Customizing MediaWiki’s Sidebar: A Configuration Guide

MediaWiki’s sidebar is managed through the MediaWiki:Sidebar special page, a simple text-based system that controls navigation for your entire wiki. Changes take effect immediately across all pages.

Accessing the Sidebar Configuration

Navigate to the sidebar editor using one of these methods:

Direct URL (replace example.com with your domain):

• With pretty URLs: https://example.com/w/MediaWiki:Sidebar
• Without pretty URLs: https://example.com/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Sidebar&action=edit

Via the wiki interface:

1. Go to Special:AllPages
2. Select the MediaWiki namespace
3. Search for “Sidebar”

Or access Special:SpecialPages and look for “Sidebar” under the MediaWiki namespace section.

Sidebar Syntax

The sidebar uses asterisk-based markup to define its structure:

• Single asterisk (*) — creates a collapsible section header
• Double asterisks (**) — creates menu items within that section

Default Sidebar Structure

* navigation
** mainpage|mainpage-description
** recentchanges-url|recentchanges
** randompage-url|randompage
** currentevents-url|currentevents
** portal-url|portal
** helppage|help
* SEARCH
* TOOLBOX
* LANGUAGES

The keywords SEARCH, TOOLBOX, and LANGUAGES are special directives that render built-in MediaWiki components. They must be capitalized and appear on their own line.

Link Format and Message Keys

Links follow the pattern target|display-text:

• target — the destination (wiki page, special page, or full URL)
• display-text — what users see (can be a message key or plain text)

Message keys (lowercase, with hyphens) are automatically translated to the user’s language:

** mainpage|mainpage-description
** recentchanges-url|recentchanges
** randompage-url|randompage
** currentevents-url|currentevents
** portal-url|portal
** helppage|help

Plain text labels work for any target and don’t require translation:

** Special:RecentChanges|Recent Changes
** Special:Random|Random Article
** https://example.com/docs|Documentation
** Help:Contents|Getting Started

Mixed usage:

* Navigation
** mainpage|mainpage-description
** Special:RecentChanges|Recent Changes
** https://github.com/yourproject|GitHub Repository
** Help:Contents|help

Practical Sidebar Examples

Adding a Custom Documentation Section

* Documentation
** Help:Contents|Getting Started
** Help:Editing|How to Edit
** Help:Formatting|Text Formatting
** Help:Templates|Using Templates
** Special:Upload|Upload Files

Adding External Links

* Community
** https://forum.example.com|Discussion Forum
** https://github.com/yourproject|GitHub Repository
** https://discord.gg/yourserver|Discord Server
** https://example.com/roadmap|Project Roadmap

Removing Unwanted Sections

Delete lines you don’t need. For example, if your wiki is single-language, remove the LANGUAGES section:

* navigation
** mainpage|mainpage-description
** recentchanges-url|recentchanges
** randompage-url|randompage
* SEARCH
* TOOLBOX

Similarly, remove SEARCH or TOOLBOX if your users don’t need them.

Making and Testing Changes

1. Click “Edit” on the MediaWiki:Sidebar page
2. Modify the sidebar content
3. Click “Publish changes”

Changes take effect immediately for all users, though users may need to clear their browser cache or do a hard refresh (Ctrl+F5 or Cmd+Shift+R) to see updates.

Test carefully in a non-production wiki first, especially if you’re removing sections or reorganizing major navigation elements.

Permissions and Protection

Only users with edit permissions on the MediaWiki namespace can modify the sidebar. By default, this requires administrator status.

Restricting Further

1. Go to MediaWiki:Sidebar
2. Click the “Protect” tab
3. Set restrictions to “Sysops only” to prevent changes by less privileged admins

Allowing Trusted Non-Admins

Grant sidebar editing permission via Special:UserRights by adding users to a custom group with the edit permission on the MediaWiki namespace. This requires configuration in LocalSettings.php:

$wgGroupPermissions['sidebar-editors']['edit'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['sidebar-editors']['editinterface'] = true;

Finding Available Message Keys

MediaWiki has hundreds of built-in message keys. View available keys at Special:AllMessages and filter by “sidebar” to find sidebar-specific translations.

Common keys include:

• mainpage|mainpage-description
• recentchanges|recentchanges
• randompage-url|randompage
• portal-url|portal
• help|helppage

Advanced Customization with Extensions

For complex sidebars beyond static links, consider these approaches:

Extension:DynamicPageList — Populate sidebar links from category or namespace queries:

* Recent Articles
<DPL>
namespace = 0
count = 5
orderby = modification date
order = descending
format = ,** %PAGE%|%TITLE%,
</DPL>

Conditional sections — Some extensions like Extension:SidebarDynamicFunctions allow logic-based sections, though this adds complexity and isn’t necessary for most wikis.

CSS and JavaScript — Edit MediaWiki:Sidebar.css and MediaWiki:Common.js to style or add JavaScript behavior to sidebar elements without installing extensions.

For the vast majority of installations, the raw MediaWiki:Sidebar text format handles all typical requirements cleanly and without additional dependencies.