strapi-plugin-content-manager-organizer

A Strapi v5 plugin that lets you organize the Content Manager sidebar into collapsible, labeled groups — configured entirely through a visual Settings UI with no code changes required.

🎯 Why Content Manager Organizer?

When your Strapi project grows to 20, 30, or 50+ content types, the default sidebar becomes a long, unmanageable list. Content Manager Organizer solves this by letting you:

| Problem | Solution | |---------|----------| | 50+ content types in one list | Group into logical sections | | Alphabetical order not useful | Custom ordering within groups | | Can't find content types fast | Collapse irrelevant groups | | Config lost on redeploy | Saved to database |

Screenshots

Plugin in Settings

Configure Groups

Grouped Sidebar — Dark Mode

✨ Features

• 📁 Group content types into named, collapsible sections
• 🔢 Custom ordering — drag items up/down within groups
• 💾 Persisted to database — survives redeploys (SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL)
• 🌙 Dark/Light theme — auto-detects Strapi theme
• ♿ Accessible — ARIA attributes on all interactive elements
• ⚡ Zero config required — works out of the box
• 🎛️ Visual Settings UI — no code changes needed

🚀 Installation

npm

npm install strapi-plugin-content-manager-organizer

yarn

yarn add strapi-plugin-content-manager-organizer

pnpm

pnpm add strapi-plugin-content-manager-organizer

🎛️ How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  First launch (no config in DB)                 │
│  → Shows default Strapi sidebar order           │
└──────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┘
                       │
                       ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  User configures via Settings > Content Manager Organizer  │
│  → Config saved to database                     │
└──────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┘
                       │
                       ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Every subsequent visit                         │
│  → DB config loaded → grouped sidebar shown     │
│  → Survives redeploys ✓                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Database Storage

The plugin creates a hidden content type content-manager-configuration that stores your config as JSON. It's hidden from the Content Manager and Content-Type Builder — you'll never accidentally see it.

plugin::content-manager-organizer.content-manager-configuration
├── key: "main"          (always "main", one record)
└── config: { ... }      (your full group config as JSON)

Supported Databases

| Database | Supported | |----------|-----------| | SQLite | ✅ Yes | | PostgreSQL | ✅ Yes | | MySQL | ✅ Yes | | MariaDB | ✅ Yes |

📋 Settings Page Reference

Groups Panel

| Control | Description | |---------|-------------| | Group name input | Rename the group | | ↑ ↓ arrows | Reorder groups | | 🗑️ trash | Delete group | | Expanded by default | Whether group starts open | | ↑ ↓ on items | Reorder items within group | | 🗑️ on items | Remove item from group | | Add content type | Dropdown of ungrouped types |

Ungrouped Panel

Shows all content types not yet assigned to any group. These still appear in the sidebar under an "Other" group at the bottom.

🔐 Permissions

The plugin registers two permissions under Plugins → Content Manager Organizer:

| Permission | Description | |------------|-------------| | settings.read | View the settings page | | settings.update | Save configuration changes |

Assign these in Settings → Roles to control who can configure the plugin.

🔄 Config Lifecycle

Admin visits Content Manager
         │
         ▼
Plugin fetches config from API
         │
    ┌────┴────┐
    │DB has   │ Yes → Use DB config → Group sidebar
    │config?  │
    └────┬────┘
         │ No
         ▼
Use empty default → Show normal Strapi sidebar
         │
         ▼
Admin goes to Settings → Content Manager Organizer
         │
         ▼
Creates groups, assigns content types, saves
         │
         ▼
Config saved to DB → Sidebar updates instantly
         │
         ▼
Next time any admin visits → DB config used ✓

🛠️ Advanced: Pre-seeding Config via Code

If you want to ship a default config for your team (without UI configuration), you can seed the database on bootstrap:

// src/index.ts (your Strapi project, not the plugin)
export default {
  async bootstrap({ strapi }) {
    // Only seed if no config exists
    const existing = await strapi.db
      .query('plugin::content-manager-organizer.content-manager-configuration')
      .findOne({ where: { key: 'main' } });
 
    if (!existing) {
      await strapi.db
        .query('plugin::content-manager-organizer.content-manager-configuration')
        .create({
          data: {
            key: 'main',
            config: {
              stripNumericPrefix: true,
              groups: [
                {
                  id: 'products',
                  label: 'Products',
                  defaultExpanded: true,
                  items: ['product', 'category'],
                },
                {
                  id: 'blog',
                  label: 'Blog',
                  defaultExpanded: false,
                  items: ['article', 'tag', 'author'],
                },
              ],
            },
          },
        });
    }
  },
};

📄 License

MIT © Chetan Hasarmani

🙏 Acknowledgements

Built with Strapi Plugin SDK and Strapi Design System.