orion/docs/architecture/frontend-detection.md

Frontend Detection Architecture

This document describes the centralized frontend detection system that identifies which frontend (ADMIN, STORE, STOREFRONT, or PLATFORM) a request targets.

Overview

The application serves multiple frontends from a single codebase:

Frontend	Description	Example URLs
ADMIN	Platform administration	/admin/*, /api/v1/admin/*, admin.omsflow.lu/*
STORE	Store dashboard	/store/*, /api/v1/store/*
STOREFRONT	Customer-facing shop	/storefront/*, /stores/*, orion.omsflow.lu/*
PLATFORM	Marketing pages	/, /pricing, /about

The FrontendDetector class provides centralized, consistent detection of which frontend a request targets.

Architecture

Components

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     Request Processing                           │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                   │
│  1. PlatformContextMiddleware  → Sets request.state.platform     │
│                                                                   │
│  2. StoreContextMiddleware    → Sets request.state.store       │
│                                                                   │
│  3. FrontendTypeMiddleware     → Sets request.state.frontend_type│
│           │                                                       │
│           └──→ Uses FrontendDetector.detect()                    │
│                                                                   │
│  4. LanguageMiddleware         → Uses frontend_type for language │
│                                                                   │
│  5. ThemeContextMiddleware     → Uses frontend_type for theming  │
│                                                                   │
│  6. FastAPI Router             → Handles request                 │
│                                                                   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key Files

File	Purpose
app/core/frontend_detector.py	Centralized detection logic
middleware/frontend_type.py	Middleware that sets request.state.frontend_type
app/modules/enums.py	Defines FrontendType enum

FrontendType Enum

class FrontendType(str, Enum):
    PLATFORM = "platform"    # Marketing pages (/, /pricing, /about)
    ADMIN = "admin"          # Admin panel (/admin/*)
    STORE = "store"        # Store dashboard (/store/*)
    STOREFRONT = "storefront"  # Customer shop (/storefront/*, /stores/*)

Detection Priority

The FrontendDetector uses the following priority order:

1. Admin subdomain (admin.omsflow.lu)           → ADMIN
2. Path-based detection:
   - /admin/* or /api/v1/admin/*            → ADMIN
   - /store/* or /api/v1/store/*          → STORE
   - /storefront/*, /shop/*, /stores/*     → STOREFRONT
   - /api/v1/platform/*                     → PLATFORM
3. Store subdomain (orion.omsflow.lu)       → STOREFRONT
4. Store context set by middleware         → STOREFRONT
5. Default                                  → PLATFORM

Path Patterns

# Admin paths
ADMIN_PATH_PREFIXES = ("/admin", "/api/v1/admin")

# Store dashboard paths
STORE_PATH_PREFIXES = ("/store/", "/api/v1/store")

# Storefront paths
STOREFRONT_PATH_PREFIXES = (
    "/storefront",
    "/api/v1/storefront",
    "/shop",           # Legacy support
    "/api/v1/shop",    # Legacy support
    "/stores/",       # Path-based store access
)

# Platform paths
PLATFORM_PATH_PREFIXES = ("/api/v1/platform",)

Reserved Subdomains

These subdomains are NOT treated as store storefronts:

RESERVED_SUBDOMAINS = {"www", "admin", "api", "store", "portal"}

Usage

In Middleware/Routes

from middleware.frontend_type import get_frontend_type
from app.modules.enums import FrontendType

@router.get("/some-route")
async def some_route(request: Request):
    frontend_type = get_frontend_type(request)

    if frontend_type == FrontendType.ADMIN:
        # Admin-specific logic
        pass
    elif frontend_type == FrontendType.STOREFRONT:
        # Storefront-specific logic
        pass

Direct Detection (without request)

from app.core.frontend_detector import FrontendDetector
from app.modules.enums import FrontendType

# Full detection
frontend_type = FrontendDetector.detect(
    host="orion.omsflow.lu",
    path="/products",
    has_store_context=True
)
# Returns: FrontendType.STOREFRONT

# Convenience methods
if FrontendDetector.is_admin(host, path):
    # Admin logic
    pass

if FrontendDetector.is_storefront(host, path, has_store_context=True):
    # Storefront logic
    pass

Detection Scenarios

Development Mode (localhost)

Request	Host	Path	Frontend
Admin page	localhost	/admin/stores	ADMIN
Admin API	localhost	/api/v1/admin/users	ADMIN
Store dashboard	localhost	/store/settings	STORE
Store API	localhost	/api/v1/store/products	STORE
Storefront	localhost	/storefront/products	STOREFRONT
Storefront (path-based)	localhost	/stores/orion/products	STOREFRONT
Marketing	localhost	/pricing	PLATFORM

Production Mode (domains)

Request	Host	Path	Frontend
Admin subdomain	admin.omsflow.lu	/dashboard	ADMIN
Store subdomain	orion.omsflow.lu	/products	STOREFRONT
Custom domain	mybakery.lu	/products	STOREFRONT
Platform root	omsflow.lu	/pricing	PLATFORM

Request State

After FrontendTypeMiddleware runs, the following is available:

request.state.frontend_type  # FrontendType enum value

This is used by:

• LanguageMiddleware - to determine language resolution strategy
• ErrorRenderer - to select appropriate error templates
• ExceptionHandler - to redirect to correct login page
• Route handlers - for frontend-specific logic

Testing

Unit Tests

Tests are located in:

• tests/unit/core/test_frontend_detector.py - FrontendDetector tests
• tests/unit/middleware/test_frontend_type.py - Middleware tests

Running Tests

# Run all frontend detection tests
pytest tests/unit/core/test_frontend_detector.py tests/unit/middleware/test_frontend_type.py -v

# Run with coverage
pytest tests/unit/core/test_frontend_detector.py tests/unit/middleware/test_frontend_type.py --cov=app.core.frontend_detector --cov=middleware.frontend_type

Best Practices

DO

1. Use get_frontend_type(request) in route handlers
2. Use FrontendDetector.detect() when you have host/path but no request
3. Use convenience methods like is_admin(), is_storefront() for boolean checks
4. Import from the correct location:

   from app.modules.enums import FrontendType
   from middleware.frontend_type import get_frontend_type
   from app.core.frontend_detector import FrontendDetector
   

DON'T

1. Don't duplicate path detection logic - use FrontendDetector
2. Don't hardcode path patterns in middleware - they're centralized in FrontendDetector
3. Don't check request.state.context_type - use request.state.frontend_type

Architecture Rules

These rules are enforced by scripts/validate/validate_architecture.py:

Rule	Description
MID-001	Use FrontendDetector for frontend detection
MID-002	Don't hardcode path patterns in middleware
MID-003	Use FrontendType enum, not RequestContext

Related Documentation

• Middleware Stack - Overall middleware architecture
• Request Flow - How requests are processed
• URL Routing - URL structure and routing patterns
• Multi-Tenant Architecture - Tenant detection and isolation