# Is it possible to add a tab to the "Edit flow drawer"?
**URL:** https://discourse.nodered.org/t/is-it-possible-to-add-a-tab-to-the-edit-flow-drawer/63949
**Category:** General
**Created:** [15 June 2022 06:47 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/is-it-possible-to-add-a-tab-to-the-edit-flow-drawer/63949 "2022-06-15T06:47:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Backboard7880](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Backboard7880)
#### Post date: [15 June 2022 06:47 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/is-it-possible-to-add-a-tab-to-the-edit-flow-drawer/63949/1 "2022-06-15T06:47:33Z")
Hello,
As a user i would like to set extra properties to a flow.
Does NodeRED allows it?
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### Author:  [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)
#### Post date: [15 June 2022 06:50 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/is-it-possible-to-add-a-tab-to-the-edit-flow-drawer/63949/2 "2022-06-15T06:50:34Z")
Hi Backboard7880 & welcome to the forum.
> [@Backboard7880](#):
>
> Does NodeRED allows it
No, but I am am curious as to why?
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### Author:  [@Backboard7880](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Backboard7880)
#### Post date: [15 June 2022 07:12 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/is-it-possible-to-add-a-tab-to-the-edit-flow-drawer/63949/3 "2022-06-15T07:12:11Z")
Thanks for the quick answer.
I would like to add meta data to the flow to indicate its dependencies on other flows.
Here is how I got here.
Let's say I have flow A, B, and C. They all perform some calculations and get their respective set of input.
the output of flowA is the input of flowB.
the output of flowB is the input of flowC.
I have a web service that would figure out the dependency tree and sequencially run each flows as its collecting the required inputs.
web service reads all the flows
web service resolves that A is the starting point.
web service runs A then goes through the dependency tree until the final output.
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### Author:  [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)
#### Post date: [15 June 2022 07:19 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/is-it-possible-to-add-a-tab-to-the-edit-flow-drawer/63949/4 "2022-06-15T07:19:48Z")
Ok, while I cannot understand why anyone would require this level of abstraction, added complication & non visual routing when you could achieve the same thing with flow routing (switch nodes) and msg properties, I think your only option at this point is to use a structured data (JSON / XML) in the description field.
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### Author:  [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)
#### Post date: [15 June 2022 07:22 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/is-it-possible-to-add-a-tab-to-the-edit-flow-drawer/63949/5 "2022-06-15T07:22:40Z")
It _is_ actually possible to register custom edit panes in the edit dialog. It's a currently undocumented feature that was fairly recently added. I can dig out an example if you are really interested.
However, we don't provide any way to add custom properties directly to a node or the flow - so I suspect its only half of what you're looking for. Being able to add custom properties to things is something in the backlog, but it's a big backlog and this it is a very niche feature so hasn't had any real attention.
An alternative approach would be for you to register a custom configuration node, and then dynamically add one to each flow when you have metadata to store. The Node-RED Dashboard set of nodes does something similar - it adds a `ui_base` config node to store the dashboard configuration.
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### Author:  [@Backboard7880](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Backboard7880)
#### Post date: [15 June 2022 07:29 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/is-it-possible-to-add-a-tab-to-the-edit-flow-drawer/63949/6 "2022-06-15T07:29:17Z")
Thanks @knolleary I would like to see that example when you get a chance.
I'll also give it a shot with the custom configuration node.
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### Author:  [@Backboard7880](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Backboard7880)
#### Post date: [15 June 2022 07:33 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/is-it-possible-to-add-a-tab-to-the-edit-flow-drawer/63949/7 "2022-06-15T07:33:19Z")
it's one of my requirements to have the overarching flow that combines A,B,C not statically wired together. And at the same time enjoy the LoCode interface for the small stand-alone flows.
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### Author:  [@dceejay](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dceejay)
#### Post date: [15 June 2022 08:25 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/is-it-possible-to-add-a-tab-to-the-edit-flow-drawer/63949/8 "2022-06-15T08:25:17Z")
Also one of the ideas around the group feature for nodes was to allow them to be visually grouped - but then also at some point to have group properties which could indicate separation or other interfaces.
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### Author:  [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)
#### Post date: [15 June 2022 08:27 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/is-it-possible-to-add-a-tab-to-the-edit-flow-drawer/63949/9 "2022-06-15T08:27:27Z")
> [@Backboard7880](#):
>
> Thanks @knolleary I would like to see that example when you get a chance.
> I'll also give it a shot with the custom configuration node.
There is an example in uibuilder.
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### Author:  [@Backboard7880](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Backboard7880)
#### Post date: [15 June 2022 08:28 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/is-it-possible-to-add-a-tab-to-the-edit-flow-drawer/63949/10 "2022-06-15T08:28:55Z")
Thanks this answers the question.
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### Author:  [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)
#### Post date: [15 June 2022 09:04 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/is-it-possible-to-add-a-tab-to-the-edit-flow-drawer/63949/11 "2022-06-15T09:04:02Z")
Not sure that does answer the question. That shows the UI builder node has tabs within its configuration pane - something any node could do already.
That is not the same as adding a custom pane to the Flow edit dialog which was the original question.
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### Author:  [@Backboard7880](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Backboard7880)
#### Post date: [16 June 2022 10:39 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/is-it-possible-to-add-a-tab-to-the-edit-flow-drawer/63949/12 "2022-06-16T10:39:30Z")
@knolleary I had a look at it earlier today and no, the UI builder is not what I was looking for.