Add Global Auditing Disable Feature

README.md

@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ FIELD_AUDIT_AUDITORS = []
 |:----------------------------------|:---------------------------------------------------------------|:------------------------
 | `FIELD_AUDIT_AUDITEVENT_MANAGER`  | A custom manager to use for the `AuditEvent` Model.            | `field_audit.models.DefaultAuditEventManager`
 | `FIELD_AUDIT_AUDITORS`            | A custom list of auditors for acquiring `change_context` info. | `["field_audit.auditors.RequestAuditor", "field_audit.auditors.SystemUserAuditor"]`
+| `FIELD_AUDIT_ENABLED`             | Global switch to enable/disable all auditing operations.       | `True`
 | `FIELD_AUDIT_SERVICE_CLASS`       | A custom service class for audit logic implementation.         | `field_audit.services.AuditService`
 
 ### Custom Audit Service
@@ -264,6 +265,87 @@ is currently the only way to "top up" bootstrap audit events. Example:
 manage.py bootstrap_field_audit_events top-up Aircraft
 ```
 
+### Disabling Auditing
+
+There are scenarios where you may want to temporarily or globally disable auditing:
+
+1. **Unit Tests**: Improve test performance by disabling audit overhead
+2. **Data Migrations**: Skip auditing during large-scale data operations
+3. **Import Operations**: Avoid creating audit events during bulk data imports
+4. **Maintenance Operations**: Specific operations that shouldn't be tracked
+
+#### Global Disable via Django Setting
+
+To disable auditing for your entire application, set in your Django settings:
+
+```python
+# settings.py
+FIELD_AUDIT_ENABLED = False  # Auditing disabled globally
+```
+
+When this setting is `False`, no audit events will be created anywhere in your application. The default value is `True` (auditing enabled).
+
+#### Runtime Disable via Context Manager
+
+To temporarily disable auditing for a specific block of code:
+
+```python
+from field_audit import disable_audit
+
+# Disable auditing for specific operations
+with disable_audit():
+    obj.field1 = "new value"
+    obj.save()  # No audit event created
+
+    MyModel.objects.bulk_create(objects)  # No audit events
+    obj.m2m_field.add(other_obj)  # No audit event
+
+# Auditing automatically re-enabled after context exits
+obj.save()  # Audit event created (if FIELD_AUDIT_ENABLED=True)
+```
+
+#### Enable Override
+
+You can also temporarily enable auditing even when the global setting is disabled:
+
+```python
+from field_audit import enable_audit
+
+# In settings.py: FIELD_AUDIT_ENABLED = False
+
+# Enable auditing for specific operations
+with enable_audit():
+    obj.save()  # Audit event IS created despite global setting
+```
+
+#### Use Cases
+
+**Unit Tests**: Disable auditing for specific tests to improve performance:
+
+```python
+from field_audit import disable_audit
+
+class MyTestCase(TestCase):
+    def test_without_audit(self):
+        with disable_audit():
+            # Fast test without audit overhead
+            obj = MyModel.objects.create(field1="test")
+            self.assertEqual(obj.field1, "test")
+```
+
+**Data Migrations**: Skip auditing during bulk data operations:
+
+```python
+from field_audit import disable_audit
+
+def migrate_data():
+    with disable_audit():
+        # Bulk operations without creating audit events
+        MyModel.objects.filter(status="old").update(status="new")
+```
+
+**Thread Safety**: The disable mechanism is thread-safe and async-safe, using Python's `contextvars` module. Each thread/coroutine has its own independent state.
+
 ### Using with SQLite
 
 This app uses Django's `JSONField` which means if you intend to use the app with

field_audit/__init__.py

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-from .field_audit import audit_fields  # noqa: F401
+from .field_audit import audit_fields, disable_audit, enable_audit  # noqa: F401
 from .services import AuditService, get_audit_service  # noqa: F401
 
 __version__ = "1.4.0"

field_audit/field_audit.py

@@ -4,11 +4,14 @@
 from django.db import models, router, transaction
 from django.db.models.signals import m2m_changed
 
+from .global_context import disable_audit, enable_audit, is_audit_enabled
 from .utils import get_fqcn
 
 __all__ = [
     "AlreadyAudited",
     "audit_fields",
+    "disable_audit",
+    "enable_audit",
     "get_audited_class_path",
     "get_audited_models",
     "request",
@@ -117,6 +120,10 @@ def _decorate_db_write(func):
     """
     @wraps(func)
     def wrapper(self, *args, **kw):
+        # Skip auditing if globally disabled
+        if not is_audit_enabled():
+            return func(self, *args, **kw)
+
         # for details on using 'self._state', see:
         # - https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/models/instances/#state
         # - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/907695/
@@ -189,6 +196,10 @@ def _m2m_changed_handler(sender, instance, action, pk_set, **kwargs):
     :param action: A string indicating the type of update
     :param pk_set: For add/remove actions, set of primary key values
     """
+    # Skip auditing if globally disabled
+    if not is_audit_enabled():
+        return
+
     from .services import get_audit_service
 
     service = get_audit_service()

field_audit/global_context.py

@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+import contextvars
+from contextlib import contextmanager
+
+from django.conf import settings
+
+# Context variable for enabling/disabling auditing at runtime
+audit_enabled = contextvars.ContextVar("audit_enabled", default=None)
+
+
+def is_audit_enabled():
+    """
+    Check if auditing is currently enabled.
+
+    Returns True if auditing should proceed, False if disabled.
+    Checks context variable first, then falls back to Django setting.
+    """
+    # Check context variable first (runtime override)
+    ctx_value = audit_enabled.get()
+    if ctx_value is not None:
+        return ctx_value
+
+    # Fall back to Django setting (default: True)
+    return getattr(settings, "FIELD_AUDIT_ENABLED", True)
+
+
+@contextmanager
+def disable_audit():
+    """
+    Context manager to temporarily disable auditing.
+
+    Example:
+        from field_audit import disable_audit
+
+        with disable_audit():
+            # Auditing is disabled in this block
+            obj.save()
+            MyModel.objects.bulk_create(objects)
+    """
+    token = audit_enabled.set(False)
+    try:
+        yield
+    finally:
+        audit_enabled.reset(token)
+
+
+@contextmanager
+def enable_audit():
+    """
+    Context manager to explicitly enable auditing.
+
+    Useful when FIELD_AUDIT_ENABLED=False but you need auditing
+    for a specific block of code.
+    """
+    token = audit_enabled.set(True)
+    try:
+        yield
+    finally:
+        audit_enabled.reset(token)