Strapi Admin Panel — Dashboard, Content Manager, and Settings Guide

In this tutorial, you will explore every section of the Strapi admin panel — from the dashboard overview to the Content Manager, Media Library, Content-Type Builder, and Settings — so you can navigate and manage your Strapi instance with confidence.

What You'll Learn

• The layout and navigation structure of the Strapi admin panel
• How to use the Content Manager to create, edit, and publish entries
• How the Media Library handles file uploads and organization
• How the Content-Type Builder differs from the Content Manager
• How to configure settings for roles, API tokens, and Internationalization
• Where to find plugins and marketplace options

Why It Matters

The admin panel is where you spend most of your time as a Strapi user. Editors create content here. Developers configure settings here. Knowing every section of the panel means you can work efficiently, find settings quickly, and avoid hunting through documentation for where something is located.

Real-World Use

A content team of five editors manages a recipe website with 2,000 published recipes. The senior editor needs to create a new category for "Gluten-Free" recipes, update the SEO metadata for traffic, and export a list of all recipes published this month. Without knowing the admin panel thoroughly, this task takes 30 minutes of hunting. With full knowledge of the panel, it takes 5 minutes.

Learning Path

flowchart LR
  A["What is Strapi?"] --> B["Architecture"]
  B --> C["Quick Start"]
  C --> D["Strapi Admin
-- You are here"]:::current
  D --> E["Content Types"]
  E --> F["Fields"]
  F --> G["Relations"]
  G --> H["Components"]
  H --> I["Lifecycle"]

  classDef current fill:#4945ff,color:#fff,stroke-width:2px

Admin Panel Overview

When you log into Strapi, you see the dashboard with these sections in the left sidebar:

Content Manager        -- CRUD for your content types
Content-Type Builder   -- Design data models
Media Library          -- Upload and manage files
Plugins                -- Installed plugins
Settings               -- System configuration

The top bar shows the Strapi logo, your project name, and a user menu for profile settings and logout.

The Dashboard

The dashboard displays a welcome message and key metrics. The exact content depends on installed plugins and Strapi version, but generally includes:

• Recent entries
• System health indicators
• Quick links to common tasks

Dashboard
-- Overview
-- Recent Entries
-- Quick Actions: [Create Entry] [Manage Media]

The dashboard is customizable through plugins. The SEO plugin might add a content audit widget. The analytics plugin might add traffic data.

Content Manager

The Content Manager is where editors spend most of their time. It has two views: Collection Types and Single Types.

Collection Types show a list of entries for each content type. The list view shows:

• Entry titles or primary fields
• Publication status (draft or published)
• Created and updated dates
• Bulk actions (publish, unpublish, delete)
• Search and filter controls

Content Manager > Recipes
-- Search bar
-- Filters: [Published] [Draft] [All]
-- Sort by: [Title] [Created At] [Updated At]
-- [+ Create an entry] button
-- Entry list:
--   [Published] Classic Margherita Pizza  -- Jun 28, 2026
--   [Published] Chicken Tikka Masala     -- Jun 28, 2026
--   [Draft]     Chocolate Lava Cake       -- Jun 28, 2026

Clicking an entry opens the entry detail view with tabs for each field. The right sidebar shows:

• Publication controls: Save, Publish, Unpublish
• Information: ID, creation date, last update
• Relations: Links to related entries

You might be wondering why the entry detail has tabs instead of a single form. As your content types grow with more fields and components, tabs keep the interface organized. The "Information" tab shows metadata, while the "Relations" tab shows connected content.

Content-Type Builder

The Content-Type Builder is for developers and site builders. This is where you define the structure of your content.

It has two sections:

• Collection Types: Content types with multiple entries (like articles, products, recipes)
• Single Types: Content types with a single entry (like homepage, footer, settings)

From the Content-Type Builder, you can:

• Create new collection types and single types
• Add, edit, and delete fields
• Configure field settings (required, unique, default values)
• Set up relations between content types
• Create components (reusable field groups)
• Define dynamic zones (flexible layout areas)

Every change in the Content-Type Builder triggers a server restart to apply the schema changes to the database and regenerate API routes.

Media Library

The Media Library stores all uploaded files. It supports images, videos, audio, PDFs, and other document types.

Media Library
-- Grid view / List view toggle
-- Upload button
-- Search and filter
-- Folder navigation (if enabled)
--
-- Files shown with thumbnail previews
-- Name, size, dimensions (for images), alternative text
-- Folder organization

Clicking a file opens a detail dialog showing:

• File preview
• File info: name, URL, size, dimensions, MIME type
• Alternative text (for Accessibility)
• Folder assignment
• Related entries that use this file

The Media Library lets you replace a file while keeping the same URL. This is useful when you need to update an image without breaking existing references.

Settings

The Settings section is where you configure Strapi's behavior. It is organized into groups:

Users & Permissions:

• Roles: Create and edit roles (Authenticated, Public, custom)
• Advanced Settings: Registration options, password reset, email confirmation

Administration Panel:

• Admin Panel Settings: Customize logo, colors, and branding
• API Tokens: Create API tokens for programmatic access
• Transfer Tokens: Create tokens for data transfer between Strapi instances

Internationalization:

• Locales: Add and manage languages for content translation

Global Settings:

• Email Templates: Customize password reset and email confirmation templates
• Review Workflows: Create approval workflows for content publishing

Plugins

The Plugins section shows installed plugins and their configuration options. The admin panel lists each plugin with its icon and a link to configure it.

Common plugins you might see:

• Graphql: Configure GraphQL endpoint settings
• SEO: Manage metadata fields and content audits
• i18n: Configure translation settings
• Upload: Manage upload provider configuration
• Users & Permissions: Advanced user management

You can install new plugins from the marketplace or by running npm run strapi install <plugin-name> in the terminal.

Admin Panel Customization

Strapi supports admin panel branding customization. In the Settings > Admin Panel Settings, you can:

• Upload a custom logo
• Change the primary color
• Set a custom favicon

// For advanced customization, create config/admin.js
// src/admin/app.js (Strapi 5)
export default {
  config: {
    locales: ["en", "fr", "de"],
    translations: {
      en: {
        "app.components.LeftMenu.navbrand.title": "Recipe API",
      },
    },
  },
};

Common Mistakes

1. Confusing Content Manager with Content-Type Builder. The Content Manager is for managing content entries. The Content-Type Builder is for designing content models. Editors should use the Content Manager. Developers use the Content-Type Builder. Mixing them up causes confusion about where to perform each task.

2. Creating duplicate content types. Not checking the existing content types before creating new ones. You might create a "Category" type when one already exists. Always browse existing types first.

3. Not using folders in the Media Library. As files accumulate, the Media Library becomes unmanageable without folder organization. Create folders for images, documents, and per-content-type uploads from the start.

4. Overlooking the filter and search options. The Content Manager list view can handle hundreds of entries. Use filters, search, and sorting to find entries quickly instead of scrolling through the entire list.

5. Making changes in Settings without understanding consequences. Changing settings like registration options or email confirmation requirements affects your API behavior. Test setting changes in development before applying them to production.

Practice Questions

1. What is the difference between the Content Manager and the Content-Type Builder? Answer: The Content Manager is for creating, editing, and publishing content entries. The Content-Type Builder is for defining the data model — which fields and types exist.

2. Where do you configure API tokens in the admin panel? Answer: Settings > Administration Panel > API Tokens. From there you can create, edit, and revoke API tokens for programmatic access.

3. How do you organize uploads in the Media Library? Answer: By creating folders. You can create a folder structure (e.g., images/recipes/, images/authors/, documents/) and move files into folders.

4. Challenge: Log into your Strapi admin panel and create a complete content workflow: (1) Create a new role called "Editor" with limited permissions, (2) Create a category folder structure in the Media Library, (3) Configure an API token, (4) Set up internationalization with at least two locales, (5) Write a one-page guide for a new editor explaining how to create and publish content.

FAQ

Mini Project

Your task: Create a complete admin panel configuration for a publishing platform.

1. Create the following content types: Article (title, content, cover_image), Author (name, bio, avatar), Category (name, description).
2. In the Content Manager, add sample data: 5 articles, 3 authors, 4 categories.
3. In the Media Library, create a folder structure: images/articles/, images/authors/, documents/.
4. Create two roles: "Editor" (can read and update all content, cannot modify content types) and "Viewer" (can read all content only).
5. Generate an API token with read-only access and test it with curl.

What's Next

Now that you are comfortable with the admin panel, proceed to Content Types to understand the difference between collection types, single types, and components in depth. After that, explore Fields & Attributes to learn about the available field types and their configuration options.

Related lessons:

• WordPress Admin Panel — Compare with traditional CMS admin
• REST API Design — The API your admin panel generates
• GraphQL — Alternative API approach