---
title: Swap in your own React Context providers
label: Custom Providers
order: 30
desc:
keywords: admin, components, custom, documentation, Content Management System, cms, headless, javascript, node, react, nextjs
---

As you add more and more [Custom Components](./overview) to your [Admin Panel](../admin/overview), you may find it helpful to add additional [React Context](https://react.dev/learn/scaling-up-with-reducer-and-context)(s) to your app. Payload allows you to inject your own context providers where you can export your own custom hooks, etc.

To add a Custom Provider, use the `admin.components.providers` property in your [Payload Config](../configuration/overview):

```ts
import { buildConfig } from 'payload'

export default buildConfig({
  // ...
  admin: {
    components: {
      providers: ['/path/to/MyProvider'], // highlight-line
    },
  },
})
```

Then build your Custom Provider as follows:

```tsx
'use client'
import React, { createContext, use } from 'react'

const MyCustomContext = React.createContext(myCustomValue)

export function MyProvider({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <MyCustomContext value={myCustomValue}>
      {children}
    </MyCustomContext>
  )
}

export const useMyCustomContext = () => use(MyCustomContext)
```

_For details on how to build Custom Components, see [Building Custom Components](./overview#building-custom-components)._

<Banner type="warning">
  **Reminder:** React Context exists only within Client Components. This means they must include the `use client` directive at the top of their files and cannot contain server-only code. To use a Server Component here, simply _wrap_ your Client Component with it.
</Banner>