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Overhaul apps docs#3915

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jlowin merged 4 commits intomainfrom
docs/apps-overhaul
Apr 14, 2026
Merged

Overhaul apps docs#3915
jlowin merged 4 commits intomainfrom
docs/apps-overhaul

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@jlowin jlowin commented Apr 14, 2026

The apps docs were a wall of text and code with no live previews and overlapping pages. This rewrites them around live iframe demos and a tighter information architecture.

The four main pages (overview, quickstart, Interactive Tools, FastMCPApp) now open with a live demo, so readers see what an app actually does before any code. Overview leads with a Hitchhiker's Guide dashboard showcase via a negative-margin breakout + mask-fade pattern borrowed from Prefab's welcome page; Generative UI gets a video hero.

The nav flattens the core build paths to the top level (Interactive Tools, FastMCPApp, Generative UI, Custom HTML), pulls Providers and Reference into collapsed groups, and drops two redundant pages: the Recipes page (re-documented Interactive Tools and FastMCPApp examples) and the duplicate GenerativeUI provider page (merged into /apps/generative with a redirect). A shared /snippets/prefab-pin-warning.mdx replaces three divergent copies of the Prefab pin notice.

Apps
├── Overview                 ← HHG showcase hero
├── Quickstart               ← team-directory hero + reactive upgrade
├── Interactive Tools        ← sales-dashboard hero
├── FastMCPApp               ← contacts hero + Notes tutorial
├── Generative UI            ← video hero
├── Custom HTML
├── Providers ▶              ← approval, choice, file-upload, form
└── Reference ▶              ← development, examples, architecture

Rewrites overview, quickstart, Interactive Tools, and FastMCPApp around
live iframe demos with measured heights. Adds a Hitchhiker's Guide hero
showcase on overview using negative-margin breakout + mask-fade. Video
hero on Generative UI. Flattens the Apps nav: core build paths top-level,
Providers and Reference collapsed. Kills the Recipes page (duplicated
Interactive Tools and FastMCPApp content) and the duplicate GenerativeUI
provider page (merged into /apps/generative with redirect). Shared
snippet for the Prefab pin notice. Sentence-case headings across the
section.
@marvin-context-protocol marvin-context-protocol Bot added documentation Updates to docs, examples, or guides. Primary change is documentation-related. mcp apps Related to MCP Apps - user-facing applications with frontend bundles served by MCP servers. labels Apr 14, 2026
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Comment thread docs/apps/demos/data-table.html Outdated
Comment on lines +7 to +8
<link rel="stylesheet" crossorigin href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@prefecthq/prefab-ui@latest/dist/app/renderer.css">
<script type="module" crossorigin src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@prefecthq/prefab-ui@latest/dist/app/renderer.js"></script>
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P1 Badge Pin Prefab renderer asset versions in demo HTML

The new embedded demo pages load Prefab assets from jsDelivr using @latest, which makes docs behavior non-deterministic and vulnerable to breaking changes on every upstream release. Since this commit replaces static screenshots with live iframes, a future prefab-ui publish can silently break multiple app docs pages without any repo change; these URLs should be pinned to a specific version (or vendored) instead of floating latest.

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Comment thread docs/docs.json
Comment on lines 404 to +408
"redirects": [
{
"destination": "/apps/generative",
"source": "/apps/providers/generative"
},
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P2 Badge Add redirect for removed /apps/patterns page

This commit deletes docs/apps/patterns.mdx but only adds a redirect for /apps/providers/generative; there is no redirect for the removed /apps/patterns route. Existing bookmarks and external references to that page will now 404 after deploy, so a redirect to the new canonical destination should be added alongside the other migration redirects.

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- Pin Prefab renderer in demo HTML to @0.19.0 instead of @latest so docs
  don't silently break on upstream releases.
- Add /apps/patterns → /apps/prefab redirect for the deleted Recipes page.
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Comment on lines +94 to +96
"cssClass": "gap-4",
"type": "Form",
"children": [
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P2 Badge Attach submit behavior to contacts demo form

The embedded contacts demo is presented as a read/write app flow, but this Form node has no submit handler (onSubmit/CallTool) so clicking “Save Contact” cannot update the table. On /apps/interactive-apps, this makes the primary interaction look broken and undermines the tutorial’s core FastMCPApp behavior. Add a submit action (or remove the save affordance/text claim) so the demo matches what the page says users can do.

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jlowin added 2 commits April 13, 2026 21:15
The embedded contacts showcase had a Form with no on_submit, so clicking
"Save Contact" did nothing. On the FastMCPApp page this made the primary
interaction look broken. Wires the form to AppendState the typed values
into the contacts list (client-side, no backend needed), resets the
inputs, and fires a success toast.
My previous contacts form rewrite used reactive STATE refs for DataTable
rows and a nested AppendState with state placeholders — the renderer
couldn't handle it and the iframe went blank on the FastMCPApp page.

Reverted the table to Python-built rows with Badge styling. The form
fires a success toast on submit (with a note that the preview demo has
no backend wired), which keeps the button meaningful without overselling.

Also adds the /apps/images/app-quickstart-dev-2.png screenshot to the
Quickstart "Preview it" section so readers see what the dev UI renders.
@jlowin jlowin merged commit b732a4a into main Apr 14, 2026
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@jlowin jlowin deleted the docs/apps-overhaul branch April 14, 2026 01:24
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Comment on lines +96 to +99
"onSubmit": {
"action": "showToast",
"message": "Contact saved! (preview demo \u2014 no backend wired)",
"variant": "success"
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P2 Badge Wire contacts demo save action to mutate table state

The embedded contacts hero still cannot demonstrate the read/write flow described on /apps/interactive-apps because the form submit only triggers showToast and never updates rows (or calls a backend tool), so clicking Save Contact leaves the table unchanged. Fresh evidence in this revision is the new submit message text preview demo — no backend wired, which confirms the save path is intentionally non-mutating; either wire a state/tool update here or adjust the surrounding docs copy that says the list updates.

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strawgate pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Apr 14, 2026
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