm-2[graphviz]

or

uv pip install "graphviz>=0.4"

2. Ensure django_fsm is in INSTALLED_APPS:

INSTALLED_APPS = (
    ...,
    'django_fsm',
    ...,
)

3. Run the management command:

# Create a dot file
./manage.py graph_transitions > transitions.dot

# Create a PNG image file for a specific model
./manage.py graph_transitions -o blog_transitions.png myapp.Blog

# Exclude some transitions
./manage.py graph_transitions -e transition_1,transition_2 myapp.Blog

Extensions

Transition logging support could be achieved with help of django-fsm-log package : https://github.com/gizmag/django-fsm-log

Contributing

We welcome contributions. See CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed setup instructions.

Quick Development Setup

# Clone and setup
git clone https://github.com/django-commons/django-fsm-2.git
cd django-fsm
uv sync

# Run tests
uv run pytest -v
# or
uv run tox

# Run linting
uv run ruff format .
uv run ruff check .