Below is a UI/UX advisory based on your **new product vision** (evidence-based release control plane with hybrid reachability) and the ASCII blueprints of the **current UI information architecture**.

I’m going to be blunt: you already have many of the right primitives (evidence bundles, proof chain, policy simulation, orchestration, reachability center), but the **IA and “default story”** still tells users “scanner + admin console.” The fix is not cosmetic—this is a **release-first product re‑framing** in navigation, objects, and workflows.

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## 1) What the UI must communicate in 10 seconds

When a buyer opens Stella Ops, they must immediately understand:

1. **“What is deployed where”** (by digest, per environment/target)
2. **“What is allowed to ship next”** (promotion requests + approvals)
3. **“Why it is allowed/blocked”** (policy gates + reachability evidence)
4. **“Where the evidence is”** (one-click proof chain and export)

Everything else (vuln explorer, SBOM graph, VEX hub, feeds, ops health) is supporting detail.

Right now the UI communicates: “Security dashboard → findings → triage → policy → ops/admin.”
That’s the wrong default narrative for a release control plane.

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## 2) New UX mental model: 5 core objects, 3 core jobs

### Core objects (they must exist everywhere as first-class nouns)

* **Release**: bundle of component→digest mappings (immutable identity)
* **Environment**: Dev/QA/Staging/Prod (policies, windows, approvals)
* **Promotion**: request to move a Release to an Environment
* **Deployment**: execution instance (workflow run against targets)
* **Evidence Packet**: signed bundle of inputs/outputs of a decision/run

### Core jobs (the UI must optimize for these first)

1. **Ship a release**: create → request promotion → approve → deploy
2. **Explain/justify a decision**: why allowed/blocked + evidence
3. **Operate with confidence**: drift, CVE updates, replay, audit export

Your current UI has these elements, but they’re **fragmented across Analyze/Triage/Policy/Evidence/Ops**.

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## 3) High-level IA change: make “Releases” the product, not a submenu

### Current top-level nav (scanner-centric)

HOME / ANALYZE / TRIAGE / POLICY / OPS / NOTIFY / ADMIN

### Recommended top-level nav (release control plane)

Use fewer, higher-signal nouns. Example:

1. **Control Plane** (default landing)
2. **Releases**
3. **Approvals**
4. **Security**
5. **Evidence**
6. **Operations**
7. **Settings** (consolidated configuration)

If you insist on 5 groups max, merge:

* **Control Plane + Releases** (same section)
* **Operations** remains admin-only
* **Settings** stays separate

### What changes immediately

* **Home `/` becomes “Control Plane Overview”** (release pipeline + action inbox)
* **Release Orchestrator becomes the central product area** (not hidden)
* **Analyze/Triage collapse into “Security”** (because they exist to inform release gating)
* **Evidence becomes a single unified section** (today it’s scattered across triage, evidence-export, proof-chain, release evidence)

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## 4) Shell & navigation redesign: move from top mega-menu to left rail

Your current header menu already has too many cognitive branches. A release control plane benefits from a **left navigation rail** + a **top bar for global context**.

### Proposed shell blueprint

```
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Stella Ops        [Global Search: release/digest/CVE/env]   [Tenant ▼] [User] │
│ Offline: OK | Feeds: 2026-01-15 | Policy: prod-baseline v3 | Evidence: ON     │
├───────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ CONTROL PLANE │  Control Plane Overview                                      │
│ Releases      │  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│ Approvals     │  │ Environment Pipeline: Dev → QA → Staging → Prod         │  │
│ Security      │  │  Dev: v1.3.0  QA: v1.2.5  Stg: v1.2.4  Prod: v1.2.3      │  │
│ Evidence      │  └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│ Operations    │  ┌───────────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────┐  │
│ Settings      │  │ Action Inbox              │ │ Drift & Risk Changes      │  │
│               │  │ - 3 approvals pending     │ │ - 2 prod drifts detected  │  │
│               │  │ - 1 blocked promotion     │ │ - 5 CVEs updated          │  │
│               │  │ - 2 failed deployments    │ │ - 1 key expiring          │  │
│               │  └───────────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────────┘  │
└───────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

**Top bar is for:**

* Global search
* Tenant context
* Offline / feed snapshot / policy baseline status (your differentiators)
* Evidence mode (exportability / signing availability)
* User actions

**Left nav is for the product story.**

---

## 5) Consolidate configuration into a single “Settings” area

You already identified this, and you’re correct. Right now configuration is scattered:

* `/setup`, `/console/configuration`, `/integrations`, `/admin/*`, `/ops/*`, `/concelier/*`

This creates a “Where do I configure X?” problem and makes the product feel unfinished.

### Proposed Settings structure (single hub, left-side tabs)

**Settings**

* **Integrations**

  * Registries
  * SCM
  * CI/CD
  * Targets & Hosts
  * Secrets
  * Notifications
* **Release Control**

  * Environments (policies, approval rules, freeze windows)
  * Targets (Docker/Compose/ECS/Nomad)
  * Agents (health, capabilities)
  * Workflows (templates, step registry)
* **Trust & Signing**

  * Keys (rotation)
  * Issuers
  * Certificates
  * Rekor / transparency settings
* **Security Data**

  * Advisory sources / connectors
  * Feed mirror / airgap
  * Version locks
* **Identity & Access**

  * Users
  * Roles & scopes
  * OAuth clients
  * API keys
* **Tenant / Branding**
* **Usage & Limits** (quotas, throttle)
* **System**

  * Platform health
  * Doctor diagnostics
  * SLOs
  * Jobs / queues (admin-only)

### What to *move* under Settings (specific existing routes)

* `/console/configuration` → Settings → Integrations
* `/integrations/*` → Settings → Integrations (same UI, one place)
* `/admin/trust/*` → Settings → Trust & Signing
* `/admin/registries` → Settings → Integrations → Registries (merge)
* `/admin/notifications` → Settings → Integrations → Notifications (or Settings → Notifications)
* `/ops/feeds`, `/ops/offline-kit` → Settings → Security Data (unless you want “Operations”)
* `/ops/quotas` → Settings → Usage & Limits
* `/console/admin/*` → Settings → Identity & Access (admin-only)

This one consolidation will make the product feel 2x more mature.

---

## 6) Rebuild “Home” into a Release Control Plane dashboard (not a security dashboard)

Your current Home dashboard is well designed—but it optimizes the wrong story (vulns, risk, reachability pie charts).

### Replace `/` with: “Control Plane Overview”

Must show:

* Environment pipeline status (what’s deployed)
* Pending promotions & approvals
* Deployment outcomes (last N)
* Drift / risk changes since last evidence
* “System trust posture” (feeds stale? keys expiring? offline?)

Security metrics should be **secondary** and contextual.

### Keep the current security dashboard, but move it under Security

* The existing `/` dashboard becomes `/security/overview` (or `/security/dashboard`)

---

## 7) Make “Approvals” a first-class product surface, not a subpage

Approvals are the moment where buyers “feel” governance and auditability.

### Current approvals blueprint is good; what’s missing is evidence-first structure

**Approval card must answer:**

1. What is changing?
2. What is the risk delta?
3. What do the gates say?
4. Where is the evidence?
5. What do I do next?

### Suggested approval card layout

```
Release: app-svc v1.2.5  (Digest bundle locked)
From: QA   →  To: Staging        Requested by: deploy-bot   2h ago

WHAT CHANGED (Diff summary)
- Components changed: 3
- New CVEs introduced: 2 (1 reachable)
- Fixed CVEs: 5
- Config drift: none

GATES (Policy baseline: stg-baseline v3.1)
✅ SBOM valid + signed
✅ Provenance present (SLSA attestation)
⚠️ 3 high CVEs (2 not-affected via VEX, 1 uncertain reachability)
❌ 1 reachable critical path found (confidence 0.82)

ACTIONS:
[View Evidence Packet] [View Reachability Witness] [Request Exception] [Approve] [Reject]
```

Key UX improvements:

* **Diff-first** becomes a core affordance everywhere (you already have lineage diff patterns—reuse them).
* “View Reachability Witness” must exist right on the approval decision (this is your moat).

---

## 8) Unify “Releases” around digest-first identity and environment mapping

Today you have:

* Artifact Workspace (triage)
* Release Orchestrator (separate)
* Findings and scans (analyze)

To match the vision, “Release” becomes the thing users manage, and “Artifacts” become a supporting detail.

### New Releases area should have 4 core pages

1. **Releases List**
2. **Release Detail**
3. **Environment Detail**
4. **Deployment Runs**

#### Release detail page should be your flagship screen

Must include:

* Release identity (bundle, digests)
* Promotion history and current deployment per environment
* Gate results (policy + reachability + VEX)
* Evidence packet + proof chain (one-click)
* “Create promotion request” and “Rollback” actions

**Release detail blueprint (suggested)**

```
RELEASE: v1.2.5   Bundle: sha256:bundle...    Created by CI: gh-actions #882

[Overview] [Components] [Gates] [Promotions] [Deployments] [Evidence] [Proof Chain]

OVERVIEW
- Dev: deployed ✓     QA: deployed ✓     Staging: pending approval ⚠     Prod: v1.2.3
- Risk score: 62 (↓ -8 from previous)   Reachability coverage: 89%

PRIMARY ACTIONS: [Request Promotion] [Generate Evidence] [Export] [Replay Verify]
```

---

## 9) Embed reachability everywhere it matters (and nowhere it doesn’t)

Reachability is not a separate “center” for most users. It’s an explanation layer that must appear:

* On approvals (decision moment)
* On finding detail (why this CVE matters)
* On release gates (why blocked/allowed)
* In evidence packet (what was proven)

### Reachability presentation rules (UX contract)

* Always show a **three-tier summary**:

  * **State**: Reachable / Unreachable / Uncertain
  * **Confidence**: numeric and explained (“0.82; runtime signal present”)
  * **Evidence**: witness path / guards / dynamic edges

* Only show full graphs on demand (progressive disclosure).

* “Uncertain” must be actionable: show why uncertain, and the top 1–2 ways to resolve uncertainty (runtime signal, config, guard).

### Add a “Witness Viewer” component (reusable)

A dedicated view that can render:

* Mermaid/DOT export
* Call path
* Guards/dynamic loading notes
* Evidence URIs
* Replay/verify button

This becomes a shared panel used in:

* Approvals
* Finding detail slide-out
* Evidence packet viewer

---

## 10) Evidence: stop scattering it; make one “Evidence” experience

You currently have evidence in:

* `/evidence/*`
* `/proofs/:subjectDigest`
* `/triage/audit-bundles`
* `/release-orchestrator/evidence`

This is a classic maturity killer: users lose trust when “audit artifacts” are spread across 4 locations.

### Recommended change

Create **one Evidence section** with:

* Evidence Packets (searchable, filterable by release/env/deployment)
* Proof Chains
* Replay/Verify
* Export Center
* Audit Bundles (as a type of evidence packet)

Then:

* Remove / hide “Evidence” tabs inside other areas, replacing them with a link:

  * “Open Evidence Packet” → takes you to Evidence section pre-filtered.

---

## 11) Rename/merge “Analyze” + “Triage” into a single “Security” area

Right now:

* Analyze = findings/vulns/graph/lineage/reachability/vex/unknowns/patch-map
* Triage = artifacts/exceptions/audit bundles/risk profiles

To a customer this reads like: “two versions of security.”

### Recommended Security structure

**Security**

* Overview (the old home security dashboard)
* Findings (scans & findings)
* Vulnerabilities (global library CVEs)
* Artifact Intelligence (SBOM graph, lineage diff, unknowns, patch map)
* VEX (hub + consensus + conflicts)
* Exceptions (policy exceptions and risk acceptances)
* Risk (profiles / scoring explanations)

And crucially:

* Each of these pages must link back to **Releases/Environments impacted**.

Example:

* Vulnerability detail shows: “Impacts: 3 releases; deployed in Prod: yes/no.”

That’s how security becomes a gate, not a silo.

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## 12) Fix route and naming inconsistencies (small work, big polish)

Your own observations list the fragmentation. Customers feel this as “unfinished.”

### Normalize path prefixes

* `/release-orchestrator/*` → `/releases/*` (or `/control-plane/*`)
* `/admin/vex-hub/*` → `/security/vex/*`
* `/scheduler/*` → `/ops/scheduler/*` (or `/operations/scheduler/*`)
* `/console/admin/*` → `/settings/access/*` (admin-only)
* `/concelier/trivy-db-settings` → `/settings/security-data/trivy`

### Normalize nouns in the UI

* “Artifact Workspace” is security-centric; for release product it becomes:

  * “Artifacts” (inventory) or “Digests”
* “Scans & Findings” should be “Findings”
* “Policy Studio” is fine for power users, but add a simple “Policies” list entry for everyone.

---

## 13) Add an “Action Inbox” to unify the product experience

Today approvals are one page, exceptions are another, dead-letter jobs are in ops, drift alerts are separate docs.

Create a single page: **Inbox**

* Pending approvals
* Pending exception reviews
* Drift alerts (reachability drift, risk drift)
* Failed deployments
* Key expirations / feed staleness (if they block evidence)

This becomes the daily entry point for an operator.

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## 14) Styling and readability guidance (practical, not decorative)

A release control plane UI must be “audit calm,” not “security noisy.”

**Rules:**

* Prefer **text + badge** over emoji status indicators in production UI.
* Use **progressive disclosure**: summary → details panel → deep technical view.
* Replace “dashboard card overload” with 2–3 high-signal panels:

  * Pipeline
  * Inbox
  * Drift/Risk Changes
* Make **digest visibility consistent**:

  * show short digest everywhere; full digest on hover/copy
* Provide “Copy” buttons for operational fields (digest, env, release id, evidence id).
* Use consistent phrasing for gates:

  * PASS / WARN / BLOCK
  * always with one-line reason
* Show **policy baseline version** and **feed snapshot version** where decisions are made. That’s trust.

---

## 15) Concrete agent task list (what to change, where)

### A) Navigation & IA refactor

1. **Add new top-level nav items**:

   * Control Plane, Releases, Approvals, Security, Evidence, Operations, Settings
2. **Move Release Orchestrator into nav** and make it default landing route.
3. **Remove Analyze/Triage split** from top-level; merge into Security.
4. **Move VEX Hub out of /admin** and into Security section (keep permissions).
5. **Add Settings section** and start migrating config pages under it.

### B) Home `/` replacement

1. Replace `HomeDashboardComponent` content:

   * Pipeline view, inbox, drift/risk deltas, system trust posture.
2. Move existing “Security Dashboard” content to `/security/overview`.

### C) Release experience upgrades

1. Implement **Release Detail flagship page**:

   * Tabs: Overview, Components, Gates, Promotions, Deployments, Evidence, Proof Chain
2. Implement **Diff-first** view for promotions (reuse lineage diff patterns).

### D) Approvals redesign

1. Make Approvals a first-class nav item.
2. Add “View Evidence Packet” + “View Reachability Witness” as primary actions.
3. Add “Request Exception” flow from the approval screen (no hunting).

### E) Evidence unification

1. Create a single Evidence hub:

   * Bundles, Proof Chains, Replay/Verify, Export
2. Redirect:

   * `/proofs/:subjectDigest` into Evidence area
   * `/release-orchestrator/evidence` becomes a filtered Evidence view
   * `/triage/audit-bundles` becomes Evidence → Audit Bundles

### F) Settings consolidation

1. Create Settings shell page + left sidebar.
2. Migrate:

   * Integrations (merge configuration pane + integration hub)
   * Trust, registries, notifications, feeds/offline kit, quotas
3. Deprecate redundant entry points after migration.

### G) Cross-linking (critical)

Add “Impacts” panels everywhere:

* On CVE detail: affected releases/environments + deployed status
* On Finding detail: show release gate impact + direct link to approval/promotion
* On Release gate: show underlying findings list filtered to that release

### H) Reachability witness viewer component

1. Build a reusable panel:

   * State, confidence, witness path, guards/dynamic loading flags, replay verify
2. Embed it in:

   * Approvals
   * Finding detail
   * Evidence packet viewer

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## 16) What I would prioritize (highest ROI, least debate)

If you do only three things first, do these:

1. **Make `/` the Control Plane Overview** (pipeline + inbox + drift)
2. **Consolidate Settings** (stop configuration fragmentation)
3. **Make Approvals evidence-first with reachability witness** (moat on display)

Everything else becomes easier after those.

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