Customization

The admin panel is configured through the admin key in your nextly.config.ts. This page covers structural customization — sidebar options, navigation permissions, and plugin overrides. For visual customization (logo, colors, favicon), see Branding.

Admin configuration shape

The admin block on defineConfig() accepts two top-level keys:

import { defineConfig } from "nextly";

export default defineConfig({
  admin: {
    branding: {
      /* logo, colors, favicon — see Branding page */
    },
    pluginOverrides: {
      /* per-plugin sidebar overrides — see below */
    },
  },
});

There is no top-level admin.sidebar config today. Sidebar grouping for built-in entries is fixed; per-collection entries are configured on each collection's admin block; per-plugin entries are configured in the plugin definition and can be overridden by admin.pluginOverrides.

Per-collection sidebar options

Each collection's admin block on defineCollection() controls how that collection appears in the sidebar:

import { defineCollection, text, richText } from "nextly";

export default defineCollection({
  slug: "posts",
  labels: { singular: "Post", plural: "Posts" },
  admin: {
    icon: "FileText",                            // Lucide icon name
    group: "Content",                            // Sidebar group label
    hidden: false,                               // Hide from the sidebar (still reachable by URL)
    order: 10,                                   // Sort position (lower = higher; default 100)
    useAsTitle: "title",                         // Field used as the entry title in list views
    defaultColumns: ["title", "status", "createdAt"],
    sidebarGroup: "marketing",                   // Optional custom group slug — moves the entry out of "Collections" into a custom inner section
  },
  fields: [
    text({ name: "title", required: true }),
    richText({ name: "content" }),
  ],
});

Singles accept the same admin shape on defineSingle().

Plugin overrides

Plugins can register their own admin sidebar entries via admin.placement in the plugin definition. From your nextly.config.ts, you can override that placement and appearance per-plugin without modifying the plugin's source:

import { defineConfig } from "nextly";

export default defineConfig({
  admin: {
    pluginOverrides: {
      "form-builder": {
        placement: "settings",       // Move the plugin's admin pages into Settings
        order: 80,                   // Sort order within the target section
        after: "media",              // For STANDALONE plugins: which built-in section to render after
        appearance: {
          icon: "FileText",          // Override the sidebar icon (Lucide name)
        },
      },
    },
  },
});

The override key is the plugin slug (derived from the plugin name). Overrides use a shallow merge — only the fields you set are replaced; everything else keeps the plugin author's defaults.

Override fields

The AdminPlacement constants ship from the package root for autocomplete:

import { AdminPlacement } from "nextly";

AdminPlacement.COLLECTIONS;  // "collections"
AdminPlacement.SINGLES;      // "singles"
AdminPlacement.USERS;        // "users"
AdminPlacement.SETTINGS;     // "settings"
AdminPlacement.PLUGINS;      // "plugins"
AdminPlacement.STANDALONE;   // "standalone"

A plugin only contributes admin entries if its definition declares them. Plugin-driven sidebar items appear only when that plugin is registered in nextly.config.ts.

Navigation permissions

The admin sidebar is permission-gated. Items only render for users who have the matching permission on their assigned roles:

Permissions are stored as <action>-<resource> slugs and can be assigned to roles from /admin/security/roles. The default seeded roles and permissions are documented in Admin Panel Overview.

Responsive behaviour

The admin layout adapts automatically to screen size:

• Desktop (1024px and above) — dual sidebar (icon strip + inner sidebar).
• Tablet / mobile (below 1024px) — single hamburger drawer.

There is no configuration knob for this; the layout switches based on viewport width.

Next steps

• Branding — logo, colors, favicon, Builder visibility
• Admin Panel Overview — full navigation guide and permission map
• Visual Schema Builder — design content types without writing code
• Collections — full collection-level admin options