Installation
Require the theme with Composer, enable it, then set it as your administration theme. On enable, AdminLTE ships a default block layout so the admin UI renders inside the AdminLTE shell straight away.
1. Require the package
composer require drupal/adminlte
This downloads the theme into themes/contrib/adminlte. It requires Drupal 10.3+ or 11.
2. Enable the theme
With Drush:
drush theme:enable adminlte
drush config:set system.theme admin adminlte # use as the administration theme
Or through the UI at Appearance (/admin/appearance):
- Under Uninstalled themes, click Install next to AdminLTE 4 (or Install and set as default).
- To use it only for the admin UI, set it as the Administration theme at
/admin/appearance→ Administration theme.
AdminLTE is designed as an admin theme. Most sites set it as the administration theme and keep a separate front-end theme as the default, but you can also set it as the default theme if you want the AdminLTE shell everywhere.
3. What ships on enable
The theme's config/install directory provides a default block placement, so the following render immediately with no manual block configuration:
| Block | Region |
|---|---|
| Administration menu | sidebar |
| Main navigation | sidebar |
| Site branding | sidebar_brand |
| User account menu | navbar_right |
| Page title | page_title |
| Breadcrumbs | breadcrumb |
| Status messages, tabs, local actions, content | highlighted / content |
| Powered by Drupal | footer |
An optional Help block is provided in config/optional and is placed if the Help module is installed.
4. Manual installation
If you are not using Composer, download the theme and extract it into themes/contrib/adminlte, then enable it via the Appearance page as above.
What's bundled
| Asset | Notes |
|---|---|
css/adminlte.css | AdminLTE 4 styles — Bootstrap 5.3 CSS included |
css/adminlte-drupal.css | Bridge CSS for Drupal admin markup |
js/adminlte.js | AdminLTE behaviours (sidebar, treeview) |
js/vendor/bootstrap.bundle.min.js | Bootstrap 5.3 + Popper |
css/vendor/bootstrap-icons.min.css + fonts | Bootstrap Icons 1.13 |
Next step
Adjust the theme settings (default colour mode, dark sidebar) — see Configuration.