Fix Admin Notices not showing on the Dashboard (v2.4.2)

admin_notices fires everywhere, but prints inside #wpbody, which
DashboardTakeover hides entirely on the Dashboard (to hide the *native*
dashboard, not ours) — notices went down with it as collateral damage.
Notices::render_for_dashboard() now renders directly inside the visible
dashboard frame instead, called from DashboardTakeover::render_mount();
the normal admin_notices path bails on the Dashboard so it isn't
rendered twice.

Second, independent bug found along the way: wp-admin/js/common.js
unconditionally relocates every .notice element on the page to right
after the page's <h1>, regardless of where it was placed server-side —
without opting out, it would've silently moved our notice right back
into the hidden #wpbody. Used core's own documented `below-h2` class to
opt out, only for the dashboard render path.

Verified live: notice now shows correctly inside the dashboard frame
with proper dark styling, and dismisses correctly.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <[email protected]>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,6 +5,22 @@ version bump. Starts at 2.1.0 — earlier history (the theming rebuild,
 window chrome/taskbar, Site Editor support, etc.) lives in `git log` and
 `PROJECT_STATUS.md`, not reconstructed here.
 
+## [2.4.2] - 2026-07-04
+
+### Fixed
+- Admin Notices only ever showed on the Aurora Dashboard — everywhere
+  else, `admin_notices` fired normally, but on the Dashboard specifically
+  the notice was invisible: `DashboardTakeover` hides `#wpbody` entirely
+  there (to hide the *native* dashboard, not our own), and that's exactly
+  where WordPress prints `admin_notices` output. Notices now render
+  directly inside the Aurora dashboard frame instead on that one page.
+  Along the way, also worked around a separate WordPress core behavior
+  (`common.js` unconditionally relocates every `.notice` element to right
+  after the page's `<h1>`) using core's own documented `below-h2` opt-out
+  class, since without it the notice would've just been silently moved
+  back into the hidden `#wpbody` by that script regardless of where it
+  was placed server-side.
+
 ## [2.4.1] - 2026-07-04
 
 ### Fixed

PROJECT_STATUS.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Aurora Admin v2 — Project Status
 
-_Last updated: 2026-07-04 (latest session — file-integrity tamper protection for the license gate)_
+_Last updated: 2026-07-04 (latest session — remaining placeholder settings wired up, dashboard scrolling and admin notices fixed)_
 
 ## What this project is
 
@@ -628,6 +628,22 @@ compatibility, trust), which wasn't in scope here.
 
 ## Key bugs fixed (root causes, in case they resurface)
 
+- **Admin Notices invisible on the Dashboard**: `admin_notices` prints
+  inside `#wpbody`, which `DashboardTakeover::hide_native()` hides
+  entirely (to hide the *native* dashboard, not ours) — collateral damage
+  for anything else relying on that hook there. Fixed with
+  `Notices::render_for_dashboard()`, called directly inside the visible
+  dashboard frame (`DashboardTakeover::render_mount()`), with `render()`
+  (the normal `admin_notices` hook) bailing on the Dashboard so it isn't
+  rendered twice. **Second, independent bug surfaced by the same fix**:
+  `wp-admin/js/common.js` unconditionally relocates every `.notice`
+  element on the page to right after the page's `<h1>`
+  (`$('.notice').not('.inline, .below-h2').insertAfter($headerEnd)`) —
+  regardless of where it was placed server-side, it would've moved right
+  back into the hidden `#wpbody` on its own. Core's own `.below-h2` class
+  is the documented opt-out; added only for the dashboard render path
+  (`render_notices($keep_in_place)`), not the normal one, where the
+  relocation is harmless/expected.
 - **`.card` global class collision**: original Dashboard cards used
   `class="card"`, colliding with WP core's `.card { max-width: 520px }`.
   Fixed by renaming to `.aurora-card*` everywhere. Never use unprefixed

admin/src/Notices/Notices.php

@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 <?php
 namespace AuroraAdmin\Notices;
 
+use AuroraAdmin\Pages\DashboardTakeover;
+
 defined("ABSPATH") || exit();
 
 /**
@@ -57,7 +59,48 @@ class Notices
     update_option(self::DB_OPTION, self::DB_VERSION);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Hooked to admin_notices, which fires everywhere EXCEPT it doesn't
+   * actually reach the user on the Dashboard: admin_notices normally
+   * prints inside #wpbody, and DashboardTakeover hides #wpbody entirely
+   * there to hide the *native* dashboard widgets, taking custom notices
+   * down with it as collateral damage. render_for_dashboard() (called
+   * directly by DashboardTakeover, inside its own visible mount point) is
+   * the fix for that one case — skip the normal path here so it isn't
+   * rendered (invisibly) twice.
+   */
   public static function render()
+  {
+    if (DashboardTakeover::is_dashboard()) {
+      return;
+    }
+
+    self::render_notices(false);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Called directly by DashboardTakeover::render_mount(), inside the
+   * visible dashboard frame, since the normal admin_notices hook never
+   * reaches the user there (see render()).
+   */
+  public static function render_for_dashboard()
+  {
+    self::render_notices(true);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * $keep_in_place matters because of a WP core behavior, not a bug of
+   * ours: wp-admin/js/common.js unconditionally relocates every
+   * `.notice`/`.updated`/`.error` element on the page to right after the
+   * page's <h1> ($('div.notice').not('.inline, .below-h2').insertAfter(...)),
+   * regardless of where it was originally placed in the DOM. On every
+   * other page that's harmless (it's already heading there anyway); on
+   * the Dashboard it silently moves our notice into the native #wpbody,
+   * which is hidden entirely by DashboardTakeover — invisible, not gone.
+   * `below-h2` is core's own documented opt-out class for exactly this
+   * "leave this notice exactly where I put it" case.
+   */
+  private static function render_notices($keep_in_place)
   {
     global $wpdb;
     $user = wp_get_current_user();
@@ -83,6 +126,9 @@ class Notices
 
       $type = in_array($row->type, ["success", "warning", "error", "info"], true) ? $row->type : "info";
       $classes = "notice notice-{$type} aurora-native-notice";
+      if ($keep_in_place) {
+        $classes .= " below-h2";
+      }
       if ($row->dismissible) {
         $classes .= " is-dismissible";
       }

admin/src/Pages/DashboardTakeover.php

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ namespace AuroraAdmin\Pages;
 
 use AuroraAdmin\Utility\Assets;
 use AuroraAdmin\Options\Settings;
+use AuroraAdmin\Notices\Notices;
 
 defined("ABSPATH") || exit();
 
@@ -80,6 +81,9 @@ class DashboardTakeover
       "settings" => Settings::get_safe(),
     ];
     ?>
+    <div id="aurora-admin-dashboard-notices">
+      <?php Notices::render_for_dashboard(); ?>
+    </div>
     <div
       id="aurora-admin-dashboard-root"
       data-aurora-admin="<?php echo esc_attr(wp_json_encode($data)); ?>"

app/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "aurora-admin-app",
-  "version": "2.4.1",
+  "version": "2.4.2",
   "private": true,
   "type": "module",
   "scripts": {

app/src/shell/shell-frame.css

@@ -376,6 +376,21 @@ html.aurora-has-taskbar #site-editor {
   border-top-right-radius: var(--aurora-radius-lg);
 }
 
+/* Custom admin notices (Notices::render_for_dashboard(), reparented in
+   here by windowChrome.js) — native-dark.css already themes .notice
+   elsewhere via #wpbody-content, but that stylesheet isn't loaded on the
+   Dashboard at all (Shell::is_own_page() treats index.php as one of
+   Aurora's own pages), so it needs its own copy of the same treatment
+   here instead. */
+#aurora-admin-dashboard-notices:empty {
+  display: none;
+}
+#aurora-admin-dashboard-notices .notice {
+  background: var(--aurora-card-bg);
+  color: var(--aurora-text);
+  margin: 16px 20px 0;
+}
+
 /* Yellow dot: on the Dashboard itself there's nowhere further "home" to
    send it, so minimize just collapses the frame down to the title bar in
    place — everywhere else, minimize navigates to the dashboard instead

app/src/shell/windowChrome.js

@@ -87,6 +87,15 @@ export function initWindowChrome(adminUrl) {
     frame.className = 'aurora-dashboard-frame';
     dashboardRoot.parentNode.insertBefore(frame, dashboardRoot);
     frame.appendChild(bar);
+    // Custom admin notices (Notices::render_for_dashboard(), printed as a
+    // sibling right before the mount point) — reparented into the frame
+    // here too, so they render as part of the dashboard's own card
+    // instead of sitting outside it unstyled. Normally these reach the
+    // user via the plain admin_notices hook, but that renders inside
+    // #wpbody, which the Dashboard hides entirely to hide the *native*
+    // dashboard widgets — this is the replacement path for that one page.
+    const notices = document.getElementById('aurora-admin-dashboard-notices');
+    if (notices) frame.appendChild(notices);
     frame.appendChild(dashboardRoot);
     return;
   }

aurora-admin.php

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
  * Plugin Name: Aurora Admin
  * Plugin URI: https://aurora.co
  * Description: A modern, fast WordPress admin interface.
- * Version: 2.4.1
+ * Version: 2.4.2
  * Author: Aurora
  * Text Domain: aurora-admin
  * Domain Path: /languages/
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 
 defined("ABSPATH") || exit();
 
-define("AURORA_ADMIN_VERSION", "2.4.1");
+define("AURORA_ADMIN_VERSION", "2.4.2");
 define("AURORA_ADMIN_PATH", plugin_dir_path(__FILE__));
 define("AURORA_ADMIN_URL", plugins_url("aurora-admin/"));