> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.lunarphp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Extending the Admin Panel
> The concepts behind extending Lunar's admin panel: sections, hooks, and the registries a service provider can call directly.
Every screen, navigation item, table, and dashboard widget in Lunar's admin panel is exposed to extension through a `Section` — a small class of hook methods that a service provider registers before the panel processes it at boot.
## Sections
A `Section` (`Lunar\Panel\Sections\Section`) is an area of the panel: it owns a key, contributes navigation, and can register routes, table extensions, page actions, slots, dashboard widgets, and more. Every first-party area of the panel — Sales, Catalog, Settings' sub-sections — is a `Section`, and an add-on registers its own the same way.
A `SectionExtension` (`Lunar\Panel\Sections\SectionExtension`) grafts onto a section owned by someone else instead of standing alone. It supports the same hooks as `Section`, minus `key()`/`label()`, plus one required method:
```php theme={null}
use Lunar\Panel\Sections\SectionExtension;
class SalesExtension extends SectionExtension
{
public function extends(): string
{
return 'sales';
}
// ...any of the Section hooks
}
```
Use a `Section` when the add-on stands alone (its own navigation group, its own pages). Use a `SectionExtension` when it's conceptually part of an existing area — extra navigation under Sales, say. An `extends()` key that matches no registered section logs a warning and the extension is skipped, so load order between add-ons never throws.
### Registering a section
Register both kinds through the `Lunar\Panel\Facades\Panel` facade:
```php theme={null}
use Lunar\Panel\Facades\Panel;
Panel::section(new MySection); // an area the add-on owns
Panel::extendSection(new MyExtension); // grafted onto someone else's section
```
Register sections and extensions inside a service provider's `boot()` method. Sections are processed once during the application's own boot, and a registration arriving after that point is silently ignored — `Lunar\Panel\PanelManager` logs a warning naming the late class, but nothing throws.
## The hook table
Every `Section` and `SectionExtension` implements the same set of hooks, each returning an empty default so overriding one is opt-in.
| Hook | What it registers |
| :------------------------------------------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `key()` | The section's stable identifier (required on `Section`; a `SectionExtension` names its target section with `extends()` instead). |
| `label()` | The section's display label; defaults to `ucfirst($this->key())`. |
| `navigation(NavigationRegistry $registry)` | Sidebar groups and items — label, icon, route, permission handle, priority or `Position`. |
| `settingsNavigation(NavigationRegistry $registry)` | Items in the Settings sidebar, using the same registry shape. |
| `routes(): ?Closure` | Routes, run inside the panel's own route group so the configured prefix, guard, and middleware apply automatically. Gate individual routes with `can:` middleware. |
| `slots(SlotRegistry $registry)` | Injects a Vue component into a named zone on a page owned by another section. |
| `tableExtensions(): array` | Extra `TableColumn`s, `TableFilter`s, `TableAction`s, and `TableBulkAction`s for a table id, e.g. `['customers.index' => MyTableExtension::class]`. |
| `pageActions(): array` | `PageAction` classes for a page's header ellipsis, keyed by page id. |
| `draftables(): array` | `DraftableResource` definitions describing which fields an edit form drafts and how a draft commits. |
| `discountTypeForms(): array` | Panel forms for discount types this section owns, keyed by the discount type class. |
| `searchSources(): array` | Sources the global search palette can find records in. |
| `searchCommands(): array` | Static verbs the global search palette offers alongside record results. |
| `widgets(): array` | Dashboard `Widget` classes. |
| `vite(): array\|string\|null` | The compiled JS module config for this section's own bundle. |
| `langNamespaces(): array` | Laravel translator namespaces whose lang groups the panel's translations endpoint serves to the frontend. |
`Section::draftables()`, `discountTypeForms()`, `searchSources()`, `searchCommands()`, and `widgets()` are also available on `SectionExtension`.
## Non-section escape hatches
Everything a `Section` hook does is a thin wrapper around a method on `Lunar\Panel\PanelManager`, fronted by the `Panel` facade. Code that doesn't fit the shape of an area — a single table extension registered from a package's own bootstrapping, say — can call these directly instead of writing a `Section`:
| Method | Purpose |
| :---------------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `Panel::extendTable($tableId, $extensionClass)` | Add a `TableExtension` to a table id without a `Section`. |
| `Panel::addPageAction($pageId, $actionClass)` | Add a `PageAction` to a page's header. |
| `Panel::registerRoutes($callback)` | Register routes directly, run inside the panel's route group. |
| `Panel::slots()` | Get the `SlotRegistry` to add a `Slot` directly. |
| `Panel::navigation()` / `Panel::settingsNavigation()` | Get the `NavigationRegistry` directly. |
| `Panel::translations(...$namespaces)` | Opt lang namespaces into the frontend translations endpoint. |
| `Panel::vite($name, $config)` | Register a compiled JS module. |
| `Panel::widget($widgetClass)` | Add a dashboard widget. |
Sections are the organized way of calling these; reach for the escape hatch only when a full `Section` class would be pure ceremony.
## Where to go next
Scaffold a distributable Composer + npm package, from the service provider through compiling and shipping the JS bundle.
Register routes, build an Inertia page with the standard scaffolding, and add navigation and settings-navigation entries.
Anchor navigation items, table columns, and actions relative to each other with `Lunar\Panel\Support\Position`.