Sidebar in app-defaults

[christoph-jerolimov]

Implement a new sidebar component based on the default backstage sidebar for the new frontend system as an exposed sidebar component.

[fullsend-ai-triage]

🤖 Finished Triage · ✅ Success · Started 3:42 PM UTC · Completed 3:47 PM UTC
Commit: 6680291 · View workflow run →

[fullsend-ai-triage]

Triage Summary

Category: Feature request
Severity: Medium
Workspace: app-defaults → plugins/app-react

Problem

The app-react plugin currently exposes a reusable drawer system (ApplicationDrawer, AppDrawerContentBlueprint, appDrawerModule) but has no analogous exposed sidebar component. The only sidebar implementation lives in the sample app at packages/app/src/modules/nav/Sidebar.tsx as a local module — it cannot be imported by other RHDH deployments or loaded dynamically.

Recommended Approach

Follow the existing drawer pattern in plugins/app-react/src/drawer/ to create a new sidebar/ directory with:

1. Components — A default sidebar component wrapping Backstage's <Sidebar> from @backstage/core-components with standard layout (logo, search, menu groups, settings)
2. Blueprint — An AppSidebarItemBlueprint (or similar) allowing plugins to contribute sidebar items/groups via the extension system
3. DataRef — A data reference for sidebar item metadata
4. Module — An appSidebarModule that registers the nav content extension and accepts item contributions via inputs
5. Exports — Public APIs from index.ts and alpha.ts

The sample app's Sidebar.tsx and SidebarLogo.tsx serve as reference implementations for the default layout.

Proposed Test Case

Test: Sidebar module renders and accepts contributed items

1. Mount appSidebarModule in a test app harness
2. Verify default sidebar structure renders (logo, search group, menu group, settings group)
3. Contribute items via AppSidebarItemBlueprint and verify they appear in the correct group
4. Verify sidebar open/closed state behavior
5. Edge cases:
   - Empty sidebar (no contributed items) still renders structural elements
   - Items with missing optional fields (no icon, no route) render without errors

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Labels: This is a feature request for the app-defaults workspace. Applying 'feature' and 'workspace/app-defaults' labels based on repo conventions.

[christoph-jerolimov]

/fs-code

[fullsend-ai-coder]

🤖 Finished Code · ✅ Success · Started 4:18 PM UTC · Completed 4:38 PM UTC
Commit: 6680291 · View workflow run →