Feature Dynamic Tabs

Dynamic tabs (auto_tabs)

Generate a tab per item from live Home Assistant data instead of hand-writing them. Point a Jinja template at a list — entities in an area, every camera, a custom list — and Tabdeck builds one tab for each element, keeping them in sync as the list changes.

Top-level key: auto_tabs

type: custom:tabdeck-card
tabs:
  - name: Overview            # static tabs still work; they stay first
    icon: mdi:view-dashboard
    card: { type: markdown, content: All cameras below }
auto_tabs:
  template: >                 # HA Jinja — must return a list
    {{ states.camera | map(attribute='entity_id') | list }}
  tab_template:               # blueprint filled once per list item
    name: "{{ item }}"
    icon: mdi:cctv
    card:
      type: picture-entity
      entity: "{{ item }}"

Options

Key	Type	Description
template	string (Jinja)	Required. Rendered by Home Assistant; must resolve to a list. Each element becomes a tab.
tab_template	tab config	Optional blueprint. When present, it's filled once per list item using the placeholders below. When absent, each list element is used directly as a complete tab config.

Placeholders (inside tab_template)

Placeholder	Resolves to
{{ item }}	The current list element (a string, or an object).
{{ item.some.prop }}	A dotted-path lookup when the element is an object, e.g. {{ item.entity }}.
{{ index }}	The 0-based position in the list.

A placeholder that is the whole value keeps the resolved type (so entity: "{{ item }}" yields the item itself); a placeholder inside a larger string is interpolated as text (name: "Cam {{ index }}").

Items can be strings or objects

auto_tabs:
  template: >
    {{ [
      {'label': 'Front',  'id': 'camera.front_door'},
      {'label': 'Drive',  'id': 'camera.driveway'}
    ] }}
  tab_template:
    name: "{{ item.label }}"
    card: { type: picture-entity, entity: "{{ item.id }}" }

Template returns full tabs (no tab_template)

If you omit tab_template, the list elements are treated as ready-made tab configs:

auto_tabs:
  template: >
    {{ [
      {'name': 'Lights', 'icon': 'mdi:lightbulb', 'card': {'type': 'light', 'entity': 'light.lounge'}},
      {'name': 'Climate', 'card': {'type': 'thermostat', 'entity': 'climate.hall'}}
    ] }}

Behaviour

• Static first, generated appended. Existing tabs: keep working untouched; generated tabs are added after them. You can also use auto_tabs with no static tabs at all.
• Live refresh. When the template result changes (an entity appears/disappears), the tab set rebuilds automatically. Your current tab is preserved by name where possible, otherwise the position is clamped into range.
• Two template layers, kept separate. auto_tabs.template is rendered by Home Assistant. The {{ item }} / {{ index }} placeholders are resolved inside the card — and only those tokens. Any other {{ ... }} (for example a generated card's own {{ states('sensor.x') }} badge) is left untouched and rendered by Home Assistant as normal.
• Empty / not-ready. While the template is still rendering, errors, or doesn't return a list, no generated tabs are shown (and a deck with only auto_tabs simply shows nothing until the list arrives).
• No cap. Large lists are fine — combine with scroll_buttons / overflow_menu to handle a long bar.
• Configured in YAML (no visual-editor controls), like visibility and auto_select.

Example

A static Overview tab followed by one generated tab per item, with {{ index }} driving the icon: