0307 — Panel v3.1: resource tables as server contracts, placements by input, metric widgets, typed slots, dashboards and settings

​

Context

A resource page is a list, a record view and a form, and a dashboard is a set of tiles. Three things are wrong with the current shape. A table’s columns are checked against the model, while the list query returns a view, so a column can pass gen and render nothing. Sort and filter have no server contract, so a sort on an unindexed field is accepted. A key performance indicator is three loose field names with no previous period and no target, and the query’s cache repeats the refresh list. This ADR fixes the resource, widget and settings surfaces on the server contract, so that the REST, MCP and panel readers see the same numbers. The panel’s data comes from the query (ADR 0305 rule 31), and the panel only presents it.

​

Decision

Resources: the table is a server contract (R-1 to R-8).

1. A table’s keys are wire paths: Path<Row>, where Row is the item type of the list query’s output. Gen records each resource’s row in a ListRows map (RowOf<M>), because TypeScript cannot infer the row from the list query once the model is written. Where the row is the model, Resource<Order>({ ... }) is enough. Where the row differs from the model, the explicit form Resource<Order, OrderView>({ ... }) names the row too. Until gen writes the map, keys are checked against the model, and a list query that returns another row is a compile error. The infolist and relation keys come from the get output, and form keys come from the create or update input. Dotted paths are typed, for example "totals.totalMinor".
2. Gen compiles each resource table into a closed TableInput for its list query. Sort is an enum of the sortable keys, filter is a typed object of the declared filters, and search exists only when the model is @Searchable. CrudService.table(input, { where }) applies it, so no raw field name reaches SQL. A sortable or filterable key needs an index (@Index or @Searchable.filters). A list query is bound to at most one resource table.
3. Every button runs an Action class. A placed action’s default places follow its input:

   Input of the action	Default places
   has the record id only	Row, View header, Edit header
   has the record id and other required fields	the same, and the button opens a modal form
   has selection: Selection<"ord">	Bulk bar (and View header, as a one-record selection)
   has neither	List header

   .in(...) narrows the places. .bulk() adds the Bulk bar to a record action, and fans out with the policy per record. Derived operations place themselves: create in the List header and the empty state, update as Edit on the row and View, delete on the row overflow, the View header and the Bulk bar.
4. A placed action’s permission is its key’s permission (order.cancel becomes orders.order.cancel). The module’s Permissions class must have that verb. Pages follow their operations: List and navigation need the list query’s permission, and View the get query’s. Export needs the export verb, and import the import verb with each row’s action permission. The client hides a button the actor may not use, from one batched abilities read per page (the ids and the row-placed actions). The run still decides on every call, and a bulk run groups its refusals by code through Decision.deny(code).
5. Builders are pure. Gen runs each builder method once at gen time and records the tree in stackra.manifest.json under ui.resources. A builder that reads anything but its argument fails gen (builder_impure). Conditions are a closed set (field, record, page, can, all, any, not), built through a typed callback, so no executable code reaches the web or native client.
6. Every name, such as a section, a view, a column or an empty state, has a derived label key <module>::resources.<model>.<part>.<name>. No name takes a label option. stackra gen --fix-lang adds missing keys.
7. The members of a resource are override methods that return builders: table, views, form, infolist, relations and actions. bulkActions and toasts are retired into actions. The action ux option is retired (ADR 0305 rule 29).
8. Builder calls inside a member are not declarations, so they are not counted by ADR 0305’s one-declaration rule.

Resource behaviour.

9. Saved views are panel-owned and tenant-scoped. A personal view belongs to one user, and a tenant-shared view is created by a holder of panel.view.share. A view stores only declared keys, and .renamed() migrates stored views. The URL carries the view, the filters, the sort and the page size, but never free-text search.
10. Import is a placement over an Action, a.import({ mode, match }). Every row goes through the full action pipeline, and failed rows are written to a file the user can download. Export excludes @Classified fields above Internal, unless the column opts in under an L2 verb. Export is queued, offers CSV and XLSX, and its link is valid for 24 hours and access-logged.
11. Forms take conditional fields from union branches, a T | null object as a switch, and a closed set of .when() conditions for UX-only logic. Relation managers are a builder, r.table(Query, columns), over same-module data. The discriminant is spelled scope!: typeof RefundScope.Full.
12. Counts are estimated by default (Count.Estimated), and a filtered count is shown capped as “10,000+”. A navigation badge names a view. Bulk selection is capped at 10,000 records; up to 100 records run inline, and more run as a job.
13. Not in v3.1: grouping, summaries, reordering and custom column renderers. The need for one of them is met by a widget in a slot. Reopening one needs a resource that cannot express its need that way, and the owner decides.

Widgets, metrics and slots (U1 to U7).

14. A widget is Widget<Query>({ slot, size, order, params, ranges, range, refreshOn, refreshEvery, roles }). Its display(d: Display<OutputOf<Query>>) method is abstract, so every path is checked by TypeScript and by gen. roles affects presentation only. A widget never changes what the query returns.
15. A key performance indicator binds to a field of the query output typed as a metric class: MoneyMetric, CountMetric, NumberMetric, PercentMetric or DurationMetric. The type carries the value, the previous period, the series and the target, so format, unit, currency, trend, sparkline and target come from the type. The display adds only what the type cannot know: the direction that is better, threshold tones, the icon and a drill-down.
16. The query computes the current and previous values, the buckets, the ratios and the targets through CrudService.metrics(), in one statement. The panel presents them and computes nothing. Money KPIs are in the tenant’s reporting currency, from checkout-time snapshots, and never mix currencies. The metric shapes live in the core entry of @stackra/panel.
17. refreshOn is derived from the query’s cache.invalidateOn. A widget writes its own refreshOn only for an uncached query, and an explicit event that the query does not invalidate on fails gen (refresh_without_invalidation).
18. The slots are typed places, not hooks. Each slot has a place type that limits its displays and sizes:
    • Slots.Dashboard.Header is a Band (Kpi, KpiGroup and Progress, one row);
    • Slots.Dashboard.Main is a Grid of 12 columns, with sizes Small 3, Medium 6, Large 9 and Full 12;
    • Slots.<Module>.<Model>.List.Header and .View.Header are Bands;
    • .List.Footer and .View.Footer are Grids;
    • .View.Aside and .Edit.Aside are Asides, whose width the aside sets;
    • .View.Tabs holds Tabs, one per widget, labelled with the widget title;
    • Slots.Shell.Banner holds Banners, at most two shown, full width above the page;
    • Slots.Shell.Checklist holds Checks, in the checklist launcher.
    The home dashboard has a Header and a Main. Its Footer slot is dropped, because the grid order and size express it. Bind.record(path) is allowed only in a View slot, and Bind.tableFilter() only in a List slot.
19. Placements replace each other by layer (ADR 0306 rules 7 to 8). Layers 4 and 5, the tenant and user copies, are data. The experience service validates them when they are saved and again when they are read.
20. A dashboard is a Document of kind Dashboard. It places widget classes only, and each tile has a key, a permission, a refresh rule and a library entry. Inline query blocks stay in Page documents. A dashboard has one range picker, with the ranges TimeRange.Today, TimeRange.Last7Days and TimeRange.ThisMonth, and its filters are the range and the scope node. A personal arrangement is an overlay on the base, not a copy.
21. A banner and a checklist item are widgets with the display kinds Banner and Check, placed in the shell slots. A resource does not list its widgets, documents or settings, because each of those has its own owner and permission. Quick create is opt-in per resource.

Settings (U6, and the surface of ADR 0108 and ADR 0213).

22. One <module>.settings.ts file declares a settings class, extends Settings({ scopes, navigation }). A field typed as a schema is a section, and sections nest one level deep (settings_too_deep). Each field carries @Setting({ scopes, lockable, approval, client }), which narrows the scopes for that field. The scopes are Platform, Product, Tenant, Node and User. There is no Market scope, because a Market is a pricing entity (ADR 0244). rules(r) is a closed set.
23. A setting is never a secret. A credential is a ConnectionRef<C> (ADR 0308), and gen fails with secret_in_settings on a secret or a credential-shaped field in a settings tree. Client exposure is opt-in with client: true. Renames are made with @Renamed, and a type change is made through the settings migrator.
24. A setting is read with SettingsReader#get(OrdersSettings). Gen generates the settings page from the classes, with a Features section derived from the flags.
25. A feature flag keeps the kind name Flag (.flag.ts, in @stackra/feature-flags). Its row gains scopes, which default to Platform and Tenant. A flag is not an entitlement (ADR 0213 decision 7).

Gen errors (for the enforcement list below). Gen fails on the codes of the resource and the widget contracts: the column, filter, sort, search and view checks, the form, relation and bind checks, the action permission checks, the bulk and selection checks, the export and import permission checks, the widget display and metric checks, the drill checks, the slot and placement checks, the dashboard checks, and the settings checks.

​

Consequences

• A table column that does not exist in the list output fails at gen, not at render, and a sort on an unindexed key fails before it ships.
• Permissions are derived from keys, so a missing verb is a gen error, and not a button that appears for nobody.
• Dashboards and settings become data that the panel reads. A tenant can rearrange tiles without a code change.
• The template’s current table and bulk declarations, and its inline dashboard query blocks, convert in the template pass (STA-344), and the skill that teaches them is rewritten by the lead (STA-345).
• The panel package grows: metric shapes, time ranges, Display, the drill and bind sources, and the slot place types all live in @stackra/panel. The count and the metrics method live in @stackra/database.

​

Enforcement

• planned — STA-340: the resource and widget gen checks listed in the Decision (column_key_unknown, sort_not_indexed, filter_not_indexed, list_query_shared, table_row_mismatch, action_permission_missing, builder_impure, widget_display_type_mismatch, metric_path_not_metric, refresh_without_invalidation, slot_unknown, placement_duplicate, dashboard_block_not_widget, settings_too_deep, secret_in_settings, and the rest of their families).
• planned — STA-339: the slot table and the generated #stackra/slots module, and the layer-4 and layer-5 validation in the experience service.
• planned — the panel’s batched abilities read and the Decision.deny(code) grouping, which are part of the panel build.

​

Supersedes and sources

Supersedes: none as a whole. The Resource, Widget, Document, Settings and Flag rows of ADR 0294 decision 16 are amended, and ADR 0108 and ADR 0213 are amended for the settings surface. The notes on those pages say so. ADR 0164, 0110, 0270, 0271 and 0279 are changed in the places named above. Each of those pages carries a note in this change (STA-414). Origin: the v3.1 design review of 2026-10-23, restated in this ADR’s own words.