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Fallback Menus

By default, calling goBack() when the navigation stack is empty closes the session. A fallback menu changes this behaviour: instead of closing, FlowCord navigates to the specified menu.

When you need a fallback menu​

A menu that can be reached directly — via a slash command — has no parent on the navigation stack when the user presses Back. Without a fallback, Back closes the session. With a fallback, it navigates to a known parent instead.

This is common when a menu is reachable via both a direct command and as a child of another menu:

  • Via /settings permissions → opened directly, no parent
  • Via the Settings menu → Permissions → has a parent on the stack

In both cases, pressing Back from Permissions should return to Settings. The fallback makes that work regardless of how the user arrived.

Configuring a fallback menu​

Call .setFallbackMenu(menuId) on the builder:

new MenuBuilder(session, 'permissions')
  .setTrackedInHistory()
  .setReturnable()
  .setFallbackMenu('settings') // goBack() with empty stack → go to 'settings'
  .setEmbeds(/* ... */)
  .setButtons(/* ... */)
  .build();

Pass options to the fallback menu as the second argument:

.setFallbackMenu('settings', { tab: 'permissions' })

These options are passed as ctx.options in the fallback menu, the same as navigation options from goTo().

How it interacts with the stack​

setFallbackMenu only activates when goBack() is called and the stack is empty. If the user arrived at the menu via normal navigation (i.e., another menu is on the stack), goBack() pops the stack as usual and the fallback is not used.

User clicks /permissions
  → Stack is empty
  → User clicks Back
  → Stack still empty → navigate to 'settings' (fallback)

User navigates: settings → permissions
  → Stack: ['settings']
  → User clicks Back
  → Stack has 'settings' → pop and return to 'settings' (normal goBack)

In both cases the user ends up at settings, but via different mechanisms.

note

setFallbackMenu requires setReturnable() to be set as well — otherwise no Back button is rendered and there is no way for the user to trigger the fallback.