diff --git a/src/common/hotbar-store.ts b/src/common/hotbar-store.ts
index 0faa165bf7..6e771473fb 100644
--- a/src/common/hotbar-store.ts
+++ b/src/common/hotbar-store.ts
@@ -22,38 +22,17 @@
 import { action, comparer, observable, makeObservable } from "mobx";
 import { BaseStore } from "./base-store";
 import migrations from "../migrations/hotbar-store";
-import * as uuid from "uuid";
 import isNull from "lodash/isNull";
 import { toJS } from "./utils";
 import { CatalogEntity } from "./catalog";
 import { catalogEntity } from "../main/catalog-sources/general";
-
-export interface HotbarItem {
-  entity: {
-    uid: string;
-    name?: string;
-    source?: string;
-  };
-  params?: {
-    [key: string]: string;
-  }
-}
-
-export type Hotbar = Required<HotbarCreateOptions>;
-
-export interface HotbarCreateOptions {
-  id?: string;
-  name: string;
-  items?: (HotbarItem | null)[];
-}
+import { Hotbar, HotbarCreateOptions, HotbarItem, getEmptyHotbar } from "./hotbar-types";
 
 export interface HotbarStoreModel {
   hotbars: Hotbar[];
   activeHotbarId: string;
 }
 
-export const defaultHotbarCells = 12; // Number is chosen to easy hit any item with keyboard
-
 export class HotbarStore extends BaseStore<HotbarStoreModel> {
   @observable hotbars: Hotbar[] = [];
   @observable private _activeHotbarId: string;
@@ -89,18 +68,16 @@ export class HotbarStore extends BaseStore<HotbarStoreModel> {
     return this.hotbarIndex(this.activeHotbarId);
   }
 
-  static getInitialItems() {
-    return [...Array.from(Array(defaultHotbarCells).fill(null))];
-  }
-
   @action
   protected fromStore(data: Partial<HotbarStoreModel> = {}) {
     if (!data.hotbars || !data.hotbars.length) {
-      this.hotbars = [{
-        id: uuid.v4(),
-        name: "Default",
-        items: this.defaultHotbarInitialItems,
-      }];
+      const hotbar = getEmptyHotbar("Default");
+      const { metadata: { uid, name, source } } = catalogEntity;
+      const initialItem = { entity: { uid, name, source } };
+
+      hotbar.items[0] = initialItem;
+
+      this.hotbars = [hotbar];
     } else {
       this.hotbars = data.hotbars;
     }
@@ -116,16 +93,6 @@ export class HotbarStore extends BaseStore<HotbarStoreModel> {
     }
   }
 
-  get defaultHotbarInitialItems() {
-    const { metadata: { uid, name, source } } = catalogEntity;
-    const initialItem = { entity: { uid, name, source }};
-
-    return [
-      initialItem,
-      ...Array.from(Array(defaultHotbarCells - 1).fill(null))
-    ];
-  }
-
   getActive() {
     return this.getById(this.activeHotbarId);
   }
@@ -140,16 +107,12 @@ export class HotbarStore extends BaseStore<HotbarStoreModel> {
 
   @action
   add(data: HotbarCreateOptions, { setActive = false } = {}) {
-    const {
-      id = uuid.v4(),
-      items = HotbarStore.getInitialItems(),
-      name,
-    } = data;
+    const hotbar = getEmptyHotbar(data.name, data.id);
 
-    this.hotbars.push({ id, name, items });
+    this.hotbars.push(hotbar);
 
     if (setActive) {
-      this._activeHotbarId = id;
+      this._activeHotbarId = hotbar.id;
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/common/hotbar-types.ts b/src/common/hotbar-types.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f8fc5a225b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/common/hotbar-types.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2021 OpenLens Authors
+ *
+ * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of
+ * this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in
+ * the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to
+ * use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of
+ * the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so,
+ * subject to the following conditions:
+ *
+ * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+ * copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+ *
+ * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+ * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
+ * FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR
+ * COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER
+ * IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
+ * CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+ */
+
+import * as uuid from "uuid";
+import type { Tuple } from "./utils";
+
+export interface HotbarItem {
+  entity: {
+    uid: string;
+    name?: string;
+    source?: string;
+  };
+  params?: {
+    [key: string]: string;
+  }
+}
+
+export type Hotbar = Required<HotbarCreateOptions>;
+
+export interface HotbarCreateOptions {
+  id?: string;
+  name: string;
+  items?: Tuple<HotbarItem | null, typeof defaultHotbarCells>;
+}
+
+export const defaultHotbarCells = 12; // Number is chosen to easy hit any item with keyboard
+
+export function getEmptyHotbar(name: string, id: string = uuid.v4()): Hotbar {
+  return {
+    id,
+    items: Array(defaultHotbarCells).fill(null) as Tuple<HotbarItem | null, typeof defaultHotbarCells>,
+    name,
+  };
+}
diff --git a/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-alpha.0.ts b/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-alpha.0.ts
index 1a61ce8ef3..4ba145b662 100644
--- a/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-alpha.0.ts
+++ b/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-alpha.0.ts
@@ -20,20 +20,14 @@
  */
 
 // Cleans up a store that had the state related data stored
-import { Hotbar, HotbarStore } from "../../common/hotbar-store";
-import * as uuid from "uuid";
 import type { MigrationDeclaration } from "../helpers";
 import { catalogEntity } from "../../main/catalog-sources/general";
+import { getEmptyHotbar } from "../../common/hotbar-types";
 
 export default {
   version: "5.0.0-alpha.0",
   run(store) {
-    const hotbar: Hotbar = {
-      id: uuid.v4(),
-      name: "default",
-      items: HotbarStore.getInitialItems(),
-    };
-
+    const hotbar = getEmptyHotbar("default");
     const { metadata: { uid, name, source } } = catalogEntity;
 
     hotbar.items[0] = { entity: { uid, name, source } };
diff --git a/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-alpha.2.ts b/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-alpha.2.ts
index e049a6d731..0a662b466a 100644
--- a/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-alpha.2.ts
+++ b/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-alpha.2.ts
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
  */
 
 // Cleans up a store that had the state related data stored
-import type { Hotbar } from "../../common/hotbar-store";
+import type { Hotbar } from "../../common/hotbar-types";
 import * as uuid from "uuid";
 import type { MigrationDeclaration } from "../helpers";
 
diff --git a/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-beta.10.ts b/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-beta.10.ts
index 3dd635effc..7d7abc01b7 100644
--- a/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-beta.10.ts
+++ b/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-beta.10.ts
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ import { isNull } from "lodash";
 import path from "path";
 import * as uuid from "uuid";
 import type { ClusterStoreModel } from "../../common/cluster-store";
-import { defaultHotbarCells, Hotbar, HotbarStore } from "../../common/hotbar-store";
+import { defaultHotbarCells, getEmptyHotbar, Hotbar, HotbarItem } from "../../common/hotbar-types";
 import { catalogEntity } from "../../main/catalog-sources/general";
 import { MigrationDeclaration, migrationLog } from "../helpers";
 import { generateNewIdFor } from "../utils";
@@ -37,6 +37,12 @@ interface Pre500WorkspaceStoreModel {
   }[];
 }
 
+interface PartialHotbar {
+  id: string;
+  name: string;
+  items: (null | HotbarItem)[];
+}
+
 export default {
   version: "5.0.0-beta.10",
   run(store) {
@@ -46,7 +52,7 @@ export default {
     try {
       const workspaceStoreData: Pre500WorkspaceStoreModel = fse.readJsonSync(path.join(userDataPath, "lens-workspace-store.json"));
       const { clusters }: ClusterStoreModel = fse.readJSONSync(path.join(userDataPath, "lens-cluster-store.json"));
-      const workspaceHotbars = new Map<string, Hotbar>(); // mapping from WorkspaceId to HotBar
+      const workspaceHotbars = new Map<string, PartialHotbar>(); // mapping from WorkspaceId to HotBar
 
       for (const { id, name } of workspaceStoreData.workspaces) {
         migrationLog(`Creating new hotbar for ${name}`);
@@ -103,7 +109,7 @@ export default {
           hotbar.items.push(null);
         }
 
-        hotbars.push(hotbar);
+        hotbars.push(hotbar as Hotbar);
       }
 
       /**
@@ -123,11 +129,7 @@ export default {
           if (freeIndex === -1) {
             // making a new hotbar is less destructive if the first hotbar
             // called "default" is full than overriding a hotbar item
-            const hotbar = {
-              id: uuid.v4(),
-              name: "initial",
-              items: HotbarStore.getInitialItems(),
-            };
+            const hotbar = getEmptyHotbar("initial");
 
             hotbar.items[0] = { entity: { uid, name, source } };
             hotbars.unshift(hotbar);
@@ -135,11 +137,7 @@ export default {
             defaultHotbar.items[freeIndex] = { entity: { uid, name, source } };
           }
         } else {
-          const hotbar = {
-            id: uuid.v4(),
-            name: "default",
-            items: HotbarStore.getInitialItems(),
-          };
+          const hotbar = getEmptyHotbar("default");
 
           hotbar.items[0] = { entity: { uid, name, source } };
           hotbars.unshift(hotbar);
diff --git a/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-beta.5.ts b/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-beta.5.ts
index 8d589e9543..f9cfd77262 100644
--- a/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-beta.5.ts
+++ b/src/migrations/hotbar-store/5.0.0-beta.5.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
  * CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
  */
 
-import type { Hotbar } from "../../common/hotbar-store";
+import type { Hotbar } from "../../common/hotbar-types";
 import { catalogEntityRegistry } from "../../main/catalog";
 import type { MigrationDeclaration } from "../helpers";
 
diff --git a/src/renderer/components/hotbar/hotbar-menu.tsx b/src/renderer/components/hotbar/hotbar-menu.tsx
index 56fa7a25fc..5df1f48049 100644
--- a/src/renderer/components/hotbar/hotbar-menu.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/components/hotbar/hotbar-menu.tsx
@@ -26,13 +26,14 @@ import { observer } from "mobx-react";
 import { HotbarEntityIcon } from "./hotbar-entity-icon";
 import { cssNames, IClassName } from "../../utils";
 import { catalogEntityRegistry } from "../../api/catalog-entity-registry";
-import { defaultHotbarCells, HotbarItem, HotbarStore } from "../../../common/hotbar-store";
+import { HotbarStore } from "../../../common/hotbar-store";
 import { CatalogEntity, catalogEntityRunContext } from "../../api/catalog-entity";
 import { DragDropContext, Draggable, Droppable, DropResult } from "react-beautiful-dnd";
 import { HotbarSelector } from "./hotbar-selector";
 import { HotbarCell } from "./hotbar-cell";
 import { HotbarIcon } from "./hotbar-icon";
 import { computed } from "mobx";
+import { defaultHotbarCells, HotbarItem } from "../../../common/hotbar-types";
 
 interface Props {
   className?: IClassName;
diff --git a/src/renderer/components/hotbar/hotbar-selector.tsx b/src/renderer/components/hotbar/hotbar-selector.tsx
index cc9617aa47..0144f2befd 100644
--- a/src/renderer/components/hotbar/hotbar-selector.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/components/hotbar/hotbar-selector.tsx
@@ -23,12 +23,13 @@ import "./hotbar-selector.scss";
 import React from "react";
 import { Icon } from "../icon";
 import { Badge } from "../badge";
-import { Hotbar, HotbarStore } from "../../../common/hotbar-store";
+import { HotbarStore } from "../../../common/hotbar-store";
 import { CommandOverlay } from "../command-palette";
 import { HotbarSwitchCommand } from "./hotbar-switch-command";
 import { hotbarDisplayIndex } from "./hotbar-display-label";
 import { TooltipPosition } from "../tooltip";
 import { observer } from "mobx-react";
+import type { Hotbar } from "../../../common/hotbar-types";
 
 interface Props {
   hotbar: Hotbar;