- How do I install nova-menu-collapsed in a Laravel Nova app?
- Run composer require stepanenko3/nova-menu-collapsed in an application that already runs licensed Laravel Nova. Laravel package auto-discovery registers the service provider, so there are no credentials to configure, no migrations to run, and no data to seed. The package is frontend-only: it registers a small JS and CSS asset into Nova's menu layer and flips the sidebar's default state from expanded to collapsed.
- Does stepanenko3/nova-menu-collapsed support Laravel Nova 5?
- There is no confirmed Nova 5 support. The last release was May 2023, which places the package squarely in Nova 4.x territory, and no release has shipped since. Treat Nova 5 as unverified and run an explicit spike in a staging copy before assuming it works. If you are not on licensed Nova at all, the package is irrelevant to your stack.
- How do I make the Nova sidebar collapsed by default?
- Install the package and the Nova sidebar starts collapsed on first load, freeing horizontal space for resource tables and forms. It works by changing the default state of Nova's menu rather than requiring you to write any toggle code. Users can still expand the menu when they need navigation.
- Do I need to publish config or assets after installing nova-menu-collapsed?
- No. The package has no meaningful configuration surface beyond a publishable default, and no routes, models, migrations, or queues. Asset registration is handled by the service provider, so installation is effectively a single Composer command followed by a browser refresh.
- Will nova-menu-collapsed override a user's saved sidebar preference in Nova?
- This is the main behavior to verify in a spike. Nova stores sidebar state client-side, so if the package simply sets a default it will respect a user's own expand toggle, but if it patches frontend internals it may re-collapse on every page load and fight the operator. Check whether the default is applied through Nova's public extension API or by reaching into DOM or localStorage internals, because that single answer also determines how painful Nova upgrades will be.
- Which Laravel and PHP versions does nova-menu-collapsed require?
- Realistically it targets a Laravel 9 or 10 application running Nova 4.x, since that is the era of its last release. Because the package is a thin frontend asset registration, PHP constraints are loose, but you should still read the composer.json constraints before adopting. For a Nova 5 or Laravel 11 upgrade, assume a verification step is required.
- Is nova-menu-collapsed still maintained and safe to use in production?
- Maintenance posture is weak: one maintainer, roughly a dozen stars, zero dependents, and no release in over two years. The blast radius is genuinely small, though, since the realistic worst case is that the sidebar opens expanded again for internal staff, with no customer-facing surface, no PII, no secrets, and no network calls. That asymmetry makes it a judgment call you can carry explicitly, ideally by vendoring the MIT source into a first-party package.
- Why did the Nova sidebar start expanding again after I upgraded Nova?
- Nova ships compiled, versioned frontend assets, so a minor Nova upgrade can silently no-op this package's behavior or throw during asset bootstrap. That fragility is documented in the changelog: version 1.2.2 is literally titled Fix for new Nova version, which means a maintainer patch was needed each time. Read that as a forecast of recurring work rather than a historical footnote, and budget for applying your own fix after Nova upgrades.
- Can I collapse the Nova menu without adding another Composer package?
- Yes, and for most teams it is the better path. In-house reproduction cost is very likely under a day, either by registering your own small Nova::script() and Nova::style() asset or by vendoring the MIT-licensed source into a first-party package. That reframes the decision from adopting a dependency to owning a small behavior, which eliminates the abandonment risk entirely.
- Does nova-menu-collapsed conflict with other Nova tools or custom menu components?
- It registers a small JS and CSS asset into Nova's menu layer, so asset registration order can make the outcome non-deterministic when several Nova extensions touch the same area. Test it alongside your full set of Nova tools and any custom menu components before rolling it out. If conflicts appear, a first-party copy of the behavior is usually easier to control than an unmaintained dependency.