Status: evergreen
Last updated: 2026-04-25

# application_module — design notes

**Status:** deferred (2026-04-21). ACF layout registered. Template not implemented. **Not in v3 scope** as a page module — no live usage, no authors waiting on it. Revisit post-merge when a real need arises.

## ⚠ Application post type is load-bearing

Even though `application_module` (the page module) isn't rendered yet, the underlying **`application` post type is in active use** elsewhere — primarily as a relationship target on the `shortcut` post type (a shortcut's "what apps does this work in?" data). The shortcut module reads it via the wrapper's `show_application` toggle.

**Don't retire the `application` post type.** Don't unregister it. The page-module status is a separate question from the post-type status. The post type stays.

If you eventually decide not to build `application_module`, that's fine — but the post type, the post-type ACF group, and the shortcut → application relationship all stay.

## Goal

Spotlight an *application* (a tool we think is great) inside curriculum or marketing content. Examples: Affinity Designer, Git Tower, Figma, VS Code.

Two use shapes we anticipate:

1. **Mid-page feature** — shows up in a workshop/resource/story where we introduce a new tool. Gets its own visual block with image, name, rationale.
2. **Inline in a milestone** — a small appearance in a timeline when the tool first enters a learner's workflow (e.g., "you'll start using Tower here").

## Proposed fields

- `image` — logo or hero shot of the app
- `name` — short display name
- `one_line` — why we think it's great at its goal (the pitch)
- `alternatives` — repeater: free / expensive / open-source alternatives with short notes
- `gotchas` — things to watch out for when adopting it
- `link` — official site

## Why not just a generic "feature card"?

An application has a specific shape: a *thing you install and use.* The fields above (alternatives, gotchas) make no sense on a generic feature card. Keeping it as its own module lets us style/layout applications distinctly (e.g., show price tier as a small chip; show platform icons).

## DB usage

Zero real usage as of 2026-04-21. Only appears on the style-guide page (ID 76) + its revisions. The layout is registered in ACF but nothing authors have used it yet — because the template doesn't render anything.

## Next steps

- Build `application.php` template with the field shape above.
- Wire data in `render-module.php`.
- Seed one real example (pick a tool PE already recommends) on a workshop or resource so `page-complex` can include it.
- Decide whether the milestone-inline use is the same module or a separate compact renderer.

## `$todo-decide` (post-v3)

Two paths when we come back to it:

1. **Build it** — if a PE page legitimately wants to spotlight a tool (Tower, Affinity, Figma) and the existing modules don't carry the right shape.
2. **Unregister the ACF layout** — if the need never materializes, stop showing it in the author's flexible-content picker so nobody wastes time on it.

Either is fine. What's *not* fine is leaving it registered-but-dead forever.