# Using groups and permissions efficiently in Django

**URL:** <https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/using-groups-and-permissions-efficiently-in-django/42549>\
**Category:** Forms & APIs\
**Created:** [August 22, 2025, 12:11am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/using-groups-and-permissions-efficiently-in-django/42549 "2025-08-22T00:11:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fazlerabbi125](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/fazlerabbi125/32/29617_2.png) [@fazlerabbi125](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/fazlerabbi125)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2025, 12:11am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/using-groups-and-permissions-efficiently-in-django/42549/1 "2025-08-22T00:11:41Z")

</div>

For my Django projects, I am used to creating a custom user model and managing what my user can do for a specific route using a roles field like this:

```python
class User(AbstractBaseUser, PermissionsMixin):
    name = models.CharField("full name", max_length=255, blank=True)
    email = models.EmailField("email address", unique=True)
    createdAt = models.DateField(auto_now_add=True)
    photo = models.ImageField(
        "profile photo",
        blank=True,
        null=True,
        validators=[
            FileExtensionValidator(allowed_extensions=["jpg", "png", "jpeg", "webp"])
        ],
    ) # by default retrieves file from media root
    role = models.CharField(
        max_length=50,
        choices=[(role.value, role.name) for role in USER_ROLES],
    )
    is_active = models.BooleanField(default=True)

    USERNAME_FIELD = "email"
    
    objects: CustomUserManager = CustomUserManager()
    
    def has_perm(self, perm, obj=None):
        if self.role == USER_ROLES.ADMIN.value:
            return True
        return super().has_perm(perm, obj)

    def has_module_perms(self, app_label):
        if self.role == USER_ROLES.ADMIN.value:
            return True
        return super().has_module_perms(app_label)

    def __str__ (self) -> str:
        return f"{self.pk}-{self.email}"

    @property
    def is_staff(self):
        return self.role == USER_ROLES.ADMIN.value
    
    @property
    def is_superuser(self):
        return self.role == USER_ROLES.ADMIN.value

```

But I realize that it’s best to shift to a multi-role approach for flexibility and I was hoping to use the built-in Group and Permissions model for this. However, I was confused as to how to manage the groups and permissions for a user inside an view/API route and sync any changes in groups and permissions later on if needed. Can anyone suggest an efficient way of doing so without relying on the built-in Django Admin panel?