Programmatic navigation resolves to pages

Programmatic navigation to a non-existent route is worse UX than a static link to a non-existent route: the user clicks a button, takes a deliberate action, and ends up on a 404 with no breadcrumb back to where they were. router.push('/admin/users') when no app/admin/users/page.tsx exists is the exact shape of this failure. It breaks post-signup flows, post-payment redirects, and admin dashboards — all critical journeys the audit fixtures test.

For each unresolved navigation call, either fix the specifier to point at a real route or create the destination file. In Next.js App Router using useRouter:

import { useRouter } from 'next/navigation'
const router = useRouter()
router.push('/admin/team')  // matches app/admin/team/page.tsx

If the destination is genuinely missing, scaffold app/admin/users/page.tsx so the navigation has a target.

• ID: ai-slop-hallucinations.route-references.programmatic-navigation-resolves

• Severity: high

• What to look for: Walk source files for calls to router.push("..."), router.replace("..."), router.prefetch("..."), redirect("..."), permanentRedirect("..."), useNavigate()(...), navigate("..."), window.location.href = "...", window.location.assign("..."), window.location.replace("..."). Extract the first argument string literal. Apply the same normalization and resolution logic as the previous check. Count all programmatic navigation calls inspected, total resolved, total unresolved.

• Pass criteria: 100% of programmatic navigation literal arguments resolve to an existing page route. Report: "X programmatic navigation calls inspected, Y resolved, 0 unresolved."

• Fail criteria: At least 1 programmatic navigation literal does not resolve.

• Do NOT pass when: A router.push() argument is constructed at runtime from a variable AND the base path of the constructed URL does not resolve — the same rule as the fetch-paths check.

• Skip (N/A) when: Project has 0 page route files.

• Detail on fail: "2 unresolved navigation calls: router.push('/admin/users') in src/components/AdminMenu.tsx (no app/admin/users/page.tsx exists), redirect('/login') in src/app/dashboard/page.tsx (no app/login/page.tsx)."

• Remediation: Programmatic navigation to non-existent routes results in a runtime 404 after a user action — usually worse UX than a static 404 because it surprises the user. Fix each one to point at an existing route, or create the missing route file:

  // src/components/AdminMenu.tsx
  import { useRouter } from 'next/navigation'
  
  function AdminMenu() {
    const router = useRouter()
    // Bad: no app/admin/users/page.tsx exists
    // router.push('/admin/users')
  
    // Good: matches an existing route file
    router.push('/admin/team')
  }
  

  Alternatively, create the missing page file at app/admin/users/page.tsx so the navigation has a target.