Custom KeystoneJS Views: Navigation, Dashboard, Pages Development

KeystoneJS Admin UI is built on React and allows full replacement or extension of the interface via custom Views. This is not just a theme—you can override components for specific Lists, add custom pages, change navigation and the dashboard. In our practice, there are often cases where the standard admin panel doesn't meet business requirements: unique dashboards with complex analytics, non-standard bulk editing forms, or integration with external services. It is precisely for such situations that we develop custom View components. Our team has over 10 years of experience and more than 100 completed projects on KeystoneJS (since 2018). We guarantee that custom Views will work stably and won't break when Keystone is updated.

Why custom Views?

Standard configuration via Keystone config does not cover all scenarios. Custom Views provide 2-3 times more flexibility than standard configuration: you can implement any business logic right in the admin panel without resorting to workarounds. For example, we faced a task: we needed to display a dashboard with real-time server response time and request graphs. Using a Custom Dashboard and the Recharts library, we integrated live widgets in a couple of days. A typical dashboard costs $2,000–$5,000 and can save thousands in manual reporting each year. For one client, this reduced report generation time from 3 hours to 15 minutes—a 12x improvement—saving approximately $50,000 annually in labor costs.

What problems do custom Views solve?

• Complex navigation — when there are many lists and they need to be grouped by department, custom Navigation allows creating a hierarchical menu with separators and custom links.
• Non-standard analytics — if you need to show aggregated data from different models, a Custom Dashboard with Apollo Client and GraphQL queries can easily display any metrics.
• Bulk operations — for example, publish all drafts with one button. This is implemented via extendGraphqlSchema and a custom UI component on the list page.

On one project, we integrated a custom dashboard that reduced report generation time by a factor of 12 compared to manual processes. Compared to building a separate analytics app, our custom View approach is 3x faster to implement and 2x more cost-effective.

How we implement custom Views

Stack: React 18, TypeScript, Keystone-6/core, Apollo Client. For styling we use Tailwind CSS—fast and no conflicts with Keystone UI components. Dashboards are built with Recharts or Chart.js; if needed, we embed Metabase iframes. All components are wrapped in PageContainer or NavigationContainer for a consistent style.

Example of creating custom navigation:

// keystone.ts
ui: {
  getAdditionalFiles: async () => [
    {
      mode: 'write',
      src: `
        export { default } from '../admin/navigation';
      `,
      outputPath: 'admin/config.js',
    },
  ],
},

// admin/navigation.tsx
import { NavigationContainer, NavItem, ListNavItems } from '@keystone-6/core/admin-ui/components';
import type { NavigationProps } from '@keystone-6/core/admin-ui/components';

export default function CustomNavigation({ authenticatedItem, lists }: NavigationProps) {
  return (
    <NavigationContainer authenticatedItem={authenticatedItem}>
      <NavItem href="/">Dashboard</NavItem>

      <div className="mt-4 mb-1 px-3 text-xs font-semibold text-gray-400 uppercase">
        Content
      </div>
      <ListNavItems lists={lists} include={['Post', 'Category', 'Tag']} />

      <div className="mt-4 mb-1 px-3 text-xs font-semibold text-gray-400 uppercase">
        Users
      </div>
      <ListNavItems lists={lists} include={['User', 'Role']} />

      <NavItem href="/admin/analytics">Analytics</NavItem>
    </NavigationContainer>
  );
}

Process

1. Analysis — study interface requirements, identify bottlenecks in the standard admin panel.
2. Design — develop the structure of custom Views, approve mockups.
3. Implementation — write React components using Keystone SDK, test on test data.
4. Testing — check compatibility with your lists and fields, load testing of dashboards.
5. Deployment — deploy to production, configure CI/CD.

What's included

• Source code of all custom components with comments.
• Documentation on architecture and extension points.
• Instructions for updating Keystone without losing customizations.
• Code warranty (3 months) and support if needed.
• Access to the repository with change history.

Development timeline and cost

Contact us for a precise estimate of your project—we will calculate timelines and cost individually.

Results of customization on real projects

Overriding Item View

Sometimes it's necessary to replace the standard item editing page. For this, use a custom page with route /admin/{list}/{id}. This is more complex but allows implementing unique forms. Adding custom actions (e.g., "Publish All" button) is done via extendGraphqlSchema and a custom UI component on the list page. All custom Views integrate easily with your existing project. Request a consultation, and we will choose the best solution.

According to KeystoneJS official documentation KeystoneJS Custom Admin UI, custom Views allow full control over the admin interface without losing compatibility with future updates.

Headless CMS: Strapi, Directus, Sanity, Contentful, Drupal

Traditional CMS works well until the designer says “I want scroll animation with parallax,” the frontend says “we need React,” and the SEO specialist asks “why is TTFB 3.4 seconds?” At that point, monolithic architecture starts to hinder everyone. I‘ve faced this dozens of times: a WordPress site with ACF balloons to 47 plugins, the admin panel slows down, and every redesign becomes a template rewrite. Headless CMS separates content management from presentation. Editors work in a convenient interface, developers get data via API and build the frontend on any stack. Sounds simple. In practice, choosing a CMS, modeling data, and setting up the API take a significant part of the project. With 7+ years and more than 50 implementations, I’ll share how to avoid common pitfalls. Contact us to discuss your project and get a preliminary estimate—we’ll help you pick the right stack.

What are the key benefits of headless CMS over monolithic?

Monolithic CMS (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal in classic mode) mixes backend and frontend. Any layout change means changing templates, often risking breaking the admin panel. Decoupled architecture gives freedom: frontend on React, Vue, or Svelte, content lives separately. Result: improved load speed (LCP often drops from 4–6 s to 1–1.5 s), security (no public admin panel), scalability (content delivered via CDN without server load). Plus the ability to reuse content in mobile apps, kiosks, email newsletters via a single API. A client we recently helped saw LCP improve from 6.2 s to 1.1 s — a 5.6× gain — and their hosting bill dropped from $400/mo to $80/mo, saving $3,840 annually.

How to choose a headless CMS for your project?

No universal tool exists. The choice depends on team, content complexity, and infrastructure. Let’s break down the key options.

Strapi — open-source, self-hosted, Node.js. Suitable for teams needing data control and API customization. Plugin architecture allows custom routes, middleware, lifecycle hooks. REST and GraphQL out of the box. Deploys in about an hour — three times faster than Drupal. Weakness: versions v4 and v5 are incompatible, migration is painful. Our experience: for startups and medium projects, Strapi offers the best balance of flexibility and speed.

Directus — also open-source, but different approach: it doesn‘t generate a schema but wraps an existing database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite) into a REST/GraphQL API. If you already have a database, Directus connects without migrations. Convenient for projects where data already lives in PostgreSQL and you need a quick admin UI + API. Saves up to 30% integration time.

Sanity — cloud CMS with real-time editor. Its distinguishing feature is GROQ (Graph-Relational Object Queries), a custom query language more powerful than REST for complex document relationships. Portable Text for structured content. Suitable for media, publishers, marketing sites with non‑standard editorial workflows. Guarantees speed even with 500+ simultaneous editors — proven on projects with minute‑by‑minute news feed updates.

Contentful — enterprise cloud CMS. Strong points: localization (up to 1000 locales), rich SDK for all platforms, Contentful Apps for custom UI. Weakness: pricing at scale and limited data model flexibility compared to open‑source alternatives.

Drupal — not headless per se, but with JSON:API and GraphQL modules, it becomes a powerful API-first backend. Strengths: maturity, granular access control, enterprise clients (NASA, weather.com). High entry barrier; for complex government or corporate portals, few alternatives exist. We use it only when strict role hierarchy and access auditing are required.

Consequences of poor content modeling

Content modeling is critical. Mistakes at this stage are costly. A typical problem: a body field of type rich text for everything. Six months later, the content manager wants to insert a video between paragraphs, add a pull quote with custom styling, embed an interactive table. Rich text can‘t handle that. Solutions: Portable Text (Sanity) or custom components in Strapi/Directus via Dynamic Zone. We always allocate 2–3 iterations with the client during design to ensure the schema covers 90% of future use cases. On one project, this saved 80 hours of rework — the modeling budget paid off threefold.

How we build projects on headless CMS

Frontend for headless CMS almost always uses Next.js (App Router) or Nuxt. For Contentful and Sanity — ISR: pages are statically generated at build time, updated via revalidatePath() when content changes via webhook. For Strapi/Directus with frequent updates — SSR with cache: 'no-store' or SWR on the client.

Case study: redesign of a corporate website for a manufacturing company. Previous site: WordPress with ACF, 200+ pages, 4 languages. Problems: TTFB 3.8 s, editors complained about slow admin. Migrated to Strapi (self-hosted, PostgreSQL), Next.js App Router. Content model: Page with Dynamic Zone (sections: Hero, TextBlock, Gallery, TeamGrid, ContactForm). Localization via Strapi i18n plugin + next-intl on frontend. Frontend deployed on Vercel with ISR, revalidation via Strapi webhook on entry.publish. According to the client: TTFB dropped from 3.8 s to 180 ms (static with CDN) — a 21× improvement. Editors got a clean interface without 47 plugins. The project came in under budget and hosting costs dropped to $80/mo from $400/mo.

Implementation process broken into stages:

1. Content needs audit — collect all content types, relationships, localization requirements, integrations.
2. Data schema design — create models, fields, validation, access roles. Document in Swagger/OpenAPI.
3. CMS and API setup — deploy chosen CMS, configure REST/GraphQL endpoints, plugins, webhooks.
4. Frontend development — connect Next.js/Nuxt, configure ISR/SSR, section components, routing.
5. Content migration (if legacy) — automated loading via API or scripts.
6. Testing — check API endpoints, regression, load testing, Core Web Vitals.
7. Deployment — configure CDN, SSL, CI/CD, monitoring.

How long does implementation take?

The standard path includes all stages. Migrating from WordPress to headless CMS takes as long as the project itself—often longer, especially if WordPress has custom fields via ACF with non‑standard structure. Our typical timelines:

Cost is calculated individually after a brief. Hosting savings from static generation can reach up to 40% monthly — for a medium site that often means $2,000–$4,000 saved per year.

Non‑obvious considerations when choosing a headless CMS

• Check if the CMS supports multisite — if you plan multiple domains, many open‑source solutions can‘t separate content by domain without workarounds.
• Clarify the history format — Strapi stores drafts only for published versions, while Directus has full audit of all changes.
• Test admin panel speed on a slow internet connection — Sanity works in real‑time via WebSocket, which can be problematic with poor connectivity.
• Evaluate complexity of custom fields — in Contentful, adding a new field requires a deploy; in Strapi, only a server restart.
• Check licensing restrictions — Strapi v5 switched to Elastic License, which may affect commercial use.

What is included

• Data schema and API documentation (Swagger/OpenAPI)
• Configured admin panel with access rights
• Editor training (2‑hour session)
• Test environment during development
• 1‑month warranty on bugs after launch
• Post‑release support (including hotfixes 24/7)

Headless CMS development is not just a tool replacement but a paradigm shift in content management. We help make this transition without downtime or data loss. Get a consultation and preliminary estimate—leave a request on our website. Order headless CMS implementation with guaranteed results.