Front Components - Twenty

Front components are React components that render directly inside Twenty's UI. They run in an isolated Web Worker using Remote DOM — your code is sandboxed but renders natively in the page, not in an iframe.

Where front components can be used

Front components can render in two locations within Twenty:

Side panel — Non-headless front components open in the right-hand side panel. This is the default behavior when a front component is triggered from the command menu.
Widgets (dashboards and record pages) — Front components can be embedded as widgets inside page layouts. When configuring a dashboard or a record page layout, users can add a front component widget.

A front component on its own isn't reachable from the UI — you need to surface it. The two ways to do that are:

Pair it with a command menu item — registers it in the command menu (Cmd+K) and, optionally, as a pinned quick-action.
Embed it as a widget in a page layout — places it on a record's detail page or dashboard.

Basic example

The quickest way to see a front component in action is to pair it with a defineCommandMenuItem, so it appears as a quick-action button in the top-right corner of the page:

tsx

import { defineFrontComponent } from 'twenty-sdk/define';

const HelloWorld = () => {
  return (
    <div style={{ padding: '20px', fontFamily: 'sans-serif' }}>
      <h1>Hello from my app!</h1>
      <p>This component renders inside Twenty.</p>
    </div>
  );
};

export default defineFrontComponent({
  universalIdentifier: '74c526eb-cb68-4cf7-b05c-0dd8c288d948',
  name: 'hello-world',
  description: 'A simple front component',
  component: HelloWorld,
});

import { defineCommandMenuItem } from 'twenty-sdk/define';

export default defineCommandMenuItem({
  universalIdentifier: 'd4e5f6a7-b8c9-0123-defa-456789012345',
  shortLabel: 'Hello',
  label: 'Hello World',
  icon: 'IconBolt',
  isPinned: true,
  availabilityType: 'GLOBAL',
  frontComponentUniversalIdentifier: '74c526eb-cb68-4cf7-b05c-0dd8c288d948',
});

After syncing with yarn twenty dev (or running a one-shot yarn twenty dev --once), the quick action appears in the top-right corner of the page:

Click it to render the component inline.

Configuration fields

Field	Required	Description
`universalIdentifier`	Yes	Stable unique ID for this component
`component`	Yes	A React component function
`name`	No	Display name
`description`	No	Description of what the component does
`isHeadless`	No	Set to `true` if the component has no visible UI (see below)

Placing a front component on a page

Beyond commands, you can embed a front component directly into a record page by adding it as a widget in a page layout. See Page Layouts for details.

Headless vs non-headless

Front components come in two rendering modes controlled by the isHeadless option:

Non-headless (default) — The component renders a visible UI. When triggered from the command menu it opens in the side panel. This is the default behavior when isHeadless is false or omitted.

Headless (isHeadless: true) — The component mounts invisibly in the background. It does not open the side panel. Headless components are designed for actions that execute logic and then unmount themselves — for example, running an async task, navigating to a page, or showing a confirmation modal. They pair naturally with the SDK Command components described below.

tsx

import { defineFrontComponent } from 'twenty-sdk/define';
import { useRecordId, enqueueSnackbar } from 'twenty-sdk/front-component';
import { useEffect } from 'react';

const SyncTracker = () => {
  const recordId = useRecordId();

  useEffect(() => {
    enqueueSnackbar({ message: `Tracking record ${recordId}`, variant: 'info' });
  }, [recordId]);

  return null;
};

export default defineFrontComponent({
  universalIdentifier: '...',
  name: 'sync-tracker',
  description: 'Tracks record views silently',
  isHeadless: true,
  component: SyncTracker,
});

Because the component returns null, Twenty skips rendering a container for it — no empty space appears in the layout. The component still has access to all hooks and the host communication API.

SDK Command components

The twenty-sdk package provides four Command helper components designed for headless front components. Each component executes an action on mount, handles errors by showing a snackbar notification, and automatically unmounts the front component when done.

Import them from twenty-sdk/command:

Command — Runs an async callback via the execute prop.
CommandLink — Navigates to an app path. Props: to, params, queryParams, options.
CommandModal — Opens a confirmation modal. If the user confirms, executes the execute callback. Props: title, subtitle, execute, confirmButtonText, confirmButtonAccent.
CommandOpenSidePanelPage — Opens a specific side panel page. Props: page, pageTitle, pageIcon.

Here is a full example of a headless front component using Command to run an action from the command menu:

tsx

import { defineFrontComponent } from 'twenty-sdk/define';
import { Command } from 'twenty-sdk/command';
import { CoreApiClient } from 'twenty-sdk/clients';

const RunAction = () => {
  const execute = async () => {
    const client = new CoreApiClient();

    await client.mutation({
      createTask: {
        __args: { data: { title: 'Created by my app' } },
        id: true,
      },
    });
  };

  return <Command execute={execute} />;
};

export default defineFrontComponent({
  universalIdentifier: 'e5f6a7b8-c9d0-1234-efab-345678901234',
  name: 'run-action',
  description: 'Creates a task from the command menu',
  component: RunAction,
  isHeadless: true,
});

import { defineCommandMenuItem } from 'twenty-sdk/define';

export default defineCommandMenuItem({
  universalIdentifier: 'f6a7b8c9-d0e1-2345-fabc-456789012345',
  label: 'Run my action',
  icon: 'IconPlayerPlay',
  frontComponentUniversalIdentifier: 'e5f6a7b8-c9d0-1234-efab-345678901234',
});

And an example using CommandModal to ask for confirmation before executing:

tsx

import { defineFrontComponent } from 'twenty-sdk/define';
import { CommandModal } from 'twenty-sdk/command';

const DeleteDraft = () => {
  const execute = async () => {
    // perform the deletion
  };

  return (
    <CommandModal
      title="Delete draft?"
      subtitle="This action cannot be undone."
      execute={execute}
      confirmButtonText="Delete"
      confirmButtonAccent="danger"
    />
  );
};

export default defineFrontComponent({
  universalIdentifier: 'a7b8c9d0-e1f2-3456-abcd-567890123456',
  name: 'delete-draft',
  description: 'Deletes a draft with confirmation',
  component: DeleteDraft,
  isHeadless: true,
});

Accessing runtime context

Inside your component, use SDK hooks to access the current user, record, and component instance:

tsx

import { defineFrontComponent } from 'twenty-sdk/define';
import {
  useUserId,
  useRecordId,
  useFrontComponentId,
} from 'twenty-sdk/front-component';

const RecordInfo = () => {
  const userId = useUserId();
  const recordId = useRecordId();
  const componentId = useFrontComponentId();

  return (
    <div>
      <p>User: {userId}</p>
      <p>Record: {recordId ?? 'No record context'}</p>
      <p>Component: {componentId}</p>
    </div>
  );
};

export default defineFrontComponent({
  universalIdentifier: 'b2c3d4e5-f6a7-8901-bcde-f23456789012',
  name: 'record-info',
  component: RecordInfo,
});

Available hooks:

Hook	Returns	Description
`useUserId()`	`string` or `null`	The current user's ID
`useSelectedRecordIds()`	`string[]`	All selected record IDs (empty array if none selected)
`useRecordId()`	`string` or `null`	Deprecated. Use `useSelectedRecordIds()` instead
`useFrontComponentId()`	`string`	This component instance's ID
`useFrontComponentExecutionContext(selector)`	varies	Access the full execution context with a selector function

Host communication API

Front components can trigger navigation, modals, and notifications using functions from twenty-sdk:

Function	Description
`navigate(to, params?, queryParams?, options?)`	Navigate to a page in the app
`openSidePanelPage(params)`	Open a side panel
`closeSidePanel()`	Close the side panel
`openCommandConfirmationModal(params)`	Show a confirmation dialog
`enqueueSnackbar(params)`	Show a toast notification
`unmountFrontComponent()`	Unmount the component
`updateProgress(progress)`	Update a progress indicator

Here is an example that uses the host API to show a snackbar and close the side panel after an action completes:

tsx

import { defineFrontComponent } from 'twenty-sdk/define';
import { useRecordId } from 'twenty-sdk/front-component';
import { enqueueSnackbar, closeSidePanel } from 'twenty-sdk/front-component';
import { CoreApiClient } from 'twenty-sdk/clients';

const ArchiveRecord = () => {
  const recordId = useRecordId();

  const handleArchive = async () => {
    const client = new CoreApiClient();

    await client.mutation({
      updateTask: {
        __args: { id: recordId, data: { status: 'ARCHIVED' } },
        id: true,
      },
    });

    await enqueueSnackbar({
      message: 'Record archived',
      variant: 'success',
    });

    await closeSidePanel();
  };

  return (
    <div style={{ padding: '20px' }}>
      <p>Archive this record?</p>
      <button onClick={handleArchive}>Archive</button>
    </div>
  );
};

export default defineFrontComponent({
  universalIdentifier: 'c9d0e1f2-a3b4-5678-cdef-789012345678',
  name: 'archive-record',
  description: 'Archives the current record',
  component: ArchiveRecord,
});

Working with multiple records

Use useSelectedRecordIds() to handle multiple selected records. This is useful for bulk operations:

tsx

import { defineFrontComponent } from 'twenty-sdk/define';
import { useSelectedRecordIds, numberOfSelectedRecords } from 'twenty-sdk/front-component';
import { enqueueSnackbar, closeSidePanel } from 'twenty-sdk/front-component';
import { CoreApiClient } from 'twenty-sdk/clients';

const BulkExport = () => {
  const selectedRecordIds = useSelectedRecordIds();

  const handleExport = async () => {
    const client = new CoreApiClient();

    for (const recordId of selectedRecordIds) {
      await client.mutation({
        updateTask: {
          __args: { id: recordId, data: { exported: true } },
          id: true,
        },
      });
    }

    await enqueueSnackbar({
      message: `Exported ${selectedRecordIds.length} records`,
      variant: 'success',
    });

    await closeSidePanel();
  };

  return (
    <div style={{ padding: '20px' }}>
      <p>Export {selectedRecordIds.length} selected record(s)?</p>
      <button onClick={handleExport}>Export</button>
    </div>
  );
};

export default defineFrontComponent({
  universalIdentifier: 'd0e1f2a3-b4c5-6789-defa-012345678901',
  name: 'bulk-export',
  description: 'Export selected records',
  component: BulkExport,
  command: {
    universalIdentifier: 'd0e1f2a3-b4c5-6789-defa-012345678902',
    label: 'Bulk Export',
    availabilityType: 'RECORD_SELECTION',
    conditionalAvailabilityExpression: numberOfSelectedRecords > 0,
  },
});

Public assets

Front components can access files from the app's public/ directory using getPublicAssetUrl:

tsx

import { defineFrontComponent, getPublicAssetUrl } from 'twenty-sdk/define';

const Logo = () => ;

export default defineFrontComponent({
  universalIdentifier: '...',
  name: 'logo',
  component: Logo,
});

See the public assets section for details.

Styling

Front components support multiple styling approaches. You can use:

Inline styles — style={{ color: 'red' }}
Twenty UI components — import from twenty-sdk/ui (Button, Tag, Status, Chip, Avatar, and more)
Emotion — CSS-in-JS with @emotion/react
Styled-components — styled.div patterns
Tailwind CSS — utility classes
Any CSS-in-JS library compatible with React

tsx

import { defineFrontComponent } from 'twenty-sdk/define';
import { Button, Tag, Status } from 'twenty-sdk/ui';

const StyledWidget = () => {
  return (
    <div style={{ padding: '16px', display: 'flex', gap: '8px' }}>
      <Button title="Click me" onClick={() => alert('Clicked!')} />
      <Tag text="Active" color="green" />
      <Status color="green" text="Online" />
    </div>
  );
};

export default defineFrontComponent({
  universalIdentifier: 'e5f6a7b8-c9d0-1234-efab-567890123456',
  name: 'styled-widget',
  component: StyledWidget,
});