How to Remove or Disable Username from Django Default User model

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To remove or disable the username for users in Django while using the AbstractUser class, you need to customize the Django user model.

By default, Django’s user model includes a username field, but you can create a custom user model to replace it with an email field.

Step 1: Create a Custom User Model

Create a new Django app (if you don't have one already) -

python manage.py startapp accounts

Define the custom user model in accounts/models.py -

from django.contrib.auth.models import AbstractUser
from django.db import models

class CustomUser(AbstractUser):
    username = None
    email = models.EmailField(unique=True)
    username = None
    USERNAME_FIELD = 'email'
    REQUIRED_FIELDS = [] # Add List of fields which you want to be required

    def __str__(self):
        return self.email

Django's authentication framework uses the `USERNAME_FIELD` attribute to determine which field identifies users during login.

In this example, the `USERNAME_FIELD` is set to `email` because, by default, it is set to `username`.

The `REQUIRED_FIELDS` attribute is a sequence used in various parts of the framework, such as the `createsuperuser` management command.

This command checks `REQUIRED_FIELDS` to determine which fields should be prompted for when creating a user.

By default, `REQUIRED_FIELDS` is set to `['email']`, which is why the `createsuperuser` command prompts for an email address.

However, the command also prompts for the field specified in `USERNAME_FIELD` before any fields listed in `REQUIRED_FIELDS`.

Therefore, if `USERNAME_FIELD` is set to `email` and `REQUIRED_FIELDS` is also set to `['email']`, the command will fail because each field must be unique. This is why `REQUIRED_FIELDS` is set to an empty list.

Additionally, the `username` field is set to `None` to ensure Django does not include it in migrations.

Lastly, the `email` field is set to be unique because it is not unique by default.

Since the email is now used to identify users, it must be unique.

Step 2: Update `settings.py`

AUTH_USER_MODEL = 'accounts.CustomUser'

Step 3: Create User Manager for New Change

The logic to create new users is implemented in the UserManager. By default, UserManager expects a username.

Therefore, it is necessary to subclass UserManager and re-implement the methods used for creating new users to accommodate the use of an email instead of a username.

Here's how to create a custom UserManager for a custom user model -

class CustomUserManager(BaseUserManager):
   def _create_user(self, email, password, **extra_fields):
        email = self.normalize_email(email)
        user = self.model(email=email, **extra_fields)
        user.password = make_password(password)
        user.save(using=self._db)
        return user

   def create_user(self, email, password, **extra_fields):
      extra_fields.setdefault("is_staff", False)
      extra_fields.setdefault("is_superuser", False)
      return self._create_user(email, password, **extra_fields)

   def create_superuser(self, email, password, **extra_fields):
      extra_fields.setdefault("is_staff", True)
      extra_fields.setdefault("is_superuser", True)

      if extra_fields.get("is_staff") is not True:
         raise ValueError("Superuser must have is_staff=True.")
      if extra_fields.get("is_superuser") is not True:
         raise ValueError("Superuser must have is_superuser=True.")

      return self._create_user(email, password, **extra_fields)

_create_user - This private method is responsible for creating and saving a user with the provided email and password. It normalizes the email, hashes the password, and saves the user to the database.
create_user - This method sets default values for is_staff and is_superuser to False and then calls _create_user to create a regular user.
create_superuser - This method sets default values for is_staff and is_superuser to True. It checks if these fields are True to ensure the created user is a superuser, and then calls _create_user.

Step 4: Update User Model

# Other Imports
from .managers import CustomUserManager  # Adjust the import path accordingly

class CustomUser(AbstractUser):
    # Other Fields As Defined Previously

    objects = CustomUserManager()

    def __str__(self):
        return self.email

Now objects Uses the custom user manager.

Step 4: Create and Apply Migrations

python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate

Step 5: Update User Admin Site

Add following code to admin site in accounts/admin.py

from django.contrib import admin
from django.contrib.auth.admin import UserAdmin
from .models import CustomUser


@admin.register(CustomUser)
class CustomUserAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    list_display = ('email', 'mobile_number', 'first_name', 'last_name', 'is_active', 'is_staff', 'is_superuser', 'created_at', 'updated_at')
    search_fields = ('email', 'mobile_number', 'first_name', 'last_name')
    readonly_fields = ('date_joined', 'last_login', 'created_at', 'updated_at', 'username')
    list_display_links = ('email',)
    ordering = ('email',)

In this way we could update our django app to have username as optional or removed.

Remember, No need to change forms.