# Sections and pages

Admin > Sections manages physical top-level sections and their Settings, Editors and Pages tabs. Admin > Pages searches saved Markdown and displays planned reader URLs. These areas describe server source, not the currently deployed reader or another browser’s unsaved text.

# What a section means

For fictional Field Guide, engineering/ is the writer boundary. Its display title can be Engineering Guide without changing that assignment key. A nested folder is a reader grouping inside the same top-level assignment, not a separately assignable role boundary.

The catalog counts saved Markdown descendants including section/nested landings. Assigned-editor counts include disabled editor accounts when they still hold the assignment. Administrator access is global and does not need a checkbox grant. Counts are organizational facts, not evidence of current active writers.

# Section Settings fields

Title is trimmed when saved. Folder form uses exact ^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9_-]*$; this form does not promise to normalize an invalid name into a valid one. New-folder creation has a separate normalization path. Position defaults to zero when catalog metadata is not an integer; lower positions sort before higher, with title tie-breaks.

Title/position/hidden live in section _index.md. Changing hidden removes the sidebar branch but still generates descendants, URLs and search entries. It is unsuitable for secrets, retirement or authentication. Content structure explains nested ordering and source layout.

# Metadata save, discard and conflict

1. Select the exact physical section and inspect loaded values.
2. Edit only intended title/order/visibility/folder values.
3. Save changes; title/folder changes ask for confirmation.
4. Wait for final result, including any partial failure.
5. Recheck saved metadata/path/grants before building or publishing.
6. Inspect generated and deployed routes separately.

The revision is SHA-256 of loaded _index.md text, including body. Another writer changing its body can invalidate a metadata form even without touching title. Server checks current revision and writes via temporary file/rename. Preserve intended edits, read current source and reconcile rather than forcing an overwrite.

The metadata helper owns title/order/hidden, preserves body and tries to retain other frontmatter text. It verifies that other parsed keys remain equal. Complex YAML that cannot be safely preserved is refused with a direction to edit _index.md directly. This is not a universal YAML round-trip form. Review source diff after unfamiliar metadata edits.

Discard restores the loaded selected object, not a historical server version. A stale loaded value can differ from current disk. A failure after disk save/reload can be reported as not completed; inspect saved state before repeating.

# Rename is a two-step operation

If folder rename fails after metadata succeeds, the UI says “Settings saved, but folder rename failed”. Inspect actual _index.md, old/new path and account assignments. Do not assume all changes rolled back. The rename handler attempts filesystem rollback if account-assignment update throws; this is a local recovery attempt, not a distributed transaction across all browsers and hosts.

Titles can move public routes below the section. Folder renames change source/draft keys even when explicit titles keep public routes stable. Other browsers’ drafts retain old paths and are not automatically migrated. Ask writers to save/recover work and plan link/host redirects before renaming.

A conflicting target is not overwritten. The build rejects colliding normalized public URLs. ASCII slug normalization can collapse different/non-ASCII titles, so inspect actual route map rather than relying on display names. V2 does not create automatic redirects for old titles/folders.

# Editors tab applies immediately

This view lists all editor accounts with selected-section checkbox. Adding/removing this section preserves other loaded grants, but another operator may have changed them since loading. Reconcile unexpected concurrent scope before overwriting a full list. Account-store write locking is not a human policy merge.

Unsaved section/access edits are guarded before assignment actions. Changed grants invalidate sessions immediately, not after Publish. Check allowed and denied source paths in a fresh writer session. Admin visibility is not an editor-access test. Accounts and access owns role/session/reset details.

# New section

New section creates a top-level folder and _index.md starter. The create endpoint normalizes folder names and refuses empty/duplicate/unauthorized locations. Only administrators can create top-level sections; editors can create nested folders inside assigned sections through editor file actions.

After creation, inspect the returned physical path and metadata. Write a useful landing with audience, scope and learning path. A starter landing is not finished documentation and creation does not publish it. Save then build/review; assign writers separately when intended.

The Sections console deliberately has no whole-section Delete button. The editor file tree has separate destructive folder deletion. Do not use it to hide a section or presume assignments/browser drafts are cleaned up everywhere. Preserve source/backups and plan old-reader-route removal first.

# Section Pages tab

Pages lists saved Markdown belonging to selected top-level section, including nested landings. Selecting one moves to Admin > Pages details. It is not an embedded editor, unsaved draft list or generated output listing.

A page count includes _index.md files, so compare like-for-like when checking build page totals. Generated404and special homepage behavior are separate. A title appears from valid string frontmatter or filename/folder fallback. Invalid/unusual metadata can require direct source investigation.

# Global page catalog

Search is case-insensitive substring over title plus path, not full Markdown-body search. No matching pages/sections is a catalog filter result, not proof of missing source everywhere. Catalog skips dot-prefixed entries and symlinks. Pages sort by source path; section list sorts by position/title.

Planned Public URL is root-relative and does not include configured deployment baseUrl/site origin. It can describe changed saved metadata before a successful build, and a displayed plan can still collide. Build/reader/host is the final check. Do not paste a private editor origin in front of this route and call it the public site.

Open uses /?file= with encoded source path and normal editor authentication/draft behavior. New page chooses top level or one top-level section in this dialog; use editor folder controls for nested destinations. It creates starter Markdown, not a final public article.

Rename page file changes the basename in place, not a general cross-folder move. With an explicit title, the route can remain stable; fallback titles can change with filename. Delete asks for exact-path confirmation and removes source permanently without built-in undo. Publish/deploy removes generated reader only when output/host obsolete files are actually replaced.

# Check every affected layer

A successful metadata save does not prove successful folder rename, publication or remote deployment. Recheck exact result before closing the change. Use disposable content for destructive/denied-path tests. Production host access, browser-draft coordination and organization-wide migration remain operator work, not automatic V2 features.