Umbraco Dashboard Implementation

VerifiedSafe

Build customizable dashboards in Umbraco backoffice to display information and functionality with visibility conditions and section controls.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevelopmentIntermediate
3/8/2026
Claude Code
#umbraco#dashboard#backoffice#lit-element#cms-extension

Recommended for

Automated summary

Guides the implementation of custom dashboards in the Umbraco backoffice by fetching the official documentation and then generating the matching manifest and Lit component.

Strengths

  • Requires fetching up-to-date official documentation before generating code
  • Provides a minimal but working umbraco-package.json manifest and Lit element
  • Points to related foundation skills (context, localization, state, conditions) and to a source example in the Umbraco repository
  • Covers display conditions and section restrictions

Limitations

  • Relies on network access through WebFetch to retrieve documentation
  • Limited to dashboards and does not cover other Umbraco extension types
  • Examples stay minimal and must be adapted to the real project
When to use it

Use when adding a custom dashboard to a section of the Umbraco backoffice.

When not to use it

Avoid for building other Umbraco extension types (property editors, sections) or for a different CMS.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score80/100

The skill is purely instructional: it points at official Umbraco documentation, describes the dashboard extension concept, and gives a small manifest plus Lit element example. There are no destructive commands, no credential or token handling, no obfuscation, no curl-pipe-shell installs, and no attempts to disable safety behavior. The only execution surface is Write/Edit for generating plugin files and WebFetch for docs, both appropriate to the task.

Findings
  • •Header states allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit, WebFetch, while the listing metadata reports none declared — a harmless inconsistency, but worth reconciling so tool grants are explicit.
  • •Instructs the agent to fetch external documentation via WebFetch before implementing; this is a legitimate network use, but it does introduce remote content into the agent's context.
How this analysis is made

Examples

New dashboard in Content section
Create a custom Umbraco dashboard that appears in the Content section and shows a welcome message with a few quick links.
Dashboard with notifications
Implement an Umbraco backoffice dashboard that uses the notification context to show a success toast when a button is clicked.
Section-restricted dashboard
Add an Umbraco dashboard that only appears for users in the Settings section, with a simple stats box.

name: umbraco-dashboard description: Implement dashboards in Umbraco backoffice using official docs version: 1.0.0 location: managed allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit, WebFetch

Umbraco Dashboard

What is it?

Dashboards are customizable components that appear in Umbraco's backoffice sections to display information and functionality. They show an 'editor' for the selected item in the tree or default section information when no item is selected. Dashboards use conditions to control where and when they appear in the backoffice.

Documentation

Always fetch the latest docs before implementing:

  • Main docs: https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-cms/customizing/extending-overview/extension-types/dashboard
  • Foundation: https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-cms/customizing/foundation
  • Extension Registry: https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-cms/customizing/extending-overview/extension-registry
  • Tutorial: https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-cms/tutorials/creating-a-custom-dashboard

Reference Example

The Umbraco source includes a working example:

Location: /Umbraco-CMS/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/examples/dashboard-with-property-dataset/

This example demonstrates a dashboard that uses property datasets for data binding. Study this for production patterns.

Related Foundation Skills

If you need to explain these foundational concepts when implementing dashboards, reference these skills:

  • Umbraco Element / UmbElementMixin: When implementing dashboard elements, explaining UmbElementMixin, UmbLitElement, or base class patterns

    • Reference skill: umbraco-umbraco-element
  • Context API: When implementing context consumption (consumeContext), providing contexts, or accessing services like UMB_NOTIFICATION_CONTEXT

    • Reference skill: umbraco-context-api
  • Localization: When implementing translations, using localize.term(), or adding multi-language support

    • Reference skill: umbraco-localization
  • State Management: When implementing reactive state, using observables, UmbState, or @state() decorator

    • Reference skill: umbraco-state-management
  • Conditions: When implementing visibility controls, section restrictions, or conditional rendering

    • Reference skill: umbraco-conditions

Workflow

  1. Fetch docs - Use WebFetch on the URLs above
  2. Ask questions - What section? What functionality? Who can access?
  3. Generate files - Create manifest + implementation based on latest docs
  4. Explain - Show what was created and how to test

Minimal Examples

Manifest (umbraco-package.json)

{
  "type": "dashboard",
  "alias": "my.dashboard",
  "name": "My Dashboard",
  "element": "/App_Plugins/MyDashboard/dashboard.js",
  "meta": {
    "label": "My Dashboard",
    "pathname": "my-dashboard"
  },
  "conditions": [
    {
      "alias": "Umb.Condition.SectionAlias",
      "match": "Umb.Section.Content"
    }
  ]
}

Implementation (dashboard.js)

import { LitElement, html, css } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/external/lit';
import { UmbElementMixin } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/element-api';

export default class MyDashboardElement extends UmbElementMixin(LitElement) {
  render() {
    return html`
      <uui-box headline="My Dashboard">
        <p>Dashboard content goes here</p>
      </uui-box>
    `;
  }

  static styles = css`
    :host {
      display: block;
      padding: var(--uui-size-space-4);
    }
  `;
}

customElements.define('my-dashboard', MyDashboardElement);

That's it! Always fetch fresh docs, keep examples minimal, generate complete working code.

From the file to a first result

The download contains exactly the content displayed on this page. This copy may differ from the latest version in the source repository.

View the source and supporting files

This download contains SKILL.md only. Any scripts, references, templates and dependencies are not included. Get the required files from the source, preserving their directory structure, before continuing.

1. Download the file

Download SKILL.md

From the root of a test project, save the file as .skill-downloads/umbraco-dashboard-implementation-mmh8qr1c/SKILL.md, or use the command below. This folder is for inspecting the skill before installation.

Command for macOS/Linux or WSL: requires a POSIX shell and curl. On Windows without WSL, use the download button and create the folder manually.

mkdir -p '.skill-downloads/umbraco-dashboard-implementation-mmh8qr1c' && curl --fail --show-error --location 'https://skills-guides.com/api/skills/umbraco-dashboard-implementation-mmh8qr1c/download' --output '.skill-downloads/umbraco-dashboard-implementation-mmh8qr1c/SKILL.md.part' && mv '.skill-downloads/umbraco-dashboard-implementation-mmh8qr1c/SKILL.md.part' '.skill-downloads/umbraco-dashboard-implementation-mmh8qr1c/SKILL.md'

2. Check prerequisites

Read SKILL.md before using it. If it references scripts or external services, inspect them and prepare the required access in your test environment.

Tools declared by the author (check availability in your agent): Read, Write, Edit, WebFetch

No recognized prerequisites section in this file. This does not mean it is self-contained: libraries, tools and access requirements may be mentioned elsewhere in the content or source repository.

The platforms on this page are catalog indications. The paths below follow tool documentation; they do not prove this skill has been run in those tools. No minimum tool version is confirmed for this listing.

3. Load the skill

After inspection, copy the complete folder into your project using one of the commands below, then open a new tool session. The command stops if a folder with the same name already exists: compare the files before replacing it.

Claude Code
test -f '.skill-downloads/umbraco-dashboard-implementation-mmh8qr1c/SKILL.md' && test -s '.skill-downloads/umbraco-dashboard-implementation-mmh8qr1c/SKILL.md' && mkdir -p '.claude/skills' && test ! -e '.claude/skills/umbraco-dashboard' && cp -R '.skill-downloads/umbraco-dashboard-implementation-mmh8qr1c' '.claude/skills/umbraco-dashboard'

OpenSkills

OpenSkills must already be installed. The local install/read procedure is checked with OpenSkills 1.5.0, which requires Node.js ≥ 20.6.0. Catalog slugs are not resolved automatically.

Official OpenSkills installation
openskills install './.skill-downloads/umbraco-dashboard-implementation-mmh8qr1c'

openskills read 'umbraco-dashboard-implementation-mmh8qr1c'

Reading should display the installed file content and its base directory. It does not run the skill or install its dependencies.

For an agent that reads AGENTS.md, then sync the index. This command changes AGENTS.md: review the diff before using it.

openskills sync

Manual method or another tool: attach SKILL.md to a conversation, or open it in an agent that can read files. Include any required supporting resources. No universal folder is recognized by every tool.

4. Try a first task

Use a short, synthetic input: an API endpoint, a small document or an interface brief. In a new conversation, attach the file or give the agent its path, then adapt this request:

Read .skill-downloads/umbraco-dashboard-implementation-mmh8qr1c/SKILL.md and apply its instructions to this example: [describe a test input]. Identify any missing files, dependencies or access. Produce the result requested by the skill without inventing data or running unreviewed scripts.

Expected result: output matching the skill instructions, or a precise list of missing prerequisites. A read confirmation alone does not validate a first use. If an external resource is unavailable, that path remains untested.

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