# Orchardcore Navigation

> Skill for creating and managing navigation menus in Orchard Core. Covers menu creation, navigation providers, admin menus, and menu content types. Use this skill when requests mention Orchard Core Navigation, Create Navigation and Menus, Enabling Navigation Features, Custom Admin Navigation Provider, Registering Navigation Provider, Menu Recipe (Creating a Menu via Recipe), or closely related Orchard Core implementation, setup, extension, or troubleshooting work. Strong matches include work with OrchardCore.Menu, OrchardCore.Navigation, OrchardCore.AdminMenu, INavigationProvider, IStringLocalizer, NavigationBuilder, IServiceCollection, MenuPart, MenuItemsListPart, LinkMenuItemPart, ContentMenuItemPart, LinkMenuItem. It also helps with navigation examples, Registering Navigation Provider, Menu Recipe (Creating a Menu via Recipe), Rendering Menu in Liquid Template, plus the code patterns, admin flows, recipe steps, and referenced examples captured in this skill.

- Skill: `crestapps/orchardcore-navigation` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add crestapps/orchardcore-navigation`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/crestapps/orchardcore-navigation/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- License: Apache-2.0
- Author: CrestApps (https://skillmd.com/u/crestapps)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/crestapps/orchardcore-navigation

---


# Orchard Core Navigation - Prompt Templates

## Create Navigation and Menus

You are an Orchard Core expert. Generate navigation menus, admin menus, and menu items for Orchard Core.

### Guidelines

- Enable `OrchardCore.Menu` and `OrchardCore.Navigation` for menu support.
- Menus in Orchard Core are content items of type `Menu`.
- Menu items are nested content items within a menu (e.g., `LinkMenuItem`, `ContentMenuItem`).
- Admin menus are defined through `INavigationProvider` implementations.
- Use the `Position` property to control menu item ordering (lower numbers appear first).
- Admin menu positions follow the pattern: `"1"`, `"1.1"`, `"1.2"` for nested items.
- Navigation providers must be registered as scoped services.

### Enabling Navigation Features

```json
{
  "steps": [
    {
      "name": "Feature",
      "enable": [
        "OrchardCore.Menu",
        "OrchardCore.Navigation",
        "OrchardCore.AdminMenu"
      ],
      "disable": []
    }
  ]
}
```

### Custom Admin Navigation Provider

```csharp
using Microsoft.Extensions.Localization;
using OrchardCore.Navigation;

public sealed class AdminMenu : INavigationProvider
{
    private readonly IStringLocalizer S;

    public AdminMenu(IStringLocalizer<AdminMenu> localizer)
    {
        S = localizer;
    }

    public ValueTask BuildNavigationAsync(string name, NavigationBuilder builder)
    {
        if (!string.Equals(name, "admin", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            return ValueTask.CompletedTask;
        }

        builder
            .Add(S["{{MenuGroupName}}"], NavigationConstants.AdminMenuSettingsPosition, settings => settings
                .AddClass("{{icon-class}}")
                .Id("{{menuId}}")
                .Add(S["{{SubMenuName}}"], S["{{SubMenuName}}"].PrefixPosition(), item => item
                    .Action("Index", "Admin", new { area = "{{ModuleName}}" })
                    .Permission(Permissions.{{PermissionName}})
                    .LocalNav()
                )
            );

        return ValueTask.CompletedTask;
    }
}
```

### Registering Navigation Provider

```csharp
public sealed class Startup : StartupBase
{
    public override void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        services.AddScoped<INavigationProvider, AdminMenu>();
    }
}
```

### Menu Recipe (Creating a Menu via Recipe)

```json
{
  "steps": [
    {
      "name": "Content",
      "data": [
        {
          "ContentItemId": "main-menu",
          "ContentType": "Menu",
          "DisplayText": "Main Menu",
          "Latest": true,
          "Published": true,
          "MenuPart": {},
          "MenuItemsListPart": {
            "MenuItems": [
              {
                "ContentType": "LinkMenuItem",
                "ContentItemId": "menu-home",
                "DisplayText": "Home",
                "LinkMenuItemPart": {
                  "Url": "~/"
                }
              },
              {
                "ContentType": "LinkMenuItem",
                "ContentItemId": "menu-about",
                "DisplayText": "About",
                "LinkMenuItemPart": {
                  "Url": "~/about"
                }
              },
              {
                "ContentType": "LinkMenuItem",
                "ContentItemId": "menu-contact",
                "DisplayText": "Contact",
                "LinkMenuItemPart": {
                  "Url": "~/contact"
                }
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}
```

### Rendering Menu in Liquid Template

```liquid
{% shape "Menu", alias: "alias:main-menu" %}
```

### Content Menu Item

To add a content item as a menu item:

```json
{
  "ContentType": "ContentMenuItem",
  "ContentItemId": "menu-blog",
  "ContentMenuItemPart": {
    "ContentItem": {
      "ContentItemId": "{{BlogContentItemId}}"
    }
  }
}
```

## Related skills

- Use `orchardcore-menus` for built-in menu item types, shape alternates, and direct menu rendering.
- Use `orchardcore-admin-menu` for the admin-configurable `OrchardCore.AdminMenu` node tree, which is a separate feature from code-first `INavigationProvider` registration.