SmallStack

Web Applications

A typical SmallStack web app has three page layers. Each can use your own custom theme or SmallStack's built-in theme. Choose the setup that fits your project.

Public Pages

Landing pages, marketing, non-authenticated content

Your public-facing pages — homepage, pricing, about, etc. Most projects use a custom theme here for brand control.

Custom Theme SmallStack Theme

Adding Your Own Theme Scenario A: No Login Scenario B: With Login Navigation

User Pages

Authenticated user-facing features — dashboards, profiles, settings

Where logged-in users interact with your app. Custom themes work here too, or use SmallStack's sidebar layout for fast development.

Custom Theme SmallStack Theme

Scenario C: SmallStack Theme Building CRUD Pages Components Authentication

Staff & Admin Pages

Admin tools, data management, operational dashboards

Internal pages for staff and admins. SmallStack's built-in theme is the practical choice here — there's little value in reskinning admin tools.

SmallStack Theme

Model Explorer User Manager Tables Theming

API & Frontend Frameworks

SmallStack Built-in API

CRUDView's enable_api = True generates REST endpoints from your models automatically. Great for simple reads, writes, and extending existing views — no extra packages required. Reliable, flexible, and zero config.

REST API Composability Authentication

When You Need More

For complex APIs with serialization, pagination, filtering, versioning, or OpenAPI schemas, add Django REST Framework, Django Ninja, or Bolt. These packages complement SmallStack and work alongside the built-in API.

Dependencies Project Structure

Frontend Tutorials

Step-by-step guides for building frontend apps that consume SmallStack's API.

React Tutorial Svelte Tutorial

Integrations & Feeds

Webhooks — Inbound & Outbound

Flip enable_webhooks = True for signed outbound delivery when a model changes, and receive verified inbound events with @webhook_handler. Four extension seams make Zapier, n8n, Stripe, and Slack plug-ins — not core forks — with stable event_id dedupe and bulk dead-letter replay.

Webhooks REST API MCP

RSS / Atom Feeds

Publish any model as an RSS 2.0 or Atom 1.0 feed with enable_rss = True (item fields fall back to your search declarations), or register an external feed source and let the collector pull it into a model on a schedule. First-party publish and consume, both directions.

RSS / Atom Feeds Background Tasks

Scheduler & Automation

Background Tasks & Job Runner

SmallStack includes a built-in task framework for queue processing, email sending, and operational automation. No Celery or Redis required — tasks run from the database with a simple worker process. Recurring @scheduled jobs, defined in Python with no cron, ship today with a themed schedule UI at /smallstack/scheduler/.

Background Tasks Activity Tracking Uptime Monitoring Database Backups Deployment

Reference & Setup

Project Fundamentals

Setup, configuration, database, and deployment docs that apply to every SmallStack project.

Getting Started TL;DR Setup Settings SQLite PostgreSQL Deployment

All Documentation

Browse the full SmallStack reference — every feature, component, and configuration option.

All SmallStack Docs FAQ Project Structure Package Management