======================================
How to customize the ``shell`` command
======================================

The Django :djadmin:`shell` is an interactive Python environment that provides
access to models and settings, making it useful for testing code, experimenting
with queries, and interacting with application data.

Customizing the :djadmin:`shell` command allows adding extra functionality or
pre-loading specific modules. To do this, create a new management command that
subclasses ``django.core.management.commands.shell.Command`` and overrides the
existing ``shell`` management command. For more details, refer to the guide on
:ref:`overriding commands <overriding-commands>`.

.. _customizing-shell-auto-imports:

Customize automatic imports
===========================

.. versionadded:: 5.2

To customize the automatic import behavior of the :djadmin:`shell` management
command, override the ``get_auto_imports()`` method. This method should return
a sequence of import paths for objects or modules available in the application.
For example:

.. code-block:: python
    :caption: ``polls/management/commands/shell.py``

    from django.core.management.commands import shell


    class Command(shell.Command):
        def get_auto_imports(self):
            return super().get_auto_imports() + [
                "django.urls.reverse",
                "django.urls.resolve",
            ]

The customization above adds :func:`~django.urls.resolve` and
:func:`~django.urls.reverse` to the default namespace, which already includes
all models from the apps listed in :setting:`INSTALLED_APPS` plus what is
imported by default. These objects will be available in the ``shell`` without
requiring a manual import.

Running this customized ``shell`` command with ``verbosity=2`` would show:

.. console::

    13 objects imported automatically:

      from django.db import connection, reset_queries, models
      from django.conf import settings
      from django.contrib.admin.models import LogEntry
      from django.contrib.auth.models import Group, Permission, User
      from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
      from django.contrib.sessions.models import Session
      from django.urls import resolve, reverse
      from django.utils import timezone

.. versionchanged:: 6.0

    Automatic imports of common utilities, such as ``django.conf.settings``,
    were added.

If an overridden ``shell`` command includes paths that cannot be imported,
these errors are shown when ``verbosity`` is set to ``1`` or higher. Duplicate
imports are automatically handled.

Note that automatic imports can be disabled for a specific ``shell`` session
using the :option:`--no-imports <shell --no-imports>` flag. To permanently
disable automatic imports, override ``get_auto_imports()`` to return ``None``::

    class Command(shell.Command):
        def get_auto_imports(self):
            return None
