Django ImportError: cannot import name 'ReporterProfile' from partially initialized module 'accounts.models' (most likely due to a circular import)

Question

I have two apps: collection and accounts, with both having models defined. I'm importing a model ReporterProfile from accounts to collection. Similarly, I'm importing a model Report from collection to accounts.

The Report model from collection is called in a model class method in accounts like this:

from collection.models import Report

class ReporterProfile(models.Model):
    ....
    
    def published_articles_number(self):
        num = Report.objects.filter(reporterprofile=self.id).count()
        return num

Similarly, I am importing ReporterProfile and User models from accounts to collection model like this:

from accounts.models import ReporterProfile, User
from <project_name> import settings

class Report(models.Model):
    reporterprofile = models.ForeignKey(ReporterProfile, on_delete=models.CASCADE, verbose_name="Report Author")
    ...

class Comment(models.Model):
    report = models.ForeignKey(Report, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name='comments')
    user = models.ForeignKey(settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL, on_delete=models.CASCADE, verbose_name="Comment by")
    ...

When running the server or makemigrations, I get the error:

File "F:\project_name\accounts\models.py", line 8, in <module>
    from collection.models import Report

File "F:\project_name\collection\models.py", line 2, in <module>
    from accounts.models import ReporterProfile, User

ImportError: cannot import name 'ReporterProfile' from partially initialized module 'accounts.models' (most likely due to a circular import) (F:\project_name\accounts\models.py)

I think the error is coming because of a wrong importing pattern. What should I do?

Answer 1

For ForeignKey:

Instead of using reporterprofile = models.ForeignKey(ReporterProfile, ...), you can use reporterprofile = models.ForeignKey("accounts.ReporterProfile", ...), so you don't have to import the model.

For preventing circulor import error :

Instead of using :

from accounts.models import ReporterProfile
[...]
foo = ReporterProfile()

You can use:

import accounts.models
[...]
foo = accounts.models.ReporterProfile()