How to Enable White Labelling in Horilla HRMS v2

Horilla HRMS v2 supports white labelling out of the box, allowing you to replace the default Horilla branding on the login screen and across the interface with your own company logo and identity. The setup involves two steps: ensuring your company is configured as the headquarters in Settings, and then enabling the WHITE_LABELLING flag in the local_settings.py configuration file. This post walks through both steps clearly.

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"""
horilla/settings/local_settings.py
Custom client-specific overrides.
This file is intentionally empty by default and should NOT be tracked by Git.
"""
from .base import *
...
# WHITE_LABELLING = True
...

What White Labelling Does

When white labelling is enabled, Horilla HRMS replaces its default branding, e.g., the gorilla logo on the login screen, with your company’s logo instead. The login page structure stays the same, but the logo displayed at the top pulls from the company record marked as headquarters. This makes the system feel like a native HR tool for your organization rather than a third-party product.

Prerequisites

Before enabling the setting, two things need to be in place:

• You have access to the Horilla v2 codebase and can edit local_settings.py
• At least one company is configured in the system and marked as the headquarters (Is Hq = True)

If the HQ company is not set, white labelling will not have a logo to pull from, so this step matters.

Step 1: Set Up the HQ Company in Settings

Log in to Horilla and click the Settings gear icon in the top navigation bar. In the Settings sidebar, expand the Base section. Under Base, you will see sub-items: Department, Job Positions, Job Role, and Company. Click on Company.

The Company page lists all companies registered in the system. Each row shows the Company name, an Is Hq column, Address, Country, and State.

For white labelling to work correctly, exactly one company needs to have Is Hq set to True. In the example shown, “Horilla” is the headquarters company with Is Hq: True, while “Horilla Next Inc.” and “Horilla Inc.” show False.

If your company record does not yet exist, click Create to add it. If it exists but Is Hq is not set to True, click the edit icon on that row and update the Is Hq field. Make sure the company has a logo uploaded — this is what will appear on the login screen after white labelling is activated.

Only one company should be set as HQ at a time.

Step 2: Enable WHITE_LABELLING in local_settings.py

With the HQ company configured, open your Horilla v2 project in your code editor. Navigate to the settings folder inside the horilla directory. You will see files including base.py and local_settings.py. Open local_settings.py.

By default, local_settings.py is intentionally sparse. It imports everything from base.py and provides commented-out override options. The relevant section looks like this:

from .base import *
# # --- 1 Basic overrides ---
# DEBUG = False
# ALLOWED_HOSTS = ["client.example.com"]
# WHITE_LABELLING = True
TWO_FACTORS_AUTHENTICATION = True

Line 10 contains the WHITE_LABELLING setting, commented out with a #. To enable it, remove the leading # so the line reads:

WHITE_LABELLING = True

Save the file. The file explorer will show a modified indicator (typically an “M” next to the filename) confirming the change has been saved.

Step 3: Restart the Server

After saving the change, restart your Django development server for the setting to take effect:

python manage.py runserver

If you are running in a production environment with gunicorn or uvicorn, restart the relevant service instead.

Verifying the Change

Open the Horilla login page in a browser for a local setup; this will be at localhost:8000/login/. The login screen should now display your company’s logo at the top of the login card instead of the default Horilla gorilla icon.

Before enabling white labelling, the default gorilla logo appears. After enabling it with a company logo set against the HQ record, the login card shows your company’s own logo instead.

If the logo does not appear or the default icon still shows, check that:

• The WHITE_LABELLING = True line has no leading # in local_settings.py
• The server has been fully restarted after saving
• The HQ company record has a logo file uploaded in Settings > Base > Company

Other Settings in local_settings.py

While you have local_settings.py open, it is worth noting the other available overrides in the same file:

• DEBUG = False — should be set for production deployments
• ALLOWED_HOSTS = [“client.example.com”] — add your domain here for production
• TWO_FACTORS_AUTHENTICATION = True — enables two-factor authentication
• INSTALLED_APPS += […] — extend installed apps without replacing the base list

These are all commented out by default and can be uncommented as needed. The file is designed to stay out of version control since it holds environment-specific configuration that differs between development and production.

Enabling white labelling in Horilla HRMS v2 is a two-step process: mark one company as headquarters in Settings > Base > Company with a logo uploaded, then uncomment WHITE_LABELLING = True in local_settings.py and restart the server. Once done, the login screen branding will reflect your company’s identity from the moment users log in — a simple but effective change for organizations deploying Horilla as their own internal HR platform.

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