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The "two shells" redesign is abandoned (2026-10-05)

A matter is worked in a workspace with two modes: Detail, under /matters/<id>/, is the matter's record (Overview, Contacts, Rates, Activity, Events, Tasks, Proceedings, Settlement, Ledger), and Case, under /case/<id>/, is the working file (Documents, Highlights, Timeline, Witnesses, Notes, Emails, Labels, Search, AI, Research). The two are switched by a pair of pills in the matter header, and both sit inside the one firm-wide sidebar. In August 2026 a redesign was begun on a branch named two-shells: a separate Case sidebar with its own recent-matters switcher and the case tabs as its primary list, the Practice sidebar keeping the firm-wide pages, and a Practice/Case switch under the brand. The pills, matter-base.html and the mode-content views were to go. The branch was never merged and is not in the repository; the history was rewritten in October 2026 and it did not survive.

Decision

The redesign is abandoned and is not to be rebuilt. The owner said so on 2026-10-05. The matter workspace keeps its two modes behind the pills in templates/matters/includes/mode-pills.html, both extending templates/matters/matter-base.html, inside the one sidebar in templates/sidebar.html.

Alternatives

The redesign was the alternative. What is known of its motive comes from the working notes of the time rather than the repository: the case builder was felt to be hidden behind a pill pair inside a matter record, and the notes editor's own shell was the precedent. The reason it was dropped is not recorded.

Consequences

  • Do not reintroduce a second sidebar, a shell switch or a per-shell base template for the case workspace. New case tabs go in templates/case/includes/case-nav.html and new firm-wide pages in templates/sidebar.html.
  • The pattern the architecture page describes is the live one: the sidebar is hx-boosted into #main-content, mode switches swap #mode-content, tab switches swap .detail-body.
  • The case shell's views gained matter_access_required during the October 2026 access audit, independently of the redesign; that is the live protection, not a shell boundary.

Evidence

  • The owner's statement of 2026-10-05 that the design is dropped. It is not in the repository; this record is where it is written down.
  • docs/dev/architecture.md, "The two shells", describing the modes and the pills as they are.
  • templates/matters/includes/mode-pills.html, templates/matters/matter-base.html and templates/case/includes/case-nav.html, all present on dev.
  • Commits "fix(case): tab_content carries matter_access_required like the other shell views" and "docs(dev): the shell views carry matter_access_required" (2026-10-05).