selfpost/docs/plans/panel-docs.md

Plan: panel-docs (in-panel operator documentation)

Status: candidate
Date: 2026-08-17
Version: 1.x MINOR; candidate until explicitly agreed.

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Goal

Built-in operator documentation in the panel — short pages or a help drawer that explain what each Status check and other controls mean, without sending the operator out to guide.md.

Scope

In:

• Help drawer or short help pages (CSS-checkbox pattern from panel-ui mockups).
• Seed content: Status blurbs removed from cards for a denser layout — Machine (kernel counters / rate window), TLS certificate (port 465, reverse-proxy mount), Hostname / reverse DNS (FCrDNS, PTR at the hosting provider), and similar notes for other surfaces as inline commentary is removed.
• «?» entry points on domain cards (mockups).

Out:

• A second copy of the full operator guide.
• Translation workflow beyond English (same as the rest of the panel).

Done when

An operator can open help from the panel for those topics; the removed Status blurbs are preserved there (or equivalent); no requirement to read the git tree for day-to-day meaning of a card.

Risks

Copy ownership and keeping help in sync when checks change; not bloating every page with a second column of prose.

Implementation checklist

Target version cut: 1.8.0 (MINOR). One commit per step; code only after roadmap status is agreed. See development.md § Plan checklists.

• Help drawer / pages shell (CSS checkbox pattern from mockups) — Sonnet
• Seed Status blurbs (Machine, TLS, PTR, …) — Sonnet
• «?» entry points on domain cards — Sonnet
• guide.md boundary: in-panel help vs full guide — Sonnet
• Template tests — Sonnet
• go vet, go test on touched packages — Haiku