diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 774b21f..21c73fc 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -48,6 +48,11 @@ pnpm infrastructure:config
   the host application, never to a module. Ekklesia's own shell is `surfaces/shell`; it discovers
   installed module UIs through `GET /api/v1/module-ui` and mounts them with
   `@ekklesia/module-ui-host`, and it statically imports no module (ADR 0026).
+- Dashboard groups are presentation configuration, never module structure. Do not add a parent
+  module, child module, owning module, or group-derived dependency: real module relationships are
+  the dependency contract's job alone, and grouping must never influence discovery, dependency
+  ordering, startup, or authorization (ADR 0027). A module declares its display name
+  (`manifest.name`); the Dashboard owns where it appears.
 - A surface is browser code. It may depend on browser-safe shared roles only — never
   `@ekklesia/contracts` or `@ekklesia/module-sdk`, whose type graphs pull Node's globals into the
   browser — and it reaches the server over HTTP.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9d97552..2361657 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -355,10 +355,42 @@ still refused `403` when the UI calls the API anyway. The host owns the containe
 and every failure; a broken module costs its own panel, not the shell. See
 [ADR 0026](docs/architecture/decisions/0026-minimal-ekklesia-module-ui-host.md).
 
-**This is not the Dashboard.** There is no navigation model, grouping, folders, icons, ordering, home
-screen, design system, or client-side routing — the selector is a list of module ids. Sign-in UI, a
-production CSP and deployment for the built shell, asset publication beyond the UI entrypoint, React
-runtime sharing, the standalone host, and every real feature module also do not exist.
+Phase 6D pass 1 gives that shell a real **navigation model** — and pins down the rule it could
+easily have broken. A church sees `Media → Livestream, Video` and `Planning → Calendar`, while the
+modules underneath stay exactly what they were: flat, independently versioned products with no
+parent, no owner, and no folder-derived dependency.
+
+**Grouping is presentation configuration, not module structure.** A group is a label on a rendering
+bucket: no manifest, no version, no artifact, no API, no lifecycle, and nothing depends on it.
+Placing Livestream and Video in one folder creates no relationship between them, and moving a module
+changes one row. *Livestream depends on Video because it calls Video's functionality* is a real
+dependency that orders startup; *Livestream is shown under Media* orders nothing. That distinction is
+executable: a test discovers real fixtures with a genuine dependency, arranges them four ways
+(including both in one folder, and the dependency inverted in presentation), and asserts discovery
+order, dependency declarations, and the module set come out byte-identical every time.
+
+**No manifest change, and no version 5.** `manifest.name` has been required since version 1 and is
+already the module's product identity, so the shell simply renders "Livestream" instead of
+`livestream`. `suggestedGroup` was deliberately deferred rather than shipped: it would force a hard
+manifest-version cutover for a *hint*, and its only correct semantics needs initialization logic that
+would risk a module's suggestion overwriting an administrator's decision.
+
+Two Core tables (migration `0003`) hold groups and placements — server-side, because a church
+configures its Dashboard, not one browser; platform-global, because Ekklesia has no organization
+model yet. `GET /api/v1/dashboard/navigation` returns the resolved view, layered **on top of** the
+host-neutral module UI inventory rather than merged into it, embedding each generic descriptor
+untouched. Reading needs the same permission the inventory does; organizing needs a new platform
+permission, `core.dashboard.navigation.manage`. A newly installed module appears immediately as
+ungrouped with no initialization write; an uninstalled module's placement is retained so reinstalling
+restores its position; deleting a group ungroups its modules through the database rather than
+application cleanup. See
+[ADR 0027](docs/architecture/decisions/0027-dashboard-navigation-and-flat-modules.md).
+
+**Still not the finished Dashboard.** There is no navigation editor or drag and drop, no nested
+folders, no icons or colors, no Dashboard Home or widgets, no design system, and no client-side
+routing. Sign-in UI, a production CSP and deployment for the built shell, asset publication beyond
+the UI entrypoint, React runtime sharing, the standalone host, and every real feature module also do
+not exist.
 
 **Security model.** Installed modules are trusted compiled backend code that runs arbitrary
 JavaScript in the API process and shares its PostgreSQL role — table prefixes, manifests, permission
diff --git a/apps/api/src/app.ts b/apps/api/src/app.ts
index 8a51d39..e2e1baf 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/app.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/app.ts
@@ -9,11 +9,13 @@ import type {
   PermissionRegistry,
 } from "@ekklesia/core/authorization";
 import { type EkklesiaIdentityRuntime, IdentityRuntimeError } from "@ekklesia/core/identity";
+import type { DashboardStore } from "@ekklesia/core/dashboard";
 import type { ModuleUiPublicationRegistry } from "@ekklesia/core/modules";
 import { Hono } from "hono";
 import type { Context, MiddlewareHandler } from "hono";
 import { cors } from "hono/cors";
 import { AUTH_REQUEST_MAX_BODY_BYTES, platformBodyLimit } from "./body-limits.js";
+import { createDashboardRoutes } from "./dashboard-routes.js";
 import { createGrantsRoutes } from "./grants-routes.js";
 import { canonicalizeVaryHeader, mountModuleHttpRoutes } from "./module-http-routes.js";
 import { createModuleUiInventoryRoutes } from "./module-ui-inventory.js";
@@ -47,6 +49,12 @@ export interface CreateApiAppOptions {
    * is: a caller that publishes no module UI must say so explicitly with an empty registry, never
    * fall through to an implicit one. See `./module-ui-routes.js`. */
   readonly moduleUi: ModuleUiPublicationRegistry;
+  /** Core's persistence for how this Dashboard presents installed modules (ADR 0027). Required
+   * rather than defaulted, like every other module option here: a caller that exercises no
+   * Dashboard says so with an explicit store, never falls through to an implicit one. Grouping is
+   * presentation only — nothing reachable through this store influences discovery, dependency
+   * ordering, module startup, or any authorization decision. */
+  readonly dashboard: DashboardStore;
   readonly runtime: EkklesiaIdentityRuntime;
   /** Exact allowed browser origins. Never a wildcard; combined with `credentials: true`, only an
    * exact, reflected match is ever returned in `Access-Control-Allow-Origin`. Also the trusted set
@@ -193,6 +201,21 @@ export function createApiApp(options: CreateApiAppOptions): Hono {
     }),
   );
 
+  // Layered deliberately on top of the generic inventory above rather than merged into it: the
+  // inventory stays the host-neutral "what is mountable" contract a standalone host could consume,
+  // and this adds Ekklesia's own presentation of those same modules. See `./dashboard-routes.js`.
+  app.route(
+    "/",
+    createDashboardRoutes({
+      evaluator: options.authorization.evaluator,
+      moduleUi: options.moduleUi,
+      registry: options.authorization.registry,
+      runtime,
+      store: options.dashboard,
+      trustedOrigins: allowedOrigins,
+    }),
+  );
+
   mountModuleHttpRoutes(app, options.moduleRoutes, {
     evaluator: options.authorization.evaluator,
     registry: options.authorization.registry,
diff --git a/apps/api/src/dashboard-routes.ts b/apps/api/src/dashboard-routes.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..07f811c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/api/src/dashboard-routes.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,310 @@
+import {
+  CORE_DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_MANAGE,
+  CORE_MODULES_UI_READ,
+} from "@ekklesia/core/authorization";
+import {
+  DASHBOARD_SORT_ORDER_MAX,
+  DASHBOARD_SORT_ORDER_MIN,
+  type DashboardStore,
+  DashboardStoreError,
+  isValidDashboardIdentifier,
+  normalizeDashboardGroupLabel,
+  resolveDashboardNavigation,
+} from "@ekklesia/core/dashboard";
+import type { ModuleUiPublicationRegistry } from "@ekklesia/core/modules";
+import { Hono } from "hono";
+import type { Context } from "hono";
+import {
+  type AuthorizationMiddlewareOptions,
+  getAuthorizedPrincipal,
+  requirePermission,
+  requireTrustedOrigin,
+} from "./authorization-middleware.js";
+import { CORE_MUTATION_MAX_BODY_BYTES, platformBodyLimit } from "./body-limits.js";
+import { describeMountableModules, type HostModuleUiDescriptor } from "./module-ui-inventory.js";
+
+export const DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH = "/api/v1/dashboard/navigation";
+const DASHBOARD_GROUPS_PATH = `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/groups`;
+const DASHBOARD_PLACEMENTS_PATH = `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/placements`;
+
+/**
+ * One module as the Dashboard presents it: the module's display name, plus the generic mount
+ * descriptor unchanged.
+ *
+ * The descriptor is **embedded rather than flattened**, and that is the layering made visible.
+ * `module` is exactly `HostModuleUiDescriptor` — the host-neutral answer to "what is mountable and
+ * how" (ADR 0026) — and `name` is the Dashboard's presentation concern layered on top. A standalone
+ * host consumes the inner object and never learns that Ekklesia has folders; Ekklesia's shell
+ * consumes the outer one. Neither contract is warped to serve the other, and there is one
+ * construction of the descriptor rather than two that could drift.
+ */
+export interface DashboardNavigationModuleView {
+  readonly name: string;
+  readonly module: HostModuleUiDescriptor;
+}
+
+export interface DashboardNavigationGroupView {
+  /** The stable key, unchanged by a rename. Addresses the group in the mutation API; never displayed. */
+  readonly id: string;
+  readonly label: string;
+  readonly order: number;
+  readonly modules: readonly DashboardNavigationModuleView[];
+}
+
+export interface DashboardNavigationResponse {
+  readonly groups: readonly DashboardNavigationGroupView[];
+  /** Modules an administrator placed outside every group, and modules never configured at all — a
+   * newly installed module most importantly. Never empty merely because nothing has been arranged. */
+  readonly ungrouped: readonly DashboardNavigationModuleView[];
+}
+
+export interface CreateDashboardRoutesOptions extends AuthorizationMiddlewareOptions {
+  /** The same publication registry the artifact route and the generic inventory serve from: the one
+   * accepted, mountable module set. Navigation never rescans, never reads a manifest, and never
+   * discovers anything of its own. */
+  readonly moduleUi: ModuleUiPublicationRegistry;
+  readonly store: DashboardStore;
+  readonly trustedOrigins: ReadonlySet<string>;
+}
+
+function sanitizedFailure(c: Context, status: 400 | 404 | 503, code: string): Response {
+  c.header("Cache-Control", "no-store");
+  return c.json({ code }, status);
+}
+
+/** Maps the store's own sanitized codes onto HTTP without inventing a second vocabulary. A
+ * validation failure the route already rejects can still arrive here from a concurrent change, so
+ * both paths are handled rather than assumed unreachable. */
+function storeFailure(c: Context, error: unknown): Response {
+  if (error instanceof DashboardStoreError) {
+    if (error.code === "DASHBOARD_GROUP_NOT_FOUND") {
+      return sanitizedFailure(c, 404, error.code);
+    }
+    if (error.code === "DASHBOARD_READ_FAILED" || error.code === "DASHBOARD_WRITE_FAILED") {
+      return sanitizedFailure(c, 503, error.code);
+    }
+    return sanitizedFailure(c, 400, "INVALID_REQUEST");
+  }
+  return sanitizedFailure(c, 503, "DASHBOARD_WRITE_FAILED");
+}
+
+function isRecord(value: unknown): value is Record<string, unknown> {
+  return typeof value === "object" && value !== null && !Array.isArray(value);
+}
+
+function parsedSortOrder(value: unknown): number | undefined {
+  if (
+    typeof value !== "number" ||
+    !Number.isSafeInteger(value) ||
+    value < DASHBOARD_SORT_ORDER_MIN ||
+    value > DASHBOARD_SORT_ORDER_MAX
+  ) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+  return value;
+}
+
+const GROUP_BODY_KEYS = new Set(["label", "order"]);
+const PLACEMENT_BODY_KEYS = new Set(["groupId", "order"]);
+
+/**
+ * Structured, closed validation — never a free-form configuration blob. Any key beyond the declared
+ * ones makes the whole body invalid rather than being silently dropped, so a caller cannot smuggle a
+ * field a future version might interpret, and a typo fails loudly instead of quietly doing nothing.
+ */
+function parseGroupBody(raw: unknown): { label: string; order: number } | undefined {
+  if (!isRecord(raw) || Object.keys(raw).some((key) => !GROUP_BODY_KEYS.has(key))) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+  const order = parsedSortOrder(raw.order);
+  const label = normalizeDashboardGroupLabel(raw.label);
+  if (label === undefined || order === undefined) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+  return { label, order };
+}
+
+function parsePlacementBody(raw: unknown): { groupId: string | null; order: number } | undefined {
+  if (!isRecord(raw) || Object.keys(raw).some((key) => !PLACEMENT_BODY_KEYS.has(key))) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+  const order = parsedSortOrder(raw.order);
+  const groupId = raw.groupId;
+  if (order === undefined || (groupId !== null && !isValidDashboardIdentifier(groupId))) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+  return { groupId, order };
+}
+
+async function readJsonBody(c: Context): Promise<unknown> {
+  try {
+    return (await c.req.json()) as unknown;
+  } catch {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * The Ekklesia Dashboard's navigation: how this installation presents its mountable modules, and the
+ * narrow, structured API for changing that.
+ *
+ * ## Navigation is layered on the inventory, not merged into it
+ *
+ * `GET /api/v1/module-ui` (ADR 0026) answers *what may be mounted* and stays host-neutral — a
+ * standalone host uses it and never learns Ekklesia has folders. This route answers *how this
+ * Dashboard presents those modules*, and embeds each generic descriptor untouched inside a
+ * presentation wrapper. Keeping them separate is what stops Dashboard semantics leaking into the
+ * portable module-host contract.
+ *
+ * ## Grouping is presentation, and structurally cannot be anything else
+ *
+ * The resolved view is computed by `resolveDashboardNavigation`, a pure function of stored
+ * configuration and the current module set. It reads no manifest, no dependency, no capability, and
+ * no entrypoint, and it produces no relationship between two modules. Modules stay flat (ADR 0021,
+ * ADR 0027): two modules in one group are exactly as related as two in different groups, and moving
+ * one changes a single presentation row — never its artifact, its API root, its permissions, its
+ * dependencies, or when it starts.
+ *
+ * ## Reading versus organizing
+ *
+ * Reading requires `core.modules.ui.read`, the same permission the generic inventory requires,
+ * because this response *contains* that inventory and serves the same audience: any signed-in user
+ * needs it to see anything at all. Organizing requires `core.dashboard.navigation.manage`
+ * (restricted) — a platform permission, never a module's — and, like every other Core mutation, an
+ * exact trusted `Origin` and a bounded body before authorization work begins.
+ *
+ * Holding the manage permission grants no module authority. Every module route remains enforced
+ * against its own declared permission, and no arrangement of folders changes a single authorization
+ * decision.
+ */
+export function createDashboardRoutes(options: CreateDashboardRoutesOptions): Hono {
+  const routes = new Hono();
+  const middlewareOptions: AuthorizationMiddlewareOptions = {
+    evaluator: options.evaluator,
+    registry: options.registry,
+    runtime: options.runtime,
+  };
+  const requireRead = requirePermission(middlewareOptions, CORE_MODULES_UI_READ);
+  const requireManage = requirePermission(middlewareOptions, CORE_DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_MANAGE);
+  const requireOrigin = requireTrustedOrigin(options.trustedOrigins);
+  const mutationBodyLimit = platformBodyLimit(CORE_MUTATION_MAX_BODY_BYTES);
+
+  routes.get(DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH, requireRead, async (c) => {
+    c.header("Cache-Control", "no-store");
+    // Per-principal: the embedded descriptors carry permission hints evaluated for this caller.
+    c.header("Vary", "Origin, Cookie");
+    const principal = getAuthorizedPrincipal(c);
+    try {
+      const [configuration, descriptors] = await Promise.all([
+        options.store.readConfiguration(),
+        describeMountableModules(options.evaluator, principal, options.moduleUi),
+      ]);
+      const view = resolveDashboardNavigation(
+        configuration,
+        descriptors.map((entry) => ({ id: entry.descriptor.id, ...entry })),
+      );
+      const present = (entry: {
+        readonly descriptor: HostModuleUiDescriptor;
+        readonly name: string;
+      }): DashboardNavigationModuleView => ({ module: entry.descriptor, name: entry.name });
+      return c.json(
+        {
+          groups: view.groups.map((group) => ({
+            id: group.id,
+            label: group.label,
+            modules: group.modules.map(present),
+            order: group.order,
+          })),
+          ungrouped: view.ungrouped.map(present),
+        } satisfies DashboardNavigationResponse,
+        200,
+      );
+    } catch (error) {
+      if (error instanceof DashboardStoreError) {
+        return storeFailure(c, error);
+      }
+      // An authorization-evaluation outage, exactly as the generic inventory reports it: a
+      // permission hint that could not be determined is never rendered as "not granted".
+      return sanitizedFailure(c, 503, "AUTHORIZATION_EVALUATION_FAILED");
+    }
+  });
+
+  routes.put(
+    `${DASHBOARD_GROUPS_PATH}/:groupId`,
+    requireOrigin,
+    mutationBodyLimit,
+    requireManage,
+    async (c) => {
+      c.header("Cache-Control", "no-store");
+      const groupId = c.req.param("groupId");
+      const body = parseGroupBody(await readJsonBody(c));
+      if (!body || !isValidDashboardIdentifier(groupId)) {
+        return sanitizedFailure(c, 400, "INVALID_REQUEST");
+      }
+      try {
+        // Idempotent by design: creating and renaming are the same operation against a
+        // client-chosen, stable id, so a rename can never orphan the placements pointing at it.
+        const group = await options.store.upsertGroup({
+          id: groupId,
+          label: body.label,
+          sortOrder: body.order,
+        });
+        return c.json({ id: group.id, label: group.label, order: group.sortOrder }, 200);
+      } catch (error) {
+        return storeFailure(c, error);
+      }
+    },
+  );
+
+  routes.delete(`${DASHBOARD_GROUPS_PATH}/:groupId`, requireOrigin, requireManage, async (c) => {
+    c.header("Cache-Control", "no-store");
+    const groupId = c.req.param("groupId");
+    if (!isValidDashboardIdentifier(groupId)) {
+      return sanitizedFailure(c, 400, "INVALID_REQUEST");
+    }
+    try {
+      // Modules in the group become ungrouped through the schema's `on delete set null`, so no
+      // module is lost and no placement is left pointing at a group that no longer exists.
+      await options.store.deleteGroup(groupId);
+      return c.body(null, 204);
+    } catch (error) {
+      return storeFailure(c, error);
+    }
+  });
+
+  routes.put(
+    `${DASHBOARD_PLACEMENTS_PATH}/:moduleId`,
+    requireOrigin,
+    mutationBodyLimit,
+    requireManage,
+    async (c) => {
+      c.header("Cache-Control", "no-store");
+      const moduleId = c.req.param("moduleId");
+      const body = parsePlacementBody(await readJsonBody(c));
+      if (!body || !isValidDashboardIdentifier(moduleId)) {
+        return sanitizedFailure(c, 400, "INVALID_REQUEST");
+      }
+      try {
+        // A placement may be stored for a module that is not installed: that is how uninstalling
+        // and reinstalling preserves an arrangement. Nothing renders it until the module is back.
+        const placement = await options.store.setPlacement({
+          groupId: body.groupId,
+          moduleId,
+          sortOrder: body.order,
+        });
+        return c.json(
+          {
+            groupId: placement.groupId,
+            moduleId: placement.moduleId,
+            order: placement.sortOrder,
+          },
+          200,
+        );
+      } catch (error) {
+        return storeFailure(c, error);
+      }
+    },
+  );
+
+  return routes;
+}
diff --git a/apps/api/src/database.ts b/apps/api/src/database.ts
index 928b531..3074a49 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/database.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/database.ts
@@ -3,12 +3,17 @@ import {
   type AuthorizationDrizzleDatabase,
   createAuthorizationDrizzleView,
 } from "@ekklesia/core/authorization";
+import {
+  createDashboardDrizzleView,
+  type DashboardDrizzleDatabase,
+} from "@ekklesia/core/dashboard";
 import { createValidatedPostgresPool, type PostgresPoolOptions } from "@ekklesia/core/database";
 import { createIdentityDrizzleView, type IdentityDrizzleDatabase } from "@ekklesia/core/identity";
 import { createModuleDatabaseView } from "@ekklesia/core/modules";
 
 export interface ApiDatabaseHandle {
   readonly authorization: AuthorizationDrizzleDatabase;
+  readonly dashboard: DashboardDrizzleDatabase;
   readonly identity: IdentityDrizzleDatabase;
   readonly module: ModuleDatabase;
   /** Closes the one shared pool exactly once, regardless of how many typed views were created
@@ -35,6 +40,7 @@ export function createApiDatabase(
   return Object.freeze({
     authorization: createAuthorizationDrizzleView(pool),
     close,
+    dashboard: createDashboardDrizzleView(pool),
     identity: createIdentityDrizzleView(pool),
     module: createModuleDatabaseView(pool),
   });
diff --git a/apps/api/src/module-ui-inventory.ts b/apps/api/src/module-ui-inventory.ts
index 4a6575e..dbbc8fb 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/module-ui-inventory.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/module-ui-inventory.ts
@@ -120,6 +120,38 @@ async function describeModule(
   };
 }
 
+/** One mountable module, described once: the host-neutral mount descriptor plus the module's own
+ * display name, kept beside it rather than inside it. */
+export interface MountableModuleDescription {
+  readonly descriptor: HostModuleUiDescriptor;
+  /** `manifest.name`. Presentation *identity* the module owns — never its placement, which the
+   * Dashboard owns (ADR 0027). Deliberately absent from `HostModuleUiDescriptor`, so the
+   * host-neutral contract a standalone host consumes stays free of presentation concerns. */
+  readonly name: string;
+}
+
+/**
+ * The one composition of the mountable-module set, shared by the generic inventory route and the
+ * Dashboard navigation route (`./dashboard-routes.js`).
+ *
+ * Both derive from the same publication registry and the same evaluator, so the two endpoints can
+ * never disagree about what exists, what its URLs are, or what the caller may do inside it. Sharing
+ * this function rather than duplicating the mapping is what makes that a structural property instead
+ * of a convention.
+ */
+export async function describeMountableModules(
+  evaluator: AuthorizationMiddlewareOptions["evaluator"],
+  principal: EkklesiaPrincipal,
+  registry: ModuleUiPublicationRegistry,
+): Promise<readonly MountableModuleDescription[]> {
+  return Promise.all(
+    registry.list().map(async (published) => ({
+      descriptor: await describeModule(evaluator, principal, published),
+      name: published.name,
+    })),
+  );
+}
+
 /** Mirrors `requirePermission`'s own infrastructure-failure result exactly: a permission hint that
  * could not be determined is never reported as "not granted". Carries no module id, permission id,
  * or caught error. */
@@ -178,11 +210,14 @@ export function createModuleUiInventoryRoutes(options: CreateModuleUiInventoryRo
     // The `authenticated` baseline guarantees this is an authenticated principal.
     const principal = getAuthorizedPrincipal(c);
     try {
-      const modules = await Promise.all(
-        options.moduleUi
-          .list()
-          .map((published) => describeModule(options.evaluator, principal, published)),
+      const described = await describeMountableModules(
+        options.evaluator,
+        principal,
+        options.moduleUi,
       );
+      // Only the host-neutral descriptor reaches this response: the display name stays out of the
+      // portable contract and is carried by the Dashboard navigation view instead.
+      const modules = described.map((entry) => entry.descriptor);
       return c.json({ modules } satisfies HostModuleUiInventory, 200);
     } catch {
       return sanitizedInventoryFailure(c);
diff --git a/apps/api/src/server.ts b/apps/api/src/server.ts
index 6ea2b3e..90b6dcf 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/server.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/server.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import {
   createAuthorizationEvaluator,
   createAuthorizationStore,
 } from "@ekklesia/core/authorization";
+import { createDashboardStore } from "@ekklesia/core/dashboard";
 import { createIdentityRuntime, type IdentityRateLimitOverride } from "@ekklesia/core/identity";
 import {
   createModuleUiPublicationRegistry,
@@ -413,6 +414,8 @@ export async function startApi(
       // module, and a module that failed to load, register, or start never reaches this line at
       // all. Modules declaring no `entrypoints.ui` are simply absent from the registry.
       moduleUi: createModuleUiPublicationRegistry(inventory.modules),
+      // A typed view over the same single pool as identity, authorization, and the module facade.
+      dashboard: createDashboardStore(databaseHandle.dashboard),
       runtime,
       trustedOrigins: config.identity.trustedOrigins,
     });
diff --git a/apps/api/tests/api-http.integration.ts b/apps/api/tests/api-http.integration.ts
index 035a285..aad51e8 100644
--- a/apps/api/tests/api-http.integration.ts
+++ b/apps/api/tests/api-http.integration.ts
@@ -194,6 +194,7 @@ async function applyCoreMigrations(url: string): Promise<void> {
       "core:0000_identity_core_tables",
       "core:0001_authorization_core_tables",
       "core:0002_authorization_integrity",
+      "core:0003_dashboard_navigation_tables",
     ]);
     expect(aggregate.migrations[0]?.checksum).toBe(
       "f8f2086ef06f7a6943e8ffc4350bb010b37aed04c0a72030d2b153c986b1325f",
@@ -2158,9 +2159,9 @@ describe.sequential("live API — installed module permission end-to-end", () =>
     expect(moduleCheck).toMatchObject({ status: "pass" });
     expect(moduleCheck?.details).toEqual(["calendar 0.1.0"]);
     expect(permissionsCheck).toMatchObject({
-      // Core's own two (`core.authorization.grants.manage`, `core.modules.ui.read`) plus the
-      // fixture module's one.
-      details: ["3 permissions registered"],
+      // Core's own three (`core.authorization.grants.manage`, `core.modules.ui.read`,
+      // `core.dashboard.navigation.manage`) plus the fixture module's one.
+      details: ["4 permissions registered"],
       status: "pass",
     });
     // Doctor and permission composition read only the manifest — the fixture's register/start
diff --git a/apps/api/tests/app.test.ts b/apps/api/tests/app.test.ts
index 76a064b..a3d3e4e 100644
--- a/apps/api/tests/app.test.ts
+++ b/apps/api/tests/app.test.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import {
 } from "@ekklesia/core/modules";
 import { IdentityRuntimeError } from "@ekklesia/core/identity";
 import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { createInMemoryDashboardStore } from "./support/in-memory-dashboard-store.js";
 import { createApiApp, type CreateApiAppAuthorizationOptions } from "../src/app.js";
 import { AUTH_REQUEST_MAX_BODY_BYTES } from "../src/body-limits.js";
 
@@ -87,6 +88,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
     const app = createApiApp({
       moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
       moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+      dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
       moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
       authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
       runtime,
@@ -105,6 +107,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
     const app = createApiApp({
       moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
       moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+      dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
       moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
       authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
       runtime,
@@ -124,6 +127,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
     const app = createApiApp({
       moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
       moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+      dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
       moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
       authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
       runtime,
@@ -145,6 +149,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
     const app = createApiApp({
       moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
       moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+      dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
       moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
       authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
       runtime,
@@ -168,6 +173,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
     const app = createApiApp({
       moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
       moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+      dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
       moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
       authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
       runtime,
@@ -191,6 +197,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
     const app = createApiApp({
       moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
       moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+      dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
       moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
       authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
       runtime,
@@ -211,6 +218,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
     const app = createApiApp({
       moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
       moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+      dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
       moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
       authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
       runtime,
@@ -233,6 +241,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
     const app = createApiApp({
       moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
       moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+      dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
       moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
       authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
       runtime,
@@ -252,6 +261,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
       const app = createApiApp({
         moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
         moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+        dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
         moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
         authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
         runtime,
@@ -273,6 +283,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
       const app = createApiApp({
         moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
         moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+        dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
         moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
         authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
         runtime,
@@ -301,6 +312,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
       const app = createApiApp({
         moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
         moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+        dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
         moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
         authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
         runtime,
@@ -330,6 +342,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
       const app = createApiApp({
         moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
         moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+        dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
         moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
         authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
         runtime,
@@ -364,6 +377,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
     const app = createApiApp({
       moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
       moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+      dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
       moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
       authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
       runtime: fakeRuntime(),
@@ -380,6 +394,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
     const app = createApiApp({
       moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
       moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+      dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
       moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
       authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
       runtime: fakeRuntime(),
@@ -398,6 +413,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
     const app = createApiApp({
       moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
       moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+      dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
       moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
       authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
       runtime: fakeRuntime(),
@@ -415,6 +431,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
     const app = createApiApp({
       moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
       moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+      dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
       moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
       authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
       runtime: fakeRuntime(),
@@ -430,6 +447,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
     const app = createApiApp({
       moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
       moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+      dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
       moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
       authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
       runtime: fakeRuntime(),
@@ -452,6 +470,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
     const app = createApiApp({
       moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
       moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+      dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
       moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
       authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
       runtime: fakeRuntime(),
@@ -477,6 +496,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
       const app = createApiApp({
         moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
         moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+        dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
         moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
         authorization: fakeAuthorization({ evaluator: { authorize: evaluatorAuthorize } }),
         runtime: fakeRuntime(),
@@ -505,6 +525,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
       const app = createApiApp({
         moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
         moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+        dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
         moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
         authorization: fakeAuthorization({
           evaluator: { authorize: evaluatorAuthorize },
@@ -524,6 +545,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia API Hono application", () => {
       const app = createApiApp({
         moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
         moduleUi: emptyModuleUiPublication(),
+        dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
         moduleServices: fakeModuleServices(),
         authorization: fakeAuthorization({}),
         runtime: fakeRuntime(),
diff --git a/apps/api/tests/dashboard-routes.test.ts b/apps/api/tests/dashboard-routes.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f96d947
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/api/tests/dashboard-routes.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,621 @@
+import { mkdir, mkdtemp, rm, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import {
+  ANONYMOUS_PRINCIPAL,
+  createAuthenticatedPrincipal,
+  type EkklesiaPrincipal,
+  type ModuleDatabase,
+  type ModuleRuntimeServices,
+  parseEkklesiaUserId,
+} from "@ekklesia/contracts";
+import {
+  type AuthorizationStore,
+  createAuthorizationEvaluator,
+} from "@ekklesia/core/authorization";
+import type { DashboardConfiguration } from "@ekklesia/core/dashboard";
+import type { EkklesiaIdentityRuntime } from "@ekklesia/core/identity";
+import {
+  composePlatformPermissionRegistry,
+  createModuleUiPublicationRegistry,
+  discoverModules,
+} from "@ekklesia/core/modules";
+import type { Hono } from "hono";
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { createApiApp } from "../src/app.js";
+import { DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH } from "../src/dashboard-routes.js";
+import { MODULE_UI_INVENTORY_PATH } from "../src/module-ui-inventory.js";
+import { createInMemoryDashboardStore } from "./support/in-memory-dashboard-store.js";
+
+const trustedOrigin = "https://dashboard.example.test";
+const untrustedOrigin = "https://evil.example.test";
+const viewerId = parseEkklesiaUserId("33333333-3333-4333-8333-333333333333");
+
+const temporaryDirectories: string[] = [];
+
+afterEach(async () => {
+  await Promise.all(
+    temporaryDirectories
+      .splice(0)
+      .map((directory) => rm(directory, { force: true, recursive: true })),
+  );
+});
+
+interface ModuleFixture {
+  readonly id: string;
+  readonly name: string;
+  readonly withUi?: boolean;
+}
+
+async function createModule(modulesDirectory: string, fixture: ModuleFixture): Promise<void> {
+  const moduleDirectory = path.join(modulesDirectory, fixture.id);
+  await mkdir(path.join(moduleDirectory, "dist/server"), { recursive: true });
+  await writeFile(
+    path.join(moduleDirectory, "package.json"),
+    JSON.stringify({
+      ekklesia: { layer: "module" },
+      name: `@test/module-${fixture.id}`,
+      type: "module",
+      version: "1.0.0",
+    }),
+  );
+  await writeFile(
+    path.join(moduleDirectory, "ekklesia.module.json"),
+    JSON.stringify({
+      compatibility: { moduleSdk: "^0.1.0", platform: "^0.1.0" },
+      entrypoints: {
+        server: "./dist/server/index.js",
+        ...(fixture.withUi === false ? {} : { ui: "./dist/ui/index.js" }),
+      },
+      id: fixture.id,
+      manifestVersion: 4,
+      name: fixture.name,
+      version: "1.0.0",
+    }),
+  );
+  await writeFile(
+    path.join(moduleDirectory, "dist/server/index.js"),
+    `export default { id: ${JSON.stringify(fixture.id)}, version: "1.0.0" };`,
+  );
+  if (fixture.withUi !== false) {
+    await mkdir(path.join(moduleDirectory, "dist/ui"), { recursive: true });
+    await writeFile(
+      path.join(moduleDirectory, "dist/ui/index.js"),
+      `export default { id: ${JSON.stringify(fixture.id)}, version: "1.0.0", mount() {} };\n`,
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+interface InstallOptions {
+  readonly fixtures?: readonly ModuleFixture[];
+  readonly principal?: EkklesiaPrincipal;
+  readonly platformOwner?: boolean;
+  readonly configuration?: Partial<DashboardConfiguration>;
+}
+
+const defaultFixtures: readonly ModuleFixture[] = [
+  { id: "video", name: "Video" },
+  { id: "livestream", name: "Livestream" },
+  { id: "calendar", name: "Calendar" },
+];
+
+async function install(options: InstallOptions = {}): Promise<{ app: Hono }> {
+  const modulesDirectory = await mkdtemp(path.join(tmpdir(), "ekklesia-dashboard-routes-"));
+  temporaryDirectories.push(modulesDirectory);
+  for (const fixture of options.fixtures ?? defaultFixtures) {
+    await createModule(modulesDirectory, fixture);
+  }
+  const modules = await discoverModules({
+    moduleSdkVersion: "0.1.0",
+    modulesDirectory,
+    platformVersion: "0.1.0",
+  });
+
+  const evaluator = createAuthorizationEvaluator({
+    grants: { hasActiveGrant: async () => false },
+    platformOwners: { isPlatformOwner: async () => options.platformOwner === true },
+  });
+  const runtime: EkklesiaIdentityRuntime = {
+    handleAuthRequest: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(new Response(null, { status: 200 })),
+    resolvePrincipal: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(options.principal ?? ANONYMOUS_PRINCIPAL),
+  };
+  const store = {
+    createGrant: vi.fn(),
+    grantPlatformOwner: vi.fn(),
+    hasActiveGrant: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(false),
+    isPlatformOwner: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(false),
+    listGrantsForUser: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ grants: [] }),
+    revokeGrant: vi.fn(),
+    revokePlatformOwner: vi.fn(),
+  } as unknown as AuthorizationStore;
+
+  const app = createApiApp({
+    authorization: { evaluator, registry: composePlatformPermissionRegistry(modules), store },
+    dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(options.configuration ?? {}),
+    moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
+    moduleServices: Object.freeze({
+      database: Object.freeze({}) as unknown as ModuleDatabase,
+    }) as ModuleRuntimeServices,
+    moduleUi: createModuleUiPublicationRegistry(modules),
+    runtime,
+    trustedOrigins: [trustedOrigin],
+  });
+
+  return { app };
+}
+
+function signedIn(): EkklesiaPrincipal {
+  return createAuthenticatedPrincipal(viewerId);
+}
+
+interface NavigationEntry {
+  readonly name: string;
+  readonly module: {
+    readonly id: string;
+    readonly version: string;
+    readonly ui: { readonly url: string };
+    readonly api: { readonly baseUrl: string };
+    readonly permissions: readonly string[];
+  };
+}
+
+interface NavigationBody {
+  readonly groups: ReadonlyArray<{
+    readonly id: string;
+    readonly label: string;
+    readonly order: number;
+    readonly modules: readonly NavigationEntry[];
+  }>;
+  readonly ungrouped: readonly NavigationEntry[];
+}
+
+async function navigationOf(app: Hono): Promise<NavigationBody> {
+  const response = await app.request(DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH);
+  expect(response.status).toBe(200);
+  return (await response.json()) as NavigationBody;
+}
+
+/** An administrator: a platform owner, who passes the evaluator's owner bypass for the restricted
+ * manage permission exactly as in production. */
+async function administrator(configuration: Partial<DashboardConfiguration> = {}) {
+  return install({ configuration, platformOwner: true, principal: signedIn() });
+}
+
+function mutate(app: Hono, method: "PUT" | "DELETE", url: string, body?: unknown) {
+  return app.request(url, {
+    ...(body === undefined
+      ? {}
+      : { body: JSON.stringify(body), headers: { "content-type": "application/json" } }),
+    headers: {
+      origin: trustedOrigin,
+      ...(body === undefined ? {} : { "content-type": "application/json" }),
+    },
+    method,
+  });
+}
+
+describe("Dashboard navigation — reading", () => {
+  it("shows every mountable module as ungrouped when nothing is configured", async () => {
+    const { app } = await install({ principal: signedIn() });
+
+    const navigation = await navigationOf(app);
+
+    expect(navigation.groups).toEqual([]);
+    // A fresh installation is immediately usable: no initialization write, no manual database edit.
+    expect(navigation.ungrouped.map((entry) => entry.name)).toEqual([
+      "Calendar",
+      "Livestream",
+      "Video",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("renders the module's own manifest name, never its id", async () => {
+    const { app } = await install({ principal: signedIn() });
+
+    const navigation = await navigationOf(app);
+
+    expect(navigation.ungrouped.map((entry) => entry.name)).not.toContain("livestream");
+    expect(navigation.ungrouped.find((entry) => entry.module.id === "livestream")?.name).toBe(
+      "Livestream",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("groups and orders exactly as the stored configuration says", async () => {
+    const { app } = await install({
+      configuration: {
+        groups: [
+          { id: "planning", label: "Planning", sortOrder: 20 },
+          { id: "media", label: "Media", sortOrder: 10 },
+        ],
+        placements: [
+          { groupId: "media", moduleId: "livestream", sortOrder: 20 },
+          { groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 },
+          { groupId: "planning", moduleId: "calendar", sortOrder: 10 },
+        ],
+      },
+      principal: signedIn(),
+    });
+
+    const navigation = await navigationOf(app);
+
+    expect(
+      navigation.groups.map((group) => [group.label, group.modules.map((entry) => entry.name)]),
+    ).toEqual([
+      ["Media", ["Video", "Livestream"]],
+      ["Planning", ["Calendar"]],
+    ]);
+    expect(navigation.ungrouped).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it("embeds the generic mount descriptor unchanged inside each entry", async () => {
+    const { app } = await install({ principal: signedIn() });
+
+    const navigation = await navigationOf(app);
+    const livestream = navigation.ungrouped.find((entry) => entry.module.id === "livestream");
+
+    // Presentation wraps the host-neutral descriptor; it never rewrites it.
+    expect(livestream?.module).toEqual({
+      api: { baseUrl: "/api/v1/modules/livestream" },
+      id: "livestream",
+      permissions: [],
+      ui: { url: "/api/v1/module-ui/livestream/1.0.0" },
+      version: "1.0.0",
+    });
+    expect(Object.keys(livestream ?? {}).sort()).toEqual(["module", "name"]);
+  });
+
+  it("agrees exactly with the generic inventory about what is mountable", async () => {
+    const { app } = await install({
+      configuration: {
+        groups: [{ id: "media", label: "Media", sortOrder: 10 }],
+        placements: [{ groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 }],
+      },
+      principal: signedIn(),
+    });
+
+    const navigation = await navigationOf(app);
+    const inventory = (await (await app.request(MODULE_UI_INVENTORY_PATH)).json()) as {
+      modules: ReadonlyArray<{ id: string }>;
+    };
+
+    const navigationModules = [
+      ...navigation.groups.flatMap((group) => group.modules),
+      ...navigation.ungrouped,
+    ].map((entry) => entry.module);
+    // Both derive from one publication registry through one shared description, so they cannot
+    // disagree about what exists or about any URL.
+    expect(navigationModules.map((module) => module.id).sort()).toEqual(
+      inventory.modules.map((module) => module.id).sort(),
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("keeps the generic inventory free of presentation metadata", async () => {
+    const { app } = await install({ principal: signedIn() });
+
+    const body = await (await app.request(MODULE_UI_INVENTORY_PATH)).text();
+
+    // The host-neutral contract a standalone host consumes must not learn Ekklesia has folders or
+    // display names. That layering is the whole reason navigation is a separate route.
+    for (const field of ["name", "label", "group", "order", "ungrouped"]) {
+      expect(body, field).not.toContain(`"${field}"`);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("omits a module that is no longer installed, without breaking navigation", async () => {
+    const { app } = await install({
+      configuration: {
+        groups: [{ id: "media", label: "Media", sortOrder: 10 }],
+        placements: [
+          { groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 },
+          { groupId: "media", moduleId: "removed-module", sortOrder: 20 },
+        ],
+      },
+      fixtures: [{ id: "video", name: "Video" }],
+      principal: signedIn(),
+    });
+
+    const navigation = await navigationOf(app);
+
+    expect(navigation.groups[0]?.modules.map((entry) => entry.module.id)).toEqual(["video"]);
+    expect(JSON.stringify(navigation)).not.toContain("removed-module");
+  });
+
+  it("keeps a newly installed module visible alongside an existing arrangement", async () => {
+    const { app } = await install({
+      configuration: {
+        groups: [{ id: "media", label: "Media", sortOrder: 10 }],
+        placements: [{ groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 }],
+      },
+      principal: signedIn(),
+    });
+
+    const navigation = await navigationOf(app);
+
+    expect(navigation.groups[0]?.modules.map((entry) => entry.name)).toEqual(["Video"]);
+    // Calendar and Livestream were never configured and are still reachable.
+    expect(navigation.ungrouped.map((entry) => entry.name)).toEqual(["Calendar", "Livestream"]);
+  });
+
+  it("excludes a module that ships no UI, exactly like the inventory does", async () => {
+    const { app } = await install({
+      fixtures: [
+        { id: "video", name: "Video" },
+        { id: "roster", name: "Roster", withUi: false },
+      ],
+      principal: signedIn(),
+    });
+
+    const navigation = await navigationOf(app);
+
+    expect(JSON.stringify(navigation)).not.toContain("Roster");
+  });
+
+  it("leaks no filesystem path, package root, or manifest internal", async () => {
+    const { app } = await install({ principal: signedIn() });
+
+    const body = await (await app.request(DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH)).text();
+
+    expect(body).not.toContain(tmpdir());
+    expect(body).not.toContain("dist");
+    expect(body).not.toContain("@test/module-");
+    expect(body).not.toContain("ekklesia.module.json");
+    expect(body).not.toContain("entrypoints");
+    expect(body).not.toContain("manifestVersion");
+  });
+
+  it("is per-principal, uncached, and refused to anonymous callers", async () => {
+    const { app: anonymous } = await install();
+    const { app } = await install({ principal: signedIn() });
+
+    const denied = await anonymous.request(DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH);
+    const allowed = await app.request(DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH, {
+      headers: { origin: trustedOrigin },
+    });
+
+    expect(denied.status).toBe(403);
+    expect(await denied.text()).not.toContain("Livestream");
+    expect(allowed.headers.get("cache-control")).toBe("no-store");
+    const vary = allowed.headers.get("vary")?.toLowerCase() ?? "";
+    expect(vary).toContain("origin");
+    expect(vary).toContain("cookie");
+  });
+});
+
+describe("Dashboard navigation — organizing", () => {
+  it("creates a group and places a module, and both persist into the resolved view", async () => {
+    const { app } = await administrator();
+
+    expect(
+      (
+        await mutate(app, "PUT", `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/groups/media`, {
+          label: "Media",
+          order: 10,
+        })
+      ).status,
+    ).toBe(200);
+    expect(
+      (
+        await mutate(app, "PUT", `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/placements/livestream`, {
+          groupId: "media",
+          order: 10,
+        })
+      ).status,
+    ).toBe(200);
+
+    const navigation = await navigationOf(app);
+
+    expect(navigation.groups.map((group) => group.label)).toEqual(["Media"]);
+    expect(navigation.groups[0]?.modules.map((entry) => entry.name)).toEqual(["Livestream"]);
+    expect(navigation.ungrouped.map((entry) => entry.name)).toEqual(["Calendar", "Video"]);
+  });
+
+  it("renames a group without moving anything", async () => {
+    const { app } = await administrator({
+      groups: [{ id: "media", label: "Media", sortOrder: 10 }],
+      placements: [{ groupId: "media", moduleId: "livestream", sortOrder: 10 }],
+    });
+
+    await mutate(app, "PUT", `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/groups/media`, {
+      label: "Sunday Production",
+      order: 10,
+    });
+    const navigation = await navigationOf(app);
+
+    expect(navigation.groups[0]).toMatchObject({ id: "media", label: "Sunday Production" });
+    expect(navigation.groups[0]?.modules.map((entry) => entry.name)).toEqual(["Livestream"]);
+  });
+
+  it("moves a module between groups and changes only its placement", async () => {
+    const { app } = await administrator({
+      groups: [
+        { id: "media", label: "Media", sortOrder: 10 },
+        { id: "sunday-production", label: "Sunday Production", sortOrder: 5 },
+      ],
+      placements: [
+        { groupId: "media", moduleId: "livestream", sortOrder: 10 },
+        { groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 20 },
+      ],
+    });
+    const before = await navigationOf(app);
+    const livestreamBefore = before.groups
+      .flatMap((group) => group.modules)
+      .find((entry) => entry.module.id === "livestream");
+
+    await mutate(app, "PUT", `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/placements/livestream`, {
+      groupId: "sunday-production",
+      order: 10,
+    });
+    const after = await navigationOf(app);
+    const livestreamAfter = after.groups
+      .flatMap((group) => group.modules)
+      .find((entry) => entry.module.id === "livestream");
+
+    // The one property this whole pass exists to guarantee: the module — its artifact URL, its API
+    // root, its permissions, its version, its name — is byte-identical across the move.
+    expect(livestreamAfter).toEqual(livestreamBefore);
+    expect(
+      after.groups.find((group) => group.id === "sunday-production")?.modules.map((e) => e.name),
+    ).toEqual(["Livestream"]);
+    expect(after.groups.find((group) => group.id === "media")?.modules.map((e) => e.name)).toEqual([
+      "Video",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("ungroups a module deliberately", async () => {
+    const { app } = await administrator({
+      groups: [{ id: "media", label: "Media", sortOrder: 10 }],
+      placements: [{ groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 }],
+    });
+
+    await mutate(app, "PUT", `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/placements/video`, {
+      groupId: null,
+      order: 5,
+    });
+    const navigation = await navigationOf(app);
+
+    expect(navigation.groups[0]?.modules).toEqual([]);
+    expect(navigation.ungrouped.map((entry) => entry.name)).toEqual([
+      "Video",
+      "Calendar",
+      "Livestream",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("ungroups a deleted group's modules rather than losing them", async () => {
+    const { app } = await administrator({
+      groups: [{ id: "media", label: "Media", sortOrder: 10 }],
+      placements: [{ groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 }],
+    });
+
+    const deleted = await mutate(app, "DELETE", `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/groups/media`);
+    const navigation = await navigationOf(app);
+
+    expect(deleted.status).toBe(204);
+    expect(navigation.groups).toEqual([]);
+    expect(navigation.ungrouped.map((entry) => entry.name)).toEqual([
+      "Video",
+      "Calendar",
+      "Livestream",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("refuses a placement naming a group that does not exist", async () => {
+    const { app } = await administrator();
+
+    const response = await mutate(app, "PUT", `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/placements/video`, {
+      groupId: "not-a-group",
+      order: 10,
+    });
+
+    expect(response.status).toBe(404);
+    expect(await response.json()).toEqual({ code: "DASHBOARD_GROUP_NOT_FOUND" });
+  });
+
+  it("refuses a body carrying anything beyond the declared fields", async () => {
+    const { app } = await administrator();
+
+    const bodies: readonly unknown[] = [
+      { label: "Media", order: 10, parentGroupId: "root" },
+      { label: "Media", order: 10, ownerModuleId: "video" },
+      { label: "Media" },
+      { label: "", order: 10 },
+      { label: "Media", order: -1 },
+      { label: "Media", order: 1.5 },
+      { label: 42, order: 10 },
+      [],
+      null,
+    ];
+    for (const body of bodies) {
+      const response = await mutate(app, "PUT", `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/groups/media`, body);
+      expect(response.status, JSON.stringify(body)).toBe(400);
+      expect(await response.json(), JSON.stringify(body)).toEqual({ code: "INVALID_REQUEST" });
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("refuses a malformed group identifier in the path", async () => {
+    const { app } = await administrator();
+
+    const response = await mutate(app, "PUT", `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/groups/Not%20Valid`, {
+      label: "Media",
+      order: 10,
+    });
+
+    expect(response.status).toBe(400);
+  });
+});
+
+describe("Dashboard navigation — authority", () => {
+  it("refuses organizing to a signed-in user without the manage permission", async () => {
+    // Reading works for any signed-in user; organizing does not.
+    const { app } = await install({ principal: signedIn() });
+
+    expect((await app.request(DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH)).status).toBe(200);
+    const response = await mutate(app, "PUT", `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/groups/media`, {
+      label: "Media",
+      order: 10,
+    });
+
+    expect(response.status).toBe(403);
+    expect(await response.json()).toEqual({ code: "AUTHORIZATION_DENIED" });
+  });
+
+  it("refuses organizing from an untrusted origin, before authorization even runs", async () => {
+    const { app } = await administrator();
+
+    const response = await app.request(`${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/groups/media`, {
+      body: JSON.stringify({ label: "Media", order: 10 }),
+      headers: { "content-type": "application/json", origin: untrustedOrigin },
+      method: "PUT",
+    });
+
+    expect(response.status).toBe(403);
+    expect(await response.json()).toEqual({ code: "UNTRUSTED_ORIGIN" });
+  });
+
+  it("refuses organizing to an anonymous caller", async () => {
+    const { app } = await install();
+
+    for (const [method, url, body] of [
+      ["PUT", `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/groups/media`, { label: "Media", order: 10 }],
+      ["DELETE", `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/groups/media`, undefined],
+      ["PUT", `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/placements/video`, { groupId: null, order: 0 }],
+    ] as const) {
+      const response = await mutate(app, method, url, body);
+      expect(response.status, `${method} ${url}`).toBe(403);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("grants no module authority to an administrator who reorganizes the Dashboard", async () => {
+    // The platform owner holds `core.dashboard.navigation.manage` through the owner bypass. That
+    // says nothing about any module: the hints in the navigation view are still evaluated per
+    // module permission, and every module route stays enforced on its own.
+    const { app } = await administrator();
+
+    await mutate(app, "PUT", `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/groups/media`, {
+      label: "Media",
+      order: 10,
+    });
+    await mutate(app, "PUT", `${DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH}/placements/livestream`, {
+      groupId: "media",
+      order: 10,
+    });
+    const navigation = await navigationOf(app);
+
+    const livestream = navigation.groups[0]?.modules[0];
+    // The fixture modules declare no permissions at all, so an owner still holds none for them:
+    // moving a module into a folder cannot manufacture a permission hint, let alone a grant.
+    expect(livestream?.module.permissions).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it("routes no method the navigation contract does not define", async () => {
+    const { app } = await administrator();
+
+    for (const method of ["POST", "PATCH"] as const) {
+      const response = await app.request(DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH, {
+        headers: { origin: trustedOrigin },
+        method,
+      });
+      expect(response.status, method).toBe(404);
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/apps/api/tests/module-database.integration.ts b/apps/api/tests/module-database.integration.ts
index 6956817..093cce0 100644
--- a/apps/api/tests/module-database.integration.ts
+++ b/apps/api/tests/module-database.integration.ts
@@ -220,6 +220,7 @@ async function applyCoreMigrations(url: string): Promise<void> {
       "core:0000_identity_core_tables",
       "core:0001_authorization_core_tables",
       "core:0002_authorization_integrity",
+      "core:0003_dashboard_navigation_tables",
     ]);
     await applyModuleMigrations({ aggregate, database: createPostgresMigrationDatabase(url) });
   } finally {
@@ -245,6 +246,7 @@ async function applyMigrationsWithModule(url: string): Promise<void> {
     "core:0000_identity_core_tables",
     "core:0001_authorization_core_tables",
     "core:0002_authorization_integrity",
+    "core:0003_dashboard_navigation_tables",
     "db-facade:0000_initial",
   ]);
   expect(aggregate.migrations[0]?.checksum).toBe(
@@ -439,6 +441,9 @@ describe.sequential("live API — module database explicit migration ownership",
       expect(await migrationHistoryCount(database.url, "core:0002_authorization_integrity")).toBe(
         1,
       );
+      expect(
+        await migrationHistoryCount(database.url, "core:0003_dashboard_navigation_tables"),
+      ).toBe(1);
     } finally {
       await dropDatabase(database.name);
     }
diff --git a/apps/api/tests/module-http-routes.test.ts b/apps/api/tests/module-http-routes.test.ts
index e158178..9b0a927 100644
--- a/apps/api/tests/module-http-routes.test.ts
+++ b/apps/api/tests/module-http-routes.test.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import {
 import type { EkklesiaIdentityRuntime } from "@ekklesia/core/identity";
 import { createModuleUiPublicationRegistry } from "@ekklesia/core/modules";
 import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { createInMemoryDashboardStore } from "./support/in-memory-dashboard-store.js";
 import { createApiApp } from "../src/app.js";
 import {
   canonicalizeVaryHeader,
@@ -108,6 +109,7 @@ function buildModuleApp(options: {
     moduleRoutes: options.routes,
     moduleServices: services,
     moduleUi: createModuleUiPublicationRegistry([]),
+    dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
     runtime,
     trustedOrigins: options.trustedOrigins ?? [trustedOrigin],
   });
diff --git a/apps/api/tests/module-ui-host-e2e.test.ts b/apps/api/tests/module-ui-host-e2e.test.ts
index 2a2e124..90f0731 100644
--- a/apps/api/tests/module-ui-host-e2e.test.ts
+++ b/apps/api/tests/module-ui-host-e2e.test.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import {
   moduleUiSourceUrl,
 } from "@ekklesia/shell";
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { createInMemoryDashboardStore } from "./support/in-memory-dashboard-store.js";
 import { createApiApp } from "../src/app.js";
 
 /**
@@ -73,8 +74,12 @@ afterEach(async () => {
  * already proven end to end by `templates/module`'s own tests, and what this test needs is a byte
  * sequence whose journey through publication, inventory, and the loader can be asserted exactly.
  */
-async function createFixtureModule(modulesDirectory: string): Promise<void> {
-  const moduleDirectory = path.join(modulesDirectory, "example");
+async function createFixtureModule(
+  modulesDirectory: string,
+  id = "example",
+  name = "Example module",
+): Promise<void> {
+  const moduleDirectory = path.join(modulesDirectory, id);
   await mkdir(path.join(moduleDirectory, "dist/server"), { recursive: true });
   await mkdir(path.join(moduleDirectory, "dist/ui"), { recursive: true });
 
@@ -82,7 +87,7 @@ async function createFixtureModule(modulesDirectory: string): Promise<void> {
     path.join(moduleDirectory, "package.json"),
     JSON.stringify({
       ekklesia: { layer: "module" },
-      name: "@test/module-example",
+      name: `@test/module-${id}`,
       type: "module",
       version: "0.1.0",
     }),
@@ -92,14 +97,14 @@ async function createFixtureModule(modulesDirectory: string): Promise<void> {
     JSON.stringify({
       compatibility: { moduleSdk: "^0.1.0", platform: "^0.1.0" },
       entrypoints: { server: "./dist/server/index.js", ui: "./dist/ui/index.js" },
-      id: "example",
+      id,
       manifestVersion: 4,
-      name: "Example module",
+      name,
       permissions: [
         {
           baseline: "restricted",
           description: "Read example records.",
-          id: "example.records.read",
+          id: `${id}.records.read`,
         },
       ],
       version: "0.1.0",
@@ -108,13 +113,13 @@ async function createFixtureModule(modulesDirectory: string): Promise<void> {
   await writeFile(
     path.join(moduleDirectory, "dist/server/index.js"),
     `export default {
-      id: "example",
+      id: ${JSON.stringify(id)},
       version: "0.1.0",
       register({ http }) {
         http.route({
           method: "GET",
           path: "/records",
-          permission: "example.records.read",
+          permission: ${JSON.stringify(`${id}.records.read`)},
           maxBodyBytes: 0,
           async handler() {
             return Response.json([{ id: "a" }, { id: "b" }]);
@@ -128,10 +133,10 @@ async function createFixtureModule(modulesDirectory: string): Promise<void> {
   await writeFile(
     path.join(moduleDirectory, "dist/ui/index.js"),
     `export default {
-  id: "example",
+  id: ${JSON.stringify(id)},
   version: "0.1.0",
   async mount(container, context) {
-    if (!context.permissions.has("example.records.read")) {
+    if (!context.permissions.has(${JSON.stringify(`${id}.records.read`)})) {
       container.textContent = context.moduleId + ":denied";
       return () => { container.textContent = ""; };
     }
@@ -148,6 +153,10 @@ async function createFixtureModule(modulesDirectory: string): Promise<void> {
 interface HarnessOptions {
   readonly principal?: EkklesiaPrincipal;
   readonly grants?: readonly string[];
+  /** Extra fixture modules, so grouping can be exercised with more than one — a folder containing a
+   * single module proves very little. */
+  readonly extraModules?: ReadonlyArray<{ readonly id: string; readonly name: string }>;
+  readonly platformOwner?: boolean;
 }
 
 interface Harness {
@@ -164,6 +173,9 @@ async function startHarness(options: HarnessOptions = {}): Promise<Harness> {
   const modulesDirectory = await mkdtemp(path.join(tmpdir(), "ekklesia-host-e2e-"));
   temporaryDirectories.push(modulesDirectory);
   await createFixtureModule(modulesDirectory);
+  for (const extra of options.extraModules ?? []) {
+    await createFixtureModule(modulesDirectory, extra.id, extra.name);
+  }
 
   const modules = await discoverModules({
     moduleSdkVersion: "0.1.0",
@@ -180,7 +192,7 @@ async function startHarness(options: HarnessOptions = {}): Promise<Harness> {
   const granted = new Set(options.grants ?? []);
   const evaluator = createAuthorizationEvaluator({
     grants: { hasActiveGrant: async (query) => granted.has(query.permission) },
-    platformOwners: { isPlatformOwner: async () => false },
+    platformOwners: { isPlatformOwner: async () => options.platformOwner === true },
   });
   const runtime: EkklesiaIdentityRuntime = {
     handleAuthRequest: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(new Response(null, { status: 200 })),
@@ -201,6 +213,7 @@ async function startHarness(options: HarnessOptions = {}): Promise<Harness> {
     moduleRoutes: moduleRuntime.routes,
     moduleServices: services,
     moduleUi: createModuleUiPublicationRegistry(modules),
+    dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
     runtime,
     trustedOrigins: ["https://dashboard.example.test"],
   });
@@ -250,9 +263,12 @@ describe("end to end: a discovered module's UI mounts in the Ekklesia host", ()
       // 1. The shell's own bootstrap: principal, then inventory.
       const bootstrap = await bootstrapHost(harness.config);
       expect(bootstrap.principal).toEqual({ kind: "authenticated", userId: viewerId });
-      expect(bootstrap.modules).toHaveLength(1);
+      // A module nobody has arranged yet is ungrouped and visible — no initialization write.
+      expect(bootstrap.navigation.groups).toEqual([]);
+      expect(bootstrap.navigation.ungrouped).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(bootstrap.navigation.ungrouped[0]?.name).toBe("Example module");
 
-      const descriptor = bootstrap.modules[0];
+      const descriptor = bootstrap.navigation.ungrouped[0]?.descriptor;
       if (!descriptor) {
         throw new Error("the inventory returned no module");
       }
@@ -304,7 +320,7 @@ describe("end to end: a discovered module's UI mounts in the Ekklesia host", ()
     });
     try {
       const bootstrap = await bootstrapHost(harness.config);
-      const descriptor = bootstrap.modules[0];
+      const descriptor = bootstrap.navigation.ungrouped[0]?.descriptor;
       if (!descriptor) {
         throw new Error("the inventory returned no module");
       }
@@ -336,7 +352,7 @@ describe("end to end: a discovered module's UI mounts in the Ekklesia host", ()
     });
     try {
       const bootstrap = await bootstrapHost(harness.config);
-      const descriptor = bootstrap.modules[0];
+      const descriptor = bootstrap.navigation.ungrouped[0]?.descriptor;
       if (!descriptor) {
         throw new Error("the inventory returned no module");
       }
@@ -364,13 +380,187 @@ describe("end to end: a discovered module's UI mounts in the Ekklesia host", ()
     }
   });
 
+  it("renders a configured arrangement, and a move changes presentation only", async () => {
+    const harness = await startHarness({
+      extraModules: [
+        { id: "video", name: "Video" },
+        { id: "calendar", name: "Calendar" },
+      ],
+      grants: ["example.records.read"],
+      platformOwner: true,
+      principal: createAuthenticatedPrincipal(viewerId),
+    });
+    const organize = (url: string, body: unknown) =>
+      (harness.config.fetch as typeof fetch)(`https://ekklesia.example.test${url}`, {
+        body: JSON.stringify(body),
+        headers: { "content-type": "application/json", origin: "https://dashboard.example.test" },
+        method: "PUT",
+      });
+
+    try {
+      // An administrator organizes the Dashboard, through the real mutation API.
+      await organize("/api/v1/dashboard/navigation/groups/media", { label: "Media", order: 10 });
+      await organize("/api/v1/dashboard/navigation/groups/planning", {
+        label: "Planning",
+        order: 20,
+      });
+      await organize("/api/v1/dashboard/navigation/placements/video", {
+        groupId: "media",
+        order: 10,
+      });
+      await organize("/api/v1/dashboard/navigation/placements/example", {
+        groupId: "media",
+        order: 20,
+      });
+      await organize("/api/v1/dashboard/navigation/placements/calendar", {
+        groupId: "planning",
+        order: 10,
+      });
+
+      // The shell's own bootstrap sees exactly that arrangement.
+      const before = await bootstrapHost(harness.config);
+      expect(
+        before.navigation.groups.map((group) => [
+          group.label,
+          group.modules.map((entry) => entry.name),
+        ]),
+      ).toEqual([
+        ["Media", ["Video", "Example module"]],
+        ["Planning", ["Calendar"]],
+      ]);
+      expect(before.navigation.ungrouped).toEqual([]);
+
+      // Mounting from inside a group uses the descriptor the group carried, untouched.
+      const groupedEntry = before.navigation.groups[0]?.modules[1];
+      if (!groupedEntry) {
+        throw new Error("the arrangement did not contain the expected module");
+      }
+      const container = containerSink();
+      const mounted = await loadModuleUi({
+        container: container as unknown as LoaderContainer,
+        context: createModuleUiContext({
+          config: harness.config,
+          descriptor: groupedEntry.descriptor,
+          principal: before.principal,
+        }),
+        source: {
+          moduleId: groupedEntry.descriptor.id,
+          url: await publishedArtifactUrl(
+            harness,
+            moduleUiSourceUrl(harness.config, groupedEntry.descriptor),
+          ),
+          version: groupedEntry.descriptor.version,
+        },
+      });
+      expect(container.textContent).toBe("example:200:2");
+      await mounted.unmount();
+
+      // Now move it somewhere else entirely.
+      await organize("/api/v1/dashboard/navigation/groups/sunday-production", {
+        label: "Sunday Production",
+        order: 5,
+      });
+      await organize("/api/v1/dashboard/navigation/placements/example", {
+        groupId: "sunday-production",
+        order: 10,
+      });
+
+      const after = await bootstrapHost(harness.config);
+      expect(
+        after.navigation.groups.map((group) => [
+          group.label,
+          group.modules.map((entry) => entry.name),
+        ]),
+      ).toEqual([
+        ["Sunday Production", ["Example module"]],
+        ["Media", ["Video"]],
+        ["Planning", ["Calendar"]],
+      ]);
+
+      const movedEntry = after.navigation.groups[0]?.modules[0];
+      if (!movedEntry) {
+        throw new Error("the moved module was not found in its new group");
+      }
+      // The whole point of the pass: the module is byte-identical across the move — same artifact
+      // URL, same API root, same permissions, same version, same name.
+      expect(movedEntry).toEqual(groupedEntry);
+
+      // And it still mounts the same artifact and reaches the same API.
+      const callsBeforeRemount = harness.moduleApiCalls.length;
+      const movedContainer = containerSink();
+      const remounted = await loadModuleUi({
+        container: movedContainer as unknown as LoaderContainer,
+        context: createModuleUiContext({
+          config: harness.config,
+          descriptor: movedEntry.descriptor,
+          principal: after.principal,
+        }),
+        source: {
+          moduleId: movedEntry.descriptor.id,
+          url: await publishedArtifactUrl(
+            harness,
+            moduleUiSourceUrl(harness.config, movedEntry.descriptor),
+          ),
+          version: movedEntry.descriptor.version,
+        },
+      });
+      expect(movedContainer.textContent).toBe("example:200:2");
+      expect(harness.moduleApiCalls.slice(callsBeforeRemount)).toEqual([
+        "GET /api/v1/modules/example/records",
+      ]);
+      await remounted.unmount();
+    } finally {
+      await harness.stop();
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("keeps a newly installed module visible beside an existing arrangement", async () => {
+    const harness = await startHarness({
+      extraModules: [{ id: "video", name: "Video" }],
+      platformOwner: true,
+      principal: createAuthenticatedPrincipal(viewerId),
+    });
+    try {
+      await (harness.config.fetch as typeof fetch)(
+        "https://ekklesia.example.test/api/v1/dashboard/navigation/groups/media",
+        {
+          body: JSON.stringify({ label: "Media", order: 10 }),
+          headers: {
+            "content-type": "application/json",
+            origin: "https://dashboard.example.test",
+          },
+          method: "PUT",
+        },
+      );
+      await (harness.config.fetch as typeof fetch)(
+        "https://ekklesia.example.test/api/v1/dashboard/navigation/placements/video",
+        {
+          body: JSON.stringify({ groupId: "media", order: 10 }),
+          headers: {
+            "content-type": "application/json",
+            origin: "https://dashboard.example.test",
+          },
+          method: "PUT",
+        },
+      );
+
+      const bootstrap = await bootstrapHost(harness.config);
+
+      expect(bootstrap.navigation.groups[0]?.modules.map((entry) => entry.name)).toEqual(["Video"]);
+      // `example` was never placed, and is still reachable rather than invisible.
+      expect(bootstrap.navigation.ungrouped.map((entry) => entry.name)).toEqual(["Example module"]);
+    } finally {
+      await harness.stop();
+    }
+  });
+
   it("gives an anonymous visitor no inventory and therefore nothing to mount", async () => {
     const harness = await startHarness();
     try {
       const bootstrap = await bootstrapHost(harness.config);
 
       expect(bootstrap.principal).toEqual({ kind: "anonymous" });
-      expect(bootstrap.modules).toEqual([]);
+      expect(bootstrap.navigation).toEqual({ groups: [], ungrouped: [] });
     } finally {
       await harness.stop();
     }
@@ -383,7 +573,7 @@ describe("end to end: a discovered module's UI mounts in the Ekklesia host", ()
     });
     try {
       const bootstrap = await bootstrapHost(harness.config);
-      const descriptor = bootstrap.modules[0];
+      const descriptor = bootstrap.navigation.ungrouped[0]?.descriptor;
       if (!descriptor) {
         throw new Error("the inventory returned no module");
       }
diff --git a/apps/api/tests/module-ui-inventory.test.ts b/apps/api/tests/module-ui-inventory.test.ts
index 8a26714..ce3f98c 100644
--- a/apps/api/tests/module-ui-inventory.test.ts
+++ b/apps/api/tests/module-ui-inventory.test.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import {
 } from "@ekklesia/core/modules";
 import type { Hono } from "hono";
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { createInMemoryDashboardStore } from "./support/in-memory-dashboard-store.js";
 import { createApiApp } from "../src/app.js";
 import { moduleApiBaseUrl } from "../src/module-http-routes.js";
 import { MODULE_UI_INVENTORY_PATH } from "../src/module-ui-inventory.js";
@@ -168,6 +169,7 @@ async function install(options: InstallOptions): Promise<Installation> {
     moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
     moduleServices: services,
     moduleUi: createModuleUiPublicationRegistry(modules),
+    dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
     runtime,
     trustedOrigins: [trustedOrigin],
   });
diff --git a/apps/api/tests/module-ui-routes.test.ts b/apps/api/tests/module-ui-routes.test.ts
index c8ad2ae..cabc44f 100644
--- a/apps/api/tests/module-ui-routes.test.ts
+++ b/apps/api/tests/module-ui-routes.test.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import {
 import { loadModuleUi } from "@ekklesia/module-ui-host";
 import type { Hono } from "hono";
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { createInMemoryDashboardStore } from "./support/in-memory-dashboard-store.js";
 import { createApiApp } from "../src/app.js";
 import {
   MODULE_UI_ASSET_PREFIX,
@@ -168,6 +169,7 @@ async function install(fixtures: readonly ModuleFixture[]): Promise<Installation
     moduleRoutes: Object.freeze([]),
     moduleServices: services,
     moduleUi: createModuleUiPublicationRegistry(modules),
+    dashboard: createInMemoryDashboardStore(),
     runtime,
     trustedOrigins: [trustedOrigin],
   });
diff --git a/apps/api/tests/support/in-memory-dashboard-store.ts b/apps/api/tests/support/in-memory-dashboard-store.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d33a0c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/api/tests/support/in-memory-dashboard-store.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+import type {
+  DashboardConfiguration,
+  DashboardGroupRecord,
+  DashboardPlacementRecord,
+  DashboardStore,
+  SetDashboardPlacementInput,
+  UpsertDashboardGroupInput,
+} from "@ekklesia/core/dashboard";
+import { DashboardStoreError } from "@ekklesia/core/dashboard";
+
+/**
+ * An in-memory `DashboardStore` for tests that exercise **routing and resolution**, not persistence.
+ *
+ * It reproduces only the two behaviours those tests depend on — a placement may not name a group
+ * that does not exist, and deleting a group ungroups its modules (the schema's
+ * `on delete set null`) — and deliberately reproduces nothing else. Everything the real store owns
+ * that this double would only be guessing at (identifier grammar, label trimming and bounds,
+ * ordering bounds, transactional behaviour, and the actual `on delete set null` constraint) is
+ * proven against real PostgreSQL in `core/tests/dashboard-store.integration.ts` instead, so this
+ * double can never quietly stand in for a persistence guarantee nobody checked.
+ */
+export function createInMemoryDashboardStore(
+  seed: Partial<DashboardConfiguration> = {},
+): DashboardStore {
+  const groups = new Map<string, DashboardGroupRecord>(
+    (seed.groups ?? []).map((group) => [group.id, { ...group }] as const),
+  );
+  const placements = new Map<string, DashboardPlacementRecord>(
+    (seed.placements ?? []).map((placement) => [placement.moduleId, { ...placement }] as const),
+  );
+
+  const sorted = <Record extends { readonly sortOrder: number }>(
+    records: readonly Record[],
+    key: (record: Record) => string,
+  ): readonly Record[] =>
+    Object.freeze(
+      [...records].sort(
+        (left, right) =>
+          left.sortOrder - right.sortOrder ||
+          (key(left) < key(right) ? -1 : key(left) > key(right) ? 1 : 0),
+      ),
+    );
+
+  return Object.freeze({
+    async deleteGroup(groupId: string): Promise<void> {
+      if (!groups.delete(groupId)) {
+        throw new DashboardStoreError("DASHBOARD_GROUP_NOT_FOUND");
+      }
+      for (const [moduleId, placement] of placements) {
+        if (placement.groupId === groupId) {
+          placements.set(moduleId, { ...placement, groupId: null });
+        }
+      }
+    },
+
+    async readConfiguration(): Promise<DashboardConfiguration> {
+      return Object.freeze({
+        groups: sorted([...groups.values()], (group) => group.id),
+        placements: sorted([...placements.values()], (placement) => placement.moduleId),
+      });
+    },
+
+    async setPlacement(input: SetDashboardPlacementInput): Promise<DashboardPlacementRecord> {
+      if (input.groupId !== null && !groups.has(input.groupId)) {
+        throw new DashboardStoreError("DASHBOARD_GROUP_NOT_FOUND");
+      }
+      const record: DashboardPlacementRecord = Object.freeze({
+        groupId: input.groupId,
+        moduleId: input.moduleId,
+        sortOrder: input.sortOrder,
+      });
+      placements.set(input.moduleId, record);
+      return record;
+    },
+
+    async upsertGroup(input: UpsertDashboardGroupInput): Promise<DashboardGroupRecord> {
+      const record: DashboardGroupRecord = Object.freeze({
+        id: input.id,
+        label: input.label.trim(),
+        sortOrder: input.sortOrder,
+      });
+      groups.set(input.id, record);
+      return record;
+    },
+  });
+}
diff --git a/core/drizzle.config.ts b/core/drizzle.config.ts
index 77a35de..07c262f 100644
--- a/core/drizzle.config.ts
+++ b/core/drizzle.config.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,11 @@ import { defineConfig } from "drizzle-kit";
 
 export default defineConfig({
   dialect: "postgresql",
-  schema: ["./src/identity/schema.ts", "./src/authorization/schema.ts"],
+  schema: [
+    "./src/identity/schema.ts",
+    "./src/authorization/schema.ts",
+    "./src/dashboard/schema.ts",
+  ],
   out: "./drizzle",
   migrations: {
     prefix: "index",
diff --git a/core/drizzle/0003_dashboard_navigation_tables.sql b/core/drizzle/0003_dashboard_navigation_tables.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ae9e8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/drizzle/0003_dashboard_navigation_tables.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+CREATE TABLE "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group" (
+	"id" text PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL,
+	"label" text NOT NULL,
+	"sort_order" integer DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL,
+	"created_at" timestamp with time zone DEFAULT now() NOT NULL,
+	"updated_at" timestamp with time zone DEFAULT now() NOT NULL,
+	CONSTRAINT "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group_id_check" CHECK (length("ekklesia_core_dashboard_group"."id") > 0),
+	CONSTRAINT "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group_label_check" CHECK (length(btrim("ekklesia_core_dashboard_group"."label")) > 0)
+);
+--> statement-breakpoint
+CREATE TABLE "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement" (
+	"module_id" text PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL,
+	"group_id" text,
+	"sort_order" integer DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL,
+	"created_at" timestamp with time zone DEFAULT now() NOT NULL,
+	"updated_at" timestamp with time zone DEFAULT now() NOT NULL,
+	CONSTRAINT "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement_module_check" CHECK (length("ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement"."module_id") > 0)
+);
+--> statement-breakpoint
+ALTER TABLE "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement" ADD CONSTRAINT "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement_group_id_ekklesia_core_dashboard_group_id_fk" FOREIGN KEY ("group_id") REFERENCES "public"."ekklesia_core_dashboard_group"("id") ON DELETE set null ON UPDATE no action;--> statement-breakpoint
+CREATE INDEX "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group_order_idx" ON "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group" USING btree ("sort_order","id");--> statement-breakpoint
+CREATE INDEX "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement_group_idx" ON "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement" USING btree ("group_id","sort_order");
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/core/drizzle/meta/0003_snapshot.json b/core/drizzle/meta/0003_snapshot.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff2df7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/drizzle/meta/0003_snapshot.json
@@ -0,0 +1,870 @@
+{
+  "id": "fd5d1b32-781c-43ed-9d53-98bd5d395e6a",
+  "prevId": "fac36f3d-7551-42df-a967-aad65c2fe7f9",
+  "version": "7",
+  "dialect": "postgresql",
+  "tables": {
+    "public.ekklesia_core_account": {
+      "name": "ekklesia_core_account",
+      "schema": "",
+      "columns": {
+        "id": {
+          "name": "id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": true,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "account_id": {
+          "name": "account_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "provider_id": {
+          "name": "provider_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "user_id": {
+          "name": "user_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "access_token": {
+          "name": "access_token",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "refresh_token": {
+          "name": "refresh_token",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "id_token": {
+          "name": "id_token",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "access_token_expires_at": {
+          "name": "access_token_expires_at",
+          "type": "timestamp",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "refresh_token_expires_at": {
+          "name": "refresh_token_expires_at",
+          "type": "timestamp",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "scope": {
+          "name": "scope",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "password": {
+          "name": "password",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "created_at": {
+          "name": "created_at",
+          "type": "timestamp",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "now()"
+        },
+        "updated_at": {
+          "name": "updated_at",
+          "type": "timestamp",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        }
+      },
+      "indexes": {
+        "ekklesia_core_account_user_id_idx": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_account_user_id_idx",
+          "columns": [
+            {
+              "expression": "user_id",
+              "isExpression": false,
+              "asc": true,
+              "nulls": "last"
+            }
+          ],
+          "isUnique": false,
+          "concurrently": false,
+          "method": "btree",
+          "with": {}
+        }
+      },
+      "foreignKeys": {
+        "ekklesia_core_account_user_id_ekklesia_core_user_id_fk": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_account_user_id_ekklesia_core_user_id_fk",
+          "tableFrom": "ekklesia_core_account",
+          "tableTo": "ekklesia_core_user",
+          "columnsFrom": ["user_id"],
+          "columnsTo": ["id"],
+          "onDelete": "cascade",
+          "onUpdate": "no action"
+        }
+      },
+      "compositePrimaryKeys": {},
+      "uniqueConstraints": {},
+      "policies": {},
+      "checkConstraints": {},
+      "isRLSEnabled": false
+    },
+    "public.ekklesia_core_session": {
+      "name": "ekklesia_core_session",
+      "schema": "",
+      "columns": {
+        "id": {
+          "name": "id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": true,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "expires_at": {
+          "name": "expires_at",
+          "type": "timestamp",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "token": {
+          "name": "token",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "created_at": {
+          "name": "created_at",
+          "type": "timestamp",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "now()"
+        },
+        "updated_at": {
+          "name": "updated_at",
+          "type": "timestamp",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "ip_address": {
+          "name": "ip_address",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "user_agent": {
+          "name": "user_agent",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "user_id": {
+          "name": "user_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        }
+      },
+      "indexes": {
+        "ekklesia_core_session_user_id_idx": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_session_user_id_idx",
+          "columns": [
+            {
+              "expression": "user_id",
+              "isExpression": false,
+              "asc": true,
+              "nulls": "last"
+            }
+          ],
+          "isUnique": false,
+          "concurrently": false,
+          "method": "btree",
+          "with": {}
+        }
+      },
+      "foreignKeys": {
+        "ekklesia_core_session_user_id_ekklesia_core_user_id_fk": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_session_user_id_ekklesia_core_user_id_fk",
+          "tableFrom": "ekklesia_core_session",
+          "tableTo": "ekklesia_core_user",
+          "columnsFrom": ["user_id"],
+          "columnsTo": ["id"],
+          "onDelete": "cascade",
+          "onUpdate": "no action"
+        }
+      },
+      "compositePrimaryKeys": {},
+      "uniqueConstraints": {
+        "ekklesia_core_session_token_unique": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_session_token_unique",
+          "nullsNotDistinct": false,
+          "columns": ["token"]
+        }
+      },
+      "policies": {},
+      "checkConstraints": {},
+      "isRLSEnabled": false
+    },
+    "public.ekklesia_core_user": {
+      "name": "ekklesia_core_user",
+      "schema": "",
+      "columns": {
+        "id": {
+          "name": "id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": true,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "name": {
+          "name": "name",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "email": {
+          "name": "email",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "email_verified": {
+          "name": "email_verified",
+          "type": "boolean",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": false
+        },
+        "image": {
+          "name": "image",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "created_at": {
+          "name": "created_at",
+          "type": "timestamp",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "now()"
+        },
+        "updated_at": {
+          "name": "updated_at",
+          "type": "timestamp",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "now()"
+        }
+      },
+      "indexes": {},
+      "foreignKeys": {},
+      "compositePrimaryKeys": {},
+      "uniqueConstraints": {
+        "ekklesia_core_user_email_unique": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_user_email_unique",
+          "nullsNotDistinct": false,
+          "columns": ["email"]
+        }
+      },
+      "policies": {},
+      "checkConstraints": {},
+      "isRLSEnabled": false
+    },
+    "public.ekklesia_core_verification": {
+      "name": "ekklesia_core_verification",
+      "schema": "",
+      "columns": {
+        "id": {
+          "name": "id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": true,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "identifier": {
+          "name": "identifier",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "value": {
+          "name": "value",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "expires_at": {
+          "name": "expires_at",
+          "type": "timestamp",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "created_at": {
+          "name": "created_at",
+          "type": "timestamp",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "now()"
+        },
+        "updated_at": {
+          "name": "updated_at",
+          "type": "timestamp",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "now()"
+        }
+      },
+      "indexes": {
+        "ekklesia_core_verification_identifier_idx": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_verification_identifier_idx",
+          "columns": [
+            {
+              "expression": "identifier",
+              "isExpression": false,
+              "asc": true,
+              "nulls": "last"
+            }
+          ],
+          "isUnique": false,
+          "concurrently": false,
+          "method": "btree",
+          "with": {}
+        }
+      },
+      "foreignKeys": {},
+      "compositePrimaryKeys": {},
+      "uniqueConstraints": {},
+      "policies": {},
+      "checkConstraints": {},
+      "isRLSEnabled": false
+    },
+    "public.ekklesia_core_authorization_audit": {
+      "name": "ekklesia_core_authorization_audit",
+      "schema": "",
+      "columns": {
+        "id": {
+          "name": "id",
+          "type": "uuid",
+          "primaryKey": true,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "gen_random_uuid()"
+        },
+        "action": {
+          "name": "action",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "actor_type": {
+          "name": "actor_type",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "actor_id": {
+          "name": "actor_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "subject_user_id": {
+          "name": "subject_user_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "permission_id": {
+          "name": "permission_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "scope": {
+          "name": "scope",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "grant_id": {
+          "name": "grant_id",
+          "type": "uuid",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "created_at": {
+          "name": "created_at",
+          "type": "timestamp with time zone",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "now()"
+        }
+      },
+      "indexes": {
+        "ekklesia_core_authorization_audit_subject_idx": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_authorization_audit_subject_idx",
+          "columns": [
+            {
+              "expression": "subject_user_id",
+              "isExpression": false,
+              "asc": true,
+              "nulls": "last"
+            }
+          ],
+          "isUnique": false,
+          "concurrently": false,
+          "method": "btree",
+          "with": {}
+        }
+      },
+      "foreignKeys": {},
+      "compositePrimaryKeys": {},
+      "uniqueConstraints": {},
+      "policies": {},
+      "checkConstraints": {
+        "ekklesia_core_authorization_audit_action_check": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_authorization_audit_action_check",
+          "value": "\"ekklesia_core_authorization_audit\".\"action\" in ('grant.create', 'grant.revoke', 'platform_owner.grant', 'platform_owner.revoke')"
+        },
+        "ekklesia_core_authorization_audit_actor_type_check": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_authorization_audit_actor_type_check",
+          "value": "\"ekklesia_core_authorization_audit\".\"actor_type\" in ('user', 'system')"
+        },
+        "ekklesia_core_authorization_audit_scope_check": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_authorization_audit_scope_check",
+          "value": "\"ekklesia_core_authorization_audit\".\"scope\" is null or length(\"ekklesia_core_authorization_audit\".\"scope\") > 0"
+        }
+      },
+      "isRLSEnabled": false
+    },
+    "public.ekklesia_core_grant": {
+      "name": "ekklesia_core_grant",
+      "schema": "",
+      "columns": {
+        "id": {
+          "name": "id",
+          "type": "uuid",
+          "primaryKey": true,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "gen_random_uuid()"
+        },
+        "user_id": {
+          "name": "user_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "permission_id": {
+          "name": "permission_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "scope": {
+          "name": "scope",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "source_kind": {
+          "name": "source_kind",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "source_ref": {
+          "name": "source_ref",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "created_at": {
+          "name": "created_at",
+          "type": "timestamp with time zone",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "now()"
+        },
+        "created_by_actor_type": {
+          "name": "created_by_actor_type",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "created_by_actor_id": {
+          "name": "created_by_actor_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "expires_at": {
+          "name": "expires_at",
+          "type": "timestamp with time zone",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "revoked_at": {
+          "name": "revoked_at",
+          "type": "timestamp with time zone",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "revoked_by_actor_type": {
+          "name": "revoked_by_actor_type",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "revoked_by_actor_id": {
+          "name": "revoked_by_actor_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        }
+      },
+      "indexes": {
+        "ekklesia_core_grant_user_permission_idx": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_grant_user_permission_idx",
+          "columns": [
+            {
+              "expression": "user_id",
+              "isExpression": false,
+              "asc": true,
+              "nulls": "last"
+            },
+            {
+              "expression": "permission_id",
+              "isExpression": false,
+              "asc": true,
+              "nulls": "last"
+            }
+          ],
+          "isUnique": false,
+          "concurrently": false,
+          "method": "btree",
+          "with": {}
+        }
+      },
+      "foreignKeys": {
+        "ekklesia_core_grant_user_id_ekklesia_core_user_id_fk": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_grant_user_id_ekklesia_core_user_id_fk",
+          "tableFrom": "ekklesia_core_grant",
+          "tableTo": "ekklesia_core_user",
+          "columnsFrom": ["user_id"],
+          "columnsTo": ["id"],
+          "onDelete": "cascade",
+          "onUpdate": "no action"
+        }
+      },
+      "compositePrimaryKeys": {},
+      "uniqueConstraints": {},
+      "policies": {},
+      "checkConstraints": {
+        "ekklesia_core_grant_source_kind_check": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_grant_source_kind_check",
+          "value": "\"ekklesia_core_grant\".\"source_kind\" in ('explicit', 'relationship')"
+        },
+        "ekklesia_core_grant_created_actor_type_check": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_grant_created_actor_type_check",
+          "value": "\"ekklesia_core_grant\".\"created_by_actor_type\" in ('user', 'system')"
+        },
+        "ekklesia_core_grant_revoked_actor_type_check": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_grant_revoked_actor_type_check",
+          "value": "\"ekklesia_core_grant\".\"revoked_by_actor_type\" is null or \"ekklesia_core_grant\".\"revoked_by_actor_type\" in ('user', 'system')"
+        }
+      },
+      "isRLSEnabled": false
+    },
+    "public.ekklesia_core_platform_owner": {
+      "name": "ekklesia_core_platform_owner",
+      "schema": "",
+      "columns": {
+        "user_id": {
+          "name": "user_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": true,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "granted_at": {
+          "name": "granted_at",
+          "type": "timestamp with time zone",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "now()"
+        },
+        "granted_by_actor_type": {
+          "name": "granted_by_actor_type",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "granted_by_actor_id": {
+          "name": "granted_by_actor_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "revoked_at": {
+          "name": "revoked_at",
+          "type": "timestamp with time zone",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "revoked_by_actor_type": {
+          "name": "revoked_by_actor_type",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "revoked_by_actor_id": {
+          "name": "revoked_by_actor_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        }
+      },
+      "indexes": {},
+      "foreignKeys": {
+        "ekklesia_core_platform_owner_user_id_ekklesia_core_user_id_fk": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_platform_owner_user_id_ekklesia_core_user_id_fk",
+          "tableFrom": "ekklesia_core_platform_owner",
+          "tableTo": "ekklesia_core_user",
+          "columnsFrom": ["user_id"],
+          "columnsTo": ["id"],
+          "onDelete": "cascade",
+          "onUpdate": "no action"
+        }
+      },
+      "compositePrimaryKeys": {},
+      "uniqueConstraints": {},
+      "policies": {},
+      "checkConstraints": {
+        "ekklesia_core_platform_owner_granted_actor_type_check": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_platform_owner_granted_actor_type_check",
+          "value": "\"ekklesia_core_platform_owner\".\"granted_by_actor_type\" in ('user', 'system')"
+        },
+        "ekklesia_core_platform_owner_revoked_actor_type_check": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_platform_owner_revoked_actor_type_check",
+          "value": "\"ekklesia_core_platform_owner\".\"revoked_by_actor_type\" is null or \"ekklesia_core_platform_owner\".\"revoked_by_actor_type\" in ('user', 'system')"
+        }
+      },
+      "isRLSEnabled": false
+    },
+    "public.ekklesia_core_platform_owner_bootstrap": {
+      "name": "ekklesia_core_platform_owner_bootstrap",
+      "schema": "",
+      "columns": {
+        "id": {
+          "name": "id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": true,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "consumed_at": {
+          "name": "consumed_at",
+          "type": "timestamp with time zone",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "now()"
+        },
+        "consumed_for_user_id": {
+          "name": "consumed_for_user_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        }
+      },
+      "indexes": {},
+      "foreignKeys": {},
+      "compositePrimaryKeys": {},
+      "uniqueConstraints": {},
+      "policies": {},
+      "checkConstraints": {
+        "ekklesia_core_platform_owner_bootstrap_singleton_check": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_platform_owner_bootstrap_singleton_check",
+          "value": "\"ekklesia_core_platform_owner_bootstrap\".\"id\" = 'singleton'"
+        }
+      },
+      "isRLSEnabled": false
+    },
+    "public.ekklesia_core_dashboard_group": {
+      "name": "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group",
+      "schema": "",
+      "columns": {
+        "id": {
+          "name": "id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": true,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "label": {
+          "name": "label",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "sort_order": {
+          "name": "sort_order",
+          "type": "integer",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": 0
+        },
+        "created_at": {
+          "name": "created_at",
+          "type": "timestamp with time zone",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "now()"
+        },
+        "updated_at": {
+          "name": "updated_at",
+          "type": "timestamp with time zone",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "now()"
+        }
+      },
+      "indexes": {
+        "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group_order_idx": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group_order_idx",
+          "columns": [
+            {
+              "expression": "sort_order",
+              "isExpression": false,
+              "asc": true,
+              "nulls": "last"
+            },
+            {
+              "expression": "id",
+              "isExpression": false,
+              "asc": true,
+              "nulls": "last"
+            }
+          ],
+          "isUnique": false,
+          "concurrently": false,
+          "method": "btree",
+          "with": {}
+        }
+      },
+      "foreignKeys": {},
+      "compositePrimaryKeys": {},
+      "uniqueConstraints": {},
+      "policies": {},
+      "checkConstraints": {
+        "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group_id_check": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group_id_check",
+          "value": "length(\"ekklesia_core_dashboard_group\".\"id\") > 0"
+        },
+        "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group_label_check": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group_label_check",
+          "value": "length(btrim(\"ekklesia_core_dashboard_group\".\"label\")) > 0"
+        }
+      },
+      "isRLSEnabled": false
+    },
+    "public.ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement": {
+      "name": "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement",
+      "schema": "",
+      "columns": {
+        "module_id": {
+          "name": "module_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": true,
+          "notNull": true
+        },
+        "group_id": {
+          "name": "group_id",
+          "type": "text",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": false
+        },
+        "sort_order": {
+          "name": "sort_order",
+          "type": "integer",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": 0
+        },
+        "created_at": {
+          "name": "created_at",
+          "type": "timestamp with time zone",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "now()"
+        },
+        "updated_at": {
+          "name": "updated_at",
+          "type": "timestamp with time zone",
+          "primaryKey": false,
+          "notNull": true,
+          "default": "now()"
+        }
+      },
+      "indexes": {
+        "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement_group_idx": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement_group_idx",
+          "columns": [
+            {
+              "expression": "group_id",
+              "isExpression": false,
+              "asc": true,
+              "nulls": "last"
+            },
+            {
+              "expression": "sort_order",
+              "isExpression": false,
+              "asc": true,
+              "nulls": "last"
+            }
+          ],
+          "isUnique": false,
+          "concurrently": false,
+          "method": "btree",
+          "with": {}
+        }
+      },
+      "foreignKeys": {
+        "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement_group_id_ekklesia_core_dashboard_group_id_fk": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement_group_id_ekklesia_core_dashboard_group_id_fk",
+          "tableFrom": "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement",
+          "tableTo": "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group",
+          "columnsFrom": ["group_id"],
+          "columnsTo": ["id"],
+          "onDelete": "set null",
+          "onUpdate": "no action"
+        }
+      },
+      "compositePrimaryKeys": {},
+      "uniqueConstraints": {},
+      "policies": {},
+      "checkConstraints": {
+        "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement_module_check": {
+          "name": "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement_module_check",
+          "value": "length(\"ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement\".\"module_id\") > 0"
+        }
+      },
+      "isRLSEnabled": false
+    }
+  },
+  "enums": {},
+  "schemas": {},
+  "sequences": {},
+  "roles": {},
+  "policies": {},
+  "views": {},
+  "_meta": {
+    "columns": {},
+    "schemas": {},
+    "tables": {}
+  }
+}
diff --git a/core/drizzle/meta/_ekklesia.json b/core/drizzle/meta/_ekklesia.json
index 4663ed3..d098641 100644
--- a/core/drizzle/meta/_ekklesia.json
+++ b/core/drizzle/meta/_ekklesia.json
@@ -19,6 +19,12 @@
       "destructive": {
         "mode": "none"
       }
+    },
+    {
+      "tag": "0003_dashboard_navigation_tables",
+      "destructive": {
+        "mode": "none"
+      }
     }
   ]
 }
diff --git a/core/drizzle/meta/_journal.json b/core/drizzle/meta/_journal.json
index c5f1080..8124569 100644
--- a/core/drizzle/meta/_journal.json
+++ b/core/drizzle/meta/_journal.json
@@ -22,6 +22,13 @@
       "when": 1785104670124,
       "tag": "0002_authorization_integrity",
       "breakpoints": true
+    },
+    {
+      "idx": 3,
+      "version": "7",
+      "when": 1787408382271,
+      "tag": "0003_dashboard_navigation_tables",
+      "breakpoints": true
     }
   ]
 }
diff --git a/core/package.json b/core/package.json
index 1f46033..0b16a98 100644
--- a/core/package.json
+++ b/core/package.json
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@
       "types": "./dist/modules/index.d.ts",
       "import": "./dist/modules/index.js"
     },
+    "./dashboard": {
+      "types": "./dist/dashboard/index.d.ts",
+      "import": "./dist/dashboard/index.js"
+    },
     "./migrations": {
       "types": "./dist/migrations/index.d.ts",
       "import": "./dist/migrations/index.js"
diff --git a/core/src/authorization/permissions.ts b/core/src/authorization/permissions.ts
index bf08da1..d637e6e 100644
--- a/core/src/authorization/permissions.ts
+++ b/core/src/authorization/permissions.ts
@@ -98,6 +98,19 @@ export const CORE_AUTHORIZATION_GRANTS_MANAGE: PermissionId = parsePermissionId(
  */
 export const CORE_MODULES_UI_READ: PermissionId = parsePermissionId("core.modules.ui.read");
 
+/**
+ * Restricted: reorganizing the Dashboard is an administrative action, not something every signed-in
+ * user may do. It is deliberately a **platform** permission and never a module's own — grouping is
+ * Ekklesia's presentation configuration, so no module may gate, grant, or influence it (ADR 0027).
+ *
+ * Holding it confers no module authority whatsoever. Moving a module into a folder changes a
+ * presentation row; it grants nobody access to that module's data, and every module route stays
+ * enforced against its own declared permission exactly as before.
+ */
+export const CORE_DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_MANAGE: PermissionId = parsePermissionId(
+  "core.dashboard.navigation.manage",
+);
+
 /**
  * Core's own declarations, exported in deeply immutable form so a trusted composer (the module
  * integration layer, `core/src/modules/permissions.ts`) can build one combined registry from
@@ -116,6 +129,11 @@ export const CORE_PERMISSION_DECLARATIONS: readonly PermissionDeclaration[] = Ob
     description: "List the installed module UIs a browser host may mount.",
     id: CORE_MODULES_UI_READ,
   }),
+  Object.freeze({
+    baseline: "restricted" as const,
+    description: "Organize the Dashboard: create, rename, order, and delete navigation groups.",
+    id: CORE_DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_MANAGE,
+  }),
 ]);
 
 /**
diff --git a/core/src/dashboard/index.ts b/core/src/dashboard/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..acbdfa1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/dashboard/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export * from "./navigation.js";
+export * from "./schema.js";
+export * from "./store.js";
diff --git a/core/src/dashboard/navigation.ts b/core/src/dashboard/navigation.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..85fe03c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/dashboard/navigation.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,156 @@
+import type { DashboardConfiguration } from "./store.js";
+
+/**
+ * One module as the Dashboard needs to present it: its identity, its administrator-visible name,
+ * and nothing about where it lives on disk.
+ *
+ * `name` is the module's own `manifest.name` — its product identity, which every manifest has
+ * already required since version 1. The Dashboard renders it rather than the module id, and a module
+ * declaring it is *not* the module declaring its navigation: a name answers "what is this product
+ * called", while a group answers "where does this church want it", and only the second is
+ * configuration an administrator owns.
+ */
+export interface DashboardNavigationModule {
+  readonly id: string;
+  readonly name: string;
+}
+
+export interface DashboardNavigationGroupView<Module extends DashboardNavigationModule> {
+  /** The stable key, unchanged by a rename. Callers use it to address the group, never to display. */
+  readonly id: string;
+  readonly label: string;
+  readonly order: number;
+  readonly modules: readonly Module[];
+}
+
+export interface DashboardNavigationView<Module extends DashboardNavigationModule> {
+  readonly groups: readonly DashboardNavigationGroupView<Module>[];
+  /**
+   * Modules that belong to no group: those an administrator deliberately placed outside every group,
+   * and those never configured at all — a newly installed module, most importantly. Both render
+   * here, which is what guarantees a new module is visible the moment it is discovered, with no
+   * initialization write, no manual database edit, and no migration.
+   */
+  readonly ungrouped: readonly Module[];
+}
+
+/** Placed modules first, in the administrator's order; never-configured modules after them, by id.
+ * A newcomer therefore appears without interrupting an ordering someone chose, and the module id is
+ * always the final tie-break, so two modules sharing a `sortOrder` still order identically on every
+ * request and in every process. */
+interface SortKey {
+  readonly configured: 0 | 1;
+  readonly order: number;
+  readonly id: string;
+}
+
+function compareSortKeys(left: SortKey, right: SortKey): number {
+  if (left.configured !== right.configured) {
+    return left.configured - right.configured;
+  }
+  if (left.order !== right.order) {
+    return left.order - right.order;
+  }
+  return left.id < right.id ? -1 : left.id > right.id ? 1 : 0;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Resolves stored Dashboard configuration against the modules that are actually mountable right now.
+ *
+ * Pure and synchronous: no database, no filesystem, no clock, no module code. It is given the stored
+ * arrangement and the current module set and returns what to render, so every rule below is
+ * directly testable without PostgreSQL.
+ *
+ * ## The rules, exactly
+ *
+ * - **A module with no placement is ungrouped and visible.** Nothing is written to make that true.
+ *   Installing a module is enough to see it; an administrator moves it afterwards if they want to.
+ * - **A stored placement for a module that is not installed renders nothing, and is retained.** The
+ *   store keeps the row, so uninstalling and reinstalling a module restores its position rather than
+ *   silently resetting it. A dead navigation entry never appears.
+ * - **A placement naming a group that no longer exists cannot occur** — the schema's
+ *   `on delete set null` makes the module ungrouped when its group is deleted — but if one somehow
+ *   did, it is treated as ungrouped rather than dropped, so no module can be made invisible by a
+ *   configuration inconsistency.
+ * - **Empty groups are kept.** A group an administrator created and has not filled yet, or whose
+ *   only module is temporarily uninstalled, still renders; hiding it would look like the group had
+ *   been deleted.
+ * - **Ordering is total.** Groups by `(order, id)`; modules by `(configured, order, id)`. Colliding
+ *   order values never produce a nondeterministic result.
+ *
+ * ## What this function structurally cannot do
+ *
+ * It never reads a manifest, a dependency, a capability, an entrypoint, or a permission, and it
+ * returns no edge between two modules. Two modules sharing a group are exactly as related as two
+ * modules that do not: grouping is a rendering decision computed here, downstream of everything that
+ * decides what a module *is* (ADR 0027). Nothing upstream — discovery, dependency ordering, runtime
+ * startup, authorization — ever calls this.
+ */
+export function resolveDashboardNavigation<Module extends DashboardNavigationModule>(
+  configuration: DashboardConfiguration,
+  mountableModules: readonly Module[],
+): DashboardNavigationView<Module> {
+  const placementsByModuleId = new Map(
+    configuration.placements.map((placement) => [placement.moduleId, placement] as const),
+  );
+  const groupIds = new Set(configuration.groups.map((group) => group.id));
+
+  const modulesByGroupId = new Map<string, Array<{ key: SortKey; module: Module }>>();
+  const ungrouped: Array<{ key: SortKey; module: Module }> = [];
+
+  for (const module of mountableModules) {
+    const placement = placementsByModuleId.get(module.id);
+    const key: SortKey = {
+      configured: placement ? 0 : 1,
+      id: module.id,
+      order: placement?.sortOrder ?? 0,
+    };
+    const groupId =
+      placement?.groupId !== undefined &&
+      placement.groupId !== null &&
+      groupIds.has(placement.groupId)
+        ? placement.groupId
+        : undefined;
+    if (groupId === undefined) {
+      ungrouped.push({ key, module });
+      continue;
+    }
+    const bucket = modulesByGroupId.get(groupId);
+    if (bucket) {
+      bucket.push({ key, module });
+    } else {
+      modulesByGroupId.set(groupId, [{ key, module }]);
+    }
+  }
+
+  const sortModules = (entries: Array<{ key: SortKey; module: Module }>): readonly Module[] =>
+    Object.freeze(
+      [...entries]
+        .sort((left, right) => compareSortKeys(left.key, right.key))
+        .map((entry) => entry.module),
+    );
+
+  const groups = [...configuration.groups]
+    .sort((left, right) =>
+      left.sortOrder !== right.sortOrder
+        ? left.sortOrder - right.sortOrder
+        : left.id < right.id
+          ? -1
+          : left.id > right.id
+            ? 1
+            : 0,
+    )
+    .map((group) =>
+      Object.freeze({
+        id: group.id,
+        label: group.label,
+        modules: sortModules(modulesByGroupId.get(group.id) ?? []),
+        order: group.sortOrder,
+      }),
+    );
+
+  return Object.freeze({
+    groups: Object.freeze(groups),
+    ungrouped: sortModules(ungrouped),
+  });
+}
diff --git a/core/src/dashboard/schema.ts b/core/src/dashboard/schema.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..252aaf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/dashboard/schema.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+import { sql } from "drizzle-orm";
+import { check, index, integer, pgTable, text, timestamp } from "drizzle-orm/pg-core";
+
+/**
+ * Core-owned storage for how the Ekklesia Dashboard *presents* installed modules.
+ *
+ * This is presentation configuration, and it is deliberately the only thing here. A group owns no
+ * tables, no migrations, no routes, and no lifecycle; it never participates in dependency
+ * resolution, discovery order, or module startup. **Modules stay flat** (ADR 0021): there is no
+ * parent module, no child module, no owning module, and nothing in this schema is ever read by
+ * anything that decides what a module may do or when it starts. Moving a module between groups
+ * changes a row here and nothing else.
+ *
+ * Core stores this; it renders nothing. `surfaces/shell` decides what the arrangement looks like.
+ *
+ * Platform-global, because Ekklesia has no organization or tenant model to scope it to. When one
+ * exists, these two tables gain a scope column; inventing a second notion of organization here to
+ * anticipate it would be worse than adding a column later.
+ *
+ * Table and index names are explicit and namespaced exactly like `core/src/authorization/schema.ts`,
+ * so ownership is unambiguous inside the shared public PostgreSQL schema.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * A Dashboard navigation group — "Media", "Planning", "Sunday Production".
+ *
+ * `id` is an **opaque, stable key**, never displayed and never re-derived from `label`. Renaming a
+ * group changes only `label`, so every placement pointing at it survives untouched; that invariant
+ * is what keeps a rename from silently re-organizing the Dashboard. A slug is used rather than a
+ * generated UUID purely so the configuration API and its tests stay legible — it carries no meaning
+ * the platform reads.
+ *
+ * There is no parent group column. Nesting is deliberately out of scope, and leaving the shape flat
+ * is what keeps it out.
+ */
+export const ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup = pgTable(
+  "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group",
+  {
+    id: text("id").primaryKey(),
+    label: text("label").notNull(),
+    sortOrder: integer("sort_order").notNull().default(0),
+    createdAt: timestamp("created_at", { withTimezone: true }).defaultNow().notNull(),
+    updatedAt: timestamp("updated_at", { withTimezone: true }).defaultNow().notNull(),
+  },
+  (table) => [
+    index("ekklesia_core_dashboard_group_order_idx").on(table.sortOrder, table.id),
+    // Defense in depth beneath the application-layer identifier and label contracts, which never
+    // produce either of these: an empty id would be an unaddressable group, and an empty or
+    // whitespace-only label would render as a blank heading no administrator could find again.
+    check("ekklesia_core_dashboard_group_id_check", sql`length(${table.id}) > 0`),
+    check("ekklesia_core_dashboard_group_label_check", sql`length(btrim(${table.label})) > 0`),
+  ],
+);
+
+/**
+ * Where one module sits in the Dashboard. One row per module at most — the primary key enforces it
+ * — so a module can never be placed in two groups, which is the database-level expression of "one
+ * level of grouping, and no module ownership graph."
+ *
+ * `group_id` is nullable and that is a real state, not a missing value: **ungrouped is a placement**,
+ * chosen by an administrator who ordered a module outside every group. A module with no row at all
+ * is a different state — never configured — and both render in the same ungrouped area (see
+ * `../dashboard/navigation.js` for the exact ordering rule).
+ *
+ * `on delete set null` is what makes group deletion safe: deleting a group cannot leave a dangling
+ * reference, and its modules become ungrouped rather than disappearing. That is enforced by the
+ * database, not by application cleanup that could be skipped.
+ *
+ * `module_id` deliberately carries **no foreign key to any module**, because modules are not rows —
+ * they are packages discovered on disk at startup. A placement for a module that is not installed
+ * is therefore normal and is retained: uninstalling and reinstalling a module keeps its position
+ * rather than silently resetting it. Nothing renders such a row (see `resolveDashboardNavigation`).
+ */
+export const ekklesiaCoreDashboardPlacement = pgTable(
+  "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement",
+  {
+    moduleId: text("module_id").primaryKey(),
+    groupId: text("group_id").references(() => ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup.id, {
+      onDelete: "set null",
+    }),
+    sortOrder: integer("sort_order").notNull().default(0),
+    createdAt: timestamp("created_at", { withTimezone: true }).defaultNow().notNull(),
+    updatedAt: timestamp("updated_at", { withTimezone: true }).defaultNow().notNull(),
+  },
+  (table) => [
+    index("ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement_group_idx").on(table.groupId, table.sortOrder),
+    check("ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement_module_check", sql`length(${table.moduleId}) > 0`),
+  ],
+);
+
+/** Explicit map passed to Drizzle, mirroring `authorizationSchema`'s explicit-mapping style. */
+export const dashboardSchema = {
+  dashboardGroup: ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup,
+  dashboardPlacement: ekklesiaCoreDashboardPlacement,
+} as const;
diff --git a/core/src/dashboard/store.ts b/core/src/dashboard/store.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69c3662
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/dashboard/store.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,314 @@
+import { asc, eq } from "drizzle-orm";
+import type { Pool } from "pg";
+import { drizzle, type NodePgDatabase } from "drizzle-orm/node-postgres";
+import {
+  dashboardSchema,
+  ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup,
+  ekklesiaCoreDashboardPlacement,
+} from "./schema.js";
+
+export type DashboardDrizzleDatabase = NodePgDatabase<typeof dashboardSchema>;
+
+/**
+ * A typed Drizzle view over an externally owned pool, exactly like `createAuthorizationDrizzleView`:
+ * it never constructs, registers an error listener on, or closes a pool. The caller owns the pool
+ * once, however many typed views it creates over it.
+ */
+export function createDashboardDrizzleView(pool: Pool): DashboardDrizzleDatabase {
+  return drizzle(pool, { schema: dashboardSchema });
+}
+
+/** Bounds every stored ordering value. Wide enough that an administrator never runs out of room
+ * between two entries, small enough that a client cannot store a value that surprises a later
+ * integer column. Enforced identically by the store and by the HTTP surface, so there is one bound
+ * rather than two that could drift. */
+export const DASHBOARD_SORT_ORDER_MIN = 0;
+export const DASHBOARD_SORT_ORDER_MAX = 1_000_000;
+
+/** The label an administrator sees. Bounded like every other operator-facing string in the
+ * platform; `moduleManifestSchema.name` uses the same ceiling. */
+export const DASHBOARD_GROUP_LABEL_MAX_LENGTH = 120;
+
+/** Lowercase kebab-case, matching `moduleIdSchema`'s grammar so the platform has one identifier
+ * shape rather than two. Opaque: never displayed, never parsed for meaning, never re-derived from a
+ * label. */
+const GROUP_ID_PATTERN = /^[a-z][a-z0-9]*(?:-[a-z0-9]+)*$/u;
+const GROUP_ID_MAX_LENGTH = 64;
+
+/** The one identifier grammar for both a group id and a placement's module id, exported so the HTTP
+ * boundary rejects malformed input with a request error *before* reaching the store rather than
+ * relying on mapping a store failure back to a status code — and so there is one grammar rather
+ * than two that could drift. */
+export function isValidDashboardIdentifier(value: unknown): value is string {
+  return (
+    typeof value === "string" && value.length <= GROUP_ID_MAX_LENGTH && GROUP_ID_PATTERN.test(value)
+  );
+}
+
+/** The one label rule, exported for the same reason. Returns the trimmed value the store would
+ * persist, or `undefined` when the label is empty, whitespace-only, or too long. */
+export function normalizeDashboardGroupLabel(value: unknown): string | undefined {
+  if (typeof value !== "string") {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+  const trimmed = value.trim();
+  return trimmed.length === 0 || trimmed.length > DASHBOARD_GROUP_LABEL_MAX_LENGTH
+    ? undefined
+    : trimmed;
+}
+
+export type DashboardStoreErrorCode =
+  | "DASHBOARD_GROUP_ID_INVALID"
+  | "DASHBOARD_GROUP_LABEL_INVALID"
+  | "DASHBOARD_GROUP_NOT_FOUND"
+  | "DASHBOARD_MODULE_ID_INVALID"
+  | "DASHBOARD_SORT_ORDER_INVALID"
+  | "DASHBOARD_READ_FAILED"
+  | "DASHBOARD_WRITE_FAILED";
+
+const storeErrorMessages: Readonly<Record<DashboardStoreErrorCode, string>> = Object.freeze({
+  DASHBOARD_GROUP_ID_INVALID: "A Dashboard group identifier must be lowercase kebab-case.",
+  DASHBOARD_GROUP_LABEL_INVALID: "A Dashboard group label must be non-empty and bounded.",
+  DASHBOARD_GROUP_NOT_FOUND: "The Dashboard group was not found.",
+  DASHBOARD_MODULE_ID_INVALID: "A Dashboard placement module identifier is invalid.",
+  DASHBOARD_READ_FAILED: "The Dashboard navigation configuration could not be read.",
+  DASHBOARD_SORT_ORDER_INVALID: "A Dashboard ordering value is out of range.",
+  DASHBOARD_WRITE_FAILED: "The Dashboard navigation configuration could not be saved.",
+});
+
+/** Never carries the underlying database error, SQL text, host, or stack — matching
+ * `AuthorizationStoreError` exactly. */
+export class DashboardStoreError extends Error {
+  readonly code: DashboardStoreErrorCode;
+
+  constructor(code: DashboardStoreErrorCode) {
+    super(storeErrorMessages[code]);
+    this.name = "DashboardStoreError";
+    this.code = code;
+    this.stack = `${this.name}: ${this.message}`;
+    Object.freeze(this);
+  }
+}
+
+/** A stored group. `label` is what an administrator sees; `id` is the stable key placements point
+ * at, and a rename never touches it. */
+export interface DashboardGroupRecord {
+  readonly id: string;
+  readonly label: string;
+  readonly sortOrder: number;
+}
+
+/** Where one module sits. `groupId: null` is a real, chosen state — deliberately ungrouped — and is
+ * distinct from having no record at all, which means never configured. */
+export interface DashboardPlacementRecord {
+  readonly moduleId: string;
+  readonly groupId: string | null;
+  readonly sortOrder: number;
+}
+
+/** The complete stored arrangement. Contains no module facts whatsoever: resolving it against the
+ * modules that actually exist is `resolveDashboardNavigation`'s job, not the store's. */
+export interface DashboardConfiguration {
+  readonly groups: readonly DashboardGroupRecord[];
+  readonly placements: readonly DashboardPlacementRecord[];
+}
+
+export interface UpsertDashboardGroupInput {
+  readonly id: string;
+  readonly label: string;
+  readonly sortOrder: number;
+}
+
+export interface SetDashboardPlacementInput {
+  readonly moduleId: string;
+  /** `null` places the module in the ungrouped area deliberately. A group id that does not exist is
+   * rejected rather than stored, so a placement can never point at a group that was never created. */
+  readonly groupId: string | null;
+  readonly sortOrder: number;
+}
+
+export interface DashboardStore {
+  /** The whole stored arrangement, in deterministic order. Small by nature — one row per group and
+   * at most one per module — so it is read whole rather than paginated. */
+  readConfiguration(): Promise<DashboardConfiguration>;
+  /** Creates the group or replaces its label and order. Idempotent: the same input twice leaves the
+   * same single row, and placements pointing at it are untouched either way. */
+  upsertGroup(input: UpsertDashboardGroupInput): Promise<DashboardGroupRecord>;
+  /** Deletes a group. Its placements become ungrouped through the schema's `on delete set null`, so
+   * no dangling reference is possible and no module is lost. */
+  deleteGroup(groupId: string): Promise<void>;
+  /** Creates or replaces one module's placement. */
+  setPlacement(input: SetDashboardPlacementInput): Promise<DashboardPlacementRecord>;
+}
+
+function assertValidGroupId(value: string): void {
+  if (!isValidDashboardIdentifier(value)) {
+    throw new DashboardStoreError("DASHBOARD_GROUP_ID_INVALID");
+  }
+}
+
+function assertValidModuleId(value: string): void {
+  if (!isValidDashboardIdentifier(value)) {
+    throw new DashboardStoreError("DASHBOARD_MODULE_ID_INVALID");
+  }
+}
+
+function normalizedLabel(value: string): string {
+  const trimmed = normalizeDashboardGroupLabel(value);
+  if (trimmed === undefined) {
+    throw new DashboardStoreError("DASHBOARD_GROUP_LABEL_INVALID");
+  }
+  return trimmed;
+}
+
+function assertValidSortOrder(value: number): void {
+  if (
+    !Number.isSafeInteger(value) ||
+    value < DASHBOARD_SORT_ORDER_MIN ||
+    value > DASHBOARD_SORT_ORDER_MAX
+  ) {
+    throw new DashboardStoreError("DASHBOARD_SORT_ORDER_INVALID");
+  }
+}
+
+function rethrowAsStoreError(error: unknown, code: DashboardStoreErrorCode): never {
+  if (error instanceof DashboardStoreError) {
+    throw error;
+  }
+  throw new DashboardStoreError(code);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Core's persistence for Dashboard navigation configuration.
+ *
+ * Validation lives here rather than only at the HTTP boundary, so the invariants hold for any
+ * caller: identifiers are checked against one grammar, labels are trimmed and bounded, ordering is
+ * a bounded safe integer, and a placement may only name a group that exists. Nothing here reads,
+ * imports, or reasons about a module — a placement is a `module_id` string and no more — which is
+ * what keeps grouping structurally incapable of influencing discovery, dependency resolution, or
+ * startup order.
+ */
+export function createDashboardStore(db: DashboardDrizzleDatabase): DashboardStore {
+  return Object.freeze({
+    async readConfiguration(): Promise<DashboardConfiguration> {
+      try {
+        const [groups, placements] = await Promise.all([
+          db
+            .select({
+              id: ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup.id,
+              label: ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup.label,
+              sortOrder: ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup.sortOrder,
+            })
+            .from(ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup)
+            .orderBy(asc(ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup.sortOrder), asc(ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup.id)),
+          db
+            .select({
+              groupId: ekklesiaCoreDashboardPlacement.groupId,
+              moduleId: ekklesiaCoreDashboardPlacement.moduleId,
+              sortOrder: ekklesiaCoreDashboardPlacement.sortOrder,
+            })
+            .from(ekklesiaCoreDashboardPlacement)
+            .orderBy(
+              asc(ekklesiaCoreDashboardPlacement.sortOrder),
+              asc(ekklesiaCoreDashboardPlacement.moduleId),
+            ),
+        ]);
+        return Object.freeze({
+          groups: Object.freeze(groups.map((group) => Object.freeze({ ...group }))),
+          placements: Object.freeze(placements.map((placement) => Object.freeze({ ...placement }))),
+        });
+      } catch (error) {
+        rethrowAsStoreError(error, "DASHBOARD_READ_FAILED");
+      }
+    },
+
+    async upsertGroup(input: UpsertDashboardGroupInput): Promise<DashboardGroupRecord> {
+      assertValidGroupId(input.id);
+      const label = normalizedLabel(input.label);
+      assertValidSortOrder(input.sortOrder);
+      try {
+        // A rename updates `label` and `sort_order` only. `id` is the conflict target, so it is
+        // never rewritten and every placement pointing at this group keeps pointing at it.
+        const [row] = await db
+          .insert(ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup)
+          .values({ id: input.id, label, sortOrder: input.sortOrder })
+          .onConflictDoUpdate({
+            set: { label, sortOrder: input.sortOrder, updatedAt: new Date() },
+            target: ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup.id,
+          })
+          .returning({
+            id: ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup.id,
+            label: ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup.label,
+            sortOrder: ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup.sortOrder,
+          });
+        if (!row) {
+          throw new DashboardStoreError("DASHBOARD_WRITE_FAILED");
+        }
+        return Object.freeze(row);
+      } catch (error) {
+        rethrowAsStoreError(error, "DASHBOARD_WRITE_FAILED");
+      }
+    },
+
+    async deleteGroup(groupId: string): Promise<void> {
+      assertValidGroupId(groupId);
+      try {
+        const deleted = await db
+          .delete(ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup)
+          .where(eq(ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup.id, groupId))
+          .returning({ id: ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup.id });
+        if (deleted.length === 0) {
+          throw new DashboardStoreError("DASHBOARD_GROUP_NOT_FOUND");
+        }
+      } catch (error) {
+        rethrowAsStoreError(error, "DASHBOARD_WRITE_FAILED");
+      }
+    },
+
+    async setPlacement(input: SetDashboardPlacementInput): Promise<DashboardPlacementRecord> {
+      assertValidModuleId(input.moduleId);
+      assertValidSortOrder(input.sortOrder);
+      if (input.groupId !== null) {
+        assertValidGroupId(input.groupId);
+      }
+      try {
+        // Checked in the application rather than left to the foreign key so the caller gets
+        // `DASHBOARD_GROUP_NOT_FOUND` instead of a driver error. The foreign key remains the
+        // authority: a group deleted concurrently still fails the insert rather than storing a
+        // dangling reference.
+        if (input.groupId !== null) {
+          const existing = await db
+            .select({ id: ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup.id })
+            .from(ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup)
+            .where(eq(ekklesiaCoreDashboardGroup.id, input.groupId))
+            .limit(1);
+          if (existing.length === 0) {
+            throw new DashboardStoreError("DASHBOARD_GROUP_NOT_FOUND");
+          }
+        }
+        const [row] = await db
+          .insert(ekklesiaCoreDashboardPlacement)
+          .values({
+            groupId: input.groupId,
+            moduleId: input.moduleId,
+            sortOrder: input.sortOrder,
+          })
+          .onConflictDoUpdate({
+            set: { groupId: input.groupId, sortOrder: input.sortOrder, updatedAt: new Date() },
+            target: ekklesiaCoreDashboardPlacement.moduleId,
+          })
+          .returning({
+            groupId: ekklesiaCoreDashboardPlacement.groupId,
+            moduleId: ekklesiaCoreDashboardPlacement.moduleId,
+            sortOrder: ekklesiaCoreDashboardPlacement.sortOrder,
+          });
+        if (!row) {
+          throw new DashboardStoreError("DASHBOARD_WRITE_FAILED");
+        }
+        return Object.freeze(row);
+      } catch (error) {
+        rethrowAsStoreError(error, "DASHBOARD_WRITE_FAILED");
+      }
+    },
+  });
+}
diff --git a/core/src/modules/ui-publication.ts b/core/src/modules/ui-publication.ts
index eb34e20..6137965 100644
--- a/core/src/modules/ui-publication.ts
+++ b/core/src/modules/ui-publication.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,16 @@ import type { DiscoveredModule } from "./discovery.js";
 export interface PublishableModuleUi {
   readonly moduleId: string;
   readonly version: string;
+  /**
+   * The module's own `manifest.name` — its product identity, required by every manifest version and
+   * therefore available without any manifest change (ADR 0027).
+   *
+   * Carried here so a host can render something a person recognizes instead of a module id. It is
+   * presentation *identity*, not presentation *placement*: a module says what it is called, while
+   * where it appears in a Dashboard is configuration an administrator owns. Nothing about grouping,
+   * ordering, or navigation belongs on this record.
+   */
+  readonly name: string;
   readonly artifactPath: string;
   /**
    * The module's own manifest-declared permissions, carried here so a publisher can compute the
@@ -92,6 +102,7 @@ export function createModuleUiPublicationRegistry(
       Object.freeze({
         artifactPath,
         moduleId: module.manifest.id,
+        name: module.manifest.name,
         // Already deeply frozen by discovery; copied into a fresh frozen array so a caller holding
         // this record can never reach the manifest object graph itself.
         permissions: Object.freeze([...module.manifest.permissions]),
diff --git a/core/tests/authorization-permissions.test.ts b/core/tests/authorization-permissions.test.ts
index a0ee44e..6074a75 100644
--- a/core/tests/authorization-permissions.test.ts
+++ b/core/tests/authorization-permissions.test.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { parsePermissionId } from "@ekklesia/contracts";
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 import {
   CORE_AUTHORIZATION_GRANTS_MANAGE,
+  CORE_DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_MANAGE,
   CORE_MODULES_UI_READ,
   CORE_PERMISSION_DECLARATIONS,
   CORE_PERMISSION_REGISTRY,
@@ -100,10 +101,20 @@ describe("CORE_PERMISSION_REGISTRY", () => {
     expect(declaration?.id).toBe("core.modules.ui.read");
   });
 
-  it("contains exactly these two permissions and no others", () => {
+  it("registers core.dashboard.navigation.manage as restricted", () => {
+    const declaration = CORE_PERMISSION_REGISTRY.get(CORE_DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_MANAGE);
+    expect(declaration).toBeDefined();
+    // Reorganizing the Dashboard is administrative, not something every signed-in user may do —
+    // unlike merely reading which module UIs exist (ADR 0027).
+    expect(declaration?.baseline).toBe("restricted");
+    expect(declaration?.id).toBe("core.dashboard.navigation.manage");
+  });
+
+  it("contains exactly these three permissions and no others", () => {
     expect(CORE_PERMISSION_REGISTRY.declarations.map((declaration) => declaration.id)).toEqual([
       CORE_AUTHORIZATION_GRANTS_MANAGE,
       CORE_MODULES_UI_READ,
+      CORE_DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_MANAGE,
     ]);
   });
 });
@@ -121,10 +132,16 @@ describe("CORE_PERMISSION_DECLARATIONS", () => {
         description: "List the installed module UIs a browser host may mount.",
         id: CORE_MODULES_UI_READ,
       },
+      {
+        baseline: "restricted",
+        description: "Organize the Dashboard: create, rename, order, and delete navigation groups.",
+        id: CORE_DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_MANAGE,
+      },
     ]);
     expect(Object.isFrozen(CORE_PERMISSION_DECLARATIONS)).toBe(true);
     expect(Object.isFrozen(CORE_PERMISSION_DECLARATIONS[0])).toBe(true);
     expect(Object.isFrozen(CORE_PERMISSION_DECLARATIONS[1])).toBe(true);
+    expect(Object.isFrozen(CORE_PERMISSION_DECLARATIONS[2])).toBe(true);
   });
 
   it("matches exactly what CORE_PERMISSION_REGISTRY exposes as its own declarations, so a composer building on top of it never diverges from what Core itself registers", () => {
diff --git a/core/tests/authorization-store.integration.ts b/core/tests/authorization-store.integration.ts
index ce28307..b57f7a5 100644
--- a/core/tests/authorization-store.integration.ts
+++ b/core/tests/authorization-store.integration.ts
@@ -173,6 +173,7 @@ async function applyCoreMigrations(url: string): Promise<void> {
       "core:0000_identity_core_tables",
       "core:0001_authorization_core_tables",
       "core:0002_authorization_integrity",
+      "core:0003_dashboard_navigation_tables",
     ]);
     await applyModuleMigrations({ aggregate, database: createPostgresMigrationDatabase(url) });
   } finally {
@@ -207,7 +208,7 @@ describe.sequential("live Core authorization store", () => {
   const scope: AuthorizationScope = parseAuthorizationScope("calendar-event:123");
   const actor = createUserActor("authz_user_two"); // an operator/admin user distinct from the subject
 
-  it("applies a fresh migration and creates exactly the three authorization tables with their constraints", async () => {
+  it("applies a fresh migration and creates exactly the expected Core tables with their constraints", async () => {
     database = await createDisposableDatabase("fresh");
     await applyCoreMigrations(database.url);
 
@@ -218,9 +219,13 @@ describe.sequential("live Core authorization store", () => {
        where table_schema = 'public' and table_name like 'ekklesia_core_%'
        order by table_name`,
     );
+    // The complete Core schema after every migration, asserted exactly so a new table is a
+    // deliberate change here rather than an unnoticed one.
     expect(tables.map((row) => row.table_name)).toEqual([
       "ekklesia_core_account",
       "ekklesia_core_authorization_audit",
+      "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group",
+      "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement",
       "ekklesia_core_grant",
       "ekklesia_core_migrations",
       "ekklesia_core_platform_owner",
diff --git a/core/tests/dashboard-flat-modules.test.ts b/core/tests/dashboard-flat-modules.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b52bd9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/tests/dashboard-flat-modules.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,247 @@
+import { mkdir, mkdtemp, rm, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { type DashboardConfiguration, resolveDashboardNavigation } from "../src/dashboard/index.js";
+import {
+  createModuleUiPublicationRegistry,
+  type DiscoveredModule,
+  discoverModules,
+} from "../src/modules/index.js";
+
+/**
+ * The executable form of the architecture's central rule: **Dashboard grouping is presentation
+ * configuration and can never become module structure** (ADR 0021, ADR 0027).
+ *
+ * These run real discovery over real fixtures, including a genuine module dependency, and then
+ * arrange those modules into folders in several different ways. Everything discovery decides —
+ * which modules exist, what depends on what, and the order they must start in — has to come out
+ * byte-identical every time. A future change that let a group influence any of that fails here.
+ */
+const temporaryDirectories: string[] = [];
+
+afterEach(async () => {
+  await Promise.all(
+    temporaryDirectories
+      .splice(0)
+      .map((directory) => rm(directory, { force: true, recursive: true })),
+  );
+});
+
+interface ModuleFixture {
+  readonly id: string;
+  readonly name: string;
+  /** A *real* technical dependency — one module calling another's functionality — expressed through
+   * the existing module dependency contract, which is the only kind of module relationship that
+   * exists. */
+  readonly dependsOn?: string;
+}
+
+async function createModule(modulesDirectory: string, fixture: ModuleFixture): Promise<void> {
+  const moduleDirectory = path.join(modulesDirectory, fixture.id);
+  await mkdir(path.join(moduleDirectory, "dist/server"), { recursive: true });
+  await mkdir(path.join(moduleDirectory, "dist/ui"), { recursive: true });
+  await writeFile(
+    path.join(moduleDirectory, "package.json"),
+    JSON.stringify({
+      ekklesia: { layer: "module" },
+      name: `@test/module-${fixture.id}`,
+      type: "module",
+      version: "1.0.0",
+    }),
+  );
+  await writeFile(
+    path.join(moduleDirectory, "ekklesia.module.json"),
+    JSON.stringify({
+      compatibility: { moduleSdk: "^0.1.0", platform: "^0.1.0" },
+      ...(fixture.dependsOn
+        ? { dependencies: { modules: { required: { [fixture.dependsOn]: "^1.0.0" } } } }
+        : {}),
+      entrypoints: { server: "./dist/server/index.js", ui: "./dist/ui/index.js" },
+      id: fixture.id,
+      manifestVersion: 4,
+      name: fixture.name,
+      version: "1.0.0",
+    }),
+  );
+  await writeFile(
+    path.join(moduleDirectory, "dist/server/index.js"),
+    `export default { id: ${JSON.stringify(fixture.id)}, version: "1.0.0" };`,
+  );
+  await writeFile(
+    path.join(moduleDirectory, "dist/ui/index.js"),
+    `export default { id: ${JSON.stringify(fixture.id)}, version: "1.0.0", mount() {} };\n`,
+  );
+}
+
+/** Livestream genuinely depends on Video — it calls Video's functionality — so discovery must order
+ * Video first. Calendar depends on nothing. This is the *only* kind of relationship modules have. */
+async function discoverFixtures(): Promise<readonly DiscoveredModule[]> {
+  const modulesDirectory = await mkdtemp(path.join(tmpdir(), "ekklesia-flat-modules-"));
+  temporaryDirectories.push(modulesDirectory);
+  await createModule(modulesDirectory, { id: "video", name: "Video" });
+  await createModule(modulesDirectory, {
+    dependsOn: "video",
+    id: "livestream",
+    name: "Livestream",
+  });
+  await createModule(modulesDirectory, { id: "calendar", name: "Calendar" });
+  return discoverModules({
+    moduleSdkVersion: "0.1.0",
+    modulesDirectory,
+    platformVersion: "0.1.0",
+  });
+}
+
+/**
+ * Four arrangements of the same three modules, including the one the architecture warns about:
+ * Livestream and Video together under "Media", which must **not** create a Media module or a
+ * dependency between them.
+ */
+const arrangements: ReadonlyArray<readonly [string, DashboardConfiguration]> = [
+  ["nothing configured", { groups: [], placements: [] }],
+  [
+    "Media over Planning",
+    {
+      groups: [
+        { id: "media", label: "Media", sortOrder: 10 },
+        { id: "planning", label: "Planning", sortOrder: 20 },
+      ],
+      placements: [
+        { groupId: "media", moduleId: "livestream", sortOrder: 10 },
+        { groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 20 },
+        { groupId: "planning", moduleId: "calendar", sortOrder: 10 },
+      ],
+    },
+  ],
+  [
+    "Livestream moved to Sunday Production, away from Video",
+    {
+      groups: [
+        { id: "media", label: "Media", sortOrder: 10 },
+        { id: "sunday-production", label: "Sunday Production", sortOrder: 5 },
+      ],
+      placements: [
+        { groupId: "sunday-production", moduleId: "livestream", sortOrder: 10 },
+        { groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 },
+      ],
+    },
+  ],
+  [
+    "the dependency inverted in presentation: Video grouped under Livestream's folder alone",
+    {
+      groups: [{ id: "streaming", label: "Streaming", sortOrder: 1 }],
+      placements: [{ groupId: "streaming", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 }],
+    },
+  ],
+];
+
+describe("Dashboard grouping never becomes module structure", () => {
+  it("orders discovery by real dependencies, which is the only module relationship", async () => {
+    const discovered = await discoverFixtures();
+
+    // Video before Livestream because Livestream *depends* on it — not because of any folder.
+    expect(discovered.map((module) => module.manifest.id)).toEqual([
+      "calendar",
+      "video",
+      "livestream",
+    ]);
+    expect(
+      discovered.find((module) => module.manifest.id === "livestream")?.manifest.dependencies,
+    ).toMatchObject({ modules: { required: { video: "^1.0.0" } } });
+  });
+
+  it("leaves discovery, dependencies, and start order identical under every arrangement", async () => {
+    const discovered = await discoverFixtures();
+    const registry = createModuleUiPublicationRegistry(discovered);
+    // The exact facts the runtime consumes, captured before any Dashboard configuration exists.
+    const baseline = JSON.stringify(
+      discovered.map((module) => ({
+        capabilities: module.manifest.capabilities,
+        dependencies: module.manifest.dependencies,
+        id: module.manifest.id,
+        permissions: module.manifest.permissions,
+        version: module.manifest.version,
+      })),
+    );
+
+    for (const [label, configuration] of arrangements) {
+      const view = resolveDashboardNavigation(
+        configuration,
+        registry.list().map((entry) => ({ id: entry.moduleId, name: entry.name })),
+      );
+
+      // Discovery order — which is module *startup* order — is untouched by presentation.
+      expect(
+        discovered.map((module) => module.manifest.id),
+        label,
+      ).toEqual(["calendar", "video", "livestream"]);
+      // So is every fact the runtime reads.
+      expect(
+        JSON.stringify(
+          discovered.map((module) => ({
+            capabilities: module.manifest.capabilities,
+            dependencies: module.manifest.dependencies,
+            id: module.manifest.id,
+            permissions: module.manifest.permissions,
+            version: module.manifest.version,
+          })),
+        ),
+        label,
+      ).toBe(baseline);
+      // And every module is still rendered exactly once, whatever the folders say.
+      expect(
+        [...view.groups.flatMap((group) => group.modules), ...view.ungrouped]
+          .map((entry) => entry.id)
+          .sort(),
+        label,
+      ).toEqual(["calendar", "livestream", "video"]);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("never invents a module for a group, however the group is named", async () => {
+    const discovered = await discoverFixtures();
+    const registry = createModuleUiPublicationRegistry(discovered);
+    const [, mediaArrangement] = arrangements[1] as readonly [string, DashboardConfiguration];
+
+    const view = resolveDashboardNavigation(
+      mediaArrangement,
+      registry.list().map((entry) => ({ id: entry.moduleId, name: entry.name })),
+    );
+
+    // "Media" and "Planning" are group labels. There is no `media` module, no manifest for one, no
+    // artifact, no API root, no permission, and nothing depends on one.
+    const moduleIds = discovered.map((module) => module.manifest.id);
+    expect(moduleIds).toEqual(["calendar", "video", "livestream"]);
+    for (const groupId of view.groups.map((group) => group.id)) {
+      expect(moduleIds).not.toContain(groupId);
+      expect(registry.resolve(groupId, "1.0.0")).toBeUndefined();
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("keeps the publication record free of any grouping, ordering, or navigation field", async () => {
+    const registry = createModuleUiPublicationRegistry(await discoverFixtures());
+
+    const published = registry.resolve("livestream", "1.0.0");
+
+    // The record a host mounts from carries identity, the validated artifact, declared permissions,
+    // and the module's own name — never a group, an order, a parent, or a folder.
+    expect(Object.keys(published ?? {}).sort()).toEqual([
+      "artifactPath",
+      "moduleId",
+      "name",
+      "permissions",
+      "version",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("takes the display name from the module's own manifest, not from any folder", async () => {
+    const registry = createModuleUiPublicationRegistry(await discoverFixtures());
+
+    expect(registry.list().map((entry) => [entry.moduleId, entry.name])).toEqual([
+      ["calendar", "Calendar"],
+      ["video", "Video"],
+      ["livestream", "Livestream"],
+    ]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/core/tests/dashboard-navigation.test.ts b/core/tests/dashboard-navigation.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c97bbed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/tests/dashboard-navigation.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,283 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import {
+  type DashboardConfiguration,
+  type DashboardNavigationModule,
+  resolveDashboardNavigation,
+} from "../src/dashboard/index.js";
+
+function module(id: string, name = id): DashboardNavigationModule {
+  return { id, name };
+}
+
+function configuration(
+  groups: ReadonlyArray<{ id: string; label: string; sortOrder: number }>,
+  placements: ReadonlyArray<{ moduleId: string; groupId: string | null; sortOrder: number }>,
+): DashboardConfiguration {
+  return { groups, placements };
+}
+
+const media = { id: "media", label: "Media", sortOrder: 10 };
+const planning = { id: "planning", label: "Planning", sortOrder: 20 };
+
+describe("resolving Dashboard navigation", () => {
+  it("groups modules exactly where the configuration places them", () => {
+    const view = resolveDashboardNavigation(
+      configuration(
+        [media, planning],
+        [
+          { groupId: "media", moduleId: "livestream", sortOrder: 20 },
+          { groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 },
+          { groupId: "planning", moduleId: "calendar", sortOrder: 10 },
+        ],
+      ),
+      [
+        module("calendar", "Calendar"),
+        module("livestream", "Livestream"),
+        module("video", "Video"),
+      ],
+    );
+
+    expect(
+      view.groups.map((group) => [group.label, group.modules.map((entry) => entry.name)]),
+    ).toEqual([
+      ["Media", ["Video", "Livestream"]],
+      ["Planning", ["Calendar"]],
+    ]);
+    expect(view.ungrouped).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it("shows a newly discovered module without any stored placement", () => {
+    // The rule that makes installing a module sufficient to see it: no initialization write, no
+    // manual database edit, no migration.
+    const view = resolveDashboardNavigation(
+      configuration([media], [{ groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 }]),
+      [module("video", "Video"), module("roster", "Roster")],
+    );
+
+    expect(view.groups[0]?.modules.map((entry) => entry.id)).toEqual(["video"]);
+    expect(view.ungrouped.map((entry) => entry.id)).toEqual(["roster"]);
+  });
+
+  it("keeps a deliberately ungrouped module distinct from an unconfigured one, and orders both", () => {
+    const view = resolveDashboardNavigation(
+      configuration(
+        [],
+        [
+          { groupId: null, moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 20 },
+          { groupId: null, moduleId: "calendar", sortOrder: 10 },
+        ],
+      ),
+      [module("roster"), module("video"), module("calendar")],
+    );
+
+    // Placed-and-ungrouped first, in the administrator's order; never-configured after, by id — so a
+    // newcomer never interrupts an ordering someone chose.
+    expect(view.ungrouped.map((entry) => entry.id)).toEqual(["calendar", "video", "roster"]);
+  });
+
+  it("omits a stored placement whose module is not installed", () => {
+    const view = resolveDashboardNavigation(
+      configuration(
+        [media],
+        [
+          { groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 },
+          { groupId: "media", moduleId: "uninstalled", sortOrder: 20 },
+        ],
+      ),
+      [module("video", "Video")],
+    );
+
+    // No dead entry renders, and the caller's configuration is untouched — the record survives for a
+    // reinstall.
+    expect(view.groups[0]?.modules.map((entry) => entry.id)).toEqual(["video"]);
+    expect(view.ungrouped).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it("restores a reinstalled module to the position its retained placement describes", () => {
+    const stored = configuration(
+      [media],
+      [
+        { groupId: "media", moduleId: "livestream", sortOrder: 5 },
+        { groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 },
+      ],
+    );
+
+    const whileUninstalled = resolveDashboardNavigation(stored, [module("video", "Video")]);
+    const afterReinstall = resolveDashboardNavigation(stored, [
+      module("video", "Video"),
+      module("livestream", "Livestream"),
+    ]);
+
+    expect(whileUninstalled.groups[0]?.modules.map((entry) => entry.id)).toEqual(["video"]);
+    expect(afterReinstall.groups[0]?.modules.map((entry) => entry.id)).toEqual([
+      "livestream",
+      "video",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("keeps an empty group rather than hiding it", () => {
+    const view = resolveDashboardNavigation(configuration([media, planning], []), []);
+
+    expect(view.groups.map((group) => group.id)).toEqual(["media", "planning"]);
+    expect(view.groups.every((group) => group.modules.length === 0)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("treats a placement naming a missing group as ungrouped rather than losing the module", () => {
+    // The schema's `on delete set null` makes this unreachable in practice; the resolver still
+    // refuses to let a configuration inconsistency make a module invisible.
+    const view = resolveDashboardNavigation(
+      configuration([], [{ groupId: "deleted-group", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 }]),
+      [module("video", "Video")],
+    );
+
+    expect(view.groups).toEqual([]);
+    expect(view.ungrouped.map((entry) => entry.id)).toEqual(["video"]);
+  });
+
+  it("orders deterministically when order values collide", () => {
+    const collided = configuration(
+      [
+        { id: "zebra", label: "Zebra", sortOrder: 10 },
+        { id: "alpha", label: "Alpha", sortOrder: 10 },
+      ],
+      [
+        { groupId: "alpha", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 0 },
+        { groupId: "alpha", moduleId: "calendar", sortOrder: 0 },
+        { groupId: "alpha", moduleId: "roster", sortOrder: 0 },
+      ],
+    );
+    const modules = [module("roster"), module("video"), module("calendar")];
+
+    const first = resolveDashboardNavigation(collided, modules);
+    // A different input order must not change the output: the tie-break is the identifier, never
+    // arrival order.
+    const second = resolveDashboardNavigation(collided, [...modules].reverse());
+
+    expect(first.groups.map((group) => group.id)).toEqual(["alpha", "zebra"]);
+    expect(first.groups[0]?.modules.map((entry) => entry.id)).toEqual([
+      "calendar",
+      "roster",
+      "video",
+    ]);
+    expect(JSON.stringify(second)).toBe(JSON.stringify(first));
+  });
+
+  it("is empty and usable with no configuration and no modules", () => {
+    const view = resolveDashboardNavigation(configuration([], []), []);
+
+    expect(view.groups).toEqual([]);
+    expect(view.ungrouped).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it("returns a frozen view no caller can mutate", () => {
+    const view = resolveDashboardNavigation(
+      configuration([media], [{ groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 }]),
+      [module("video", "Video")],
+    );
+
+    expect(Object.isFrozen(view)).toBe(true);
+    expect(Object.isFrozen(view.groups)).toBe(true);
+    expect(Object.isFrozen(view.groups[0])).toBe(true);
+    expect(Object.isFrozen(view.ungrouped)).toBe(true);
+  });
+});
+
+describe("Dashboard grouping is presentation and nothing else", () => {
+  const modules = [
+    module("livestream", "Livestream"),
+    module("video", "Video"),
+    module("calendar", "Calendar"),
+  ];
+
+  it("creates no module, no parent, and no relationship from a shared group", () => {
+    const view = resolveDashboardNavigation(
+      configuration(
+        [media],
+        [
+          { groupId: "media", moduleId: "livestream", sortOrder: 10 },
+          { groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 20 },
+        ],
+      ),
+      modules,
+    );
+
+    // "Media" is a label on a rendering bucket. It is not a module: nothing in the view carries a
+    // module id, version, artifact, or API root for it, and no entry names another module.
+    const rendered = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(view)) as unknown;
+    expect(view.groups[0]?.modules.map((entry) => entry.id)).toEqual(["livestream", "video"]);
+    expect(modules.map((entry) => entry.id)).not.toContain("media");
+    for (const entry of view.groups.flatMap((group) => group.modules)) {
+      // A navigation entry describes exactly one module and never references a second one.
+      expect(Object.keys(entry).sort()).toEqual(["id", "name"]);
+    }
+    expect(JSON.stringify(rendered)).not.toContain("parent");
+    expect(JSON.stringify(rendered)).not.toContain("depends");
+  });
+
+  it("changes only placement when a module moves to a different group", () => {
+    const before = resolveDashboardNavigation(
+      configuration(
+        [media],
+        [
+          { groupId: "media", moduleId: "livestream", sortOrder: 10 },
+          { groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 20 },
+        ],
+      ),
+      modules,
+    );
+    const after = resolveDashboardNavigation(
+      configuration(
+        [media, { id: "sunday-production", label: "Sunday Production", sortOrder: 5 }],
+        [
+          { groupId: "sunday-production", moduleId: "livestream", sortOrder: 10 },
+          { groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 20 },
+        ],
+      ),
+      modules,
+    );
+
+    const findLivestream = (view: typeof before) =>
+      [...view.groups.flatMap((group) => group.modules), ...view.ungrouped].find(
+        (entry) => entry.id === "livestream",
+      );
+
+    // The module object itself is identical across the move: same identity, same name, and — in the
+    // API layer above this — the same embedded mount descriptor.
+    expect(findLivestream(after)).toEqual(findLivestream(before));
+    expect(before.groups.find((group) => group.id === "media")?.modules.map((m) => m.id)).toEqual([
+      "livestream",
+      "video",
+    ]);
+    expect(after.groups.find((group) => group.id === "media")?.modules.map((m) => m.id)).toEqual([
+      "video",
+    ]);
+    expect(
+      after.groups.find((group) => group.id === "sunday-production")?.modules.map((m) => m.id),
+    ).toEqual(["livestream"]);
+  });
+
+  it("renders the same module set whatever the arrangement", () => {
+    const arrangements: readonly DashboardConfiguration[] = [
+      configuration([], []),
+      configuration([media], [{ groupId: "media", moduleId: "livestream", sortOrder: 10 }]),
+      configuration(
+        [media, planning],
+        [
+          { groupId: "planning", moduleId: "livestream", sortOrder: 10 },
+          { groupId: "media", moduleId: "calendar", sortOrder: 10 },
+          { groupId: null, moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 },
+        ],
+      ),
+    ];
+
+    for (const arrangement of arrangements) {
+      const view = resolveDashboardNavigation(arrangement, modules);
+      const rendered = [...view.groups.flatMap((group) => group.modules), ...view.ungrouped]
+        .map((entry) => entry.id)
+        .sort();
+      // Every module is rendered exactly once, in every arrangement. Grouping can never add,
+      // remove, duplicate, or hide a module.
+      expect(rendered).toEqual(["calendar", "livestream", "video"]);
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/core/tests/dashboard-store.integration.ts b/core/tests/dashboard-store.integration.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a26558d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/tests/dashboard-store.integration.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,415 @@
+import { randomBytes } from "node:crypto";
+import { mkdtemp, rm } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+import { Client, type QueryResultRow } from "pg";
+import { afterAll, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import {
+  createDashboardDrizzleView,
+  createDashboardStore,
+  type DashboardStore,
+  DashboardStoreError,
+  resolveDashboardNavigation,
+} from "../src/dashboard/index.js";
+import { createValidatedPostgresPool } from "../src/database/index.js";
+import {
+  applyModuleMigrations,
+  createPostgresMigrationDatabase,
+  discoverAllMigrations,
+} from "../src/migrations/index.js";
+
+/**
+ * The Dashboard navigation store against real PostgreSQL.
+ *
+ * The unit suites prove the resolution rules; this proves the things only a database can: that the
+ * migration really creates these tables, that configuration survives a completely new connection,
+ * that `on delete set null` really ungroups a deleted group's modules, and that a placement can
+ * never point at a group that does not exist. The in-memory double used by the API route tests
+ * deliberately reproduces only two of those behaviours, so this file is where they are actually
+ * established rather than assumed.
+ */
+const integrationDatabaseUrlEnvironment = "EKKLESIA_MIGRATION_TEST_DATABASE_URL";
+const coreMigrationsDirectory = path.join(
+  path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)),
+  "..",
+  "drizzle",
+);
+const trackedDatabases = new Set<string>();
+let databaseCounter = 0;
+
+class IntegrationHarnessError extends Error {
+  constructor(message: string) {
+    super(message);
+    this.name = "IntegrationHarnessError";
+    this.stack = `${this.name}: ${this.message}`;
+  }
+}
+
+function harnessError(message: string): IntegrationHarnessError {
+  return new IntegrationHarnessError(message);
+}
+
+function baseDatabaseUrl(): string {
+  const value = process.env[integrationDatabaseUrlEnvironment];
+  if (typeof value !== "string" || value.trim() === "") {
+    throw harnessError("The Dashboard integration database is not configured.");
+  }
+  try {
+    const parsed = new URL(value);
+    if (parsed.protocol !== "postgres:" && parsed.protocol !== "postgresql:") {
+      throw new TypeError("Unsupported protocol.");
+    }
+  } catch {
+    throw harnessError("The Dashboard integration database configuration is invalid.");
+  }
+  return value;
+}
+
+function quoteDatabaseName(databaseName: string): string {
+  if (!/^[a-z][a-z0-9_]{0,62}$/u.test(databaseName)) {
+    throw harnessError("The generated integration database name is invalid.");
+  }
+  return `"${databaseName}"`;
+}
+
+function makeDatabaseName(label: string): string {
+  const safeLabel = label
+    .toLowerCase()
+    .replaceAll(/[^a-z0-9]+/gu, "_")
+    .replaceAll(/^_+|_+$/gu, "")
+    .slice(0, 14);
+  databaseCounter += 1;
+  return `ekk_dash_${process.pid}_${databaseCounter}_${safeLabel || "scenario"}_${randomBytes(4).toString("hex")}`;
+}
+
+function databaseUrl(databaseName: string): string {
+  const parsed = new URL(baseDatabaseUrl());
+  parsed.pathname = `/${databaseName}`;
+  parsed.searchParams.delete("application_name");
+  return parsed.toString();
+}
+
+async function openAdministrativeClient(connectionString: string): Promise<Client> {
+  const client = new Client({ connectionString });
+  client.on("error", () => undefined);
+  try {
+    await client.connect();
+    return client;
+  } catch {
+    try {
+      await client.end();
+    } catch {
+      // The public harness failure stays static when connection cleanup also fails.
+    }
+    throw harnessError("The Dashboard integration database connection failed.");
+  }
+}
+
+async function safeQuery<Row extends QueryResultRow>(
+  client: Client,
+  text: string,
+  values: unknown[] = [],
+): Promise<readonly Row[]> {
+  try {
+    const result = await client.query<Row>(text, values);
+    return result.rows;
+  } catch {
+    throw harnessError("An integration database administration operation failed.");
+  }
+}
+
+async function safeEnd(client: Client): Promise<void> {
+  try {
+    await client.end();
+  } catch {
+    throw harnessError("An integration database connection could not be closed.");
+  }
+}
+
+async function dropDatabase(databaseName: string): Promise<void> {
+  const admin = await openAdministrativeClient(baseDatabaseUrl());
+  try {
+    await safeQuery(
+      admin,
+      "SELECT pg_terminate_backend(pid) FROM pg_stat_activity WHERE datname = $1 AND pid <> pg_backend_pid()",
+      [databaseName],
+    );
+    await safeQuery(
+      admin,
+      `DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS ${quoteDatabaseName(databaseName)} WITH (FORCE)`,
+    );
+    trackedDatabases.delete(databaseName);
+  } finally {
+    await safeEnd(admin);
+  }
+}
+
+async function createDisposableDatabase(label: string): Promise<{ name: string; url: string }> {
+  const name = makeDatabaseName(label);
+  const admin = await openAdministrativeClient(baseDatabaseUrl());
+  try {
+    await safeQuery(admin, `CREATE DATABASE ${quoteDatabaseName(name)} TEMPLATE template0`);
+  } finally {
+    await safeEnd(admin);
+  }
+  trackedDatabases.add(name);
+  return { name, url: databaseUrl(name) };
+}
+
+async function applyCoreMigrations(url: string): Promise<void> {
+  const emptyModulesDirectory = await mkdtemp(path.join(tmpdir(), "ekklesia-dash-no-modules-"));
+  try {
+    const aggregate = await discoverAllMigrations({
+      coreMigrationsDirectory,
+      moduleDiscovery: {
+        moduleSdkVersion: "0.1.0",
+        modulesDirectory: emptyModulesDirectory,
+        platformVersion: "0.1.0",
+      },
+    });
+    expect(aggregate.migrations.map((entry) => entry.identity)).toEqual([
+      "core:0000_identity_core_tables",
+      "core:0001_authorization_core_tables",
+      "core:0002_authorization_integrity",
+      "core:0003_dashboard_navigation_tables",
+    ]);
+    await applyModuleMigrations({ aggregate, database: createPostgresMigrationDatabase(url) });
+  } finally {
+    await rm(emptyModulesDirectory, { force: true, recursive: true });
+  }
+}
+
+afterAll(async () => {
+  for (const databaseName of [...trackedDatabases]) {
+    await dropDatabase(databaseName).catch(() => undefined);
+  }
+});
+
+describe.sequential("live Core Dashboard navigation store", () => {
+  let database: { name: string; url: string };
+  let admin: Client;
+  let store: DashboardStore;
+  let close: () => Promise<void>;
+
+  it("creates exactly the two Dashboard tables, with their constraints", async () => {
+    database = await createDisposableDatabase("fresh");
+    await applyCoreMigrations(database.url);
+    admin = await openAdministrativeClient(database.url);
+
+    const tables = await safeQuery<{ table_name: string }>(
+      admin,
+      `select table_name from information_schema.tables
+        where table_schema = 'public' and table_name like 'ekklesia_core_dashboard%'
+        order by table_name`,
+    );
+    const constraints = await safeQuery<{ constraint_name: string; delete_rule: string }>(
+      admin,
+      `select rc.constraint_name, rc.delete_rule
+         from information_schema.referential_constraints rc
+         join information_schema.table_constraints tc
+           on tc.constraint_name = rc.constraint_name
+        where tc.table_name = 'ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement'`,
+    );
+
+    expect(tables.map((table) => table.table_name)).toEqual([
+      "ekklesia_core_dashboard_group",
+      "ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement",
+    ]);
+    // The database, not the application, is what guarantees a deleted group leaves no dangling
+    // reference.
+    expect(constraints.map((constraint) => constraint.delete_rule)).toEqual(["SET NULL"]);
+
+    const handle = createValidatedPostgresPool(database.url);
+    close = handle.close;
+    store = createDashboardStore(createDashboardDrizzleView(handle.pool));
+  });
+
+  it("starts empty, so an installation with no configuration is a normal state", async () => {
+    expect(await store.readConfiguration()).toEqual({ groups: [], placements: [] });
+  });
+
+  it("persists groups and placements, and reads them back in deterministic order", async () => {
+    await store.upsertGroup({ id: "planning", label: "Planning", sortOrder: 20 });
+    await store.upsertGroup({ id: "media", label: "Media", sortOrder: 10 });
+    await store.setPlacement({ groupId: "media", moduleId: "livestream", sortOrder: 20 });
+    await store.setPlacement({ groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 });
+    await store.setPlacement({ groupId: "planning", moduleId: "calendar", sortOrder: 10 });
+
+    const configuration = await store.readConfiguration();
+
+    expect(configuration.groups.map((group) => group.id)).toEqual(["media", "planning"]);
+    expect(configuration.placements.map((placement) => placement.moduleId)).toEqual([
+      "calendar",
+      "video",
+      "livestream",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("survives a completely new connection, so a church configures its Dashboard once", async () => {
+    // A different pool, as a restarted process would use — nothing is cached in the old one.
+    const reopened = createValidatedPostgresPool(database.url);
+    try {
+      const configuration = await createDashboardStore(
+        createDashboardDrizzleView(reopened.pool),
+      ).readConfiguration();
+      const view = resolveDashboardNavigation(configuration, [
+        { id: "livestream", name: "Livestream" },
+        { id: "video", name: "Video" },
+        { id: "calendar", name: "Calendar" },
+      ]);
+
+      expect(
+        view.groups.map((group) => [group.label, group.modules.map((entry) => entry.name)]),
+      ).toEqual([
+        ["Media", ["Video", "Livestream"]],
+        ["Planning", ["Calendar"]],
+      ]);
+    } finally {
+      await reopened.close();
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("renames a group without disturbing a single placement", async () => {
+    const before = await store.readConfiguration();
+
+    await store.upsertGroup({ id: "media", label: "Media & Streaming", sortOrder: 10 });
+    const after = await store.readConfiguration();
+
+    expect(after.groups.find((group) => group.id === "media")?.label).toBe("Media & Streaming");
+    // The stable id is what placements point at, so a rename can never re-organize the Dashboard.
+    expect(after.placements).toEqual(before.placements);
+  });
+
+  it("re-orders a group and a module in place, without creating duplicates", async () => {
+    await store.upsertGroup({ id: "media", label: "Media & Streaming", sortOrder: 30 });
+    await store.setPlacement({ groupId: "media", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 99 });
+
+    const configuration = await store.readConfiguration();
+
+    expect(configuration.groups).toHaveLength(2);
+    expect(configuration.groups.map((group) => group.id)).toEqual(["planning", "media"]);
+    expect(configuration.placements.filter((entry) => entry.moduleId === "video")).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(configuration.placements.find((entry) => entry.moduleId === "video")?.sortOrder).toBe(
+      99,
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("moves a module between groups by changing exactly one row", async () => {
+    await store.upsertGroup({ id: "sunday-production", label: "Sunday Production", sortOrder: 5 });
+    await store.setPlacement({
+      groupId: "sunday-production",
+      moduleId: "livestream",
+      sortOrder: 10,
+    });
+
+    const configuration = await store.readConfiguration();
+
+    expect(configuration.placements.find((entry) => entry.moduleId === "livestream")?.groupId).toBe(
+      "sunday-production",
+    );
+    // Video did not move.
+    expect(configuration.placements.find((entry) => entry.moduleId === "video")?.groupId).toBe(
+      "media",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("ungroups a module deliberately, which is distinct from having no record", async () => {
+    await store.setPlacement({ groupId: null, moduleId: "calendar", sortOrder: 7 });
+
+    const configuration = await store.readConfiguration();
+    const calendar = configuration.placements.find((entry) => entry.moduleId === "calendar");
+
+    expect(calendar).toEqual({ groupId: null, moduleId: "calendar", sortOrder: 7 });
+  });
+
+  it("ungroups a deleted group's modules instead of leaving a dangling reference", async () => {
+    await store.deleteGroup("sunday-production");
+
+    const configuration = await store.readConfiguration();
+    const groupIds = new Set(configuration.groups.map((group) => group.id));
+
+    expect(groupIds.has("sunday-production")).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      configuration.placements.find((entry) => entry.moduleId === "livestream")?.groupId,
+    ).toBeNull();
+    // No placement anywhere names a group that no longer exists.
+    for (const placement of configuration.placements) {
+      if (placement.groupId !== null) {
+        expect(groupIds.has(placement.groupId)).toBe(true);
+      }
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("refuses a placement naming a group that was never created", async () => {
+    await expect(
+      store.setPlacement({ groupId: "not-a-group", moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 10 }),
+    ).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: "DASHBOARD_GROUP_NOT_FOUND" });
+  });
+
+  it("refuses to delete a group that does not exist", async () => {
+    await expect(store.deleteGroup("not-a-group")).rejects.toMatchObject({
+      code: "DASHBOARD_GROUP_NOT_FOUND",
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("stores a placement for a module that is not installed, and renders nothing for it", async () => {
+    await store.upsertGroup({ id: "media", label: "Media & Streaming", sortOrder: 30 });
+    await store.setPlacement({ groupId: "media", moduleId: "uninstalled", sortOrder: 1 });
+
+    const configuration = await store.readConfiguration();
+    const view = resolveDashboardNavigation(configuration, [{ id: "video", name: "Video" }]);
+
+    // Retained, so a reinstall restores the position...
+    expect(configuration.placements.map((entry) => entry.moduleId)).toContain("uninstalled");
+    // ...and never rendered while the module is absent.
+    expect(
+      [...view.groups.flatMap((group) => group.modules), ...view.ungrouped].map(
+        (entry) => entry.id,
+      ),
+    ).toEqual(["video"]);
+  });
+
+  it("rejects malformed input before it reaches the database", async () => {
+    await expect(
+      store.upsertGroup({ id: "Not Kebab Case", label: "Nope", sortOrder: 0 }),
+    ).rejects.toBeInstanceOf(DashboardStoreError);
+    await expect(
+      store.upsertGroup({ id: "media", label: "   ", sortOrder: 0 }),
+    ).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: "DASHBOARD_GROUP_LABEL_INVALID" });
+    await expect(
+      store.upsertGroup({ id: "media", label: "x".repeat(121), sortOrder: 0 }),
+    ).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: "DASHBOARD_GROUP_LABEL_INVALID" });
+    await expect(
+      store.upsertGroup({ id: "media", label: "Media", sortOrder: -1 }),
+    ).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: "DASHBOARD_SORT_ORDER_INVALID" });
+    await expect(
+      store.setPlacement({ groupId: null, moduleId: "Not Valid", sortOrder: 0 }),
+    ).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: "DASHBOARD_MODULE_ID_INVALID" });
+    await expect(
+      store.setPlacement({ groupId: null, moduleId: "video", sortOrder: 1.5 }),
+    ).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: "DASHBOARD_SORT_ORDER_INVALID" });
+  });
+
+  it("trims a stored label rather than persisting surrounding whitespace", async () => {
+    await store.upsertGroup({ id: "planning", label: "  Planning  ", sortOrder: 20 });
+
+    const configuration = await store.readConfiguration();
+
+    expect(configuration.groups.find((group) => group.id === "planning")?.label).toBe("Planning");
+  });
+
+  it("leaks no database detail in a sanitized failure", async () => {
+    await close();
+
+    const error = await store.readConfiguration().catch((caught: unknown) => caught);
+    const text = `${String(error)}\n${(error as Error).stack ?? ""}`;
+
+    expect(error).toMatchObject({ code: "DASHBOARD_READ_FAILED" });
+    expect(text).not.toContain(database.name);
+    expect(text).not.toContain("select");
+    expect(text).not.toContain("ekklesia_core_dashboard");
+    await safeEnd(admin);
+    await dropDatabase(database.name);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/core/tests/doctor-report.test.ts b/core/tests/doctor-report.test.ts
index 4745f4a..c5c1dc3 100644
--- a/core/tests/doctor-report.test.ts
+++ b/core/tests/doctor-report.test.ts
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ Modules
   ✓ Dependency graph valid
     Dependency order is empty.
   ✓ Permission registry composed
-    2 permissions registered
+    3 permissions registered
 
 Data definitions
   ✓ Schemas validated
diff --git a/core/tests/module-permissions.test.ts b/core/tests/module-permissions.test.ts
index 4c505f6..1c41f17 100644
--- a/core/tests/module-permissions.test.ts
+++ b/core/tests/module-permissions.test.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { type PermissionBaseline, parseModuleManifest } from "@ekklesia/contract
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 import {
   CORE_AUTHORIZATION_GRANTS_MANAGE,
+  CORE_DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_MANAGE,
   CORE_MODULES_UI_READ,
   CORE_PERMISSION_DECLARATIONS,
   PermissionRegistryError,
@@ -67,8 +68,9 @@ describe("composePlatformPermissionRegistry", () => {
     expect(registry.has(CORE_MODULES_UI_READ)).toBe(true);
     expect(registry.has("calendar.events.read")).toBe(true);
     expect(registry.has("people.directory.read")).toBe(true);
-    // Core's own two declarations plus one from each module.
-    expect(registry.declarations).toHaveLength(4);
+    expect(registry.has(CORE_DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_MANAGE)).toBe(true);
+    // Core's own three declarations plus one from each module.
+    expect(registry.declarations).toHaveLength(5);
   });
 
   it("preserves deterministic order: Core first, then modules in the supplied order, then declarations in manifest order", () => {
@@ -85,6 +87,7 @@ describe("composePlatformPermissionRegistry", () => {
     expect(registry.declarations.map((declaration) => declaration.id)).toEqual([
       CORE_AUTHORIZATION_GRANTS_MANAGE,
       CORE_MODULES_UI_READ,
+      CORE_DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_MANAGE,
       "calendar.events.read",
       "calendar.events.write",
       "people.directory.read",
diff --git a/docs/architecture/decisions/0027-dashboard-navigation-and-flat-modules.md b/docs/architecture/decisions/0027-dashboard-navigation-and-flat-modules.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..48ec85e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/architecture/decisions/0027-dashboard-navigation-and-flat-modules.md
@@ -0,0 +1,268 @@
+# 0027: Dashboard navigation is presentation configuration, and modules stay flat
+
+- Status: Accepted
+- Date: 2026-08-22
+- Extends: [0021](0021-modules-as-hostable-products.md),
+  [0026](0026-minimal-ekklesia-module-ui-host.md)
+
+## Context
+
+ADR 0026 gave Ekklesia a browser shell that mounts discovered module UI. Its navigation was a flat
+list of **module ids** — `livestream`, `announcements` — which is not a usable long-term experience,
+and it had no notion of organizing anything.
+
+The obvious next step carries an equally obvious trap. A church wants to see:
+
+```text
+Media                 Planning              Communication
+├── Livestream        ├── Calendar          └── Announcements
+└── Video             └── Roster
+```
+
+and the tempting way to build that is to let a module say which folder it belongs to, or worse, to
+model "Media" as something Livestream and Video belong *to*. Either turns a rendering preference
+into architecture: a folder becomes an owner, membership starts to look like a dependency, and the
+flat, independently versioned module graph ADR 0021 established quietly acquires a hierarchy nobody
+decided to add.
+
+Two facts from the repository shaped what was actually needed.
+
+**A display name already exists.** `moduleManifestSchema` has required `name` (trimmed, 1–120
+characters) since version 1, and every fixture and the template already set it — `"Example Module"`.
+Nothing needed adding to the manifest to stop rendering raw ids.
+
+**Nothing else exists.** There is no settings or configuration table, no key-value store, no
+organization or tenant model, and no client-side routing anywhere in the repository. Whatever stores
+an arrangement had to be built, and could not be scoped to an organization that does not exist.
+
+## Decision
+
+### Grouping is presentation configuration. It is never module structure.
+
+A Dashboard group is a label on a rendering bucket. It owns no tables, no migrations, no routes, and
+no lifecycle; it has no manifest, no version, and no artifact; nothing depends on it and it depends
+on nothing. **It is not a module**, and "Media" existing does not make Livestream and Video related
+in any way the platform can observe.
+
+The distinction the architecture has to keep sharp:
+
+- *Livestream depends on Video because it calls Video's functionality* — a real technical
+  dependency, declared through the existing module dependency contract, which orders discovery and
+  startup.
+- *Livestream is shown under Media* — a rendering preference an administrator can change at any time,
+  which orders nothing.
+
+Nothing in this pass introduces a parent module, a child module, an owning module, a container
+module, or a group-derived dependency edge. The words do not appear in the contracts, and the
+absence is enforced by tests rather than left to discipline (see **Consequences**).
+
+### No manifest change, and no version 5
+
+`manifest.name` is the display name. It is the module's **product identity** — what the product is
+called — and a module is exactly the right owner of that. Adding a `presentation.name` beside it
+would have created two names for one thing and forced `manifestVersion: 5`, a hard cutover for every
+installed module (ADR 0006's convention: each version rejects all others) in exchange for nothing.
+
+`PublishableModuleUi` gained `name`, carried from the manifest through the existing publication
+registry. That is a Core-internal record, not a manifest change.
+
+### `suggestedGroup` is deferred, deliberately
+
+A module suggesting a default folder is a reasonable idea and was rejected **for this pass** on three
+grounds, in order of weight.
+
+It would force `manifestVersion: 5` — the most disruptive change available — for a *hint*. Its only
+correct semantics ("used when a placement is first materialized, never re-applied over an
+administrator's decision") requires configuration-initialization logic that writes rows on first
+sight of a module; without that machinery the field would be either inert or authoritative, and
+authoritative is the outcome this ADR exists to prevent. And it is not needed: an unplaced module is
+simply ungrouped, which is deterministic, requires no write at all, and is strictly simpler than
+initializing state.
+
+Shipping the field now with semantics we could not yet honour would be adding a misleading contract
+because we know we want the idea eventually. When there is a reason to bump the manifest version,
+this can travel with it.
+
+### Platform-owned, server-side, platform-global persistence
+
+Two Core tables (`core/src/dashboard/schema.ts`), following the `ekklesia_core_*` conventions
+exactly, in migration `0003_dashboard_navigation_tables`:
+
+- `ekklesia_core_dashboard_group` — `id` (opaque stable key), `label`, `sort_order`.
+- `ekklesia_core_dashboard_placement` — `module_id` (primary key: at most one placement per module),
+  nullable `group_id`, `sort_order`.
+
+A church configures its Dashboard, not one browser, so this is server state rather than
+`localStorage`. It is **platform-global**, because Ekklesia has no organization or tenant model;
+inventing a second notion of organization to anticipate one would be worse than adding a scope column
+when a real one exists. That limitation is recorded rather than hidden.
+
+Three schema decisions carry invariants rather than convenience:
+
+`group_id` is `on delete set null`. Deleting a group cannot leave a dangling reference and cannot
+lose a module — its modules become ungrouped, enforced by the database rather than by application
+cleanup that could be skipped.
+
+`module_id` carries **no foreign key**, because modules are packages discovered on disk, not rows. A
+placement for an uninstalled module is therefore normal and is retained, so uninstall-and-reinstall
+preserves an arrangement instead of silently resetting it.
+
+The group `id` is opaque and never re-derived from the label. Renaming "Media" to "Sunday Production"
+changes `label` alone, so every placement survives — a rename can never re-organize the Dashboard.
+
+### The resolution rules, stated exactly
+
+`resolveDashboardNavigation` is a pure function of stored configuration and the currently mountable
+module set. Every rule is directly testable without PostgreSQL:
+
+- **A module with no placement is ungrouped and visible.** Installing a module is sufficient to see
+  it: no initialization write, no manual database edit, no migration. This is the rule that stops a
+  newly installed module from disappearing.
+- **A stored placement for an absent module renders nothing and is retained.** No dead entry; no lost
+  position on reinstall.
+- **A placement naming a missing group is treated as ungrouped**, not dropped. `on delete set null`
+  makes this unreachable in practice; a configuration inconsistency must still never make a module
+  invisible.
+- **Empty groups are kept.** Hiding one would look like it had been deleted.
+- **Ordering is total.** Groups by `(order, id)`; modules by `(configured, order, id)` — placed
+  modules in the administrator's order, then never-configured ones by id, so a newcomer never
+  interrupts an ordering someone chose. Colliding order values can never produce a
+  nondeterministic result; the identifier is always the final tie-break.
+
+Simple integers, not fractional ordering or CRDTs. Reordering rewrites the values it needs to.
+
+### Navigation is layered on the inventory, not merged into it
+
+`GET /api/v1/module-ui` (ADR 0026) still answers *what is mountable*, host-neutrally, and is
+unchanged — no display name, no group, no order. A standalone host consumes it and never learns
+Ekklesia has folders.
+
+`GET /api/v1/dashboard/navigation` answers *how this Dashboard presents those modules*, and
+**embeds** each generic descriptor untouched inside a presentation wrapper:
+
+```json
+{ "groups": [ { "id": "media", "label": "Media", "order": 10,
+                "modules": [ { "name": "Livestream", "module": { "id": "livestream", "…": "…" } } ] } ],
+  "ungrouped": [] }
+```
+
+Embedding rather than flattening is the layering made visible in the payload, and both endpoints
+compose the descriptor through one shared function, so they cannot disagree about what exists or
+about any URL. The server is authoritative for the resolved view: the browser does no grouping, no
+sorting, and no joining, and reads no manifest.
+
+### Reading versus organizing
+
+Reading requires `core.modules.ui.read` — the same permission the inventory requires, because this
+response *contains* that inventory and serves the same audience: any signed-in user needs it to see
+anything at all. A second read permission for the same data would be ceremony.
+
+Organizing requires a new **platform** permission, `core.dashboard.navigation.manage`
+(baseline `restricted`), never a module's — grouping is Ekklesia's configuration, so no module may
+gate, grant, or influence it. Mutations additionally require an exact trusted `Origin` and a bounded
+body before authorization work begins, exactly like every other Core mutation.
+
+Holding it grants no module authority. Moving a module into a folder changes a presentation row; it
+grants nobody access to that module's data, and every module route stays enforced against its own
+declared permission.
+
+### A narrow, structured mutation contract — no configuration blob
+
+Three idempotent operations, each with closed validation that rejects any unexpected key rather than
+dropping it:
+
+```text
+PUT    /api/v1/dashboard/navigation/groups/:groupId       { label, order }
+DELETE /api/v1/dashboard/navigation/groups/:groupId
+PUT    /api/v1/dashboard/navigation/placements/:moduleId  { groupId | null, order }
+```
+
+`PUT` against a client-chosen stable id makes create and rename the same operation, so a rename can
+never orphan a placement. A "save the whole dashboard config" blob was rejected: it has no
+invariants, no per-operation authority, and no way to reject a field nobody meant to send.
+
+No editor UI ships in this pass. The persistence model is proven through the real API instead, which
+is the repository's normal pattern.
+
+### One level of grouping
+
+`Group → Modules`. No nesting, no subgroups. The schema has no parent-group column, so the shape
+itself forecloses it rather than a rule asking developers not to. Nested navigation can be
+reconsidered when a real use case appears.
+
+## Alternatives
+
+- **A `presentation.name` manifest field.** Rejected: `manifest.name` already is the display name,
+  and adding a second would mean two names for one product and a version 5 cutover for nothing.
+- **`suggestedGroup` now.** Deferred; see above. It buys a default at the cost of a manifest version
+  and initialization machinery, and risks becoming authoritative.
+- **A module declaring its own folder authoritatively.** Rejected outright — it is the mistake this
+  ADR exists to prevent. An administrator must be able to move a module without touching it.
+- **Re-applying a module's suggestion on every startup.** Rejected for the same reason: defaulting
+  and ownership are different, and a suggestion that overwrites a decision is ownership.
+- **Modelling a group as a module.** Rejected: it would give a rendering bucket a manifest, a
+  version, a lifecycle, and a place in the dependency graph, and would make "Livestream belongs under
+  Media" indistinguishable from "Livestream depends on Media."
+- **Browser `localStorage`.** Rejected: a church configures its Dashboard, not one browser on one
+  device.
+- **A generalized platform settings framework.** Rejected: two purpose-built tables with real
+  constraints beat a key-value blob whose invariants live only in application code, and nothing else
+  needs settings yet.
+- **Extending the module UI inventory with groups.** Rejected: it would push Dashboard semantics into
+  the host-neutral contract a standalone host is meant to consume.
+- **Making the browser join inventory and configuration.** Rejected: it would put grouping logic —
+  and therefore the ordering rules — in the client, where a second implementation could drift.
+- **Deleting placements for uninstalled modules.** Rejected: retaining them makes reinstall restore
+  an arrangement, at the cost of a few harmless rows.
+- **Hiding empty groups.** Rejected: indistinguishable from deletion, from the administrator's side.
+- **Fractional or CRDT ordering.** Rejected as unjustified for a list a person arranges by hand.
+- **Nested folders, icons, drag and drop, a navigation editor, client routing.** All deferred; each
+  needs a design decision this pass should not make by accident. Icons in particular would
+  immediately require an icon vocabulary, an asset-publication story, and a trust decision about
+  arbitrary SVG.
+
+## Consequences
+
+Ekklesia has a real Dashboard navigation model: persistent, platform-owned, administrator-editable
+through a structured API, rendered by the shell, mounting flat modules through the unchanged generic
+loader. A module now shows as "Livestream" rather than `livestream`.
+
+**The flatness invariant is executable, not aspirational.** `core/tests/dashboard-flat-modules.test.ts`
+discovers real fixtures with a genuine dependency (Livestream depends on Video), then arranges them
+four ways — including both modules under one "Media" folder, and the dependency deliberately inverted
+in presentation — and asserts that discovery order, dependency declarations, capabilities,
+permissions, and the module set come out byte-identical every time, and that no group id is ever a
+module. A future change that let grouping influence any of that fails there.
+
+The end-to-end test goes further: it organizes a real installation through the real mutation API,
+bootstraps the real shell code against it, mounts a module from inside a group, moves that module to
+a different group, and asserts the navigation entry is **byte-identical** across the move — same
+artifact URL, same API root, same permissions, same version, same name — and still mounts and reaches
+the same API.
+
+Four things changed outside the new code. `createApiApp` takes a required `dashboard` store.
+`PublishableModuleUi` carries `name`. Core has a third permission, which moved five existing
+assertions (each updated to name all three permissions rather than to loosen a count). And the shell's
+bootstrap now resolves navigation instead of the raw inventory, which made its client for
+`GET /api/v1/module-ui` dead code; that client was **removed** rather than kept speculatively, and
+its descriptor-validation coverage moved onto the navigation parser. The endpoint itself is unchanged
+and remains fully covered by `apps/api`'s tests.
+
+Two costs worth naming. Navigation configuration is platform-global and will need a scope column when
+an organization model exists. And the navigation endpoint evaluates every listed module's declared
+permissions per request, inheriting ADR 0026's per-request evaluation cost; for a handful of modules
+that is unremarkable, and it is measured work rather than hidden.
+
+## Deferred
+
+Not implemented or promised here: the navigation **editor** — drag and drop, a management UI, and any
+administrator-facing affordance beyond the API; nested folders and subgroups; icons, colors, badges,
+and module descriptions in navigation; `suggestedGroup` and any configuration-initialization or
+defaulting logic; per-module administrator label overrides; Dashboard Home, widgets, summaries, and
+quick actions; permission-aware navigation visibility (whether to hide a module a viewer can do
+nothing in remains an open UX policy); client-side routing and deep links to a selected module;
+organization or tenant scoping; a design system, theme tokens, and CSS asset publication; and every
+real feature module.
+
+The permission-id typing gap carried since ADR 0022 is unchanged: `permissions.has` takes a plain
+string, and the wire arrays are `string[]`, so a typo still silently hides a control.
diff --git a/docs/architecture/decisions/README.md b/docs/architecture/decisions/README.md
index 4443777..c9086ea 100644
--- a/docs/architecture/decisions/README.md
+++ b/docs/architecture/decisions/README.md
@@ -35,3 +35,4 @@ ADRs capture durable choices that affect more than one package or phase.
 - [0024: Browser-safe module UI SDK and the generic host loader](0024-browser-safe-ui-sdk-and-host-loader.md) — Accepted
 - [0025: Trusted module UI asset publication](0025-trusted-module-ui-asset-publication.md) — Accepted
 - [0026: The minimal Ekklesia module UI host](0026-minimal-ekklesia-module-ui-host.md) — Accepted
+- [0027: Dashboard navigation is presentation configuration, and modules stay flat](0027-dashboard-navigation-and-flat-modules.md) — Accepted
diff --git a/docs/architecture/platform-architecture.md b/docs/architecture/platform-architecture.md
index 50abee7..ae9ce22 100644
--- a/docs/architecture/platform-architecture.md
+++ b/docs/architecture/platform-architecture.md
@@ -267,9 +267,40 @@ checked to contain exactly one dynamic import with no module identity baked in.
 from Core's own evaluator and stay presentation-only — server authorization is proven unchanged by a
 test in which a UI holding no grant calls its API anyway and is refused.
 
-**This is not the Dashboard.** No navigation, grouping, icons, ordering, design system, or routing;
-the selector lists module ids. A production CSP and a deployment for the built shell, sign-in UI,
-general asset publication, and the standalone host remain future work.
+**Phase 6D pass 1 adds the Dashboard navigation model, and fixes the rule it could have broken.**
+[ADR 0027](decisions/0027-dashboard-navigation-and-flat-modules.md) establishes that a Dashboard
+group is **presentation configuration and never module structure**. A group is a label on a rendering
+bucket: no manifest, version, artifact, API, permission, or lifecycle, and nothing depends on it.
+Placing two modules in one folder creates no relationship between them; *Livestream depends on Video
+because it calls Video's functionality* orders startup, while *Livestream is shown under Media*
+orders nothing. Modules stay flat, with no parent, child, owner, or group-derived dependency.
+
+No manifest change was needed: `manifest.name` has been required since version 1 and already is the
+module's product identity, so the shell renders it instead of the module id. `suggestedGroup` was
+deferred rather than shipped — it would force a hard manifest-version cutover for a hint, and its
+only correct semantics needs initialization logic that risks a suggestion overwriting an
+administrator's decision.
+
+Core owns the persistence: two `ekklesia_core_dashboard_*` tables (migration `0003`) holding groups
+and placements, platform-global because no organization model exists yet. `group_id` is
+`on delete set null`, so deleting a group ungroups its modules and a dangling reference is
+impossible; `module_id` carries no foreign key, because modules are packages rather than rows, so a
+placement for an uninstalled module is retained and restores its position on reinstall.
+`resolveDashboardNavigation` is a pure function of configuration plus the mountable set: an unplaced
+module is ungrouped and visible with no initialization write, an absent module renders nothing,
+empty groups are kept, and ordering is total with the identifier as final tie-break.
+
+`GET /api/v1/dashboard/navigation` returns the resolved view, layered **on top of** the host-neutral
+module UI inventory rather than merged into it — it embeds each generic descriptor untouched, so a
+standalone host consuming the inventory never inherits Dashboard semantics. Reading requires the same
+permission the inventory does; organizing requires the new platform permission
+`core.dashboard.navigation.manage` through a narrow, structured, idempotent mutation contract. The
+shell renders that arrangement and computes none of it.
+
+**Still not the finished Dashboard.** No editor or drag and drop, no nested folders, no icons, no
+Dashboard Home or widgets, no design system, and no client routing. A production CSP and a deployment
+for the built shell, sign-in UI, general asset publication, and the standalone host remain future
+work.
 Restart-based discovery, explicit operator-invoked migrations, and the trusted compiled-module model
 are all unchanged.
 
diff --git a/docs/architecture/repository-boundaries.md b/docs/architecture/repository-boundaries.md
index 68ebfdf..3b94130 100644
--- a/docs/architecture/repository-boundaries.md
+++ b/docs/architecture/repository-boundaries.md
@@ -58,6 +58,13 @@ These rules map platform ownership to filesystem and package boundaries. The exe
   import from `@ekklesia/module-ui-sdk` to close the browser boundary. `module-sdk` re-exports the
   same barrel and is excluded for the same reason. A surface declares its own types for the wire and
   validates what arrives ([ADR 0026](decisions/0026-minimal-ekklesia-module-ui-host.md)).
+- Dashboard navigation configuration is **Core-owned platform state**, never module-owned: Core
+  stores groups and placements and resolves the view, `apps/api` exposes it, and `surfaces/shell`
+  renders it. A group is presentation configuration and never module structure — it has no manifest,
+  version, artifact, or lifecycle, and nothing in discovery, dependency resolution, or module startup
+  may ever read it
+  ([ADR 0027](decisions/0027-dashboard-navigation-and-flat-modules.md)). A module's manifest declares
+  its own display name and nothing about where it is presented.
 - The browser host (`surfaces/shell`) statically imports no module. Every installed module UI it can
   mount arrives at run time as a URL from the module UI inventory, is fetched by the generic loader,
   and is never bundled into the shell. Its own build (esbuild, owned by that package) is a separate
diff --git a/docs/development/api.md b/docs/development/api.md
index b94e195..006f7eb 100644
--- a/docs/development/api.md
+++ b/docs/development/api.md
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ No real values are shown here — configure per environment and never commit the
 | `GET\|POST /api/v1/grants*` | Ekklesia | Explicit authorization grant management, gated by `core.authorization.grants.manage`. Listing is bounded keyset pagination; creation is unscoped-only and conflicts (`409`) on an equivalent effective grant; revocation clears every unrevoked equivalent. See [Authorization](authorization.md#explicit-grant-http-api). |
 | `/api/v1/modules/<module-id>/*` | Installed modules | Every route an installed module registered during its `register` hook, gated by that route's own declared permission. See [Module HTTP routes](#module-http-routes). |
 | `GET /api/v1/module-ui` | Ekklesia | The browser host's module UI inventory: which module UIs may be mounted, where to fetch each, where each module's API lives, and the viewer's granted permissions for it. Requires `core.modules.ui.read` (baseline `authenticated`). See [Module UI inventory](#module-ui-inventory). |
+| `GET /api/v1/dashboard/navigation` | Ekklesia | The resolved Dashboard navigation: the same mountable modules, grouped, labelled, and ordered as this installation has configured them. Requires `core.modules.ui.read`. See [Dashboard navigation](#dashboard-navigation). |
+| `PUT\|DELETE /api/v1/dashboard/navigation/{groups,placements}/*` | Ekklesia | Organize the Dashboard: create/rename/order/delete a group, and place a module. Requires `core.dashboard.navigation.manage` (baseline `restricted`) and a trusted `Origin`. See [Dashboard navigation](#dashboard-navigation). |
 | `GET /api/v1/module-ui/<module-id>/<version>` | Ekklesia | Publishes an installed module's validated `entrypoints.ui` artifact at a browser-loadable URL. No authentication; only the declared artifact, never another file. See [Module UI asset publication](#module-ui-asset-publication). |
 
 Better Auth's handler is unreachable outside `/api/auth/*`; every other unmatched path returns a
@@ -452,6 +454,94 @@ are mounted under `/api/v1/modules/<module-id>`, in the module runtime's publish
   registry: installing, removing, or editing a module's routes takes effect only on the next API
   restart. Removing a module makes its former routes return the ordinary `404 {"code":"NOT_FOUND"}`.
 
+## Dashboard navigation
+
+```text
+GET    /api/v1/dashboard/navigation
+PUT    /api/v1/dashboard/navigation/groups/<group-id>        { "label": "Media", "order": 10 }
+DELETE /api/v1/dashboard/navigation/groups/<group-id>
+PUT    /api/v1/dashboard/navigation/placements/<module-id>   { "groupId": "media"|null, "order": 10 }
+```
+
+How this installation presents its mountable modules
+([ADR 0027](../architecture/decisions/0027-dashboard-navigation-and-flat-modules.md)).
+
+```json
+{
+  "groups": [
+    {
+      "id": "media",
+      "label": "Media",
+      "order": 10,
+      "modules": [
+        {
+          "name": "Livestream",
+          "module": {
+            "id": "livestream",
+            "version": "1.0.0",
+            "ui": { "url": "/api/v1/module-ui/livestream/1.0.0" },
+            "api": { "baseUrl": "/api/v1/modules/livestream" },
+            "permissions": ["livestream.streams.read"]
+          }
+        }
+      ]
+    }
+  ],
+  "ungrouped": []
+}
+```
+
+### Navigation versus inventory
+
+They are deliberately separate, and this route is layered **on top of** the inventory rather than
+merged into it:
+
+- `GET /api/v1/module-ui` answers *what may be mounted*, host-neutrally. A standalone host consumes
+  it and never learns Ekklesia has folders. It carries no display name, group, or order.
+- `GET /api/v1/dashboard/navigation` answers *how this Dashboard presents those modules*, and
+  **embeds** each generic descriptor untouched under `module`.
+
+Both compose that descriptor through one shared function, so they cannot disagree about what exists
+or about any URL.
+
+### Grouping is presentation, never module structure
+
+A group is a label on a rendering bucket. It is **not a module**: it has no manifest, version,
+artifact, API, permission, or lifecycle, and nothing depends on it. Placing Livestream and Video in
+one folder creates no relationship between them, and moving a module changes a single presentation
+row — never its artifact, API root, permissions, dependencies, or startup order. Real technical
+dependencies remain the module dependency contract's job and are the only relationship modules have.
+
+### Resolution rules
+
+- A module with **no placement is ungrouped and visible** — installing it is enough, with no
+  initialization write and no manual database edit.
+- A stored placement for a module that is **not installed renders nothing and is retained**, so
+  uninstall-and-reinstall preserves an arrangement.
+- **Empty groups are kept** (hiding one would look like deletion), and a placement naming a missing
+  group renders as ungrouped rather than disappearing.
+- Deleting a group **ungroups its modules** through the schema's `on delete set null`; a dangling
+  reference is impossible.
+- Ordering is total: groups by `(order, id)`, modules by `(configured, order, id)` — placed modules
+  in the administrator's order, then never-configured ones by id, with the identifier always the
+  final tie-break, so colliding order values are still deterministic.
+
+### Authority
+
+Reading requires `core.modules.ui.read` — the same permission the inventory requires, because this
+response contains it and serves the same audience. Organizing requires
+`core.dashboard.navigation.manage` (baseline `restricted`), a **platform** permission and never a
+module's, plus an exact trusted `Origin` and a bounded body. Holding it grants no module authority:
+every module route stays enforced against its own declared permission, and no arrangement of folders
+changes an authorization decision.
+
+Group ids are opaque, stable, lowercase kebab-case keys, never displayed and never re-derived from a
+label — so renaming a group cannot re-organize the Dashboard. Bodies are closed: any key beyond the
+declared ones makes the whole request invalid rather than being silently dropped. Configuration is
+platform-global; Ekklesia has no organization or tenant model to scope it to yet.
+
+Responses are per-principal, so `Cache-Control: no-store` and `Vary: Origin, Cookie`.
+
 ## Module UI inventory
 
 ```text
diff --git a/docs/development/security.md b/docs/development/security.md
index 1960926..e3bde3b 100644
--- a/docs/development/security.md
+++ b/docs/development/security.md
@@ -152,6 +152,22 @@ shell owns the container, the loading state, and every error, so a failing modul
 rather than the shell. None of that is containment: once imported, a module UI is ordinary same-realm
 JavaScript, exactly as described above.
 
+### Dashboard arrangement is not an access control
+
+Dashboard groups and placements are presentation configuration
+([ADR 0027](../architecture/decisions/0027-dashboard-navigation-and-flat-modules.md)). Organizing the
+Dashboard requires the platform permission `core.dashboard.navigation.manage` (baseline
+`restricted`), and holding it **grants no module authority whatsoever**: moving a module into a
+folder changes one presentation row, and every module route stays enforced against its own declared
+permission exactly as before. Nothing in the navigation configuration is read by discovery,
+dependency resolution, module startup, or the authorization evaluator.
+
+Navigation is also not a way to hide anything. A module absent from a viewer's navigation is a
+rendering decision, never a restriction — server authorization remains the only thing that decides
+what a request may do. Reading navigation requires the same `core.modules.ui.read` the module UI
+inventory requires, so it discloses the same installed-module enumeration and nothing more; it
+carries no filesystem path, package root, or manifest internal.
+
 ### Client-side permission checks are not a security boundary
 
 A host may tell a module UI what permissions it believes the viewer holds
diff --git a/docs/module-development/README.md b/docs/module-development/README.md
index 6fd0940..d382c8e 100644
--- a/docs/module-development/README.md
+++ b/docs/module-development/README.md
@@ -155,6 +155,27 @@ module's own HTTP routes, and creating relationship-derived grants automatically
 own business logic, are both still later work; this only makes a declared permission *usable*
 through Core's existing, generic surface.
 
+### Your module's display name
+
+`name` — required by the manifest since version 1, trimmed, 1–120 characters — is what a person sees
+in Ekklesia's Dashboard navigation. It is your module's **product identity**: what the product is
+called, which you own. Set it to something a church staff member would recognize ("Livestream"), not
+your package name or module id.
+
+**You do not declare where your module appears.** Dashboard groups — "Media", "Planning", "Sunday
+Production" — are presentation configuration an administrator owns, stored by the platform and
+changed at any time without touching your module
+([ADR 0027](../architecture/decisions/0027-dashboard-navigation-and-flat-modules.md)). There is no
+manifest field for a folder, a group, an order, an icon, or a category, and adding one would make a
+rendering preference into module structure.
+
+That separation also means grouping never affects you. Two modules sharing a folder have no
+relationship: no dependency, no ordering, no shared anything. If your module genuinely needs another
+module's functionality, declare it in `dependencies.modules` — that is the only kind of module
+relationship the platform has, and it is what orders discovery and startup. An administrator moving
+your module into a different folder changes nothing about your artifact, your API root, your
+permissions, your dependencies, or when you start.
+
 Every entrypoint except `migrations` must be a compiled ESM `.js` or `.mjs` file — `server`,
 `schema`, `jobs`, and `ui` alike. `migrations` is the one directory entrypoint. All entrypoints begin
 with `./`, remain inside the package, and exist. Production never imports source TypeScript directly.
@@ -499,9 +520,10 @@ Three things follow for you:
   API root; a path that escapes it (`"../other-module/records"`, an absolute URL) is refused before
   it becomes a request. Keep asking for relative paths and your artifact stays hostable elsewhere.
 
-> **This is not the Dashboard.** The shell is a module list and a mount target. There is no
-> navigation, grouping, icons, ordering, theme, or design system yet, and the selector shows your
-> module's id — the inventory deliberately carries no display metadata until that design exists.
+> **This is not the finished Dashboard.** The shell renders one level of grouping and mounts the
+> selected module. Your module appears under whatever group an administrator placed it in — by its
+> `name`, never its id — and under "Other" until someone arranges it. There is no navigation editor,
+> no nested folders, no icons, no theme, and no Dashboard Home yet.
 
 ### What a module UI will never own
 
diff --git a/surfaces/shell/src/browser/HostApp.tsx b/surfaces/shell/src/browser/HostApp.tsx
index 1afce5e..5ce46ab 100644
--- a/surfaces/shell/src/browser/HostApp.tsx
+++ b/surfaces/shell/src/browser/HostApp.tsx
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import type { ModuleUiImporter } from "@ekklesia/module-ui-host";
 import { type ReactElement, useEffect, useState } from "react";
 import {
   bootstrapHost,
+  type DashboardNavigationEntry,
   type EkklesiaHostConfig,
   type HostBootstrap,
   HostProtocolError,
@@ -24,7 +25,14 @@ export interface HostAppProps {
 }
 
 const shellStyles = {
-  aside: { borderRight: "1px solid #e7e5e4", minWidth: "12rem", padding: "1rem" },
+  aside: { borderRight: "1px solid #e7e5e4", minWidth: "13rem", padding: "1rem" },
+  groupLabel: {
+    color: "#78716c",
+    fontSize: "0.75rem",
+    letterSpacing: "0.05em",
+    margin: "0 0 0.25rem",
+    textTransform: "uppercase",
+  },
   header: {
     borderBottom: "1px solid #e7e5e4",
     fontWeight: 600,
@@ -42,24 +50,66 @@ const shellStyles = {
   message: { color: "#57534e", padding: "1rem" },
 } as const;
 
-function moduleKey(id: string, version: string): string {
-  return `${id}@${version}`;
+/** Identity, not placement: a module keeps the same selection key wherever it is arranged, so moving
+ * it between groups never resets what is open or remounts what is showing. */
+function moduleKey(entry: DashboardNavigationEntry): string {
+  return `${entry.descriptor.id}@${entry.descriptor.version}`;
+}
+
+function allEntries(bootstrap: HostBootstrap): readonly DashboardNavigationEntry[] {
+  return [
+    ...bootstrap.navigation.groups.flatMap((group) => group.modules),
+    ...bootstrap.navigation.ungrouped,
+  ];
+}
+
+function ModuleButton(props: {
+  readonly entry: DashboardNavigationEntry;
+  readonly selected: boolean;
+  readonly onSelect: () => void;
+}): ReactElement {
+  return (
+    <button
+      aria-current={props.selected ? "page" : undefined}
+      data-testid={`select-${props.entry.descriptor.id}`}
+      onClick={props.onSelect}
+      style={{
+        background: props.selected ? "#e7e5e4" : "transparent",
+        border: "none",
+        borderRadius: "0.25rem",
+        cursor: "pointer",
+        font: "inherit",
+        padding: "0.375rem 0.5rem",
+        textAlign: "left",
+        width: "100%",
+      }}
+      type="button"
+    >
+      {props.entry.name}
+    </button>
+  );
 }
 
 /**
- * The minimal Ekklesia browser shell: sign-in awareness, a module list, and one mount target.
+ * The Ekklesia browser shell: sign-in awareness, the Dashboard's configured navigation, and one
+ * mount target.
  *
- * **This is not the Dashboard.** There is no navigation model, no grouping or folders, no icons, no
- * ordering, no home screen, no design system, and no routing — a selected-module state is the whole
- * of it, and the selector renders module ids because the inventory deliberately carries no display
- * metadata yet (ADR 0021 keeps that an administrator's presentation configuration, not a module
- * declaration). What this proves is the architecture underneath: that a module discovered on the
- * server, published as an artifact, and described by the inventory can be mounted here without the
- * shell knowing anything about it in advance.
+ * ## The shell renders the arrangement; it never computes one
  *
- * Nothing about any specific module appears in this file, or anywhere in this package. There is no
- * import of a module, no module id, no registry, no allowlist, and no fallback bundle. Every module
- * the shell can mount arrives at run time from the inventory the server returned.
+ * Groups, their order, their labels, which module sits where, and the order within each group all
+ * arrive already resolved from the server (ADR 0027). This component reads no manifest, performs no
+ * sorting, and knows nothing about how a placement is decided — so changing the Dashboard's ordering
+ * rules, or eventually where configuration is scoped, needs no change here at all. The module id is
+ * never displayed: the module's own manifest name is.
+ *
+ * ## Still not the finished Dashboard
+ *
+ * There is one level of grouping and no nesting, no icons, no drag and drop, no editor, no home
+ * screen or widgets, no theme, and no client routing — selection is state. What this proves is the
+ * layer beneath a Dashboard: persistent, platform-owned presentation configuration driving a real
+ * host that mounts flat, independent modules.
+ *
+ * Nothing about any specific module appears in this file, or anywhere in this package.
  */
 export function HostApp(props: HostAppProps): ReactElement {
   const [state, setState] = useState<BootstrapState>({ status: "loading" });
@@ -79,11 +129,8 @@ export function HostApp(props: HostAppProps): ReactElement {
             ? { status: "signed-out" }
             : { bootstrap, status: "ready" },
         );
-        setSelectedKey(
-          bootstrap.modules[0]
-            ? moduleKey(bootstrap.modules[0].id, bootstrap.modules[0].version)
-            : undefined,
-        );
+        const first = allEntries(bootstrap)[0];
+        setSelectedKey(first ? moduleKey(first) : undefined);
       })
       .catch((error: unknown) => {
         if (abort.signal.aborted) {
@@ -118,54 +165,68 @@ export function HostApp(props: HostAppProps): ReactElement {
   }
 
   const { bootstrap } = state;
-  const selected = bootstrap.modules.find(
-    (module) => moduleKey(module.id, module.version) === selectedKey,
-  );
+  const entries = allEntries(bootstrap);
+  const selected = entries.find((entry) => moduleKey(entry) === selectedKey);
+  const { groups, ungrouped } = bootstrap.navigation;
 
   return (
     <div style={shellStyles.layout}>
       <header style={shellStyles.header}>Ekklesia</header>
       <aside style={shellStyles.aside}>
-        {bootstrap.modules.length === 0 ? (
+        {entries.length === 0 && groups.length === 0 ? (
           <p data-testid="host-empty" style={{ color: "#57534e", margin: 0 }}>
             No installed module provides a user interface.
           </p>
         ) : (
-          <nav style={{ display: "grid", gap: "0.25rem" }}>
-            {bootstrap.modules.map((module) => {
-              const key = moduleKey(module.id, module.version);
-              return (
-                <button
-                  data-testid={`select-${module.id}`}
-                  key={key}
-                  onClick={() => setSelectedKey(key)}
-                  style={{
-                    background: key === selectedKey ? "#e7e5e4" : "transparent",
-                    border: "none",
-                    cursor: "pointer",
-                    font: "inherit",
-                    padding: "0.375rem 0.5rem",
-                    textAlign: "left",
-                  }}
-                  type="button"
-                >
-                  {module.id}
-                </button>
-              );
-            })}
+          <nav aria-label="Modules" style={{ display: "grid", gap: "1rem" }}>
+            {groups.map((group) => (
+              // An empty group still renders: an administrator created it, and hiding it would look
+              // like it had been deleted.
+              <section data-testid={`group-${group.id}`} key={group.id}>
+                <h2 style={shellStyles.groupLabel}>{group.label}</h2>
+                <div style={{ display: "grid", gap: "0.125rem" }}>
+                  {group.modules.map((entry) => (
+                    <ModuleButton
+                      entry={entry}
+                      key={moduleKey(entry)}
+                      onSelect={() => setSelectedKey(moduleKey(entry))}
+                      selected={moduleKey(entry) === selectedKey}
+                    />
+                  ))}
+                </div>
+              </section>
+            ))}
+            {ungrouped.length > 0 ? (
+              // Where a module lives until someone decides otherwise — including one installed five
+              // minutes ago. The heading is omitted when nothing is grouped, so an unconfigured
+              // installation reads as a plain module list rather than a mysterious "Other" bucket.
+              <section data-testid="group-ungrouped">
+                {groups.length > 0 ? <h2 style={shellStyles.groupLabel}>Other</h2> : undefined}
+                <div style={{ display: "grid", gap: "0.125rem" }}>
+                  {ungrouped.map((entry) => (
+                    <ModuleButton
+                      entry={entry}
+                      key={moduleKey(entry)}
+                      onSelect={() => setSelectedKey(moduleKey(entry))}
+                      selected={moduleKey(entry) === selectedKey}
+                    />
+                  ))}
+                </div>
+              </section>
+            ) : undefined}
           </nav>
         )}
       </aside>
       <main style={shellStyles.main}>
         {selected ? (
-          // Keyed by module identity, so switching selection discards this frame — and its container
-          // element — entirely rather than reusing one across two modules. See `ModuleUiFrame` for
-          // why that is what makes a slow, stale load harmless.
+          // Keyed by module identity — not by group — so switching selection discards this frame and
+          // its container entirely, while re-grouping a module never remounts it. See
+          // `ModuleUiFrame` for why that is what makes a slow, stale load harmless.
           <ModuleUiFrame
             config={config}
-            descriptor={selected}
+            descriptor={selected.descriptor}
             {...(importModule ? { importModule } : {})}
-            key={moduleKey(selected.id, selected.version)}
+            key={moduleKey(selected)}
             principal={bootstrap.principal}
           />
         ) : undefined}
diff --git a/surfaces/shell/src/host-protocol.ts b/surfaces/shell/src/host-protocol.ts
index d4101d6..47ac300 100644
--- a/surfaces/shell/src/host-protocol.ts
+++ b/surfaces/shell/src/host-protocol.ts
@@ -17,10 +17,15 @@ export interface EkklesiaHostConfig {
 }
 
 /** Root-relative platform paths. The shell never builds a module UI artifact URL or a module API
- * URL — the server produces both and hands them over in the inventory — so these two are the only
- * URLs it knows, and they are the two that describe the platform itself rather than any module. */
+ * URL — the server produces both and hands them over in the navigation view — so these two are the
+ * only URLs it knows, and they describe the platform itself rather than any module.
+ *
+ * `/api/v1/module-ui` is deliberately absent: that host-neutral inventory (ADR 0026) remains the
+ * endpoint a standalone host would consume, but Ekklesia's own shell needs the arrangement too, so
+ * it reads the navigation view instead. Keeping an unused client for it here would be speculative
+ * code for a consumer that does not exist. */
 const PRINCIPAL_PATH = "/api/v1/principal";
-const MODULE_UI_INVENTORY_PATH = "/api/v1/module-ui";
+const DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH = "/api/v1/dashboard/navigation";
 
 export type HostProtocolErrorCode =
   /** The caller is not signed in, or lacks `core.modules.ui.read`. */
@@ -112,37 +117,99 @@ function rootRelativePath(value: unknown, key: string): string | undefined {
  * yielding a half-built descriptor, because a descriptor with a missing URL would surface much later
  * as an inexplicable mount failure.
  */
-export function parseHostModuleUiInventory(payload: unknown): readonly HostModuleUiDescriptor[] {
-  const modules = isRecord(payload) ? payload.modules : undefined;
-  if (!Array.isArray(modules)) {
+function parseDescriptor(entry: unknown): HostModuleUiDescriptor {
+  const id = nestedString(entry, "id");
+  const version = nestedString(entry, "version");
+  const uiUrl = isRecord(entry) ? rootRelativePath(entry.ui, "url") : undefined;
+  const apiBaseUrl = isRecord(entry) ? rootRelativePath(entry.api, "baseUrl") : undefined;
+  const permissions = isRecord(entry) ? entry.permissions : undefined;
+  if (
+    id === undefined ||
+    version === undefined ||
+    uiUrl === undefined ||
+    apiBaseUrl === undefined ||
+    !Array.isArray(permissions) ||
+    permissions.some((permission) => typeof permission !== "string")
+  ) {
     throw new HostProtocolError("HOST_RESPONSE_INVALID");
   }
-  return Object.freeze(
-    modules.map((entry): HostModuleUiDescriptor => {
-      const id = nestedString(entry, "id");
-      const version = nestedString(entry, "version");
-      const uiUrl = isRecord(entry) ? rootRelativePath(entry.ui, "url") : undefined;
-      const apiBaseUrl = isRecord(entry) ? rootRelativePath(entry.api, "baseUrl") : undefined;
-      const permissions = isRecord(entry) ? entry.permissions : undefined;
-      if (
-        id === undefined ||
-        version === undefined ||
-        uiUrl === undefined ||
-        apiBaseUrl === undefined ||
-        !Array.isArray(permissions) ||
-        permissions.some((permission) => typeof permission !== "string")
-      ) {
-        throw new HostProtocolError("HOST_RESPONSE_INVALID");
-      }
-      return Object.freeze({
-        apiBaseUrl,
-        id,
-        permissions: Object.freeze([...(permissions as string[])]),
-        uiUrl,
-        version,
-      });
-    }),
-  );
+  return Object.freeze({
+    apiBaseUrl,
+    id,
+    permissions: Object.freeze([...(permissions as string[])]),
+    uiUrl,
+    version,
+  });
+}
+
+/**
+ * One module as the Dashboard presents it.
+ *
+ * The mount descriptor is nested exactly as the server sends it, not flattened into this object.
+ * That keeps the two concerns visibly separate in the browser as well as on the wire: `descriptor`
+ * is the host-neutral "what and how to mount", and `name` is Ekklesia's presentation of it. Nothing
+ * about a group is stored on the module — a module does not know, and must not know, where it has
+ * been placed.
+ */
+export interface DashboardNavigationEntry {
+  readonly name: string;
+  readonly descriptor: HostModuleUiDescriptor;
+}
+
+export interface DashboardNavigationGroup {
+  /** Opaque and stable; the shell uses it as a React key and never displays it. */
+  readonly id: string;
+  readonly label: string;
+  readonly modules: readonly DashboardNavigationEntry[];
+}
+
+/**
+ * The whole navigation the shell renders, already resolved and ordered by the server.
+ *
+ * The browser performs no grouping, no sorting, and no joining of its own: it does not read
+ * manifests, does not know which module belongs where, and could not compute this view if it wanted
+ * to. Ordering arrives as array order, so a change to the server's ordering rules needs no shell
+ * change at all.
+ */
+export interface DashboardNavigation {
+  readonly groups: readonly DashboardNavigationGroup[];
+  readonly ungrouped: readonly DashboardNavigationEntry[];
+}
+
+function parseNavigationEntry(entry: unknown): DashboardNavigationEntry {
+  const name = nestedString(entry, "name");
+  if (name === undefined || !isRecord(entry)) {
+    throw new HostProtocolError("HOST_RESPONSE_INVALID");
+  }
+  return Object.freeze({ descriptor: parseDescriptor(entry.module), name });
+}
+
+/** Strict, total validation, exactly like the inventory parser: a malformed group or entry fails
+ * the whole document rather than rendering a half-built navigation. */
+export function parseDashboardNavigation(payload: unknown): DashboardNavigation {
+  const groups = isRecord(payload) ? payload.groups : undefined;
+  const ungrouped = isRecord(payload) ? payload.ungrouped : undefined;
+  if (!Array.isArray(groups) || !Array.isArray(ungrouped)) {
+    throw new HostProtocolError("HOST_RESPONSE_INVALID");
+  }
+  return Object.freeze({
+    groups: Object.freeze(
+      groups.map((group): DashboardNavigationGroup => {
+        const id = nestedString(group, "id");
+        const label = nestedString(group, "label");
+        const modules = isRecord(group) ? group.modules : undefined;
+        if (id === undefined || label === undefined || !Array.isArray(modules)) {
+          throw new HostProtocolError("HOST_RESPONSE_INVALID");
+        }
+        return Object.freeze({
+          id,
+          label,
+          modules: Object.freeze(modules.map((entry) => parseNavigationEntry(entry))),
+        });
+      }),
+    ),
+    ungrouped: Object.freeze(ungrouped.map((entry) => parseNavigationEntry(entry))),
+  });
 }
 
 /** `/api/v1/principal`'s two documented shapes, narrowed to the browser-owned `ModuleUiPrincipal`
@@ -214,21 +281,27 @@ export async function loadHostPrincipal(
   return parseHostPrincipal(await requestPlatformJson(config, PRINCIPAL_PATH, signal));
 }
 
-/** Which module UIs this viewer may mount, where to fetch each, and what they may do inside it. */
-export async function loadModuleUiInventory(
+/** The resolved Dashboard navigation: the same mountable modules, arranged as this installation has
+ * configured them (ADR 0027). */
+export async function loadDashboardNavigation(
   config: EkklesiaHostConfig,
   signal?: AbortSignal,
-): Promise<readonly HostModuleUiDescriptor[]> {
-  return parseHostModuleUiInventory(
-    await requestPlatformJson(config, MODULE_UI_INVENTORY_PATH, signal),
+): Promise<DashboardNavigation> {
+  return parseDashboardNavigation(
+    await requestPlatformJson(config, DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PATH, signal),
   );
 }
 
 export interface HostBootstrap {
   readonly principal: ModuleUiPrincipal;
-  readonly modules: readonly HostModuleUiDescriptor[];
+  readonly navigation: DashboardNavigation;
 }
 
+const EMPTY_NAVIGATION: DashboardNavigation = Object.freeze({
+  groups: Object.freeze([]),
+  ungrouped: Object.freeze([]),
+});
+
 /**
  * The shell's whole startup sequence, in one explicit function: resolve who is viewing, then ask
  * what they may mount. Sequential rather than parallel on purpose — an anonymous viewer is told to
@@ -241,7 +314,7 @@ export async function bootstrapHost(
 ): Promise<HostBootstrap> {
   const principal = await loadHostPrincipal(config, signal);
   if (principal.kind === "anonymous") {
-    return { modules: Object.freeze([]), principal };
+    return { navigation: EMPTY_NAVIGATION, principal };
   }
-  return { modules: await loadModuleUiInventory(config, signal), principal };
+  return { navigation: await loadDashboardNavigation(config, signal), principal };
 }
diff --git a/surfaces/shell/src/index.ts b/surfaces/shell/src/index.ts
index 02952f1..df2766f 100644
--- a/surfaces/shell/src/index.ts
+++ b/surfaces/shell/src/index.ts
@@ -11,14 +11,17 @@
  */
 export {
   bootstrapHost,
+  type DashboardNavigation,
+  type DashboardNavigationEntry,
+  type DashboardNavigationGroup,
   type EkklesiaHostConfig,
   type HostBootstrap,
   type HostModuleUiDescriptor,
   HostProtocolError,
   type HostProtocolErrorCode,
+  loadDashboardNavigation,
   loadHostPrincipal,
-  loadModuleUiInventory,
-  parseHostModuleUiInventory,
+  parseDashboardNavigation,
   parseHostPrincipal,
   resolveApiUrl,
 } from "./host-protocol.js";
diff --git a/surfaces/shell/tests/host-app.test.tsx b/surfaces/shell/tests/host-app.test.tsx
index e769829..5f154bb 100644
--- a/surfaces/shell/tests/host-app.test.tsx
+++ b/surfaces/shell/tests/host-app.test.tsx
@@ -34,25 +34,36 @@ afterEach(async () => {
   consoleError.mockRestore();
 });
 
-function descriptor(id: string, version = "0.1.0", permissions: readonly string[] = []) {
+/** One navigation entry, in the wire shape the Dashboard navigation endpoint produces: the module's
+ * display name beside the untouched mount descriptor. */
+function entry(id: string, name: string, version = "0.1.0", permissions: readonly string[] = []) {
   return {
-    api: { baseUrl: `/api/v1/modules/${id}` },
-    id,
-    permissions,
-    ui: { url: `/api/v1/module-ui/${id}/${version}` },
-    version,
+    module: {
+      api: { baseUrl: `/api/v1/modules/${id}` },
+      id,
+      permissions,
+      ui: { url: `/api/v1/module-ui/${id}/${version}` },
+      version,
+    },
+    name,
   };
 }
 
+function group(id: string, label: string, modules: ReturnType<typeof entry>[], order = 10) {
+  return { id, label, modules, order };
+}
+
 interface PlatformStub {
-  readonly modules?: ReadonlyArray<ReturnType<typeof descriptor>>;
+  readonly groups?: ReadonlyArray<ReturnType<typeof group>>;
+  readonly ungrouped?: ReadonlyArray<ReturnType<typeof entry>>;
   readonly principal?: unknown;
-  readonly inventoryStatus?: number;
-  readonly inventoryThrows?: boolean;
+  readonly navigationStatus?: number;
+  readonly navigationThrows?: boolean;
 }
 
 function platformFetch(stub: PlatformStub = {}): typeof fetch {
-  const modules = stub.modules ?? [descriptor("example")];
+  const groups = stub.groups ?? [];
+  const ungrouped = stub.ungrouped ?? (stub.groups ? [] : [entry("example", "Example Module")]);
   return vi.fn(async (input: RequestInfo | URL) => {
     const url = String(input);
     if (url.endsWith("/api/v1/principal")) {
@@ -61,13 +72,13 @@ function platformFetch(stub: PlatformStub = {}): typeof fetch {
         { headers: { "content-type": "application/json" }, status: 200 },
       );
     }
-    if (url.endsWith("/api/v1/module-ui")) {
-      if (stub.inventoryThrows) {
+    if (url.endsWith("/api/v1/dashboard/navigation")) {
+      if (stub.navigationThrows) {
         throw new TypeError("network down");
       }
-      return new Response(JSON.stringify({ modules }), {
+      return new Response(JSON.stringify({ groups, ungrouped }), {
         headers: { "content-type": "application/json" },
-        status: stub.inventoryStatus ?? 200,
+        status: stub.navigationStatus ?? 200,
       });
     }
     return new Response("{}", { status: 404 });
@@ -123,10 +134,12 @@ function query(testId: string): Element | null {
 }
 
 describe("Ekklesia shell — bootstrap", () => {
-  it("renders the module list the inventory returned", async () => {
+  it("renders the module list the navigation returned", async () => {
     await render({
       apiBaseUrl,
-      fetch: platformFetch({ modules: [descriptor("example"), descriptor("calendar", "2.0.0")] }),
+      fetch: platformFetch({
+        ungrouped: [entry("example", "Example Module"), entry("calendar", "Calendar", "2.0.0")],
+      }),
     });
 
     expect(query("select-example")).not.toBeNull();
@@ -140,26 +153,174 @@ describe("Ekklesia shell — bootstrap", () => {
     expect(query("module-container")).toBeNull();
   });
 
-  it("treats a refused inventory as signed out rather than as a crash", async () => {
-    await render({ apiBaseUrl, fetch: platformFetch({ inventoryStatus: 403 }) });
+  it("treats refused navigation as signed out rather than as a crash", async () => {
+    await render({ apiBaseUrl, fetch: platformFetch({ navigationStatus: 403 }) });
 
     expect(query("host-signed-out")).not.toBeNull();
   });
 
   it("renders a host-owned error when the platform cannot be reached", async () => {
-    await render({ apiBaseUrl, fetch: platformFetch({ inventoryThrows: true }) });
+    await render({ apiBaseUrl, fetch: platformFetch({ navigationThrows: true }) });
 
     expect(query("host-error")).not.toBeNull();
     expect(text()).not.toContain("network down");
   });
 
   it("says so plainly when no installed module provides a UI", async () => {
-    await render({ apiBaseUrl, fetch: platformFetch({ modules: [] }) });
+    await render({ apiBaseUrl, fetch: platformFetch({ groups: [], ungrouped: [] }) });
 
     expect(query("host-empty")).not.toBeNull();
   });
 });
 
+describe("Ekklesia shell — Dashboard navigation", () => {
+  const mediaGroup = () =>
+    group("media", "Media", [entry("video", "Video"), entry("livestream", "Livestream", "2.0.0")]);
+  const planningGroup = () => group("planning", "Planning", [entry("calendar", "Calendar")], 20);
+
+  it("renders groups with their labels and the modules' display names", async () => {
+    await render({
+      apiBaseUrl,
+      fetch: platformFetch({ groups: [mediaGroup(), planningGroup()] }),
+    });
+
+    expect(query("group-media")?.textContent).toBe("MediaVideoLivestream");
+    expect(query("group-planning")?.textContent).toBe("PlanningCalendar");
+    // The module id is never shown; the manifest name is.
+    expect(text()).not.toContain("livestream");
+  });
+
+  it("renders groups and modules in exactly the server's order", async () => {
+    // The shell sorts nothing: whatever order arrives is the order shown, so the server stays the
+    // single authority on arrangement.
+    await render({
+      apiBaseUrl,
+      fetch: platformFetch({
+        groups: [
+          group("planning", "Planning", [entry("calendar", "Calendar")]),
+          group("media", "Media", [
+            entry("livestream", "Livestream", "2.0.0"),
+            entry("video", "Video"),
+          ]),
+        ],
+      }),
+    });
+
+    const labels = [...container.querySelectorAll("h2")].map((heading) => heading.textContent);
+    expect(labels).toEqual(["Planning", "Media"]);
+    const buttons = [...container.querySelectorAll("button")].map((button) => button.textContent);
+    expect(buttons).toEqual(["Calendar", "Livestream", "Video"]);
+  });
+
+  it("renders ungrouped modules alongside groups, under a heading", async () => {
+    await render({
+      apiBaseUrl,
+      fetch: platformFetch({
+        groups: [mediaGroup()],
+        ungrouped: [entry("roster", "Roster")],
+      }),
+    });
+
+    expect(query("group-ungrouped")?.textContent).toBe("OtherRoster");
+  });
+
+  it("omits the heading when nothing is grouped, so an unconfigured install reads as a list", async () => {
+    await render({
+      apiBaseUrl,
+      fetch: platformFetch({ ungrouped: [entry("roster", "Roster"), entry("video", "Video")] }),
+    });
+
+    expect(query("group-ungrouped")?.textContent).toBe("RosterVideo");
+    expect(container.querySelectorAll("h2")).toHaveLength(0);
+  });
+
+  it("keeps an empty group visible", async () => {
+    await render({
+      apiBaseUrl,
+      fetch: platformFetch({
+        groups: [group("media", "Media", [])],
+        ungrouped: [entry("video", "Video")],
+      }),
+    });
+
+    // The administrator created it; hiding it would look like it had been deleted.
+    expect(query("group-media")?.textContent).toBe("Media");
+  });
+
+  it("selects the first module in the arranged order and marks it active", async () => {
+    await render(
+      { apiBaseUrl, fetch: platformFetch({ groups: [mediaGroup(), planningGroup()] }) },
+      async (url) => artifact(url.includes("/video/") ? "video" : "other", "0.1.0"),
+    );
+
+    expect(query("select-video")?.getAttribute("aria-current")).toBe("page");
+    expect(query("select-livestream")?.getAttribute("aria-current")).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("mounts a module selected from inside a group, using the descriptor the group carried", async () => {
+    const requested: string[] = [];
+    await render(
+      { apiBaseUrl, fetch: platformFetch({ groups: [mediaGroup(), planningGroup()] }) },
+      async (url) => {
+        requested.push(url);
+        return artifact(url.includes("/calendar/") ? "calendar" : "video", "0.1.0");
+      },
+    );
+
+    await act(async () => {
+      (query("select-calendar") as HTMLButtonElement).click();
+    });
+
+    // The nested descriptor is used unchanged: grouping altered nothing about the artifact URL.
+    expect(requested).toEqual([
+      `${apiBaseUrl}/api/v1/module-ui/video/0.1.0`,
+      `${apiBaseUrl}/api/v1/module-ui/calendar/0.1.0`,
+    ]);
+    expect(query("module-container")?.textContent).toBe("calendar mounted");
+  });
+
+  it("mounts the identical artifact whichever group a module is presented in", async () => {
+    const requestedWhenGrouped: string[] = [];
+    await render(
+      {
+        apiBaseUrl,
+        fetch: platformFetch({
+          groups: [group("media", "Media", [entry("livestream", "Livestream")])],
+        }),
+      },
+      async (url) => {
+        requestedWhenGrouped.push(url);
+        return artifact("livestream", "0.1.0");
+      },
+    );
+    await act(async () => {
+      root.unmount();
+    });
+
+    // The same module, presented somewhere else entirely.
+    root = createRoot(container);
+    const requestedWhenMoved: string[] = [];
+    await render(
+      {
+        apiBaseUrl,
+        fetch: platformFetch({
+          groups: [
+            group("sunday-production", "Sunday Production", [entry("livestream", "Livestream")], 5),
+          ],
+        }),
+      },
+      async (url) => {
+        requestedWhenMoved.push(url);
+        return artifact("livestream", "0.1.0");
+      },
+    );
+
+    // Presentation changed; the module did not.
+    expect(requestedWhenMoved).toEqual(requestedWhenGrouped);
+    expect(query("group-sunday-production")?.textContent).toBe("Sunday ProductionLivestream");
+  });
+});
+
 describe("Ekklesia shell — mount lifecycle", () => {
   it("mounts the first module into the host's own container", async () => {
     const mountedInto: Element[] = [];
@@ -175,7 +336,7 @@ describe("Ekklesia shell — mount lifecycle", () => {
     expect(mountedInto[0]).not.toBe(document.body);
   });
 
-  it("imports exactly the URL the inventory published, resolved against the API origin", async () => {
+  it("imports exactly the URL the navigation published, resolved against the API origin", async () => {
     const requested: string[] = [];
     await render({ apiBaseUrl, fetch: platformFetch() }, async (url) => {
       requested.push(url);
@@ -229,7 +390,9 @@ describe("Ekklesia shell — mount lifecycle", () => {
     await render(
       {
         apiBaseUrl,
-        fetch: platformFetch({ modules: [descriptor("example"), descriptor("calendar", "2.0.0")] }),
+        fetch: platformFetch({
+          ungrouped: [entry("example", "Example Module"), entry("calendar", "Calendar", "2.0.0")],
+        }),
       },
       importModule,
     );
@@ -275,7 +438,9 @@ describe("Ekklesia shell — mount lifecycle", () => {
     await render(
       {
         apiBaseUrl,
-        fetch: platformFetch({ modules: [descriptor("example"), descriptor("calendar", "2.0.0")] }),
+        fetch: platformFetch({
+          ungrouped: [entry("example", "Example Module"), entry("calendar", "Calendar", "2.0.0")],
+        }),
       },
       importModule,
     );
@@ -352,7 +517,9 @@ describe("Ekklesia shell — failure is host-owned", () => {
     await render(
       {
         apiBaseUrl,
-        fetch: platformFetch({ modules: [descriptor("example"), descriptor("calendar", "2.0.0")] }),
+        fetch: platformFetch({
+          ungrouped: [entry("example", "Example Module"), entry("calendar", "Calendar", "2.0.0")],
+        }),
       },
       importModule,
     );
@@ -389,7 +556,9 @@ describe("Ekklesia shell — failure is host-owned", () => {
     await render(
       {
         apiBaseUrl,
-        fetch: platformFetch({ modules: [descriptor("example"), descriptor("calendar", "2.0.0")] }),
+        fetch: platformFetch({
+          ungrouped: [entry("example", "Example Module"), entry("calendar", "Calendar", "2.0.0")],
+        }),
       },
       importModule,
     );
diff --git a/surfaces/shell/tests/host-protocol.test.ts b/surfaces/shell/tests/host-protocol.test.ts
index 1b930b1..edf75f7 100644
--- a/surfaces/shell/tests/host-protocol.test.ts
+++ b/surfaces/shell/tests/host-protocol.test.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
 import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import {
   bootstrapHost,
-  type EkklesiaHostConfig,
   type HostModuleUiDescriptor,
+  loadDashboardNavigation,
   loadHostPrincipal,
-  loadModuleUiInventory,
-  parseHostModuleUiInventory,
+  parseDashboardNavigation,
   parseHostPrincipal,
 } from "../src/host-protocol.js";
 import { createModuleUiContext, moduleUiSourceUrl } from "../src/module-context.js";
@@ -47,6 +46,37 @@ const inventoryPayload = {
   ],
 };
 
+const calendarDescriptor: HostModuleUiDescriptor = {
+  apiBaseUrl: "/api/v1/modules/calendar",
+  id: "calendar",
+  permissions: [],
+  uiUrl: "/api/v1/module-ui/calendar/2.0.0",
+  version: "2.0.0",
+};
+
+const navigationPayload = {
+  groups: [
+    {
+      id: "media",
+      label: "Media",
+      modules: [{ module: inventoryPayload.modules[0], name: "Example Module" }],
+      order: 10,
+    },
+  ],
+  ungrouped: [
+    {
+      module: {
+        api: { baseUrl: "/api/v1/modules/calendar" },
+        id: "calendar",
+        permissions: [],
+        ui: { url: "/api/v1/module-ui/calendar/2.0.0" },
+        version: "2.0.0",
+      },
+      name: "Calendar",
+    },
+  ],
+};
+
 const exampleDescriptor: HostModuleUiDescriptor = {
   apiBaseUrl: "/api/v1/modules/example",
   id: "example",
@@ -55,69 +85,57 @@ const exampleDescriptor: HostModuleUiDescriptor = {
   version: "0.1.0",
 };
 
-describe("host protocol — inventory", () => {
-  it("parses the server's descriptor into exactly what a host context needs", () => {
-    expect(parseHostModuleUiInventory(inventoryPayload)).toEqual([exampleDescriptor]);
+function navigationWithModule(module: unknown): unknown {
+  return { groups: [], ungrouped: [{ module, name: "Example Module" }] };
+}
+
+describe("host protocol — descriptor validation", () => {
+  it("parses a well-formed descriptor out of the navigation view", () => {
+    const navigation = parseDashboardNavigation(navigationWithModule(inventoryPayload.modules[0]));
+
+    expect(navigation.ungrouped[0]?.descriptor).toEqual(exampleDescriptor);
   });
 
-  it("rejects a malformed document rather than yielding a half-built descriptor", () => {
+  it("rejects a malformed descriptor rather than yielding a half-built one", () => {
+    const base = inventoryPayload.modules[0] as Record<string, unknown>;
     const malformed: unknown[] = [
       {},
-      { modules: {} },
-      { modules: [{ id: "example", version: "0.1.0" }] },
-      { modules: [{ ...inventoryPayload.modules[0], ui: {} }] },
-      { modules: [{ ...inventoryPayload.modules[0], api: { baseUrl: "" } }] },
-      { modules: [{ ...inventoryPayload.modules[0], permissions: "example.records.read" }] },
-      { modules: [{ ...inventoryPayload.modules[0], permissions: [42] }] },
+      { id: "example", version: "0.1.0" },
+      { ...base, ui: {} },
+      { ...base, api: { baseUrl: "" } },
+      { ...base, permissions: "example.records.read" },
+      { ...base, permissions: [42] },
       // Both URLs must be root-relative, so a value that would resolve against another origin is
       // refused rather than silently used to fetch browser code.
-      {
-        modules: [
-          { ...inventoryPayload.modules[0], ui: { url: "https://evil.example.test/x.js" } },
-        ],
-      },
-      { modules: [{ ...inventoryPayload.modules[0], ui: { url: "//evil.example.test/x.js" } }] },
-      { modules: [{ ...inventoryPayload.modules[0], ui: { url: "relative/x.js" } }] },
-      {
-        modules: [
-          { ...inventoryPayload.modules[0], api: { baseUrl: "https://evil.example.test/api" } },
-        ],
-      },
+      { ...base, ui: { url: "https://evil.example.test/x.js" } },
+      { ...base, ui: { url: "//evil.example.test/x.js" } },
+      { ...base, ui: { url: "relative/x.js" } },
+      { ...base, api: { baseUrl: "https://evil.example.test/api" } },
     ];
-    for (const payload of malformed) {
-      expect(() => parseHostModuleUiInventory(payload)).toThrowError(
-        expect.objectContaining({ code: "HOST_RESPONSE_INVALID" }),
-      );
+    for (const module of malformed) {
+      expect(
+        () => parseDashboardNavigation(navigationWithModule(module)),
+        JSON.stringify(module),
+      ).toThrowError(expect.objectContaining({ code: "HOST_RESPONSE_INVALID" }));
     }
   });
 
-  it("fetches the inventory from the platform path with credentials", async () => {
-    const { calls, implementation } = stubFetch({
-      "/api/v1/module-ui": () => jsonResponse(inventoryPayload),
-    });
-    const config: EkklesiaHostConfig = { apiBaseUrl, fetch: implementation };
-
-    await loadModuleUiInventory(config);
-
-    expect(calls[0]?.url).toBe(`${apiBaseUrl}/api/v1/module-ui`);
-    expect(calls[0]?.init?.credentials).toBe("include");
-  });
-
   it("reports an unauthenticated caller distinctly from any other failure", async () => {
     for (const status of [401, 403]) {
       const { implementation } = stubFetch({
-        "/api/v1/module-ui": () => jsonResponse({ code: "AUTHORIZATION_DENIED" }, status),
+        "/api/v1/dashboard/navigation": () =>
+          jsonResponse({ code: "AUTHORIZATION_DENIED" }, status),
       });
       await expect(
-        loadModuleUiInventory({ apiBaseUrl, fetch: implementation }),
+        loadDashboardNavigation({ apiBaseUrl, fetch: implementation }),
       ).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: "HOST_UNAUTHENTICATED" });
     }
 
     const { implementation } = stubFetch({
-      "/api/v1/module-ui": () => jsonResponse({ code: "INTERNAL_ERROR" }, 500),
+      "/api/v1/dashboard/navigation": () => jsonResponse({ code: "INTERNAL_ERROR" }, 500),
     });
     await expect(
-      loadModuleUiInventory({ apiBaseUrl, fetch: implementation }),
+      loadDashboardNavigation({ apiBaseUrl, fetch: implementation }),
     ).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: "HOST_REQUEST_FAILED" });
   });
 
@@ -126,7 +144,7 @@ describe("host protocol — inventory", () => {
       throw new Error("connect ECONNREFUSED /run/postgres/.s.PGSQL.5432");
     }) as unknown as typeof fetch;
 
-    const error = await loadModuleUiInventory({ apiBaseUrl, fetch: failing }).catch(
+    const error = await loadDashboardNavigation({ apiBaseUrl, fetch: failing }).catch(
       (caught: unknown) => caught,
     );
 
@@ -167,10 +185,63 @@ describe("host protocol — principal", () => {
   });
 });
 
-describe("host protocol — bootstrap", () => {
-  it("resolves the principal and then the inventory", async () => {
+describe("host protocol — Dashboard navigation", () => {
+  it("parses the server's resolved arrangement, keeping the mount descriptor nested", () => {
+    const navigation = parseDashboardNavigation(navigationPayload);
+
+    expect(navigation.groups.map((group) => [group.id, group.label])).toEqual([["media", "Media"]]);
+    expect(navigation.groups[0]?.modules).toEqual([
+      { descriptor: exampleDescriptor, name: "Example Module" },
+    ]);
+    expect(navigation.ungrouped).toEqual([{ descriptor: calendarDescriptor, name: "Calendar" }]);
+  });
+
+  it("rejects a malformed navigation document rather than rendering half of it", () => {
+    const malformed: unknown[] = [
+      {},
+      { groups: [] },
+      { groups: {}, ungrouped: [] },
+      { groups: [{ id: "media", label: "Media" }], ungrouped: [] },
+      { groups: [{ id: "media", modules: [] }], ungrouped: [] },
+      { groups: [], ungrouped: [{ name: "Example" }] },
+      { groups: [], ungrouped: [{ module: inventoryPayload.modules[0] }] },
+      // An absolute artifact URL must be refused here exactly as in the inventory.
+      {
+        groups: [],
+        ungrouped: [
+          {
+            module: {
+              ...inventoryPayload.modules[0],
+              ui: { url: "https://evil.example.test/x.js" },
+            },
+            name: "Example",
+          },
+        ],
+      },
+    ];
+    for (const payload of malformed) {
+      expect(() => parseDashboardNavigation(payload), JSON.stringify(payload)).toThrowError(
+        expect.objectContaining({ code: "HOST_RESPONSE_INVALID" }),
+      );
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("fetches navigation from the platform path with credentials", async () => {
     const { calls, implementation } = stubFetch({
-      "/api/v1/module-ui": () => jsonResponse(inventoryPayload),
+      "/api/v1/dashboard/navigation": () => jsonResponse(navigationPayload),
+    });
+
+    await loadDashboardNavigation({ apiBaseUrl, fetch: implementation });
+
+    expect(calls[0]?.url).toBe(`${apiBaseUrl}/api/v1/dashboard/navigation`);
+    expect(calls[0]?.init?.credentials).toBe("include");
+  });
+});
+
+describe("host protocol — bootstrap", () => {
+  it("resolves the principal and then the Dashboard navigation", async () => {
+    const { calls, implementation } = stubFetch({
+      "/api/v1/dashboard/navigation": () => jsonResponse(navigationPayload),
       "/api/v1/principal": () => jsonResponse({ kind: "authenticated", userId: "user-1" }),
     });
 
@@ -178,22 +249,22 @@ describe("host protocol — bootstrap", () => {
 
     expect(calls.map((call) => call.url)).toEqual([
       `${apiBaseUrl}/api/v1/principal`,
-      `${apiBaseUrl}/api/v1/module-ui`,
+      `${apiBaseUrl}/api/v1/dashboard/navigation`,
     ]);
     expect(bootstrap.principal).toEqual({ kind: "authenticated", userId: "user-1" });
-    expect(bootstrap.modules).toEqual([exampleDescriptor]);
+    expect(bootstrap.navigation.groups[0]?.modules[0]?.descriptor).toEqual(exampleDescriptor);
   });
 
-  it("never requests the inventory for an anonymous viewer", async () => {
+  it("never requests navigation for an anonymous viewer", async () => {
     const { calls, implementation } = stubFetch({
-      "/api/v1/module-ui": () => jsonResponse(inventoryPayload),
+      "/api/v1/dashboard/navigation": () => jsonResponse(navigationPayload),
       "/api/v1/principal": () => jsonResponse({ kind: "anonymous" }),
     });
 
     const bootstrap = await bootstrapHost({ apiBaseUrl, fetch: implementation });
 
     expect(bootstrap.principal).toEqual({ kind: "anonymous" });
-    expect(bootstrap.modules).toEqual([]);
+    expect(bootstrap.navigation).toEqual({ groups: [], ungrouped: [] });
     expect(calls.map((call) => call.url)).toEqual([`${apiBaseUrl}/api/v1/principal`]);
   });
 
diff --git a/surfaces/shell/tests/modularity.test.ts b/surfaces/shell/tests/modularity.test.ts
index acf732a..fe48af3 100644
--- a/surfaces/shell/tests/modularity.test.ts
+++ b/surfaces/shell/tests/modularity.test.ts
@@ -144,9 +144,24 @@ describe("the shell builds no module knowledge into its bundle", () => {
     expect(bundle).not.toContain("entrypoints");
   });
 
-  it("spells only the two platform paths it genuinely owns", () => {
+  it("spells only the platform paths it genuinely owns", () => {
+    // The platform's own endpoints — never a module's. Everything module-specific arrives at run
+    // time from the navigation the server resolved.
     expect(bundle).toContain('"/api/v1/principal"');
-    expect(bundle).toContain('"/api/v1/module-ui"');
+    expect(bundle).toContain('"/api/v1/dashboard/navigation"');
+    // The shell reads the navigation view, which already contains the inventory; it never calls
+    // the host-neutral inventory endpoint itself.
+    expect(bundle).not.toContain('"/api/v1/module-ui"');
+  });
+
+  it("bakes in no group, label, or placement", () => {
+    // Grouping is server-resolved configuration. A group id or label appearing in the bundle would
+    // mean the shell had an opinion about an arrangement it must only render.
+    // Deliberately distinctive terms: a generic word like "media" appears inside React's own
+    // bundled source and would make this assertion meaningless rather than strict.
+    for (const term of ["planning", "sunday-production", "livestream", "calendar", "ungrouped-"]) {
+      expect(bundle.toLowerCase(), term).not.toContain(term);
+    }
   });
 
   it("uses neither eval nor a blob URL to load module code", () => {
diff --git a/vitest.migrations.integration.config.ts b/vitest.migrations.integration.config.ts
index 5e414f1..33ded6c 100644
--- a/vitest.migrations.integration.config.ts
+++ b/vitest.migrations.integration.config.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
       "core/tests/database-tls.integration.ts",
       "core/tests/authorization-store.integration.ts",
       "core/tests/authorization-bootstrap.integration.ts",
+      "core/tests/dashboard-store.integration.ts",
       "apps/api/tests/api-http.integration.ts",
       "apps/api/tests/module-database.integration.ts",
     ],