---
title: "How to customize the shell command"
version: 5.2
locale: en
source: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.2/howto/custom-shell/
canonical: https://djangodocs.dev/en/5.2/howto/custom-shell/
---
# How to customize the `shell` command

The Django [`shell`](/en/5.2/ref/django-admin/#django-admin-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 [`shell`](/en/5.2/ref/django-admin/#django-admin-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
[overriding commands](/en/5.2/howto/custom-management-commands/#overriding-commands).

## Customize automatic imports

> **New in Django 5.2**

To customize the automatic import behavior of the [`shell`](/en/5.2/ref/django-admin/#django-admin-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:

*`polls/management/commands/shell.py`*

```python
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 [`resolve()`](/en/5.2/ref/urlresolvers/#django.urls.resolve) and
[`reverse()`](/en/5.2/ref/urlresolvers/#django.urls.reverse) to the default namespace, which already includes
all models from the apps listed in [`INSTALLED_APPS`](/en/5.2/ref/settings/#std-setting-INSTALLED_APPS). These objects
will be available in the `shell` without requiring a manual import.

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

```console
8 objects imported automatically:

  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
```

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 [`--no-imports`](/en/5.2/ref/django-admin/#cmdoption-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
```