# MultiSelect - multiple default options

**URL:** <https://community.grafana.com/t/multiselect-multiple-default-options/160627>\
**Category:** Grafana Plugin Development\
**Created:** [December 30, 2025, 12:26am UTC](https://community.grafana.com/t/multiselect-multiple-default-options/160627 "2025-12-30T00:26:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ventura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ac91a4/32.png) [@ventura](https://community.grafana.com/u/ventura)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 12:26am UTC](https://community.grafana.com/t/multiselect-multiple-default-options/160627/1 "2025-12-30T00:26:44Z")

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Already seen: [Setting a default value for Multi Select Field in Data Manipulation Plugin while using an Initial Request](https://community.grafana.com/t/setting-a-default-value-for-multi-select-field-in-data-manipulation-plugin-while-using-an-initial-request/108635)

Hi! How can I set _ **multiple** _ default values for a multi select? Here is a simplified example below:

```typescript

    .addMultiSelect<number, SelectFieldConfigSettings<number>>({
      path: 'steps',
      name: 'Steps',
      defaultValue: [1, 2, 3], // ERROR HERE
      settings: {
        allowCustomValue: true,
        isClearable: true,
        options: [{ label: '1', value: 1 }, { label: '2', value: 2 }, { label: '3', value: 3 }],
      },
    })

```

The code breaks at the `defaultValue` - because it wants a `number` only and not `number[]`. I can set the default value to `1` for example which works but only sets that one option as its default.

As a side point, I’d also like to leave `options: []` blank because for this input selector, I want the user to be able to input their own arbitrary amount and values of numeric options. Is this possible?

Thanks,

Nicolas

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![academo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e9a140/32.png) [@academo](https://community.grafana.com/u/academo)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 10:17am UTC](https://community.grafana.com/t/multiselect-multiple-default-options/160627/2 "2026-01-05T10:17:51Z")

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@ventura once you start dealing with more complex situations like this what you want is to use a custom panel editor. You can read more about it here [Add a custom panel option editor | Grafana Plugin Tools](https://grafana.com/developers/plugin-tools/how-to-guides/panel-plugins/custom-panel-option-editors)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ventura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ac91a4/32.png) [@ventura](https://community.grafana.com/u/ventura)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 3:06pm UTC](https://community.grafana.com/t/multiselect-multiple-default-options/160627/3 "2026-01-08T15:06:13Z")

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Got it, thanks for the tip. It’s interesting to me though that the multi select’s default value accepts a `type` but the return value can be an array of `type[]` if multiple values are selected. The custom editor is probably the way to go for this, anyway.