Django Custom User Model for any new project

admin.py

# users/admin.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
from django.contrib.auth.admin import UserAdmin

from .forms import CustomUserCreationForm, CustomUserChangeForm
from .models import CustomUser

class CustomUserAdmin(UserAdmin):
    add_form = CustomUserCreationForm
    form = CustomUserChangeForm
    model = CustomUser
    list_display = ['email', 'username',]

admin.site.register(CustomUser, CustomUserAdmin)

forms.py

# users/forms.py
from django import forms
from django.contrib.auth.forms import UserCreationForm, UserChangeForm
from .models import CustomUser

class CustomUserCreationForm(UserCreationForm):

    class Meta(UserCreationForm):
        model = CustomUser
        fields = ('username', 'email')

class CustomUserChangeForm(UserChangeForm):

    class Meta:
        model = CustomUser
        fields = ('username', 'email')

models.py

# users/models.py
from django.contrib.auth.models import AbstractUser
from django.db import models

class CustomUser(AbstractUser):
    # add additional fields in here

notes.txt

1. Start a new Django project: `django-admin startproject new_project .`
2. Create a `users` app: `python manage.py startapp users`
3. Update `new_project/settings.py`, `users/models.py`, `users/forms.py`, `users/admin.py`
4. `python manage.py makemigrations users`
5. `python manage.py migrate`

settings.py

# new_project/settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',

    # Local
    'users.apps.UsersConfig', # new
]
...
AUTH_USER_MODEL = 'users.CustomUser' # new

After spending 4 hours I finally made it work. If you follow the Vincent's instructions and you admin page throws error please check your Python version. There was a bug with Python 3.7.0 where /admin/login get stuck in the look referring back to itself. https://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/31067

One thing that really hung me up was why my custom fields like 'photo' or 'relationship' wasn't showing in admin. After some searching I found something like the below to resolve the issue.
sources: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15012235/using-django-auth-useradmin-for-a-custom-user-model, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1437991/django-admin-fieldsets/1485005

class CustomUserAdmin(UserAdmin): add_form = CustomUserCreationForm form = CustomUserChangeForm model = CustomUser list_display = ["username", "email", "photo"] # Fieldsets fieldsets = UserAdmin.fieldsets + ( ("Profile Image", { "fields": ("photo",) }), ("Relationships", { "fields": ("relationship",) }), ) add_fieldsets = ( (None, {"classes": ("wide",), "fields": ("username", "email", "photo")}), ) admin.site.register(CustomUser, CustomUserAdmin)