Menus and the data-driven engine

Every menu shown to telnet / SSH / rlogin users is stored in the
database and editable from the web. There's no source code change
needed to add, remove, rename, or relink anything.

Where to edit

Admin → BBS Menus (/admin/bbs-menus/).

You'll see:

Menu tree — entry-point menus and which submenus they goto
All menus table with quick edit/delete

Anatomy of a menu

A menu has:

field	meaning
`name`	unique key (e.g. `main`, `games`, `sysop_tools`)
`title`	shown in the auto-rendered banner
`prompt`	text before the input cursor (`Choice:`)
`ansi_screen`	raw ANSI/CP437 art shown above the menu (optional)
`is_default`	this is the entry point after login
`min_access`	hide menu from users below this access level

Menu items

Each item has:

hotkey — single character or short sequence
label — visible text
action_type — what to do when picked
action_args — passed to the action
min_access — hide if user is below this
sort_order, is_visible

Action types

action	args	what it does
`goto`	name of another menu	jump to another menu
`door`	Game.id	launch a registered door game
`exec`	shell cmd or JSON	run an external program (see doc 5)
`ansi`	slot name (welcome / weather_intro / ...)	display a sysop-defined ANSI screen
`boards`	—	message boards UI
`pm`	—	PM inbox
`pm_send`	—	compose new PM
`bulletins`	—	bulletins
`echo`	—	echomail areas
`echo_post`	—	compose echomail
`files`	—	file library
`who`	—	who's online
`multinode`	—	interactive multinode chat
`oneliners`	—	last 10 callers + recent one-liners
`chat`	—	chat menu (IRC / shoutbox)
`games`	—	game center
`dialout`	—	dial out to other BBSes
`page`	—	page sysop
`profile`	—	view profile
`edit_prof`	—	edit profile
`passwd`	—	change password
`sysop`	—	sysop tools (admin only)
`logoff`	—	end session

Adding a sub-menu

Click any menu's edit page → "Add a sub-menu (one click)" card.

Fill in:
- New menu key (games_arcade)
- Title (Arcade Games)
- Hotkey on this menu (A)
- Label (Arcade)

It creates the child menu, auto-adds a Q key on the child to come
back, and links from the parent. You can deep-nest as far as you
like.

Tips

The min_access field on items + menus implements
Mystic/Synchronet-style tiers. Set a user's access_level in
Admin → Users → Manage.
Setting is_default=True on a menu other than main lets you
override the entry point.
The "Add sample items" button on the menu list adds a working
weather door (curl wttr.in) + an ANSI replay so you can verify
exec and ansi actions work without writing your own.

Behavior at the prompt

Single-key hotkeys. The prompt reads one keystroke and dispatches
immediately — no Enter required. Bare Enter just redraws the menu.
Backspace, arrow keys, and Ctrl-C are silently swallowed.
Screen is cleared between menus so the new menu doesn't render
on top of the previous one.
Q (logoff) confirms with Y/N so a stray keystroke doesn't
drop your session.

Display codes inside `ansi_screen`

The menu's ansi_screen content runs through the same Synchronet
@CODE@ and Mystic |XX substitution as standalone ANSI screens.
See doc 4 — ANSI screens for the supported code
table. Color pipe-codes (|07 etc.) are unaffected.