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Deep Links

One line of config makes every route reachable from outside the app.

Turning it on

# whitehall.toml
[app]
deep_link = "myapp"

A link then maps onto your routes exactly as they are already written. No separate table, no second set of paths to keep in sync:

myapp:///user/42       →  src/routes/user/[id]/+screen.wh
myapp:///show/tt0903747 →  src/routes/show/[id]/+screen.wh

Read the segment the usual way, with $screen.params.

What it generates

Three things, all of which you would otherwise write by hand:

  • a VIEW + DEFAULT + BROWSABLE intent filter, which is what makes a browser willing to hand the link over
  • launchMode="singleTask", so a link arriving while the app is already running does not start a second copy of it
  • onNewIntent routing, which is what actually navigates that already-running app to the linked route

Cold starts get a back stack

Following a link into an app that was not running is the case that usually goes wrong: the user lands three levels deep, presses back, and the app closes. Whitehall seeds the back stack for the linked route, so back walks up the hierarchy the way it would have if they had navigated there themselves.

The three slashes in myapp:///user/42 are not a typo — the host is empty, so the path starts right after it. myapp://user/42 would read user as the host and /42 as the whole path.

Testing one

adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d "myapp:///user/42"
A custom scheme is only as unique as its name — any app may claim myapp://, and Android will ask the user to choose. For links that must be yours, and for https:// links that open your app directly, you need Android App Links: a verified domain and an assetlinks.json file it serves. Whitehall does not generate that yet, so it is manifest_additions territory.

See Also