Custom Sidebar

Custom HACS plugin that allows you to manage Home Assistant's sidebar items per user or device basis.

Default sidebar	Hide some items	Add new items	Reorder items

This is a refactor of custom-sidebar-v2 by @galloween, which unfortunatelly is now unmaintained and archived. In its beginning, @galloween's code was a refactor of the original Custom Sidebar plugin by @Villhellm (R.I.P.). This version refactored completely @galloween's code allowing to use a configuration in YAML (as @Villhellm's one) or in JSON (as @galloween's version), fixing several bugs, improving performance, and using home-assistant-query-selector to make it less likely to break with future Home Assistant front-end updates.

Installation

You can install the plugin manually or through HACS, not both. If you install the plugin using the two installations methods you could have issues or errors.

Through HACS (v2 or greather)

Note: if your version of HACS is lower than v2 consult the section Through old HACS versions (< v2)

1. Go to HACS dashboard
2. Click on the three-dots icon in the top-right corner
3. Select Custom repositories
4. In the Repository field insert https://github.com/elchininet/custom-sidebar and in the Type select Dashboard
5. Click on Add
6. Search for custom-sidebar and click on it
7. On the plugin page, click on the Download yellow button in the bottom-right corner
8. Click on Download in the more-info dialog
9. When the plugin is already downloaded, add the url of the plugin as an extra_module_url in your configuration.yaml:

If you want to use a YAML configuration

frontend:
  extra_module_url:
    - /hacsfiles/custom-sidebar/custom-sidebar-yaml.js?v1.0.0

If you want to use a JSON configuration

frontend:
  extra_module_url:
    - /hacsfiles/custom-sidebar/custom-sidebar-json.js?v1.0.0

10. Make sure you add the correct version at the end of the URL (e.g. ?v=1.0.0) because in this way you make Home Assistant to load the new version instead of a version stored in cache
11. Restart Home Assistant

Through old HACS versions (< v2)

1. Go to HACS dashboard
2. Go to Frontend
3. Click on the three-dots icon in the top-right corner
4. Select Custom repositories
5. In the repository field insert https://github.com/elchininet/custom-sidebar and in the category select Lovelace
6. Click on Add
7. Click on Explore and download repositories button in the bottom-right of the screen
8. Search for custom-sidebar and install it
9. Add the url of the plugin as an extra_module_url in your configuration.yaml:

If you want to use a YAML configuration

frontend:
  extra_module_url:
    - /hacsfiles/custom-sidebar/custom-sidebar-yaml.js?v1.0.0

If you want to use a JSON configuration

frontend:
  extra_module_url:
    - /hacsfiles/custom-sidebar/custom-sidebar-json.js?v1.0.0

10. Make sure you add the correct version at the end of the URL (e.g. ?v=1.0.0) because in this way you make Home Assistant to load the new version instead of a version stored in cache
11. Restart Home Assistant

Manual installation

1. Download the latest custom-sidebar release
2. Copy custom-sidebar-yaml.js or custom-sidebar-json.js into <config directory>/www/ (depending on the configuration format that you are going to use, YAML or JSON)
3. Add the url of the plugin as an extra_module_url in your configuration.yaml:

If you want to use a YAML configuration

frontend:
  extra_module_url:
    - /local/custom-sidebar-yaml.js?v1.0.0

If you want to use a JSON configuration

frontend:
  extra_module_url:
    - /local/custom-sidebar-json.js?v1.0.0

4. Make sure you add the correct version at the end of the URL (e.g. ?v=1.0.0) because in this way you make Home Assistant to load the new version instead of a version stored in cache
5. Restart Home Assistant

Configuration

Depending on the file that you have added to extra_module_url, you will need to add your configuration in YAML or JSON format. If you used custom-sidebar-yaml.js you need to provide the configuration in YAML format. If you have used custom-sidebar-json.js you need to provide the configuration in JSON format.

Add a file named sidebar-config.yaml or sidebar-config.json into your <config directory>/www/ directory. It could be easier if you copy the example sidebar-config.yaml or the example sidebar-config.json file, delete the id parameter, and edit it to match your needs.

Configuration options

Order item properties

* These options and item properties allow JavaScript or Jinja templates.

Short example in YAML format:

title: My Home
order:
  - new_item: true
    item: Google
    href: https://mrdoob.com/projects/chromeexperiments/google-gravity/
    icon: mdi:earth
    target: _blank
    order: 1
  - item: overview
    order: 2
  - new_item: true
    item: Integrations
    href: "/config/integrations"
    icon: mdi:puzzle
    order: 3
styles: |
  paper-listbox {
      --icon-primary-color: var(--accent-color);
  }

Short example in JSON format:

{
  "title": "My Home",
  "order": [
    {
      "new_item": true,
      "item": "Google",
      "href": "https://mrdoob.com/projects/chromeexperiments/google-gravity/",
      "icon": "mdi:earth",
      "target": "_blank",
      "order": 1
    },
    {
      "item": "overview",
      "order": 2
    },
    {
      "new_item": true,
      "item": "Integrations",
      "href": "/config/integrations",
      "icon": "mdi:puzzle",
      "order": 3
    }
  ],
  "styles": "paper-listbox { --icon-primary-color: var(--accent-color); }"
 }

Notes

• All items in config.order should have a unique item property
• Avoid an item property that could match multiple elements. If you find that an item property matches with multiple elements, try to use the match and exact properties to match the specific item that you want to match.
• The items will be ordered according to their order property OR in the order of appearance
• If you use the order property, make sure either all items (except hidden ones) have this property, or none of them (otherwise order may be messed up)
• All the items placed in the bottom will be moved to the top by default. If you want to have some items in the bottom you need to add them to the config.order and specify their bottom property on true.
• Any items present in the Sidebar, but not in config.order, will be shown on the bottom of the top part of the list
• Notifications and user account are not part of the sidebar items so they will not be processed by this plugin

Exceptions

You can define user-specific options using exceptions feature. Exceptions can be used if you would like to define different options for a specific user/device.

* These options and item properties allow JavaScript or Jinja templates.

Short example in YAML format:

...
exceptions:
  - user:
    - Jim Hawkins
    - Long John Silver
    title: My Home
    order:
      ...

Short example in JSON format:

{
  ...
  "exceptions": [
    {
      "user": ["Jim Hawkins", "Long John Silver"],
      "title": "My Home",
      "order": [
          ...
      ]
    }
  ]  
}

Notes

• You cannot use user and not_user at the same time, doing so will end in an error
• You cannot use device and not_device at the same time, doing so will end in an error
• Pay attention to extend_from_base property. If it's set to false (default value), the main config will be ignored, leaving you with default sidebar modified only by the exception's options

Templates

Some config options and item properties, as title, sidebar_editable, name and notification, admit templates. custom-sidebar admits two templating systems, JavaScript templates or Jinja templates. JavaScript templates are processed faster because the rendering is done in client side, Jinja templates need to perform a websocket call to receive the template result, but in general you should not notice many differences between the two in terms of performance. The main difference between the two templating systems (apart from the syntax) is that JavaScript can access client side data like DOM APIs meanwhile Jinja templates are agnostic to the device in which Home Assistant is being executed.

JavaScript templates

This templating system IS NOT the same that Home Assistant implements. It is basically a JavaScript code block in which you can use certain client-side objects, variables and methods. To set a property as a JavaScript template block, include the code between three square brackets [[[ JavaScript code ]]]. If you don‘t use the square brackets, the property will be interpreted as a regular string.

The JavaScript code will be taken as something that you want to return, but if you have a more complex logic, you can create your own variables and return the desired result at the end.

The entities and domains used in the templates will be stored so if the state of these entities change, it will update the templates used in the configuration.

JavaScript templates example

The next example will set the title of the sidebar as "My Home" followed by the current time. It will also add the number of HACS updates as a notification in the HACS item in the sidebar. In case that there are no updates, an empty string is returned and in these cases the notification will not be displayed. And it also creates a new item that redirects to the Home Assistant info page with a dynamic text with the word "Info" followed by the installed Supervisor version between parentheses.

in YAML format:

title: '[[[ "My Home " + new Date(states("sensor.date_time_iso")).toLocaleTimeString().slice(0, 5) ]]]'
order:
  - item: hacs
    notification: |
      [[[
        const outdatedHacsEntities = Object.values(entities.update).filter(
          (entity) => entity.platform === 'hacs' && is_state(entity.entity_id, 'on')
        );
        return outdatedHacsEntities.length || '';
      ]]]
  - new_item: true
    item: info
    name: '[[[ "Info (" + state_attr("update.home_assistant_supervisor_update", "latest_version") + ")" ]]]'
    href: '/config/info'
    icon: mdi:information-outline

in JSON format:

{
  "title": "[[[ 'My Home ' + new Date(states('sensor.date_time_iso')).toLocaleTimeString().slice(0, 5) ]]]",
  "order": [
    {
      "item": "hacs",
      "notification": "[[[ return Object.values(entities.update).filter((entity) => entity.platform === 'hacs' && is_state(entity.entity_id, 'on')).length || '' ]]]"
    },
    {
      "new_item": true,
      "item": "info",
      "name": "[[[ 'Info (' + state_attr('update.home_assistant_supervisor_update', 'latest_version') + ')' ]]]",
      "href": "/config/info",
      "icon": "mdi:information-outline"
    }
  ]
}

Note: Custom Sidebar uses Home Assistant Javascript Templates for the JavaScript templating system. To know all the objects, variables and methods available in the JavaScript templates, consult the proper section in the repository.

Jinja templates

This templating system is the same that Home Assistant implements. You can use the majority of the template methods and objects. The entire template will be processed, rendered and the result will be used as the inner html of the element. If you don‘t want to display anything in certain scenarios, you should return an empty string in those cases. The next client side varianles will be available in Jinja templates:

• user_name: String with the logged user's name
• user_is_admin: Bolean value than indicates if the logged user is admin or not
• user_is_owner: Bolean value than indicates if the logged user is the owner or not
• user_agent: User agent of the browser in which Home Assistant is being executed

When the entities and domains used in a templates change, it will trigger an update and the updated result of the template will be rendered.

Jinja templates example

The next example will set the title of the sidebar as "My Home" followed by the current time. It will also add the number of HACS updates as a notification in the HACS item in the sidebar. In case that there are no updates, an empty string is returned and in these cases the notification will not be displayed. And it also creates a new item that redirects to the Home Assistant info page with a dynamic text with the word "Info" followed by the installed Supervisor version between parentheses.

in YAML format:

title: 'My Home {{ as_timestamp(states("sensor.date_time_iso")) | timestamp_custom("%H:%M") }}'
order:
  - item: hacs
    notification: |
      {{
        expand(states.update)
        | selectattr('state', 'eq', 'on')
        | map(attribute='entity_id')
        | map('device_attr', 'identifiers')
        | map('contains', 'hacs')
        | list
        | length or ""
      }}
  - new_item: true
    item: info
    name: 'Info ({{ state_attr("update.home_assistant_supervisor_update", "latest_version") }})'
    href: '/config/info'
    icon: mdi:information-outline

in JSON format:

{
  "title": "My Home {{ as_timestamp(states('sensor.date_time_iso')) | timestamp_custom('%H:%M') }}",
  "order": [
    {
      "item": "hacs",
      "notification": "{{ expand(states.update) | selectattr('state', 'eq', 'on') | map(attribute='entity_id') | map('device_attr', 'identifiers') | map('contains', 'hacs') | list | length or '' }}"
    },
    {
      "new_item": true,
      "item": "info",
      "name": "Info ({{ state_attr('update.home_assistant_supervisor_update', 'latest_version') }})",
      "href": "/config/info",
      "icon": "mdi:information-outline"
    }
  ]
}

Home Assistant built-in sidebar configuration options

Check out Home Assistant's native sidebar tools, maybe it will be enough for your needs.

• You can use Home Assistant's panel_custom integration to add internal links to the sidebar. Take a look at this tutorial. Official docs.
• You can use Home Assistant's Webpage dashboard feature to add external URLs to Home Assistant's sidebar. Official docs. If you use Home Assistant's Webpage dashboard feature to add some wepage dashboards to your sidebar, then you can modify them as the regular ones adding them to the order property.
• You can click and hold the Home Assistant header on top of the sidebar and then it will allow you to add/remove and re-order some of the items (but not add new custom ones). This feature is also accessible from your profile settings (if you click on your username in the bottom left corner). The drawback of this feature is that it only works per device/session, so you need to log-in in the specific device and do these changes, but if you log-out, the changes will be lost.

Credits and huge thanks to:

• Villhellm | Original creator of custom-sidebar (R.I.P.).
• galloween | forked the original custom-sidebar and maintained it for a while