Route Discovery System

Filesystem-based route auto-discovery that replaces hard-coded config.ts route arrays. Server Components scan directories for page.tsx files and render grouped navigation UIs with switchable display variants.

Architecture

Server Component (RouteIndexPage)
  └─ scanRoutes() reads filesystem (server-only)
  └─ Serializes RouteDisplayData
  └─ Passes to RouteDisplaySwitcher (client)
       └─ next/dynamic loads active variant (ssr: false)
       └─ Dropdown switches between variants

Key boundary: utils/route-discovery/index.ts is server-only (filesystem access). utils/route-discovery/shared.ts has pure functions safe for client imports.

File Map

File	Role
utils/route-discovery/index.ts	Server-only: scanRoutes, scanRoutesShallow
utils/route-discovery/shared.ts	Client-safe: groupRoutes, getRouteLabel, toModulePages, sortGroupKeys
components/ssr/RouteIndexPage.tsx	Server Component: scans filesystem, renders page shell, passes data to switcher
components/ssr/RouteHeaderData.tsx	Server Component: auto-feeds ModuleHeader nav from filesystem
components/ssr/route-display/types.ts	RouteDisplayData, RouteDisplayVariant, RouteDisplayProps
components/ssr/route-display/RouteDisplaySwitcher.tsx	Client wrapper: variant dropdown + next/dynamic imports
components/ssr/route-display/GroupedCardsDisplay.tsx	Variant: grouped folder cards (default)
components/ssr/route-display/DataTableDisplay.tsx	Variant: searchable keyboard-navigable grid
components/ssr/route-display/ExpandableSectionsDisplay.tsx	Variant: collapsible accordion sections
components/ssr/route-display/FlatListDisplay.tsx	Variant: minimal filterable list

Usage: Index Page

Replace any hard-coded route listing with:

import { join } from "path";
import { RouteIndexPage } from "@/components/ssr/RouteIndexPage";

export default async function MyPage() {
  return (
    <RouteIndexPage
      directory={join(process.cwd(), "app", "(authenticated)", "my-feature")}
      basePath="/my-feature"
      title="My Feature"
    />
  );
}

Props

Prop	Type	Default	Description
directory	string	required	Absolute path to scan
basePath	string	required	URL prefix for links
title	string	—	Page heading
description	string	auto-generated	Subtitle text
icon	ComponentType	LayoutGrid	Lucide icon for heading
shallow	boolean	false	Scan one level only
defaultVariant	RouteDisplayVariant	"grouped-cards"	Initial display variant
children	ReactNode	—	Custom content above the grid

Usage: Layout with Auto-Header

Replace config.ts + ModuleHeader patterns:

import { join } from "path";
import { RouteHeaderData } from "@/components/ssr/RouteHeaderData";

export default function Layout({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <RouteHeaderData
      directory={join(process.cwd(), "app", "(authenticated)", "tests", "forms")}
      moduleHome="/tests/forms"
      moduleName="Forms"
    >
      {children}
    </RouteHeaderData>
  );
}

Adding a New Display Variant

1. Create components/ssr/route-display/MyNewDisplay.tsx:

"use client";
import type { RouteDisplayProps } from "./types";

export default function MyNewDisplay({ data }: RouteDisplayProps) {
  const { routes, groups, sortedGroupKeys, basePath, hasGroups } = data;
  // Render using data — import from shared.ts, NOT from index.ts
  // Use Link from "next/link" for navigation
}

2. Add the variant key to types.ts:

export type RouteDisplayVariant =
  | "grouped-cards"
  | "data-table"
  | "expandable-sections"
  | "flat-list"
  | "my-new-variant";

3. Add the label to VARIANT_LABELS in types.ts.

4. Register in RouteDisplaySwitcher.tsx:

"my-new-variant": dynamic(() => import("./MyNewDisplay"), { ssr: false }),

Scanner Behavior

• Recursively walks directories looking for page.tsx files
• Skips: _prefixed directories, [dynamic] route segments
• Groups routes by top-level directory segment
• scanRoutesShallow only checks immediate children (no recursion)

Converting Existing Routes

When converting a directory from hard-coded config.ts to auto-discovery:

1. Replace page.tsx with RouteIndexPage usage
2. Replace layout.tsx with RouteHeaderData (if it imported from config.ts)
3. Delete config.ts
4. Keep EntityPack wrappers and export const dynamic = 'force-dynamic' if present
5. Never touch functional leaf pages — only replace listing/index pages

Favicon Integration

RouteIndexPage automatically resolves the favicon for the basePath and threads it into the display:

• The favicon badge renders next to the page <h1> title (replaces the Lucide icon when a favicon exists)
• GroupedCardsDisplay uses the favicon color as a left-border accent on each group card
• Flat list entries show the favicon badge instead of a plain dot

No extra code needed — just pass the correct basePath and the system picks up the config from navigation-links.tsx or the system-route overrides (/demo, /tests, /administration).

To understand how favicons are registered and what colors/letters are already in use, see .claude/skills/route-metadata-favicons/SKILL.md.

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Pages NOT Using This System

These have custom logic and intentionally remain hand-maintained:

• administration/page.tsx — curated category dashboard (has /administration/all-routes companion)
• dashboard/page.tsx — iOS-style icon grid
• tests/links/ and tests/windows/ — master cross-directory index lists
• demos/local-tools/page.tsx, demos/scraper/page.tsx — custom functional UIs