Error: An admin for model "User" has to be registered to be referenced by TokenAdmin.autocomplete_fields.

[kevinrenskers]

After updating to DRF 3.15.0 I am now getting the following error when starting my Django server:

<class 'rest_framework.authtoken.admin.TokenAdmin'>: (admin.E039) An admin for model "User" has to be registered to be referenced by TokenAdmin.autocomplete_fields.

I am using a custom AdminSite instance where only the ModelAdmins that I specifically register to it are shown in my admin site. I have not registered TokenAdmin to my AdminSite, because it's not something we want to see in our admin site. I also have a custom User model, but its ModelAdmin is registered with my custom AdminSite.

It seems that DRF can't handle this situation. I guess that it only looks through the default AdminSite for what is registered there? How can I make DRF just ignore the TokenAdmin? I don't want it in our admin site, as we don't use tokens (only sessions).

[browniebroke]

You can unregister the models you don't want with:

from django.contrib import admin
from rest_framework.authtoken.models import TokenProxy


admin.site.unregister(TokenProxy)

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.0/ref/contrib/admin/#django.contrib.admin.AdminSite.unregister

You can probably do that anywhere, but it might have to be in an admin.py file.

[i-huzaifa-arshad]

It worked for me. Idk why but unregistering the TokenProxy solved the error. Whereas the error was about TokenAdmin. Any insights on this?

[browniebroke]

Because DRF registers the model TokenProxy to use the model admin TokenAdmin:

django-rest-framework/rest_framework/authtoken/admin.py

Line 55 in 337ba21

admin.site.register(TokenProxy, TokenAdmin)

To unregister, the model class is enough, you don't need to specify the admin class.

[i-huzaifa-arshad]

My error code is slightly different.

<class 'rest_framework.authtoken.admin.TokenAdmin'>: (admin.E040) ModelAdmin must define "search_fields", because it's referenced by TokenAdmin.autocomplete_fields.

This is a strange fix in one way. Unregistering TokenProxy fixes the issue. But it removes the Token page from admin panel.

from rest_framework.authtoken.models import TokenProxy
admin.site.unregister(TokenProxy)

Most of my API endpoints require a token for authentication. So, it's not a good fix for my case. For me what worked is the following code (I would rather call it a pseudo-fix):

from rest_framework.authtoken.models import TokenProxy
admin.site.unregister(TokenProxy)
admin.site.register(TokenProxy)

[kevinrenskers]

That doesn't work: django.contrib.admin.exceptions.NotRegistered: The model TokenProxy is not registered

I am not using the default admin site, I am not using its auto discover function, so nothing should be registered to it. And yeah, thus this error.

[browniebroke]

When you got this error, did you call unregister on you custom admin site or on the default admin site? DRF registers on the default site, so even though you're not using it, perhaps it's making the Django checks fail?

I don't want it in our admin site, as we don't use tokens (only sessions)

Do you have 'rest_framework.authtoken' in your INSTALLED_APPS? If you're not using Tokens, I guess you shouldn't have it, but perhaps it's there?

[kevinrenskers]

I called unregister on the default admin site.

But I did have rest_framework.authtoken in the INSTALLED_APPS, yes. I've removed that and the problem is gone.

I do think there's still a problem with DRF and custom admin sites though, right? If you can't remove it from INSTALLED_APPS, then I guess you're forced to register your User admin with the default admin site, even though it's not being used?

[browniebroke]

Interesting... Are you using a custom user model? Django also registers the default User model, so I guess DRF assumes that it's always there, but with the custom User model it might not...

I do think there's still a problem with DRF and custom admin sites though, right? If you can't remove it from INSTALLED_APPS, then I guess you're forced to register your User admin with the default admin site, even though it's not being used?

Yes, ICYMI, there is now an issue #9300

[kevinrenskers]

Yes, I also have a custom User model (its ModelAdmin is registered with my custom AdminSite).