---
id: workspaces-panels/renaming-a-panel-key-is-a-silent-data
title: "Renaming a panel key is a silent data migration, and the repair is destructive"
theme: workspaces-panels
status: open
created: 2026-08-17
date_source: stated
order: 2
---

**Renaming a panel key is a silent data migration, and the repair is destructive.** A saved layout
holds `appType` strings. `normalizeLayout` replaces any appType not in the allow-list with the
caller's `fallback`, and `WorkspaceView.tsx:97` writes that back — so a renamed key turns every
saved layout into N copies of whichever panel is `allowed[0]`, permanently, on one page load.
Renaming `headscale-*` → `offscale-*` did exactly this: `/offscale` rendered three server pickers,
`ServersView` never mounted, and it survived every restart because the code was correct and the
data was not (2026-08-17, `ed3806f9`).

Plugin screens are now cleared at install, which covers plugins and nothing else. The general fix
is a rule about wholesale mismatch: **a layout in which NO panel has a recognised appType is
residue from older code — discard it and use the screen's default**, rather than collapsing it.
`fallback: allowed[0]` is arbitrary (it is whatever `panels.ts` happens to list first) and should
probably not be a per-panel substitution at all.