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Admin panel customization options

Many aspects of Strapi's admin panel can be customized through the code using the admin panel's /src/admin/app.[tsx|js] entry point file (see project structure).

☑️ Prerequisites

Before trying to update code to configure any admin panel customization option:

  • Rename the default app.example.[tsx|js] file into app.[ts|js].
  • Create a new extensions folder in /src/admin/.
  • If you want to see your changes applied live while developing, ensure the admin panel server is running (it's usually done with the yarn develop or npm run develop command if you have not changed the default host, port, and path of the admin panel).
✏️ Note: Admin panel extensions vs. plugins extensions

By default, Strapi projects already contain another extensions folder in /src but it is for plugins extensions only (see Plugins extension).

The config object found in /src/admin/app.[ts|js] stores the admin panel configuration.

Any file used by the config object (e.g., a custom logo) should be placed in a /src/admin/extensions/ folder and imported inside /src/admin/app.js.

💡 Tip: Hot reloading while developing

In Strapi 5, the server runs in watch-admin mode by default, so the admin panel auto-reloads whenever you change its code. This simplifies admin panel and front-end plugins development. To disable this, run yarn develop --no-watch-admin (see CLI reference).

Available configuration options​

The config object of /src/admin/app.[tsx|js] accepts the following parameters:

ParameterTypeDescription
authObjectAccepts a logo key to replace the default Strapi logo on login screen
headObjectAccepts a favicon key to replace the default Strapi favicon
localesArray of StringsDefines availables locales (see updating locales)
translationsObjectExtends the translations
menuObjectAccepts the logo key to change the logo in the main navigation
theme.light and theme.darkObjectOverwrite theme properties for Light and Dark modes
tutorialsBooleanToggles displaying the video tutorials
notificationsObjectAccepts the releases key (Boolean) to toggle displaying notifications about new releases
Example of a custom configuration for the admin panel:
/src/admin/app.js
import AuthLogo from "./extensions/my-logo.png";
import MenuLogo from "./extensions/logo.png";
import favicon from "./extensions/favicon.png";

export default {
  config: {
    // Replace the Strapi logo in auth (login) views
    auth: {
      logo: AuthLogo,
    },
    // Replace the favicon
    head: {
      favicon: favicon,
    },
    // Add a new locale, other than 'en'
    locales: ["fr", "de"],
    // Replace the Strapi logo in the main navigation
    menu: {
      logo: MenuLogo,
    },
    // Override or extend the theme
    theme: {
      // overwrite light theme properties
      light: {
        colors: {
          primary100: "#f6ecfc",
          primary200: "#e0c1f4",
          primary500: "#ac73e6",
          primary600: "#9736e8",
          primary700: "#8312d1",
          danger700: "#b72b1a",
        },
      },

      // overwrite dark theme properties
      dark: {
        // ...
      },
    },
    // Extend the translations
    translations: {
      fr: {
        "Auth.form.email.label": "test",
        Users: "Utilisateurs",
        City: "CITY (FRENCH)",
        // Customize the label of the Content Manager table.
        Id: "ID french",
      },
    },
    // Disable video tutorials
    tutorials: false,
    // Disable notifications about new Strapi releases
    notifications: { releases: false },
  },

  bootstrap() {},
};

Locales​

To update the list of available locales in the admin panel, use the config.locales array:

./my-app/src/admin/app.js
export default {
  config: {
    locales: ["ru", "zh"],
  },
  bootstrap() {},
};
✏️ NOTES
  • The en locale cannot be removed from the build as it is both the fallback (i.e. if a translation is not found in a locale, the en will be used) and the default locale (i.e. used when a user opens the administration panel for the first time).
  • The full list of available locales is accessible on Strapi's Github repo.

Extending translations​

Translation key/value pairs are declared in @strapi/admin/admin/src/translations/[language-name].json files. These keys can be extended through the config.translations key:

./my-app/src/admin/app.js
export default {
  config: {
    locales: ["fr"],
    translations: {
      fr: {
        "Auth.form.email.label": "test",
        Users: "Utilisateurs",
        City: "CITY (FRENCH)",
        // Customize the label of the Content Manager table.
        Id: "ID french",
      },
    },
  },
  bootstrap() {},
};

A plugin's key/value pairs are declared independently in the plugin's files at ./admin/src/translations/[language-name].json. These key/value pairs can similarly be extended in the config.translations key by prefixing the key with the plugin's name (i.e. [plugin name].[key]: 'value') as in the following example:

./my-app/src/admin/app.js
export default {
  config: {
    locales: ["fr"],
    translations: {
      fr: {
        "Auth.form.email.label": "test",
        // Translate a plugin's key/value pair by adding the plugin's name as a prefix
        // In this case, we translate the "plugin.name" key of plugin "content-type-builder"
        "content-type-builder.plugin.name": "Constructeur de Type-Contenu",
      },
    },
  },
  bootstrap() {},
};

If more translations files should be added, place them in ./src/admin/extensions/translations folder.

Logos​

The Strapi admin panel displays a logo in 2 different locations, represented by 2 different keys in the admin panel configuration:

Location in the UIConfiguration key to update
On the login pageconfig.auth.logo
In the main navigationconfig.menu.logo
✏️ Note

Both logos can also be customized directly via the admin panel (see User Guide). Logos uploaded via the admin panel supersede any logo set through the configuration files.

Logos location in the admin panel​

The logo handled by config.auth.logo logo is only shown on the login screen:

Location of the auth logo

The logo handled by config.menu.logo logo is located in the main navigation at the top left corner of the admin panel:

Location of Menu logo

Updating logos​

To update the logos, put image files in the /src/admin/extensions folder, import these files in src/admin/app.[tsx|js] and update the corresponding keys as in the following example:

/src/admin/app.js
import AuthLogo from "./extensions/my-auth-logo.png";
import MenuLogo from "./extensions/my-menu-logo.png";

export default {
  config: {
    // … other configuration properties 
    auth: { // Replace the Strapi logo in auth (login) views
      logo: AuthLogo,
    },
    menu: { // Replace the Strapi logo in the main navigation
      logo: MenuLogo,
    },
    // … other configuration properties 

  bootstrap() {},
};
✏️ Note

There is no size limit for image files set through the configuration files.

Favicon​

To replace the favicon:

  1. Create a /src/admin/extensions/ folder if the folder does not already exist.

  2. Upload your favicon into /src/admin/extensions/.

  3. Replace the existing favicon.png|ico file at the Strapi application root with a custom favicon.png|ico file.

  4. Update /src/admin/app.[tsx|js] with the following:

    ./src/admin/app.js
    import favicon from "./extensions/favicon.png";

    export default {
      config: {
        // replace favicon with a custom icon
        head: {
          favicon: favicon,
        },
      },
    };

  5. Rebuild, launch and revisit your Strapi app by running yarn build && yarn develop in the terminal.

💡 Tip

This same process may be used to replace the login logo (i.e. AuthLogo) and menu logo (i.e. MenuLogo) (see logos customization documentation).

✋ Caution

Make sure that the cached favicon is cleared. It can be cached in your web browser and also with your domain management tool like Cloudflare's CDN.

Tutorial videos​

To disable the information box containing the tutorial videos, set the config.tutorials key of the src/admin/app.[tsx|js] file to false.

Releases notifications​

To disable notifications about new Strapi releases, set the config.notifications.releases key of the src/admin/app.[tsx|js] file to false.

Theme extension​

Strapi applications can be displayed either in Light or Dark mode (see administrator profile setup in the User Guide), and both can be extended through custom theme settings.

To extend the theme, use either:

  • the config.theme.light key for the Light mode
  • the config.theme.dark key for the Dark mode
🤓 Strapi Design System

The default Strapi theme defines various theme-related keys (shadows, colors…) that can be updated through the config.theme.light and config.theme.dark keys in ./admin/src/app.js. The Strapi Design System is fully customizable and has a dedicated StoryBook documentation.

Example: Customizing some admin panel colors:

With the following code example, buttons and links that would use some primary colors will be displayed in red, as shown in the example screenshot:

/src/admin/app.js
export default {
  config: {
    theme: {
      light: {
        colors: {
          primary600: "red",
          buttonPrimary500: "red",
          buttonPrimary600: "red",
        },
      },
    },
  },
  bootstrap() {},
};

Custom buttons in red