2026-01-29 Frontend Working Group Meeting Notes: Frontend Board Reorg, Program Dashboard and React Query conversion

 Date, time, location

• Date:Jan 29, 2026 at 15:00 UTC (timezone converter)

• Location: https://meet.google.com/wxe-myxy-uei

 Discussion topic(s)

• Review of the general working group board:

  • Identifying and fixing bugs for upcoming milestones

  • How to assign review requests?

• Review of the frontend-base board: checking progress

🎥Recording

• Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13FrZYHOh9o_TY2FYuD6fwfvw0I5J2-A2/view?usp=drive_link

• Chat: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bLv18R9i0_Hg6yWtzVZITpWF0pzpRKWk/view?usp=drive_link

• Transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wxKVADENQblXRH8Ywuz6z5nGQdwP7kJHRss8ugvPoBU/view?usp=drive_link

 Participants

Adolfo Brandes, Brian Smith, Diana Villalvazo Salas, Jacobo Dominguez, Jason Wesson, Jesus Balderrama, Kelly Buchanan, tony busa

🤖 Summary

The meeting covers updates on the Frontend Board reorganization, a key decision regarding the Learner Dashboard's conversion to React Query and the Program Dashboard conversion, as well as the overall status and timeline for the Frontend Base project.

1. Frontend Board Reorganization

• Goal: To establish a simple view for community-wide work, prioritizing issues by type (bugs first) and status (blocked, in-review first). This is intended to prevent blocked issues from being forgotten and provide a clear backlog for core contributors.

• Process: The group will review the board bi-weekly. Contributors are encouraged to create issues on the board for reviews, and older open Pull Requests (PRs) can be added to the backlog for tracking.

• Milestones/Due Dates: The "due date" field is being used to organize issues by release milestone (e.g., OMO 2, Virwood) to help track when work should be completed.

2. Learner Dashboard & Program Dashboard Conversion

• Decision Point: A discussion arose about converting the Programs Dashboard to a Micro Frontend (MFE) within the Learner Dashboard while the Learner Dashboard's master branch is simultaneously undergoing a full migration to React Query.

• Resolution: The group decided to prioritize merging the full React Query migration PR for Learner Dashboard master (led by Jacobo Dominguez) before landing the Programs Dashboard conversion PR (led by Max/Jason Wesson). This sequence will simplify the refactoring work for the Programs Dashboard team and address performance concerns.

• Timeline: Jacobo is targeting February 16th to complete and merge the React Query conversion. Jesus Balderrama is working on the equivalent React Query migration for the Authentication MFE with a similar tentative timeline.

3. Frontend Base Project Status and Timeline

• Learner Dashboard (LD) & Authentication (Authn) MFEs:

  • Design Tokens: The PR to port Paragon 23 design tokens and fix tests for the LD Frontend Base branch is under review and expected to merge soon.

  • Code Splitting: Javier is currently working on implementing the code splitting strategy.

• Runtime Configuration: Brian Smith confirmed a proof of concept for runtime configuration support in the Frontend Base config format is working, which is a blocker for the Tutor MFE plugin.

• Deployment Strategy (2U): The team clarified that the Frontend Base branch will not be merged to master for the Virwood release. Instead:

  • The frontend-base branch will be maintained as a separate, supported, production-ready feature branch for the foreseeable future.

  • The goal for Virwood is to publish non-alpha 1.0 versions of the converted Learner Dashboard and Authentication MFEs to npm from their feature branches, allowing early adopters (like Tutor users) to test and provide feedback.

  • The standard 2U deployment (apps on subdomains) remains possible but will require manual adjustments to the build process.

4. 2U Resourcing Update

• Kelly Buchanan shared that 2U will be reinvesting in Learner Dashboard with a new Product Manager, UX team, and three additional front-end engineers.

• This new initiative will focus on redoing the Program Dashboard and making changes to the Learner Dashboard.

• The new Frontend Base version of Learner Dashboard is expected to make it much easier for 2U to extend the MFE with new routes and plugins for their custom needs without requiring external contribution or approval.

 Action items

 Decisions

1. The group decided to prioritize merging the full React Query migration PR for Learner Dashboard master (led by Jacobo Dominguez) before landing the Programs Dashboard conversion PR (led by Max/Jason Wesson).