Django Forms Workflows

Enterprise-grade, database-driven form builder with multi-stage approval workflows, external data integration, and cross-instance sync

Overview

Django Forms Workflows bridges the gap between simple form libraries (like Crispy Forms) and expensive SaaS solutions (like JotForm, Formstack). It provides:

📝 Database-Driven Forms — Define forms in the database, not code. 25+ field types including calculated/formula fields and spreadsheet uploads.
🔄 Multi-Stage Approval Workflows — Sequential, parallel, or hybrid approval flows with configurable stages and conditional trigger logic.
↩️ Send Back for Correction — Approvers can return a submission to any prior stage without terminating the workflow.
🎯 Dynamic Assignees — Resolve individual approvers at submit time from form field values (email, username, full name, or LDAP lookup).
🔀 Sub-Workflows — Spawn child workflows from a parent submission (e.g. one form creates N payment approvals).
🔌 External Data Integration — Prefill fields from LDAP, databases, REST APIs, or the Django user model.
⚡ Post-Submission Actions — Trigger emails, database writes, LDAP updates, or custom Python handlers on submit/approve/reject.
🔄 Cross-Instance Sync — Push/pull form definitions between environments directly from the Django Admin.
🔒 Enterprise Security — LDAP/AD & SSO authentication, RBAC with four permission tiers, complete audit trails.
🌐 REST API — Opt-in Bearer-token API: list forms, fetch field schema, submit (or save draft), poll status. OpenAPI 3.0 schema + Swagger UI included.
🖼️ Embeddable Forms — Embed forms on any website via a <script> tag or <iframe>. Auto-resize, theme/accent color support, postMessage callbacks. WordPress plugin included.
💳 Pluggable Payments — Collect payments during form submission with a pluggable provider system. Stripe ships built-in; add custom providers via register_provider().
📋 Shared Option Lists — Define reusable choice lists once, reference from any form field. Update the list and every field reflects the change.
🔗 Dependent Workflows — Workflows that start only after all other workflows on the form complete, enabling convergence gates after parallel tracks.
📁 Managed File Uploads — File uploads with approval, rejection, and version tracking per submission.
🧮 Formula Fields — Calculated fields that compute values live from other field values using a template formula.
🏠 Self-Hosted — No SaaS fees, full data control.

Key Features

🎯 No-Code Form Creation

Business users create and modify forms through Django Admin:

25+ field types: text, email, phone, select, radio, checkbox, checkboxes, multiselect, date, time, datetime, decimal, currency, number, URL, file, multi-file, textarea, hidden, section headers, calculated/formula, spreadsheet upload (CSV/Excel), country picker, US state picker, signature (draw or type)
Field ordering with explicit order integer
Column-width layout per field: full, half, one-third, one-quarter
Validation rules (required, regex, min/max length, min/max value)
Conditional field visibility (show_if_field / show_if_value)
Custom help text, placeholders, and CSS classes
Read-only and pre-filled fields
Draft saving with auto-save support

🔄 Multi-Stage Approval Workflows

Flexible approval engine built on WorkflowStage records:

Each stage has its own approval groups and logic (any / all / sequence)
Stages execute in order; next stage unlocks when the current one completes
Multiple WorkflowDefinition records can run as parallel approval tracks on the same form
Conditional stages — each stage can carry trigger_conditions JSON; stages whose conditions don't match the submission data are automatically skipped
Workflow-level trigger conditions — entire parallel approval tracks are skipped when their workflow trigger_conditions don't match (e.g. only trigger a Finance track when amount > 10000)
Dynamic individual assignees — set assignee_form_field + assignee_lookup_type (email / username / full_name / ldap) on a stage to resolve the approver from a form field value at runtime; falls back to group tasks when the value cannot be resolved
Send Back for Correction — approvers can return a submission to any prior stage that has allow_send_back enabled without terminating the workflow; full audit entry recorded
Stage-specific form fields (e.g. approver notes, signature date) appear only during that stage
Configurable approval deadline (approval_deadline_days) sets due_date on created tasks
Reminder emails (send_reminder_after_days) and optional auto-approval after expiry (auto_approve_after_days)
Immediate or batched notifications (immediate / daily / weekly / monthly / form_field_date)
Optional per-stage reassignment, editable submission data during approval, custom approve button labels, hidden approval history, and bulk export / bulk PDF export controls
Rejection handling with per-stage or global rejection semantics
Complete audit trail on every approval, rejection, send-back, and status change
First-class outbound webhooks per workflow with signed async delivery, retry/backoff, and delivery logs

See the Workflow Guide, Visual Workflow Builder, Dynamic Assignees, Send Back for Correction, Notifications, and Workflow Webhooks.

🔀 Sub-Workflows

Spawn child workflow instances from a parent submission:

SubWorkflowDefinition links a parent workflow to a child form definition
count_field controls how many sub-workflows to create (driven by a form field value)
section_label and label_template control how child instances are presented in the UI
data_prefix slices the parent's form data to populate each child
Triggered on_submission or on_approval
detached mode lets child instances complete independently of the parent
reject_parent=True lets a rejected child immediately reject the parent and cancel sibling child instances
Parent submission status reflects aggregate child completion when not detached
Sub-workflows support the same send-back mechanism via handle_sub_workflow_send_back

See Sub-Workflows Guide for a full walkthrough.

🖼️ Embeddable Forms

Embed DFW forms on any external website:

Single <script> tag creates a responsive iframe with auto-resize via postMessage
Configurable theme (light/dark), accent color, min height
Callbacks: data-on-submit, data-on-load for parent page integration
WordPress plugin included ([dfw_form] shortcode + Gutenberg block)
Admin embed code panel with copy-to-clipboard snippets
Inline success state — no redirects, iframe stays self-contained

See Embedding Guide.

💳 Payment Collection

Collect payments as part of the form submission flow:

Pluggable provider architecture: PaymentProvider ABC, provider registry, PaymentResult dataclass
Two flow types: INLINE (payment form on your site, e.g. Stripe Elements) and REDIRECT (external payment page)
Built-in Stripe provider using PaymentIntents with automatic payment methods
PaymentRecord model tracks full payment lifecycle (pending → completed/failed/refunded)
Configurable per form: provider, amount (fixed or from field), currency, description template
Custom providers self-register via register_provider() in AppConfig.ready()

See Payment System Guide.

📋 Shared Option Lists

Define reusable choice lists shared across forms:

SharedOptionList model with name, slug, items (JSON array of strings or value/label objects)
shared_option_list FK on FormField overrides inline choices for select, radio, multiselect, checkboxes
Choice resolution priority: database prefill → shared option list → inline choices
Update a list once, every referencing field updates immediately
Form builder UI with shared list dropdown on choice-based fields

See Shared Option Lists Guide.

🔗 Dependent Workflows

Workflows that wait for other workflows to complete before starting:

start_trigger = "on_all_complete" on WorkflowDefinition
Enables convergence patterns: parallel tracks must all finish before a final review step
Peer-level relationship (not parent/child like sub-workflows)
Complements sub-workflows — both can coexist on the same form

See the Dependent Workflows section of the Workflows Guide.

🧮 Calculated / Formula Fields

Auto-compute field values from other field inputs:

field_type = "calculated" with a formula template string (e.g. {first_name} {last_name})
Live client-side evaluation updates the read-only field as the user types
Authoritative server-side re-evaluation on submit prevents tampering
Available in both regular form submission and approval step forms

See Calculated Fields Guide.

📊 Spreadsheet Upload Fields

Accept CSV or Excel files as structured form input:

field_type = "spreadsheet" with accept .csv, .xls, .xlsx
Parsed and stored as {"headers": [...], "rows": [{...}, ...]} in form_data
Available during initial submission and approval step forms

🔌 Configurable Prefill Sources

Populate form fields automatically from reusable PrefillSource records:

User model — user.email, user.first_name, user.username, etc.
LDAP / Active Directory — any LDAP attribute (department, title, manager, custom)
External databases — schema/table/column lookup with template support for multi-column composition
Custom database queries — reference a named query via database_query_key
System values — current_date, current_time

⚡ Post-Submission Actions

Automatically run side-effects after a submission event:

Trigger	Description
`on_submit`	Runs immediately on form submission
`on_approve`	Runs when the submission is approved
`on_reject`	Runs when the submission is rejected
`on_complete`	Runs when the entire workflow completes

Action types: email, database, ldap, api, custom

Features:

Conditional execution with 10 operators (equals, not_equals, greater_than, less_than, contains, not_contains, is_empty, is_not_empty, is_true, is_false, plus date comparisons)
Automatic retries with configurable max_retries
Execution ordering for dependent actions
Idempotent locking (is_locked) to prevent double-execution
Full execution logging via ActionExecutionLog
Pluggable handler architecture — register custom handlers via FORMS_WORKFLOWS_CALLBACKS setting or register_handler() API; use short names in the admin instead of full Python paths

🔄 Cross-Instance Form Sync

Move form definitions between environments from the Django Admin:

Pull from Remote — connect to a configured remote instance and import selected forms
Push to Remote — select forms and push to any destination
Import / Export JSON — portable .json snapshots
Conflict modes — update, skip, or new_slug
FORMS_SYNC_REMOTES setting — pre-configure named instances (URL + token)
HTTP endpoints protected by Bearer token for CI/scripted use

📁 Managed File Uploads

FileUploadConfig per form definition (allowed extensions, max size)
ManagedFile records with approval/rejection/supersede lifecycle
Version tracking with is_current flag

🔒 Enterprise-Ready Security

LDAP/Active Directory authentication with auto-sync of profile attributes
SSO integration (SAML, OAuth) with attribute mapping to UserProfile
Role-based access — four permission tiers on FormDefinition:
- submit_groups — can see and submit the form
- view_groups — prerequisite gate for form access
- reviewer_groups — read-only view of all submissions and approval history
- admin_groups — full administrative view of all submissions
Group-based approval routing via WorkflowStage.approval_groups
Complete audit logging (AuditLog — who, what, when, IP address)
Public / anonymous forms — mark any form as requires_login=False and anonymous users can submit it; IP-based rate limiting prevents abuse
UserProfile auto-created on first login with LDAP/SSO sync

Quick Start

Installation

pip install django-forms-workflows

Setup

Add to INSTALLED_APPS:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ...
    'crispy_forms',
    'crispy_bootstrap5',
    'django_forms_workflows',
]

CRISPY_ALLOWED_TEMPLATE_PACKS = "bootstrap5"
CRISPY_TEMPLATE_PACK = "bootstrap5"

Include URLs and run migrations:

# urls.py
urlpatterns = [
    path('forms/', include('django_forms_workflows.urls')),
]

python manage.py migrate django_forms_workflows

Create your first form in Django Admin!

Optional Settings

FORMS_WORKFLOWS = {
    # Branding — replaces "Django Forms Workflows" across all templates
    "SITE_NAME": "Acme Corp Workflows",

    # LDAP attribute sync on every login
    "LDAP_SYNC": {
        "enabled": True,
        "attributes": {
            "department": "department",
            "title": "title",
            "employee_id": "extensionAttribute1",
        },
    },
}

# Cross-instance form sync
FORMS_SYNC_API_TOKEN = "shared-secret"
FORMS_SYNC_REMOTES = {
    "production": {
        "url": "https://prod.example.com/forms-sync/",
        "token": "prod-token",
    },
}

# Custom callback handlers — register by short name instead of full Python paths
# These names can be used in PostSubmissionAction.custom_handler_path
FORMS_WORKFLOWS_CALLBACKS = {
    "id_photo_copy": "myapp.handlers.IDPhotoHandler",
    "sync_to_erp": "myapp.handlers.ERPSyncHandler",
}

# Context processor — injects site_name into every template
TEMPLATES = [
    {
        "OPTIONS": {
            "context_processors": [
                # ... standard processors ...
                "django_forms_workflows.context_processors.forms_workflows",
            ]
        }
    }
]

Architecture

graph TB
    subgraph UI["User Interface"]
        FB["Form Builder<br/>(Admin)"]
        FV["Form Viewer<br/>(End User)"]
        AU["Approval UI<br/>(Approvers)"]
    end

    subgraph Core["Django Forms Workflows"]
        FD["FormDefinition<br/>+ FormField"]
        WF["WorkflowDefinition<br/>+ WorkflowStage"]
        PS["PrefillSource"]
        PA["PostSubmissionAction<br/>+ Executor"]
        SYNC["Sync API<br/>(Push/Pull)"]
    end

    subgraph External["External Systems"]
        AD["LDAP / AD"]
        DB["External<br/>Databases"]
        API["REST APIs"]
        SSO["SSO<br/>(SAML/OAuth)"]
    end

    FB --> FD
    FV --> FD
    AU --> WF
    FD --> PS
    FD --> PA
    FD --> SYNC
    PS --> AD
    PS --> DB
    PA --> DB
    PA --> AD
    PA --> API
    SSO --> Core

Use Cases

HR — Onboarding, time-off requests, expense reports, status changes
IT — Access requests, equipment requests, change management
Finance — Purchase orders, invoice approvals, budget requests
Education — Student applications, course registrations, facility booking
Healthcare — Patient intake, referrals, insurance claims
Government — Permit applications, FOIA requests, citizen services

Comparison

Feature	Django Forms Workflows	Crispy Forms	FormStack	Django-Formtools
Database-driven forms	✅	❌	✅	❌
No-code form creation	✅	❌	✅	❌
Self-hosted	✅	✅	❌	✅
Multi-stage approval workflows	✅	❌	⚠️	❌
Sub-workflows	✅	❌	❌	❌
Post-submission actions	✅	❌	⚠️	❌
External data prefill	✅	❌	⚠️	❌
REST API (Bearer token)	✅	❌	✅	❌
Bulk export (Excel / CSV)	✅	❌	✅	❌
Cross-instance sync	✅	❌	❌	❌
LDAP/AD + SSO integration	✅	❌	❌	❌
Managed file uploads	✅	❌	✅	❌
Audit trail	✅	❌	✅	❌
Open source	✅	✅	❌	✅

Requirements

Python 3.10+
Django 5.2+
PostgreSQL, MySQL, or SQLite (PostgreSQL recommended for production)
Optional: Celery 5.0+ with Redis/Valkey for background task processing
Optional: openpyxl for Excel spreadsheet field support (pip install django-forms-workflows[excel])
Optional: django-auth-ldap for LDAP/AD integration (pip install django-forms-workflows[ldap])
Optional: WeasyPrint for PDF export (pip install django-forms-workflows[pdf])

Testing

cd django-forms-workflows
pip install pytest pytest-django
python -m pytest tests/ -v

The test suite covers models, forms, workflow engine (including dynamic assignees, conditional stages, multi-workflow parallel tracks, sub-workflows), sync API, post-submission action executor, views, signals, conditions, and utilities — 298 tests.

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

License

GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 (LGPLv3) — see LICENSE for details.

Support

Roadmap

See docs/ROADMAP.md for the full prioritized roadmap with rationale and implementation notes.

✅ Delivered (through v0.48)

🚧 Near-term (next 1–3 releases)

📋 Planned (medium-term)

Credits

Built with ❤️ by the Django community.

Special thanks to:

Logan Nickerson for his time spent testing and helping with business requirements
Django Crispy Forms
Celery
django-auth-ldap

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Django Forms Workflows

Overview

Key Features

🎯 No-Code Form Creation

🔄 Multi-Stage Approval Workflows

🔀 Sub-Workflows

🖼️ Embeddable Forms

💳 Payment Collection

📋 Shared Option Lists

🔗 Dependent Workflows

🧮 Calculated / Formula Fields

📊 Spreadsheet Upload Fields

🔌 Configurable Prefill Sources

⚡ Post-Submission Actions

🔄 Cross-Instance Form Sync

📁 Managed File Uploads

🔒 Enterprise-Ready Security

Quick Start

Installation

Setup

Optional Settings

Architecture

Use Cases

Comparison

Requirements

Testing

Contributing

License

Support

Roadmap

✅ Delivered (through v0.48)

🚧 Near-term (next 1–3 releases)

📋 Planned (medium-term)

Credits

FilesExpand file tree

README.md

Latest commit

History

README.md

File metadata and controls

Django Forms Workflows

Overview

Key Features

🎯 No-Code Form Creation

🔄 Multi-Stage Approval Workflows

🔀 Sub-Workflows

🖼️ Embeddable Forms

💳 Payment Collection

📋 Shared Option Lists

🔗 Dependent Workflows

🧮 Calculated / Formula Fields

📊 Spreadsheet Upload Fields

🔌 Configurable Prefill Sources

⚡ Post-Submission Actions

🔄 Cross-Instance Form Sync

📁 Managed File Uploads

🔒 Enterprise-Ready Security

Quick Start

Installation

Setup

Optional Settings

Architecture

Use Cases

Comparison

Requirements

Testing

Contributing

License

Support

Roadmap

✅ Delivered (through v0.48)

🚧 Near-term (next 1–3 releases)

📋 Planned (medium-term)

Credits