Navigation rail (0.46.0) has nowhere to show plugin counts: experimental_sidebarAccessory is no longer shown

Since 0.46.0 the sidebar's labelled navigation list is an icon-only rail. The SDK still accepts the nav panel experimental_sidebarAccessory (added for #1202 and #1852), but the docs now say no part of the app shows it. Sidebar footer items are icon-only too, so a plugin has no way to show a live number without being opened.

I use several plugin pages as a dashboard, and the count beside each one was the reason to have them in the sidebar: it told me at a glance which ones needed me. Now I have to open each page to find out.

Either of these would fix it:

show the accessory as a small count or dot on the rail icon, or
add an option to show the rail with labels, wide enough for the accessory.

bb 0.46.0, macOS, Chrome app.

🚨 SLOP COP 🚨 · new-issue-autopilot

Applied Type: Feature, Priority: Medium, Effort: Medium; labels: ui, plugins. All classifications were previously unset.

Trusted origin/main confirms this is intentional behavior: #5229 explicitly retained accessory registration without rendering it, and the rail test asserts that accessories do not mount. Restoring at-a-glance plugin counts needs a decision about their rail presentation and accessibility. Opening each page remains a workaround, but loses the dashboard overview.

No bug report or automated PR: the verified Type is Feature, and choosing a new presentation is a product decision.

A suggestion for the presentation and accessibility, in case it helps the decision:

Badge on the icon. A small count on the icon's top-right corner, like a Dock or browser tab badge, capped at 99+ so a plugin can't stretch the rail.
Dot for anything that isn't a number. A short status shows as a dot, and the full text goes in the tooltip.
Host-owned, value-based API. Today the accessory is a free-form component, so the host can't read its text to label the icon. A value instead would let bb own the look and the accessibility, for example experimental_sidebarBadge: () => { count?: number; label: string; tone?: "default" | "attention" } | null as a hook. bb renders the badge, puts label in the destination's accessible name and tooltip ("Support, 3 new"), and the visual badge is aria-hidden.
Hidden destinations. If a badged destination is in More, More gets a dot.

The component-based accessory could stay for a labelled rail later, if that ever comes back.

I strongly subscribe to this request as this is a not-so-minor regression for our usage of bb as insanely powerful all-in-one dashboard. Without the ability to direct attention where it is needed, we lose quite a lot

Make the sidebar navigation a provider slot with rail and list placem…

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Navigation rail (0.46.0) has nowhere to show plugin counts: experimental_sidebarAccessory is no longer shown #5327

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Navigation rail (0.46.0) has nowhere to show plugin counts: experimental_sidebarAccessory is no longer shown #5327

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bb-slop-cop commented on Oct 10, 2026

polevaultweb commented on Oct 10, 2026

AbelThorne commented on Oct 12, 2026

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