Frontend Apps Overview

Purpose

Frontend Apps explains how public-facing addon surfaces are exposed.

A frontend app is not just a public route. It should have an owner, route registration, public target metadata when it can be selected in menus, and central access metadata when visibility is restricted.

Public routes

Public routes belong in the addon route contract and registration function. Route metadata should identify the owner and access requirements.

Public targets

Public targets let Menu Manager and other selectors present human-readable frontend destinations. A good target record includes label, description, route, preview label, state, availability, metadata, and access rules when needed.

Frontend RBAC

Frontend apps should use the central Core/Permissions access evaluator. Do not gate access with isolated local checks unless the local check is only verifying owner-specific data after central access passes.

Separation

The public app owns its own rendering. Menu Manager links to it. Permissions can govern it. None of those systems should become the app itself.

Examples

Ticket Support exposes a support route and target. Wiki exposes spaces/pages as public targets. Content-related owners expose pages, articles, or categories through their own target providers.