diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index da8d0c6b2..e2fdd71cc 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -50,3 +50,4 @@ cypress/downloads/
 
 # Cypress cache
 .cypress_cache/
+/projects/dashboard-core/styles.css
diff --git a/projects/dashboard-core/src/lib/dashboard-app/dashboard-app.component.cy.ts b/projects/dashboard-core/src/lib/dashboard-app/dashboard-app.component.cy.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..59896110c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/projects/dashboard-core/src/lib/dashboard-app/dashboard-app.component.cy.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+/*
+ *  Copyright (c) 2026 Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
+ *
+ *  This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
+ *  terms of the Apache License, Version 2.0 which is available at
+ *  https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ *  SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ *
+ *  Contributors:
+ *       Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. - initial API and implementation
+ *
+ */
+
+import { Component, Type } from '@angular/core';
+import { provideHttpClient } from '@angular/common/http';
+import { provideRouter } from '@angular/router';
+import { mount } from 'cypress/angular';
+import { AppConfig, DashboardAppComponent } from '@eclipse-edc/dashboard-core';
+
+@Component({
+  selector: 'lib-navbar-start-stub',
+  standalone: true,
+  template: '<span data-cy="start-widget">start-widget</span>',
+})
+class NavbarStartStubComponent {}
+
+@Component({
+  selector: 'lib-navbar-center-stub',
+  standalone: true,
+  template: '<span data-cy="center-widget">center-widget</span>',
+})
+class NavbarCenterStubComponent {}
+
+@Component({
+  selector: 'lib-navbar-end-stub',
+  standalone: true,
+  template: '<span data-cy="end-widget">end-widget</span>',
+})
+class NavbarEndStubComponent {}
+
+const appConfig: AppConfig = {
+  appTitle: 'Test Dashboard',
+  enableUserConfig: false,
+  menuItems: [
+    { text: 'Home', materialSymbol: 'home', routerPath: 'home' },
+    { text: 'Assets', materialSymbol: 'deployed_code_update', routerPath: 'assets' },
+  ],
+};
+
+const mountDashboard = (
+  navbarStartComponents: Type<unknown>[],
+  navbarCenterComponents: Type<unknown>[],
+  navbarEndComponents: Type<unknown>[],
+) =>
+  mount(DashboardAppComponent, {
+    autoDetectChanges: true,
+    componentProperties: {
+      appConfig: Promise.resolve(appConfig),
+      themes: ['light'],
+      navbarStartComponents,
+      navbarCenterComponents,
+      navbarEndComponents,
+    },
+    providers: [provideRouter([]), provideHttpClient()],
+  });
+
+describe('DashboardAppComponent navbar extension', () => {
+  it('renders injected components in the navbar-start region', () => {
+    mountDashboard([NavbarStartStubComponent], [], []);
+
+    cy.get('.navbar-start [data-cy="start-widget"]').should('exist');
+  });
+
+  it('renders injected components in the navbar-center region', () => {
+    mountDashboard([], [NavbarCenterStubComponent], []);
+
+    cy.get('.navbar-center [data-cy="center-widget"]').should('exist');
+  });
+
+  it('renders injected components in the navbar-end region', () => {
+    mountDashboard([], [], [NavbarEndStubComponent]);
+
+    cy.get('.navbar-end [data-cy="end-widget"]').should('exist');
+  });
+
+  it('preserves the built-in navbar content alongside injected components', () => {
+    mountDashboard([NavbarStartStubComponent], [NavbarCenterStubComponent], [NavbarEndStubComponent]);
+
+    // Built-in menu toggle button remains in the start region.
+    cy.get('.navbar-start button').should('exist');
+    // Built-in app title remains in the center region.
+    cy.get('.navbar-center').contains('Test Dashboard').should('exist');
+    // Built-in theme switcher dropdown remains in the end region.
+    cy.get('.navbar-end .dropdown-end').should('exist');
+  });
+
+  it('appends injected start components after the built-in content', () => {
+    mountDashboard([NavbarStartStubComponent], [], []);
+
+    cy.get('.navbar-start').find('lib-navbar-start-stub').prevAll('button').should('exist');
+  });
+
+  it('appends injected center components after the built-in content', () => {
+    mountDashboard([], [NavbarCenterStubComponent], []);
+
+    cy.get('.navbar-center').find('lib-navbar-center-stub').prevAll().contains('Test Dashboard').should('exist');
+  });
+
+  it('renders no injected components by default', () => {
+    mountDashboard([], [], []);
+
+    cy.get('[data-cy="start-widget"]').should('not.exist');
+    cy.get('[data-cy="center-widget"]').should('not.exist');
+    cy.get('[data-cy="end-widget"]').should('not.exist');
+    // Navbar itself still renders.
+    cy.get('.navbar').should('exist');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/projects/dashboard-core/src/lib/dashboard-app/dashboard-app.component.html b/projects/dashboard-core/src/lib/dashboard-app/dashboard-app.component.html
index 02e2ddfad..516c64db4 100644
--- a/projects/dashboard-core/src/lib/dashboard-app/dashboard-app.component.html
+++ b/projects/dashboard-core/src/lib/dashboard-app/dashboard-app.component.html
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
         class="btn btn-lg btn-circle btn-ghost hover:text-primary-content hover:bg-primary border-none"
         role="button"
         (click)="stateService.toggleMenuOpen()"
-        [disabled]="((appConfig | async)?.menuItems)!.length < 2"
+        [disabled]="((appConfig | async)?.menuItems?.length ?? 0) < 2"
       >
         @if (stateService.isMenuOpen$ | async) {
           <span class="material-symbols-rounded h7 w-7 !text-[1.75rem]">menu_open</span>
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@
           <span class="material-symbols-rounded h7 w-7 !text-[1.75rem]">menu</span>
         }
       </button>
+      @for (component of navbarStartComponents; track component) {
+        <ng-container *ngComponentOutlet="component"></ng-container>
+      }
     </div>
     <div class="navbar-center">
       <div class="text-lg">{{ (appConfig | async)?.appTitle ?? 'EDC Dashboard' }}</div>
@@ -139,6 +142,9 @@
           </button>
         </div>
       }
+      @for (component of navbarCenterComponents; track component) {
+        <ng-container *ngComponentOutlet="component"></ng-container>
+      }
     </div>
     <div class="navbar-end">
       <div class="dropdown dropdown-end">
@@ -171,11 +177,14 @@
           }
         </ul>
       </div>
+      @for (component of navbarEndComponents; track component) {
+        <ng-container *ngComponentOutlet="component"></ng-container>
+      }
     </div>
   </div>
 
   <div class="box-border py-4 pl-4 flex flex-auto overflow-auto">
-    @if (((appConfig | async)?.menuItems)!.length > 1) {
+    @if (((appConfig | async)?.menuItems?.length ?? 0) > 1) {
       <ul
         class="menu flex-nowrap shrink-0 h-full rounded-2xl bg-neutral text-neutral-content shadow-xl [&_li>a]:px-4 overflow-auto"
       >
@@ -202,7 +211,7 @@
     <div
       id="router-content"
       class="px-4 box-border w-full"
-      [ngClass]="((appConfig | async)?.menuItems)!.length > 1 ? '' : 'pl-0'"
+      [ngClass]="((appConfig | async)?.menuItems?.length ?? 0) > 1 ? '' : 'pl-0'"
     >
       <router-outlet></router-outlet>
     </div>
diff --git a/projects/dashboard-core/src/lib/dashboard-app/dashboard-app.component.ts b/projects/dashboard-core/src/lib/dashboard-app/dashboard-app.component.ts
index 174b004ab..8f09a768a 100644
--- a/projects/dashboard-core/src/lib/dashboard-app/dashboard-app.component.ts
+++ b/projects/dashboard-core/src/lib/dashboard-app/dashboard-app.component.ts
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@
  *
  */
 
-import { AfterViewInit, Component, Input, ViewChild, ViewContainerRef, inject } from '@angular/core';
+import { AfterViewInit, Component, Input, Type, ViewChild, ViewContainerRef, inject } from '@angular/core';
 import { RouterLink, RouterLinkActive, RouterOutlet } from '@angular/router';
-import { AsyncPipe, NgClass } from '@angular/common';
+import { AsyncPipe, NgClass, NgComponentOutlet } from '@angular/common';
 import { DashboardStateService } from '../services/dashboard-state.service';
 import { EdcConfig } from '../models/edc-config';
 import { EdcClientService } from '../services/edc-client.service';
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import { AppConfig } from '../models/app-config';
 @Component({
   selector: 'lib-dashboard-app',
   standalone: true,
-  imports: [RouterOutlet, RouterLink, RouterLinkActive, AsyncPipe, NgClass],
+  imports: [RouterOutlet, RouterLink, RouterLinkActive, AsyncPipe, NgClass, NgComponentOutlet],
   templateUrl: './dashboard-app.component.html',
   styleUrl: './dashboard-app.component.css',
 })
@@ -39,6 +39,13 @@ export class DashboardAppComponent implements AfterViewInit {
   @Input() edcConfigs?: Promise<EdcConfig[]>;
   @Input() themes: string[] = [];
 
+  /** Components appended to the navbar-start region, rendered after the built-in content. */
+  @Input() navbarStartComponents: Type<unknown>[] = [];
+  /** Components appended to the navbar-center region, rendered after the built-in content. */
+  @Input() navbarCenterComponents: Type<unknown>[] = [];
+  /** Components appended to the navbar-end region, rendered after the built-in content. */
+  @Input() navbarEndComponents: Type<unknown>[] = [];
+
   @ViewChild('dashboardModal', { read: ViewContainerRef, static: true }) modal!: ViewContainerRef;
   @ViewChild('dashboardAlert', { read: ViewContainerRef, static: true }) alert!: ViewContainerRef;