---
title: Views
description: Ship pre-configured saved views — column order, filters, groups — for objects in your app.
icon: "list"
---

A **view** is a saved configuration for how records of an object are displayed: which fields appear, their order, whether they're visible, and any filters or groups applied. Use `defineView()` to ship pre-configured views with your app — typically a default index view for each custom object you create.

```ts src/views/example-view.ts
import { defineView, ViewKey } from 'twenty-sdk/define';
import { EXAMPLE_OBJECT_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIER } from '../objects/example-object';
import { NAME_FIELD_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIER } from '../objects/example-object';

export default defineView({
  universalIdentifier: 'a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890',
  name: 'All example items',
  objectUniversalIdentifier: EXAMPLE_OBJECT_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIER,
  icon: 'IconList',
  key: ViewKey.INDEX,
  position: 0,
  fields: [
    {
      universalIdentifier: 'f926bdb7-6af7-4683-9a09-adbca56c29f0',
      fieldMetadataUniversalIdentifier: NAME_FIELD_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIER,
      position: 0,
      isVisible: true,
      size: 200,
    },
  ],
});
```

## Key points

- `objectUniversalIdentifier` specifies which object this view applies to. It can be a custom object you defined or a standard Twenty object.
- `key` determines the view type — `ViewKey.INDEX` is the main list view for the object.
- `fields` controls which columns appear and in what order. Each field references a `fieldMetadataUniversalIdentifier`.
- You can also declare `filters`, `filterGroups`, `groups`, and `fieldGroups` for advanced configurations.
- `position` controls ordering when multiple views exist for the same object.

## How views show up in the UI

A view by itself isn't reachable from the sidebar. To make it appear there, pair it with a [navigation menu item](/developers/extend/apps/layout/navigation-menu-items) of type `VIEW` that points at the view's `universalIdentifier`. That's the canonical pattern: every custom object typically ships a default view + a sidebar entry that opens it.