Reference Routes

[tinleym]

Goals

It would be nice if there was some way to reference a route directory that is not a route in and of itself.

This would prevent having to create and maintain fragile copies of grouped route resources like layout, page, loading, error, not-found, etc.

Background

Some route resources might be needed in multiple parts of an app. Take an add_to_cart modal: it would be nice if all its resources could simply be referenced, rather than copied, and avoid the maintenance burden imposed by duplicated code.

Proposal

Maybe some Reference Route directory at the root to go along with a reference convention in routes. Using a tilde, the following structure would create routes for /product/[x]/add_to_cart and /something_else/add_to_cart without having to duplicate all the files associated with add_to_cart.

app/
 reference_routes/
   add_to_cart/...
 product/
   [x]/
     (~)add_to_cart/
       layout.js
  something_else/
    (~)add_to_cart/
      layout.js

I think allowing Catch-Alls in parts other than the last segment would allow this more simply but less flexibly.