I’m using Emojis in the Categories section in the sidebar, but I also have a custom section that is public. I wanted to have the same colorful icons in that section so it doesn’t get so “bland” compared to the Categories section.
Is this possible?
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With the help of both ChatGPT and Claude, I was able to make it work and very customizable:
If you want to do it, create a new component and add this to the CSS tab:
.sidebar-section-link-prefix .emoji.prefix-emoji {
width: 1rem !important;
height: 1rem !important;
}
For my particular case
1remworks great. Adjust to your forum/community
Then in the JS tab:
import { apiInitializer } from "discourse/lib/api";
import { emojiUrlFor } from "discourse/lib/text";
export default apiInitializer("0.11.1", (api) => {
// Map section names to IDs
const sectionIds = {
"community": 1,
"tiago": 2,
"personal-section": 3,
// Add more sections here
};
// Map of [sectionId, itemName] to emoji names
const iconReplacements = {
// Community section (ID: 1)
"1,admin": "wrench",
"1,review": "triangular_flag_on_post",
"1,everything": "books",
"1,my-posts": "writing_hand",
"1,my-messages": "envelope_with_arrow",
// Tiago section (ID: 2)
"2,Journal": "notebook_with_decorative_cover",
"2,Music": "musical_note",
"2,About": "bust_in_silhouette",
// Personal section (ID: 3)
"3,Backups": "floppy_disk",
"3,Scheduled": "clock3",
"3,Staff": "lock",
"3,Components": "electric_plug",
};
function replaceIcons() {
Object.entries(sectionIds).forEach(([sectionName, sectionId]) => {
Object.entries(iconReplacements).forEach(([key, emojiName]) => {
const [keyId, itemName] = key.split(',');
// Only process if this replacement is for the current section
if (parseInt(keyId) === sectionId) {
const url = emojiUrlFor(emojiName);
// Try multiple selectors to catch both hamburger menu and fixed sidebar
const selectors = [
// Fixed sidebar selector
`div[data-section-name="${sectionName}"] li[data-list-item-name="${itemName}"] .sidebar-section-link-prefix.icon`,
// Hamburger menu selector (more specific)
`.menu-panel div[data-section-name="${sectionName}"] li[data-list-item-name="${itemName}"] .sidebar-section-link-prefix.icon`,
// Generic fallback
`[data-section-name="${sectionName}"] [data-list-item-name="${itemName}"] .sidebar-section-link-prefix.icon`
];
for (const selector of selectors) {
const prefix = document.querySelector(selector);
if (prefix && url) {
// Check if it's already replaced to avoid unnecessary DOM manipulation
if (!prefix.querySelector('.prefix-emoji')) {
prefix.innerHTML = `
<img src="${url}"
title="${emojiName}"
alt="${emojiName}"
class="emoji prefix-emoji">
`;
}
break; // Exit loop once we find and replace the icon
}
}
}
});
});
}
// Run on page change
api.onPageChange(replaceIcons);
// Also run with delay to catch dynamically loaded content
api.onPageChange(() => {
setTimeout(replaceIcons, 100);
setTimeout(replaceIcons, 500);
});
// Enhanced MutationObserver to catch sidebar changes
const observer = new MutationObserver((mutations) => {
let shouldReplace = false;
mutations.forEach((mutation) => {
// Watch for added nodes (original functionality)
mutation.addedNodes.forEach((node) => {
if (node.nodeType === Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {
if (node.classList?.contains('menu-panel') ||
node.querySelector?.('.sidebar-sections') ||
node.classList?.contains('sidebar-sections') ||
node.querySelector?.('[data-section-name]')) {
shouldReplace = true;
}
}
});
// Watch for attribute changes on sidebar sections (collapse/expand)
if (mutation.type === 'attributes' && mutation.target.nodeType === Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {
const target = mutation.target;
if (target.matches('[data-section-name]') ||
target.closest('[data-section-name]') ||
target.matches('.sidebar-section') ||
target.closest('.sidebar-section')) {
shouldReplace = true;
}
}
// Watch for childList changes in sidebar sections
if (mutation.type === 'childList' && mutation.target.nodeType === Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {
const target = mutation.target;
if (target.matches('[data-section-name]') ||
target.closest('[data-section-name]') ||
target.querySelector('[data-section-name]')) {
shouldReplace = true;
}
}
});
if (shouldReplace) {
setTimeout(replaceIcons, 50);
}
});
// Start observing with enhanced options
observer.observe(document.body, {
childList: true,
subtree: true,
attributes: true, // Watch for attribute changes
attributeFilter: ['class', 'style', 'aria-expanded'], // Common attributes that change on collapse/expand
});
// Additional event listeners for common sidebar interactions
document.addEventListener('click', (event) => {
// Check if click was on a sidebar section header or toggle button
if (event.target.closest('.sidebar-section-header') ||
event.target.closest('[data-section-name]') ||
event.target.matches('.sidebar-section-toggle')) {
setTimeout(replaceIcons, 100);
}
});
});
I made it so I can easily add new custom sections by name, attributing it an id and then creating each section’s mapping.
The reason for that is because I may have 2 sections with the title Journal, for example, but maybe I want 2 different emojis for each.
I’m pretty sure there will be someone saying that there’s a component or plugin for this 
but it was still fun to go back and forth with ChatGPT and Claude until everything worked the way I wanted.
Hope this helps other users.
If you see anything that can be tweaked/improved, please share
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I just updated the JS code, because I noticed that on mobile it was still showing the default icons. Everything is working as expected on both mobile and desktop.
Another edit: when I would collapse and expand the section, the emojis would be gone and replaced with the original icons. It’s working now and I updated the JS code again.
Glad you found a way to do this – I think this would be a pretty natural fit for a core feature, now that we support emoji for categories.
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I agree. Hope this becomes a native feature eventually. Until that happens, this custom component is doing its job 
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