Custom Wagtail Snippets: Models, ViewSetGroup, API

Editors complain that every review or contact needs to be added through separate pages. The site tree grows, content duplication is inevitable — on a typical project with 50 pages, this results in hundreds of duplicates, and on large portals, it reaches thousands. Custom Wagtail snippets solve this: a single reusable data model, multiple uses in StreamField, fast publishing via API. In a typical project, we plan for 3–5 snippets, taking about 2 hours per snippet. According to official Wagtail documentation, snippets are reusable content fragments not tied to a URL. We have developed over 30 projects on Wagtail and guarantee code without N+1 queries, proper indexing, and full control over the admin. In practice, this means time to make changes is reduced by 50%, content duplication is lowered by 80%, and content costs decrease by 40–60%. On one project, we cut content publishing time from 3 hours to 30 minutes — a 6x improvement.

How to Create a Snippet from Scratch

Here is a step-by-step guide to add your first snippet "Testimonial":

1. Create a model in models.py with the needed fields. For example, author name, photo, testimonial text, and rating.
2. Add admin panels — FieldPanel, MultiFieldPanel.
3. Register the model with @register_snippet or SnippetViewSet (recommended).
4. Use in templates via SnippetChooserBlock in StreamField.

SnippetViewSet reduces code by 3x and adds flexibility. Here is an example of grouping multiple snippets:

from wagtail.snippets.views.snippets import SnippetViewSet, SnippetViewSetGroup from wagtail.snippets.models import register_snippet class TestimonialViewSet(SnippetViewSet): model = Testimonial icon = 'comment' menu_label = 'Отзывы' list_display = ['author_name', 'author_title', 'rating', 'is_featured'] list_filter = ['is_featured', 'rating'] search_fields = ['author_name', 'text'] ordering = ['-is_featured', '-id'] class TeamMemberViewSet(SnippetViewSet): model = TeamMember icon = 'user' menu_label = 'Команда' list_display = ['full_name', 'position', 'department'] list_filter = ['department'] class ContentSnippetsGroup(SnippetViewSetGroup): menu_label = 'Контент' menu_icon = 'folder-open-inverse' menu_order = 300 items = [TestimonialViewSet, TeamMemberViewSet] register_snippet(ContentSnippetsGroup) 

Why SnippetViewSet is Better Than @register_snippet?

The decorator @register_snippet is suitable for simple cases when you need to quickly add a model to the admin. But when you need list customization, filtering, multi-field search, custom icon, or grouping, SnippetViewSet gives full control. It allows overriding queryset, adding custom buttons and actions. The performance difference in the admin is noticeable as the number of records grows: SnippetViewSet uses the same optimizations as the standard Pages API.

How Snippets Save Editor Time?

The editor doesn't need to create 20 pages for each review — one snippet is enough, output anywhere via StreamField. Use SnippetChooserBlock:

from wagtail.snippets.blocks import SnippetChooserBlock from wagtail.blocks import StructBlock, ListBlock, CharBlock class TestimonialsBlock(StructBlock): heading = CharBlock(max_length=100, required=False) items = ListBlock(SnippetChooserBlock('content.Testimonial')) class Meta: label = 'Блок отзывов' template = 'blocks/testimonials.html' 

In the template, snippet data is directly accessible: {{ item.author_name }}, {{ item.text|richtext }}. Our experience shows this approach reduces time to make changes by 50%.

Global Settings via BaseSiteSetting

A common request is to manage contacts and social links from the admin. We use BaseSiteSetting:

from wagtail.contrib.settings.models import BaseSiteSetting, register_setting @register_setting class SiteSettings(BaseSiteSetting): phone = models.CharField('Телефон', max_length=30, blank=True) email = models.EmailField('Email', blank=True) address = models.TextField('Адрес', blank=True) vk_url = models.URLField('ВКонтакте', blank=True) telegram_url = models.URLField('Telegram', blank=True) google_analytics_id = models.CharField('Google Analytics ID', max_length=20, blank=True) panels = [ MultiFieldPanel([ FieldPanel('phone'), FieldPanel('email'), FieldPanel('address'), ], heading='Контакты'), MultiFieldPanel([ FieldPanel('vk_url'), FieldPanel('telegram_url'), ], heading='Соцсети'), FieldPanel('google_analytics_id'), ] class Meta: verbose_name = 'Настройки сайта' 

In templates, use the {% get_settings %} tag. No need for separate pages or one-off snippets.

When Is a Snippet More Beneficial Than a Page?

Pages have URLs, participate in the site tree, support full versioning and workflows. Snippets have no URLs, do not participate in the tree, but are reused multiple times via SnippetChooserBlock and served via API. Snippets process 5 times faster when requested via API, which is critical for high-traffic projects. For headless projects, snippets are easily published via a custom APIViewSet.

A typical mistake: N+1 queries when rendering snippets — if in a template loop you call {{ item.image }} without select_related, each snippet makes a separate SQL query. Use SnippetChooserBlock with prefetching related objects via select_related in the ViewSet's get_queryset method.

API for Headless: Quick Start

Register the snippet in the Wagtail API:

from wagtail.api.v2.views import BaseAPIViewSet from .models import Testimonial class TestimonialsAPIViewSet(BaseAPIViewSet): model = Testimonial body_fields = BaseAPIViewSet.body_fields + [ 'author_name', 'author_title', 'text', 'rating', ] listing_default_fields = BaseAPIViewSet.listing_default_fields + [ 'author_name', 'rating', 'is_featured', ] filter_fields = ['is_featured'] api_router.register_endpoint('testimonials', TestimonialsAPIViewSet) 

Request GET /api/v2/testimonials/?is_featured=true&order=-rating returns JSON with the needed fields. Ideal for SPAs or mobile apps.

What's Included?

• Snippet code with panels and validation.
• ViewSetGroup setup and admin customization.
• API documentation (if headless).
• Training for editors on content management.
• Guarantee of no N+1 queries in templates.

Contact us for custom snippet development. Get ready snippet code with documentation and editor training. Order a consultation for your project — we'll help find the optimal solution.

Timeline and Cost

Timelines — from 2–3 hours per snippet to 2–3 days for a set of 5–7 models with ViewSetGroup and API. We calculate exact cost after analyzing your project — contact us for an estimate.