radio

A dropdown hides its choices until clicked; a radio list shows them all, always. That is the whole trade this widget makes: more vertical space in exchange for zero clicks to see what the options are.

It accepts two field types, and behaves slightly differently on each, straight from the source. On a selection field the choices come from the field definition, no query needed. On a many2one the widget fetches the related records with a web_search_read call, applying the field's domain, and lists one button per record found.

Odoo's own forms use it wherever the choice shapes everything below it: a product attribute's display type, a leave type's request unit, payment provider states. Seeing all options at once is what makes those forms self-explanatory.

Radio buttons are a forcing function for clarity. When the options are visible, users notice choices they would never open a dropdown to discover, and mis-picks drop. For fields where the wrong value quietly changes behavior, how a product displays on the website, how time off is counted, visible options are cheap insurance.

The same visibility disciplines your configuration. A dropdown swallows twenty options; a radio list makes twenty options look as absurd as they are. If the radio rendering of a field feels overwhelming, the field has too many choices, and that is worth knowing before users meet it.

Our rule on implementations: radio for 2 to 5 stable, mutually exclusive choices a user must understand; dropdown for anything longer or frequently extended. The widget swap is one attribute either way, so there is no cost to getting it right per field.

Studio applies this widget without code.

1. Open the form in Studio and select the selection or many2one field.

2. In Properties, set Widget to Radio.

3. For a horizontal row instead of a vertical column, tick the Display horizontally option Studio shows for this widget.

Two things stay in XML territory.

Filtering which records appear for a many2one, only active carriers, only company-scoped values, is the field's domain attribute.

Conditional choices, where the options depend on another field on the form, need a dynamic domain, which is developer work.

Selection field as radio buttons

<field name="display_type" widget="radio"/>

Vertical list, one button per selection value, in the order the selection declares them.

Horizontal row

<field name="request_unit"
       widget="radio"
       options="{'horizontal': True}"/>

Same buttons in a row. Works best for two or three short labels; longer sets wrap awkwardly on narrow screens.

Many2one with a filtered record list

<field name="carrier_id"
       widget="radio"
       domain="[('active','=',True), ('website_published','=',True)]"/>

One button per matching carrier. The widget merges this domain into its record fetch, so the buttons always reflect current data.

On many2one fields the widget's record loading has consequences the source makes explicit.

It loads everything the domain allows. The web_search_read behind the buttons has no practical limit; a thousand matching records means a thousand radio buttons. The widget is only as sensible as the domain you give it, so treat the domain as required on any model that grows.

The list is fetched per form load. New records appear as buttons the next time the form renders. There is no caching layer to go stale, but also a query on every open, another reason to keep the domain tight.

Unselecting is not a thing. Radio semantics allow switching, never clearing. If blank must be a legal state, either add an explicit "None" selection value or stay with a dropdown, which can be cleared.

Odoo 20 is expected at Odoo Experience in Brussels, 24 to 26 September 2026. The changes below are read from the public development branch and are not final until release.

Options and types are unchanged: horizontal remains the only option, on the same two field types, so existing views carry over untouched.

Two behavior refinements appear. The many2one record fetch now survives connection loss: on a ConnectionLostError the widget falls back to showing the currently selected record instead of erroring, part of Odoo 20's broader offline hardening. And the component detects touch devices to adjust its rendering. Neither requires any view change; we re-verify this page once Odoo 20 ships.