frontend-patterns/research/candidates/URLAddressableState.md
tegwick d32774da51 Measure navigation history and cache corroboration cycle
Assistant: codex
Assistant-Model: gpt-6-astra
Assistant-Session: 01a0cffe-206f-7323-89d3-b20ca4cf4bf9
2026-09-27 00:11:21 +02:00

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title status maturity families scales admission
URL-addressable State draft hypothesis
address
projection
L3
research-candidate-only

URL-addressable State

Context: readers need to share, bookmark and revisit a resource or selected view. Problem: an address change can conceal state that only exists in the current tab. Addressability competes with private/transient state and URL/schema stability.

Proposed solution: encode the public, stable resource identity and relevant view selection in path/query parameters. Define parameter validation, defaults and route resolution so direct entry and reload reconstruct that selection under current authorization. A URL identifies a view, not necessarily immutable bytes or guaranteed future availability. Use an explicit version if a stable historical snapshot matters.

Do not place secrets, private draft content, focus or every transient interaction in the address. An identifier confers no authorization. Server-visible query/path state and fragment-only state have different resolution contracts. If history is enhanced, back/forward, cache misses and direct loads must resolve coherently; pushState success alone is insufficient.

Consequences: views become independently reachable, but parameter compatibility, invalid/deleted resources and full-versus-fragment cache behavior need contracts. Alternatives: ephemeral in-tab selection when sharing is unnecessary; authenticated saved-view identifiers when the selection is too large or private for the URL.

Evidence: navigation review N01/N02/N06 locates documentation mechanisms, not verified deployments of this whole proposal. Full-pattern known uses and recurrence remain unknown. Refines the existing URL as Application State seed; no canonical identity or admitted relations.

Proposed connection: Progressive Enhancement can preserve native navigation while adding faster transitions; it is optional, not required by addressability. VC-03 is a synthetic trace.

Prospective runtime corroboration — 2026-09-27

Direct filtered entry, reload, snapshot restoration and explicit history-miss recovery preserve selection in a pinned htmx fixture. Omitting representation Vary reproduces a fragment served as a full document in Chromium and Firefox; correct selection keeps representations distinct, without promising cache retention or freshness. See NH01–NH06. One authored application with a real package, not independent deployed recurrence. Hypothesis retained.