Navigating Views#
AppShell (one navigation sidebar) and
Workbench (a rail of workspaces, each with its own
sidebar) assemble a few building blocks — authored pages, data-bound providers, a
custom panel — into the navigation shape your app needs. This is a catalog of the
common shapes: find the one that matches what you’re building, then copy its
worked example.
Every sidebar is declared with the same small set of front doors — page_nav,
list_nav, tree_nav, custom_nav — whether it’s a single-tier AppShell or
one workspace inside a Workbench, so the patterns compose the same way at
either tier.
A flat sidebar of top-level pages — the everyday dashboard. Use when you have a handful of destinations and no sub-grouping.
Pages chunked into labeled sections — the Settings window. Use when the destinations fall into clear categories.
A list drives a detail view — the email inbox. Use when the sidebar is a list of records and the content shows one at a time.
A hierarchy drives a detail view — the file explorer. Use when records nest under parents.
Multiple sections behind an icon rail (a Workbench) — a mail + calendar
suite. Use when the app has distinct areas, each with its own sidebar.
A bespoke sidebar you build by hand — a filter panel. The escape hatch when none of the providers fit.
See also
For the full AppShell API — every method, property, and option — see the
AppShell widget guide. For lower-level page
switching without a sidebar, see PageStack and
Tabs.