Temporarily disable all signals in django.

disable_signals.py

from collections import defaultdict
from django.db.models.signals import *


class DisableSignals(object):
    def __init__(self, disabled_signals=None):
        self.stashed_signals = defaultdict(list)
        self.disabled_signals = disabled_signals or [
            pre_init, post_init,
            pre_save, post_save,
            pre_delete, post_delete,
            pre_migrate, post_migrate,
        ]

    def __enter__(self):
        for signal in self.disabled_signals:
            self.disconnect(signal)

    def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_val, exc_tb):
        for signal in self.stashed_signals.keys():
            self.reconnect(signal)

    def disconnect(self, signal):
        self.stashed_signals[signal] = signal.receivers
        signal.receivers = []

    def reconnect(self, signal):
        signal.receivers = self.stashed_signals.get(signal, [])
        del self.stashed_signals[signal]


# Example usage:
# with DisableSignals():
#   user.save()  # will not call any signals

For Python 3:

from collections import defaultdict
from django.db.models.signals import *


class DisableSignals(object):
    def __init__(self, disabled_signals=None):
        self.stashed_signals = defaultdict(list)
        self.disabled_signals = disabled_signals or [
            pre_init, post_init,
            pre_save, post_save,
            pre_delete, post_delete,
            pre_migrate, post_migrate,
        ]

    def __enter__(self):
        for signal in self.disabled_signals:
            self.disconnect(signal)

    def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_val, exc_tb):
        for signal in list(self.stashed_signals):
            self.reconnect(signal)

    def disconnect(self, signal):
        self.stashed_signals[signal] = signal.receivers
        signal.receivers = []

    def reconnect(self, signal):
        signal.receivers = self.stashed_signals.get(signal, [])
        del self.stashed_signals[signal]


# Example usage:
# with DisableSignals():
#   user.save()  # will not call any signals

Note: if you get RuntimeError: dictionary changed size during iteration, it's because you are using python 3. Use the python 3 version above.

I tried this while migrating a DB. I think you might want to add m2m_changed as well.

It's not hard to avoid the star import from django.db.models.signals import *, I'd do the imports explicitly

will it work with serializer.save() ??

I recommend adding signal.sender_receivers_cache.clear() to the reconnect method to avoid hours of debugging 😢

I recommend adding signal.sender_receivers_cache.clear() to the reconnect method to avoid hours of debugging 😢

I love you man