Admin (OrchardCore.Admin)

The Admin module provides an admin dashboard for your site.

Extend the admin dashboard

The AdminDashboard shape renders an AdminDashboardContent child shape. Features can add their own positioned content to this shape by registering a shape table provider:

using OrchardCore.DisplayManagement;
using OrchardCore.DisplayManagement.Descriptors;
using OrchardCore.DisplayManagement.Views;

public sealed class AdminDashboardShapeTableProvider : ShapeTableProvider
{
    public override ValueTask DiscoverAsync(ShapeTableBuilder builder)
    {
        builder.Describe("AdminDashboardContent")
            .OnDisplaying(async displaying =>
            {
                await displaying.Shape.AddAsync(new ShapeViewModel("MyAdminDashboardContent"), "10");
            });

        return ValueTask.CompletedTask;
    }
}

Register the provider from the feature's Startup class:

services.AddShapeTableProvider<AdminDashboardShapeTableProvider>();

The MyAdminDashboardContent shape is rendered using its matching shape template. Contributions are ordered by the position passed to AddAsync().

Custom Admin prefix

If you want to specify another prefix in the URLs to access the admin section, you can change it by using this option in the appsettings.json:

{
  "OrchardCore": {
    "Admin": {
      "AdminUrlPrefix": "YourCustomAdminUrl"
    }
  }
}

Customize Admin branding

By default, OrchardCore logo and site name are displayed in the top navbar.

You can change it by overriding 'AdminBranding' shape, either from a custom admin theme or using the Admin Templates feature.
You can also use this shape to define admin favicon.

Here are samples using logo and favicon from media module.

LiquidRazor

{% assign favicon_url = 'favicon.ico' | asset_url %}
{% zone "HeadMeta" %}
    {% link rel:'shortcut icon', type:'image/x-icon', src:favicon_url %}
{% endzone %}
{% a area: 'OrchardCore.Admin', controller: 'Admin' , action: 'Index', class: 'ta-navbar-brand' %}
    <div class="d-flex align-items-center">
        <img src="{{ 'logo.png' | asset_url }}" alt="{{ Site.SiteName }}" class="pe-2" />
        <span>{{ Site.SiteName }}</span>
    </div>
{% enda %}

<zone name="HeadMeta">
    <link asp-src="~/media/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" rel="shortcut icon" />
</zone>
<a class="ta-navbar-brand" asp-route-area="OrchardCore.Admin" asp-controller="Admin" asp-action="Index">
    <div class="d-flex align-items-center">
        <img src=@Url.Content("~/media/logo.png") alt="@Site.SiteName" class="pe-2" />
        <span>@Site.SiteName</span>
    </div>
</a>

Quick navigation

The OrchardCore.Admin module provides a quick navigation palette to jump to an admin page from the keyboard. Press Ctrl+K (Cmd+K on macOS) anywhere in the admin, or click the magnifier icon in the top navbar to open it. Typing filters navigation destinations; matching is case- and accent-insensitive and includes the parent names displayed as a breadcrumb under each result. Use the arrow keys to move the highlight, Enter to open the highlighted page, and Esc to close the palette. Quick navigation is not a full-text content search.

The built-in AdminMenuItemNavigationSource supplies admin menu destinations using INavigationManager, independently of the sidebar markup. It preserves menu ordering, breadcrumbs, link targets, authorization, localization, and tenant/admin URL prefixes. It builds its entries on demand because menu providers can depend on the current request. Only admin menu items are included by default. Enable the optional Content Quick Navigation feature to include the 50 most recently updated content items that you can edit; its count is configurable in Admin settings. The shortcut is not intercepted while the focus is inside a rich text or code editor that uses Ctrl+K for its own commands.

The palette is enabled by default and can be turned off from Configuration → Settings → Admin (Enable quick navigation) or with the DisplayQuickNavigation admin setting (see Recipe Configuration).

Admin theme integration

The OrchardCore.Admin module owns QuickNavigationNavbarDisplayDriver, the default QuickNavigationNavbarItem shape, and the palette's JavaScript and CSS. Admin themes that render the Navbar shape with the DetailAdmin display type inherit the palette without adding navigation-specific files or depending on TheAdmin. Pre-render the navbar before the header resources, and render footer scripts as usual.

The shape requires the admin-quick-navigation script and stylesheet resources only when the palette is enabled. The script initializes itself and depends on Bootstrap 5; the stylesheet requires Font Awesome 7 and the appropriate Bootstrap 5 stylesheet for the current text direction.

Breadcrumbs follow the page's text direction, with mirrored decorative separators in right-to-left layouts. Each label is directionally isolated so mixed-language paths retain their hierarchy. Sources provide localized labels; the separator itself does not require translation.

Themes can customize the .admin-quick-navigation styles and Bootstrap color variables without copying the JavaScript or view. Load theme overrides after the admin-quick-navigation stylesheet, for example:

<style asp-name="my-admin-theme" asp-src="~/MyAdminTheme/Styles/theme.css" depends-on="admin-quick-navigation" at="Head"></style>

A theme can also override the QuickNavigationNavbarItem shape if it needs different markup, preserving the resource requirements and the element IDs and data attributes used by the script.

Index document and caching

The palette loads its JSON index from the AdminQuickNavigationIndex named route (~/Admin/QuickNavigation/Index with the default admin prefix). Generate this URL with routing helpers rather than hard-coding it. The endpoint requires authentication and the AccessAdminPanel permission, and returns 404 when quick navigation is disabled.

Each entry contains source, id, title, path (an array of breadcrumb labels), href, and target. Titles and breadcrumbs are localized plain text. The palette filters this document locally; typing does not issue additional requests.

Opening the palette requests a fresh document with Cache-Control: no-store. The controller executes every registered source and renders the authorized, localized results on every request; it does not use ETags or return 304 Not Modified. The palette's URL includes the page's current culture. No index is stored in browser HTTP caches or local storage. Loading failures are shown explicitly; closing and reopening retries the request.

Caching belongs to individual sources, not the controller. A source may reuse culture-independent identifiers or other user-independent data when it can reliably invalidate them as their dependencies change. It may use IQuickNavigationIndex or maintain its own cache, for example with change tokens from ISignal. Sources without a reliable invalidation mechanism remain request-driven. Authorization and localization still run when rendering entries; cached identifiers must never be treated as permission to display a destination.

Adding an opt-in source

The extension points are in OrchardCore.Admin.QuickNavigation, in OrchardCore.Admin.Abstractions. Derive from QuickNavigationSource and register it as a scoped service in a separate feature depending on OrchardCore.Admin:

[Feature("MyModule.QuickNavigation")]
public sealed class QuickNavigationStartup : StartupBase
{
    public override void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        services.AddScoped<QuickNavigationSource, MyNavigationSource>();
    }
}

Declare the feature in your module's manifest and leave it disabled by default. Enabling or disabling its feature controls whether the source participates, allowing administrators to choose the functionality and indexing cost they want. Sources for content types, parts, or workflow names are not enabled or supplied by the Admin module.

A source implements:

Member	Responsibility
Name	A unique, stable, culture-independent name. This routes indexed identifiers back to their originating source. Duplicate source names are not allowed.
GetEntryIdsAsync()	Optionally supply request-specific identifiers. The default implementation returns none. Use this for request-dependent sources such as admin menus, or for lazy population after a tenant restart.
DisplayAsync(string entryId)	Load the destination, check its permissions for the current user, and return a fresh QuickNavigationResult with localized Title and Path, a generated Href, and optional Target. Return null for missing or unauthorized entries. Source and Id are assigned by the endpoint.

Sources do not receive an MVC ActionContext. Inject IHttpContextAccessor to obtain the current user from HttpContext?.User, and authorize with IAuthorizationService, following other Orchard Core services. Generate links with routing services such as LinkGenerator using the current HttpContext to preserve tenant and admin URL prefixes. The admin-menu source uses the existing GetActionContextAsync() helper internally to call INavigationManager; that MVC integration is not part of the source contract.

For expensive sources, inject the tenant-singleton IQuickNavigationIndex into a feature-owned background task or event handler. Publish a snapshot of culture-independent identifiers:

index.Replace("MyNavigationSource", destinationIds);

Replace atomically replaces only that source's partition, removes duplicates while preserving order, and takes a defensive copy. Pass an empty collection to remove its entries. Reads return immutable snapshots, so updates can occur while a palette request is being rendered. The index is in memory, not persisted or distributed: each tenant instance must repopulate it after restart, and each server must receive updates. A source can instead maintain its own persistent/cache-backed data and expose its identifiers through GetEntryIdsAsync.

The endpoint combines stored and request-specific identifiers, deduplicates them within each source, and calls the registered originating source's DisplayAsync for each identifier. Disabled/unregistered sources are never rendered. Store identifiers, not localized labels, user-specific URLs, or pre-authorized results: the same indexed identifier can then be rendered in different languages, including data-localized labels, without reindexing it. Always authorize again at display time and generate links using the current request's routing context.

Navbar Shape

The navigation bar shape is available in two display types: Detail for the frontend and DetailAdmin for the backend admin. The Navbar shape is composed and used by the TheAdmin and TheTheme themes. If you wish to compose and use the Navbar shape in other themes, you may create it using two steps

LiquidRazor

// Construct the shape at the beginning of the layout.liquid file to enable navbar items to potentially contribute to the resources output as necessary.
{% assign navbar = Navbar() | shape_render %}

// Subsequently in the layout.liquid file, invoke the shape at the location where you want to display it.
{{ navbar }}

@inject IDisplayManager<Navbar> DisplayManager
@inject IUpdateModelAccessor UpdateModelAccessor
@{
    // Construct the shape at the beginning of the layout.cshtml file to enable navbar items to potentially contribute to the resources output as necessary.
    var navbar = await DisplayAsync(await DisplayManager.BuildDisplayAsync(UpdateModelAccessor.ModelUpdater, "Detail"));
}

// Subsequently in the layout.cshtml file, invoke the shape at the location where you want to display it.
@navbar

If you wish to add a menu item to the navbar, simply create a display driver for Navbar.

As an illustration, we inject the Visit Site link into DetailAdmin display type using a display driver as outlined below:

public class VisitSiteNavbarDisplayDriver : DisplayDriver<Navbar>
{
    public override IDisplayResult Display(Navbar model, BuildDisplayContext context)
    {
        return View("VisitSiteNavbarItem", model)
            .Location(OrchardCoreConstants.DisplayType.DetailAdmin, "Content:20");
    }
}

You can change it by overriding 'VisitSiteNavbarItem' shape, either from a custom admin theme or using the Admin Templates feature.

LiquidRazor

<li class="nav-item">
    <a href="{{ '~' | absolute_url }}" class="nav-link" data-bs-toggle="tooltip" data-bs-placement="bottom" title="{{ "Visit Site" | t }}" role="button">
        <i class="fa-solid fa-external-link" aria-hidden="true"></i>
    </a>
</li>

<li class="nav-item">
    <a href="@Url.Content("~/")" class="nav-link" data-bs-toggle="tooltip" data-bs-placement="bottom" title="@T["Visit Site"]" role="button">
        <i class="fa-solid fa-external-link" aria-hidden="true"></i>
    </a>
</li>

Admin Routes

The [Admin] attribute has optional parameters for a custom route template and route name. It works just like the [Route(template, name)] attribute, except it prepends the configured admin prefix. You can apply it to the controller or the action; if both are specified then the action's template takes precedence. The route name can contain {area}, {controller}, and {action}, which are substituted during mapping so the names can be unique for each action. This means you don't have to define these admin routes in your module's Startup class anymore, but that option is still available and supported. Take a look at this example:

[Admin("Person/{action}/{id?}", "Person{action}")]
public sealed class PersonController : Controller
{
    [Admin("Person", "Person")]
    public IActionResult Index() { ... }

    public IActionResult Create() { ... }

    public IActionResult Edit(string id) { ... }
}

In this example, (if the admin prefix remains the default "Admin") you can reach the Index action at ~/Admin/Person (or by the route name Person), because its own action-level attribute took precedence. You can reach Create at ~/Admin/Person/Create (route name PersonCreate) and Edit for the person whose identifier string is "john-doe" at ~/Admin/Person/john-doe (route name PersonEdit).

Navigation menu behavior

The Navigation menu behavior option of the admin settings (Configuration > Settings > Admin) decides how the sections of the admin menu open and close:

Behavior	What it does
Focused (default)	Only the section holding the current page is open when a page loads, and opening a section closes the other sections at the same level.
Persistent	Every section keeps the state the user left it in, from page to page, so that several sections can be open at once. What is open is remembered per user in the browser.

With either behavior, the section holding the current page is always open, so the page being edited can always be found in the menu.

Recipe Configuration

The admin settings can be configured using the Settings recipe step:

{
  "steps": [
    {
      "name": "settings",
      "AdminSettings": {
        "DisplayThemeToggler": true,
        "DisplayMenuFilter": true,
        "DisplayQuickNavigation": true,
        "DisplayNewMenu": true,
        "DisplayTitlesInTopbar": true,
        "MenuBehavior": "Focused"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Property	Type	Description
DisplayThemeToggler	Boolean	Whether to display the light/dark theme toggler in the admin.
DisplayMenuFilter	Boolean	Whether to display the menu filter input in the admin navigation.
DisplayQuickNavigation	Boolean	Whether to display the quick navigation palette (Ctrl+K / Cmd+K) in the admin navbar. Defaults to true.
DisplayNewMenu	Boolean	Whether to display the 'New' menu in the admin navigation.
DisplayTitlesInTopbar	Boolean	Whether to display page titles in the top bar.
MenuBehavior	String	How the sections of the admin menu open and close: Focused (default) or Persistent. See Navigation menu behavior.