In This Article

About Dashboard Plugin Extensions

There are 2 types of plugins that can be added to a dashboard page:

Dashboard plugin

The dashboard plugin extension integrates with an existing app built by Wix, such as Wix Bookings or Wix Stores, to enhance the app’s functionality. The extension allows you to place a plugin into pre-defined slots, or UI placeholders, on the dashboard pages of apps built by Wix. Dashboard plugins are added to dashboard pages and don’t appear on live sites.

The dashboard menu plugin extension allows you to add a new menu item in a pre-defined slot in a menu on a dashboard page of an app built by Wix. When a site administrator clicks the added menu item, it directs them to a different dashboard page or opens a dashboard modal.

Learn more about Dashboard menu plugin extensions.

Notes:

The dashboard plugin extension, along with the dashboard menu plugin extension, replace the Dashboard Extension.
Not all apps built by Wix include pre-defined slots. Learn more about Slots.

When to use Dashboard Plugins

Use this plugin when you want to add an interactive widget to the dashboard of an app built by Wix. For example, you can create a widget in the bookings staff’s dashboard page that allows a site admin to block off time for staff members in the bookings calendar.

How dashboard plugins work

The dashboard plugin integrates with the dashboard page in 2 ways:

Visually, by embedding the UI of a plugin inside a supported dashboard page.
Logically, by implementing code to allow communication between your plugin and the data from the dashboard page.

Slots and plugin APIs

Apps built by Wix declare specific slots on a dashboard page in which you can place your plugin. Apps can have multiple slots on a dashboard page. Each slot has a unique ID that is required to integrate your plugin into the slot.

Apps built by Wix also determine the data from the dashboard page that is passed through the slot for you to utilize in the functionality of your plugin, such as an ID. You can retrieve dashboard page data using the withDashabord() function from the dashboard-react SDK or the observeState() from from the dashboard SDK.

Implementation Options

To implement a dashboard plugin on Wix, you use the following frameworks:

Self-hosting: build your plugin using your own tech stack and integrate using the Wix Dev Center.
Wix CLI: build your plugin with Wix’s React/Node.js stack and integrate using the Wix CLI.

When it comes to designing the UI for your widget plugin, consider using the Wix Design System, a collection of reusable React components that you can use to make your app appear and feel like a native app built by Wix.