Dashboard customization option to persist settings across devices

[begunfx]

Customization for the dashboard is great, but it would be nice to have the changes persist across devices. Right now I need to make the preferred changes on my laptop and phone. Might be good to toggle persistence on and off. Some folks might like different options per device

[s-b-e-n-s-o-n]

Great idea — and good call on the toggle. Some folks definitely want different layouts on desktop vs mobile.

Right now all preferences live in localStorage (the dd-preferences key), so each browser is its own island. The good news is the groundwork is already there — versioned schema, migration pipeline, and a PREFERENCES_API_VERSION constant that's literally just waiting to be wired up.

The plan for v1.6.0 is:

• New server-side preferences store — LokiJS collection keyed by username, with GET/PATCH /api/v1/preferences
• Two-phase hydration — localStorage loads instantly (no flash of unstyled content), then server preferences merge in after auth
• Opt-in sync toggle — so you can keep per-device layouts if you prefer
• SSE broadcast — when you change a preference on one device, other open tabs/devices pick it up in real-time

This ships alongside the notification preferences UI (Phase 5.5) since they share the same backend infrastructure.

Anonymous auth users will stay localStorage-only since there's no identity to key against.