# Unify administration pages and use namespaced routes

status: accepted

Workspace and Pi management will become full Administration Pages alongside Evidence, Memory and
Database, using one shared Administrative Page Family. The Embedded Thoth Shell will identify the
active Administration Surface through a namespaced browser route, `thoth_route=administration/<surface>`,
so links remain reloadable and support Back/Forward without requiring new host-portal server routes.
Transient form values and secrets stay outside the route; destructive confirmations may remain
short-lived dialogs because they are actions, not page containers.

We considered React-only state, path-based routes and hash routes. React-only state loses refresh and
deep-link behavior, path routes require a host catch-all route that does not yet exist in Omics Portal,
and hash routes can conflict with host-page fragments. A namespaced query route preserves the current
same-document integration boundary while leaving room for a future path adapter.

The accepted visual direction is A / Workbench for all five surfaces; B and C remain recoverable
prototypes. Workspace owns readiness and preprocessing, consuming the Database catalog as a
prerequisite. Database owns connection/binding, schema synchronization, descriptions and sensitivity;
the preprocessing action remains exclusively in Workspace preparation.

On 2026-09-12, the owner refined this direction in
[Gitea #29](https://git.tylconsulting.it/mptyl/ThothII/issues/29): Database opens at its
catalog list, with its original table space and margins, and no Workspace preparation footer.
This supersedes the earlier requirement for a preparation link in that page. Workspace
remains reachable through the shared Administration navigation; its Preparation tab still
links to Database configuration and schema when catalog work is needed.