I’m curious about this one, because I’m not sure I fully understand the use case yet.
The sidebar already allows an icon to be assigned to each link, and links added by an admin are already verified. User-created sidebar sections are similar in that the user is explicitly adding links they already know and trust.
So I can definitely see the value in applying the external-link styling there, but I’m not sure what additional value the component would provide beyond the sidebar’s existing icon support, especially since you mentioned not wanting the modal or restrictions.
Would your main goal be simply to visually indicate that a sidebar link points to an external site, using the same styling/icon as the component?