0326 — App identity, the desktop section, pwa in stackra.config, derived app shortcuts and native widgets

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Context

An app’s name, identifiers and store text are written in several places: the name in defineApp, the bundle identifier in the platform section, and the metadata of the web, desktop and store builds in their own files. The desktop section of ADR 0295 is named electron, and the PWA options sit outside the one app definition. App shortcuts would be written by hand in a menu file and kept in step by hand, and native home-screen widgets are not covered by any ADR. The owner decided these points in the final structure review of 2026-10-24.

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Decision

Identity.

1. One identity section. stackra.config.ts holds one identity section with the app id in reverse-DNS form, the bundle identifier of each platform, the name, short name, description and copyright, the publisher and the support URL.
2. Text comes from the lang files. The name, short name, description and copyright are lang keys, so each locale’s value comes from its catalogue in assets/lang (ADR 0305, lang files). English and Arabic are set there, not in the config.
3. Gen feeds every target from identity. Gen feeds the web manifest, the Electron build, the Expo configuration, the store listings and the HTML head from identity. No other file repeats those values.
4. One app id. The app id is written once, in identity. The desktop section takes no app id of its own.

The desktop section.

5. desktop replaces electron. The electron section of defineApp, in ADR 0295 decision 2, is renamed desktop. Electron stays the implementation (0058, 0249). This ADR changes the section’s name and not its role. The Electron code hatch of ADR 0295 decision 6, electron.extend.ts, is renamed desktop.extend.ts with it.

The PWA section.

6. PWA options are the pwa section. The PWA options are the pwa section of stackra.config.ts, a section that ADR 0295 decision 2 already lists.
7. pwa.extend.ts is a hatch for caching only. The PWA runtime-caching hatch is pwa.extend.ts, which follows the <tool>.extend.ts pattern of ADR 0295 decision 6. It holds runtime caching rules and nothing else. It joins that decision’s closed set and carries its Reason: header and manifest entry.

Derived app shortcuts.

8. A route declares its shortcut. A route declares appShortcut: { icon, labelKey }, as in this example:
   // apps/console/src/routes/orders/orders.route.ts
   export class OrdersRoute extends Route({
     path: "/orders",
     appShortcut: { icon: Icons.House, labelKey: "console::shortcuts.orders" },
   }) {}
   
9. Gen emits every shortcut from the declarations. From the same declarations, gen emits:
   • the PWA manifest shortcuts;
   • the Electron jump list and dock menu;
   • the mobile quick actions, shown on long-press through expo-quick-actions.
10. stackra.config only orders and caps. stackra.config.ts orders the shortcuts and caps their number. It declares none. The AppShortcuts menu kind of ADR 0295 decision 12 is retired for this purpose.
11. Keyboard shortcuts are a different thing. Keyboard shortcuts stay in @stackra/shortcuts, with the app’s shortcuts/ group of .shortcut.ts files. An app shortcut is never a keyboard shortcut.
12. Icons. icon takes a named icon, such as Icons.House, as ADR 0309 decides. How the icon constants are generated is the subject of 0322, not of this one.

Native home-screen widgets.

13. A NativeWidget placement. iOS WidgetKit widgets and Android Glance widgets are a NativeWidget placement that reuses an existing Widget query (0307). The placement adds no query of its own.
14. An Expo config plugin writes the native code. An Expo config plugin generates the Swift and Kotlin pieces of the widget. Nobody writes them by hand.
15. PWAs have no home-screen widgets. A PWA has no home-screen widgets on iOS or Android, so the web target generates none.

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Consequences

• An app’s name, identifiers and store text have one home, and the store listing and the UI read the same keys.
• Derived shortcuts follow the routes: a route that is removed takes its shortcut with it.
• A config that still writes electron is a breaking change for that member. Members convert in STA-344.
• Native widgets need a native build. The Expo config plugin is the only generator of their Swift and Kotlin code.
• The desktop section keeps Electron’s name out of the config keys but not out of the implementation.

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Enforcement

• planned — gen check: every identity key resolves in each locale that the app ships. No work item yet.
• planned — STA-339, the bundle identifier check of ADR 0295 applies to the bundle identifiers in identity.
• planned — gen check: a route’s appShortcut has an icon and a labelKey that resolves in each shipped locale. No work item yet.
• planned — the pwa.extend.ts hatch check of ADR 0295 decision 6 (a Reason: header and a manifest entry) applies to it, as STA-339 plans for every hatch.
• planned — a test that the Expo config plugin’s Swift and Kotlin output compiles for iOS and Android. No work item yet.

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Supersedes and sources

Supersedes: none. Amends: 0295 (decisions 2, 6 and 12), 0281 (the MenuKind list) and 0307 (a NativeWidget placement). Keeps 0058, 0249 and 0309. Sources: the owner’s decisions in the final structure review of 2026-10-24 (STA-428).