# Menus

In HivePress, menus are implemented as PHP classes with specific properties, such as the menu items and HTML attributes. For example, the `User_Account` menu contains the user account menu items, and it's displayed on the account subpages.

### Creating menus

If you are developing a custom HivePress [extension](/developer-docs/tutorials/create-a-custom-hivepress-extension.md), you may need to create a new menu. To do this, create a new `class-{menu-name}.php` file (use lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only) in the `includes/menus` extension subdirectory and HivePress will load it automatically.

Then, define the menu PHP class. The class name should be based on the file name but with underscores instead of hyphens and no lowercase restriction (e.g. `Foo_Bar` class for the `class-foo-bar.php` file). Pick a name that is unique enough to avoid conflicts with other HivePress menus.

The following menu parameters are available:

* **attributes** - an array of HTML attributes;
* **items** - the menu item parameters.

Each menu item is defined with these parameters:

* **label** - menu item label;
* **route** - [route](/developer-docs/framework/controllers.md) name for linking;
* **url** - custom URL if no `route` is set.

The code example below implements a menu with two items. The first item is based on the `listings_view_page` URL route, so it's linked to the **Listings** page. The second item is linked to a custom URL set in the `url` parameter.

```php
<?php
namespace HivePress\Menus;

use HivePress\Helpers as hp;

// Exit if accessed directly.
defined( 'ABSPATH' ) || exit;

class Foo_Bar extends Menu {
	public function __construct( $args = [] ) {
		$args = hp\merge_arrays(
			[
				// Define the menu items.
				'items' => [
					'first_item'  => [
						'label'  => 'First Item',
						'route'  => 'listings_view_page',
						'_order' => 123,
					],

					'second_item' => [
						'label'  => 'Second Item',
						'url'    => 'https://example.com',
						'_order' => 321,
					],
				],
			],
			$args
		);

		parent::__construct( $args );
	}
}
```

In the same way, you can create custom menus for your HivePress extension.

### Customizing menus

You can customize any of the existing menus using [hooks](https://hivepress.github.io/hook-reference/). For example, the code below adds a new item with the "Custom item" label to the user account menu.

```php
add_filter(
	'hivepress/v1/menus/user_account',
	function( $menu ) {
		$menu['items']['custom_item'] = [
			'label'  => 'Custom item',
			'url'    => 'https://example.com',
			'_order' => 123,
		];

		return $menu;
	}
);
```

Similarly, you can customize any menu in HivePress or its extensions.


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