Custom image modelsΒΆ

The Image model can be customised, allowing additional fields to be added to images.

To do this, you need to add two models to your project:

  • The image model itself that inherits from wagtail.wagtailimages.models.AbstractImage. This is where you would add your additional fields
  • The renditions model that inherits from wagtail.wagtailimages.models.AbstractRendition. This is used to store renditions for the new model.

Here’s an example:

# models.py
from django.db import models
from django.db.models.signals import pre_delete
from django.dispatch import receiver

from wagtail.wagtailimages.models import Image, AbstractImage, AbstractRendition


class CustomImage(AbstractImage):
    # Add any extra fields to image here

    # eg. To add a caption field:
    # caption = models.CharField(max_length=255, blank=True)

    admin_form_fields = Image.admin_form_fields + (
        # Then add the field names here to make them appear in the form:
        # 'caption',
    )


class CustomRendition(AbstractRendition):
    image = models.ForeignKey(CustomImage, related_name='renditions')

    class Meta:
        unique_together = (
            ('image', 'filter', 'focal_point_key'),
        )


# Delete the source image file when an image is deleted
@receiver(pre_delete, sender=CustomImage)
def image_delete(sender, instance, **kwargs):
    instance.file.delete(False)


# Delete the rendition image file when a rendition is deleted
@receiver(pre_delete, sender=CustomRendition)
def rendition_delete(sender, instance, **kwargs):
    instance.file.delete(False)

Note

Fields defined on a custom image model must either be set as non-required (blank=True), or specify a default value - this is because uploading the image and entering custom data happen as two separate actions, and Wagtail needs to be able to create an image record immediately on upload.

Note

If you are using image feature detection, follow these instructions to enable it on your custom image model: Feature detection and custom image models

Then set the WAGTAILIMAGES_IMAGE_MODEL setting to point to it:

WAGTAILIMAGES_IMAGE_MODEL = 'images.CustomImage'

Migrating from the builtin image model

When changing an existing site to use a custom image model. No images will be copied to the new model automatically. Copying old images to the new model would need to be done manually with a data migration.

Any templates that reference the builtin image model will still continue to work as before but would need to be updated in order to see any new images.