UI Feature Request: "Recent Items" for Device, Entity, & Helper Lists

[Warwitz]

Describe your idea

The Problem:

When managing a large Home Assistant instance, navigating back to a specific device or entity immediately after adding or editing it requires repeated searching or filtering. There is currently no "working memory" in the UI to keep active tasks accessible.

One Solution:

Introduce a distinct, horizontal "Quick Access" row at the very top of the Devices, Entities, and Helpers tabs (above the search bar).

Functionality:

1. Recents: Automatically display the 3-5 most recently added or modified items as clear, clickable cards.
2. Pinning: Allow users to manually "pin" specific items to this row for temporary focus during projects.
3. Visuals: See attached mockup for a clean, non-intrusive implementation example.

Why is this exciting?

This dramatically streamlines the configuration workflow. As smart homes grow, users often manage hundreds of entities and devices. Currently, finding the item you just added or modified requires repeated searching or scrolling. A "Recent Items" section transforms the experience from a raw database lookup into a fluid workspace, acting as a "working memory" for the UI that keeps the user's immediate context front and center.

Potential use cases

1. New Device Onboarding: After adding a new integration (e.g., a batch of Zigbee bulbs or UniFi APs), they would immediately appear in "Recent Items." This allows for quick renaming and Area assignment without having to search for the default names like "light.bulb_01_xy" repeatedly.

2. Rapid Troubleshooting & Iteration: When tweaking a specific Helper or Entity to get an automation just right, users often navigate away to check logs or test a dashboard. Returning to the Devices tab would instantly present that specific entity again, saving seconds every time and reducing frustration.

3. Temporary "Project" Focus: If the "Pin" feature is included, a user working on a specific room renovation or holiday setup could pin the 5-6 relevant devices to the top, filtering out the noise of the other 200+ devices in their home while they complete the project.

Anything else?

No response

[teskanoo]

This is a very positive suggestion which can help solve many problems with navigating entities (on large systems)

I have over 2.5k entities (over 7k if you include disabled and hidden) - filtering down to a use-case set should not be such an onerous task

I mean I cannot even return the the /config/entities page without 'again' having to get to my baseline which is to exclude hidden/disabled

I'm going to take a look at ...

Entity Manager (HACS)

Entity Manager is a custom integration specifically designed to provide the advanced filtering and management capabilities that the native entity list lacks.

• Filter Presets: You can save your current filter configurations (domain, search terms, state) as named presets and reload them instantly.
• Scoped Views: It allows you to browse entities through a sidebar organized by integration, device, and entity type.
• Bulk Actions: It includes a dedicated interface for bulk enabling/disabling entities, which is often easier to navigate than the standard settings page.
• Favorites: You can "star" entities to create a custom scoped list of your most-used items.

I've got my fingers crossed that it's going to provide a solution.

I'm reluctant to do it but I'm not going to hold back in saying that it often seems that HA ideas and implementations are not always use-case-tested against larger systems with hundreds of devices, thousands of entities and hundreds of labels (as labels is the only way to really provide correlated cross-pollenated information to LLMs for structural cognition)