Mediocre might not have been the right word. I think we really don't have a word for "it's nothing great, but because the cost is almost nothing it kinda is great." Like I said, it is great because it lets everyone touch the data with almost no effort. However, it's not great because you can end up bumping against limitations that will happen with basically anything pre-made.
You're right: the other tools often aren't amazing and part of that is because critical mass makes things better. The fact that the Django Admin is so common in the Django world means that it gets exposed to many different use cases and things work pretty well with it.
To take a step back, some of this is the framework vs. library debate. With a framework, you're getting libraries where the edges between the libraries have been smoothed over and there's a certain assurance that things will work together well. With a library, it can be a very high-quality library, but it can feel like it doesn't quite work with your stuff. Part of that is that it's hard to anticipate everything people will do.
I am curious what you like about ReTool and what you don't. It sounded like you wanted something that felt more like software engineering than like ReTool's low-code drag-and-drop experience, but maybe I'm wrong. In terms of being integrated with your regular backend and ORM: is the point that you want it (for example) to be able to re-use filters you've already set up in a model and therefore if you update those filters in the future, you don't have to also update them in whatever query ReTool is using?
I think part of the issue is that the Django Admin serves what most people need and once they go beyond that, they'll just hook in a tiny bit of custom stuff. I haven't used Django since before the pandemic so I don't remember everywhere you can hook into the admin system, but I kinda remember being able to being able to create custom pages in `admin/model-name/custom-view-name.html` and then being able to do a custom view that used the Django auth (https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/topics/auth/default/#t...). Maybe the answer for the bulk stuff is simply doing your own list-view for the occasions you need it. For example, if you want to have a form field that's like "Update all names to what's in the box", you could just override the template for that model, create a little form at the top, have it submit to a custom action within the admin that does the work, and then redirects back. Again, it's been a while since I've used Django, but you can always extend things like `django.contrib.admin.views.main.ChangeList`. I also don't completely understand your use case because we're just having a very small conversation on HN so my comment might be completely off base. But I remember just extending the existing Django stuff and overriding stuff.
I'd also say that sometimes it can be helpful to take a step back and think if there's a different way of getting to where you're trying to go. If there's something that you need that happens kinda rarely, you can always create a new page within the section for that model and then have a link to that page. Then just do custom stuff there. Are your requirements that go beyond what the Django admin can do something that you're running into constantly or something that's blocking you on a couple of tiny edge cases? If it's the latter, maybe stuff a custom Django admin view in a couple places.
Ultimately, I think the issue is that open source often stops at a certain point. Tools like ReTool are built to scratch a different itch: the itch for enterprise businesses that want a low-code solution and are willing to pay someone to abstract a lot of stuff. In the open source world, things often stop way short of what the Django admin offers - heck, that's the entire thesis of your initial post. It's hard to create good, general tools because everyone wants something slightly different and you end up building your own mini-programming language as it gets general enough. The companies/people who try to go that route are generally targeting enterprise executives and not software engineers. But I certainly understand wishing that the Django Admin just did things a little different or a little better.