ADR 0096: Flatten the Settings directory and colocate marketplace source configuration

• Status: Accepted
• Date: 2026-08-18
• Deciders: PI-Desktop core
• Related: D166, D168, D238, ADR 0036, ADR 0058

Context

The implemented Settings rail had grown to nine entries, including a separate Extensions destination for two marketplace-source controls. The rail also wrapped destinations in Personal, Integrations, and an implicit system section. Those headings repeated information already expressed by the destination labels, while Extensions had the same visible name as the app-shell destination that owns plugin management.

The settings IA already defines eight useful destinations. Plugin marketplace source selection is a marketplace concern and belongs beside the catalog it controls, not beside appearance, providers, or project settings.

Decision

Keep the full-page Settings shell and render one flat, searchable directory in this exact order:

1. Basics
2. AI
3. Shortcuts
4. Instructions
5. Model configuration
6. Import
7. Project archive
8. Info

Remove navigation group headings and the Settings Extensions destination. Move the official/mirror/custom marketplace source selector, including the custom catalog URL field and active-source status, into the app-shell Extensions → Marketplace surface. The shared Settings search index contains only the eight Settings destinations; plugin marketplace search and controls remain owned by the Extensions page.

No IPC, host protocol, storage, provider, plugin permission, or project ownership contract changes.

Consequences

• Settings has one visual hierarchy and fewer competing labels.
• The rail matches the frozen eight-destination IA and no longer duplicates the Extensions page name.
• Marketplace source changes remain available in the context where users browse and install packages, with the same persistence and refresh behavior.
• Settings search no longer deep-links marketplace-source rows; the Extensions page is the owner of that surface.
• Screenshot capture scenes and marketplace E2E steps must open the source selector from Extensions → Marketplace.

Alternatives

Keep the three group headings

Rejected because the groups do not add a second useful navigation level; they make the rail taller and repeat the meaning of the destination labels.

Rename Settings Extensions to Marketplace

Rejected because it would preserve a one-card Settings destination and still split marketplace browsing from marketplace configuration.

Remove marketplace source configuration

Rejected because mirror and custom catalog sources are required for networks that cannot reach the official source and for development/private catalogs.

References

• docs/spec/04-ux/06-settings-ia.md
• docs/spec/06-delivery/04-e2e-test-plan.md
• docs/spec/07-plugins/07-plugin-marketplace.md