# The Shell manual

<!-- module: shell · deck: The frame every page sits in: the menu, the header, the theme, the footer, and what a page says when it can't be shown. -->

**Table of contents · 24 October 2026 · S0 to S2 of plan CORE. The person's menu and the workspace switcher are in the People manual (S2); the lens chip (S3), the search box (S16) and the bell (S14) are added by their slices. On a phone the theme switch is in the person's menu.**

Every page of the app sits in the same frame: the menu on the side, the page's name at the top, the theme switch, and
the legal line at the foot. This manual walks what a person can do with the frame itself, and what they see when a
page can't be shown.

The one sentence to carry through it: **the menu shows only what you may open, and nothing in the frame is greyed out.**

**Who meets what**

| Seat | Who | What they do here |
|---|---|---|
| — | Everyone who opens the app | Chooses light, system or dark; folds the menu to its icons; follows the menu; sees which workspace they're in |
| — | The developer | Adds a module's pages to the menu (`App\Support\Navigation\Nav`) and its words (`lang/en/nav.php`) |

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## Part 1 · The frame

- [1.1 Choosing light, system or dark](p01-the-shell.md#11-choosing-light-system-or-dark)
- [1.2 Folding the menu to its icons](p01-the-shell.md#12-folding-the-menu-to-its-icons)
- [1.3 When a page can't be shown](p01-the-shell.md#13-when-a-page-cant-be-shown)
- [1.4 Seeing which workspace you're in](p01-the-shell.md#14-seeing-which-workspace-youre-in)