Treenode Framework

A hybrid open-source framework for working with trees in Django

About The Treenode Framework

Overview

Treenode Framework is an advanced tree management system for Django applications.It is designed to handle large-scale, deeply nested, and highly dynamic tree structures while maintaining excellent performance, data integrity, and ease of use.

Unlike traditional solutions, Treenode Framework is built for serious real-world applications where trees may consist of:

• Number nodes to 50-100 thousands nodes,
• Nesting depths to 1,000 levels,
• Complex mutation patterns (bulk moves, merges, splits),
• Real-time data access via API.

Its core philosophy: maximum scalability, minimum complexity.

Key Features

Common operations

The django-fast-Treenode package supports all the basic operations needed to work with tree structures:

• Extracting ancestors (queryset, list, pks, count);
• Extracting children (queryset, list, pks, count);
• Extracting descendants (queryset, list, pks, count);
• Extracting a family: ancestors, the node itself and its descendants (queryset, list, pks, count);
• Enumerating all the nodes (queryset, dicts);
• Adding a new node at a certain position on the tree;
• Automatic sorting of node order by the value of the specified field;
• Deleting an node;
• Pruning: Removing a whole section of a tree;
• Grafting: Adding a whole section to a tree;
• Finding the root for any node;
• Finding the lowest common ancestor of two nodes;
• Finding the shortest path between two nodes.

Due to its high performance and ability to support deep nesting and large tree sizes, the django-fast-treeode package can be used for any tasks that involve the use of tree-like data, with virtually no restrictions.

Where Massive Trees Really Matter?

Treenode Framework is designed to handle not only toy examples, but also real trees with strict requirements for the number of nodes and their nesting.

Typical applications include:

• Digital Twin Systems for industrial asset management (plants, machinery, vehicles), where full structural decomposition is critical for maintenance planning and cost optimization.
• Decision Support Systems in medicine, law, and insurance, where large and dynamic decision trees drive critical reasoning processes.
• AI Planning Engines based on hierarchical task networks, allowing intelligent agents to decompose and execute complex strategies.
• Biological and Genetic Research, where large phylogenetic trees model evolutionary relationships or genetic hierarchies.

In all these domains, scalable and fast tree management is not a luxury — it's a necessity.

Why Treenode Framework?

At the moment, django-fast-treeenode is, if not the best, then one of the best packages for working with tree data under Djangjo.

• High performance: tests show that on trees of 5k-10k nodes with a nesting depth of 500-600 levels, Treenode Framework (django-fast-Treenode) shows performance 4-7 times better than the main popular packages.
• Flexible API: today contains the widest set of methods for working with a tree in comparison with other packages.
• Convenient administration: the admin panel interface was developed taking into account the experience of using other packages. It provides convenience and intuitiveness with ease of programming.
• Scalability: Treenode Framework suitable for solving simple problems such as menus, directories, parsing arithmetic expressions, as well as complex problems such as program optimization, image layout, multi-step decision making problems, or machine learning..
• Lightweight: All functionality is implemented within the package without heavyweight dependencies such as djangorestframework or django-import-export.

All this makes Treenode Framework a prime candidate for your needs.

Quick Start

To get started quickly, you need to follow these steps:

• Simply install the package via pip:

  pip install django-fast-Treenode

• Once installed, add 'treenode' to your INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py:

  INSTALLED_APPS = [
      ...
      'treenode',
      ...
  ]

• Open models.py and create your own tree class:

  from Treenode.models import TreenodeModel
  
  class MyTree(TreenodeModel):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=255)
    display_field = "name"
  

• Open admin.py and create a model for the admin panel

  from django.contrib import admin
  from Treenode.admin import TreenodeModelAdmin
  from .models import MyTree
  
  @admin.register(MyTree)
  class MyTreeAdmin(TreenodeModelAdmin):
    list_display = ("name",)
    search_fields = ("name",)
  

• Then, apply migrations:

  python manage.py makemigrations
  python manage.py migrate

• Run server

  python manage.py runserver

Everything is ready, enjoy 🎉!

Documentation

Full documentation is available at ReadTheDocs.

Quick access links:

• Installation, configuration and fine tuning
• Model Inheritance and Extensions
• Working with Admin Classes
• API Reference
• Import & Export
• Caching and working with cache
• Migration and upgrade guide

Your wishes, objections, comments are welcome.

License

Released under MIT License.

Credits

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the development and testing of this package, as well as the Django community for their inspiration and support.

Special thanks to Fabio Caccamo for the idea behind creating a fast Django application for handling hierarchies.

Also special thanks to everyone who supports the project with their sponsorship donations.