admiral-migration: add AdmiralScript component and AB test integration by AnastasiiaBalenko · Pull Request #15355 · guardian/dotcom-rendering

AnastasiiaBalenko · 2026-02-13T14:23:24Z

What does this change?

Why?

This PR moves Admiral Adblock Recovery initialization from the commercial bundle to dotcom-rendering (DCR), allowing DCR to own and control Admiral lifecycle. This gives DCR better control over the initialization sequence and event tracking.

Changes:

New AdmiralScript component AdmiralScript.importable.tsx replaces the commercial bundle's Admiral initialization with a React component that:

Initializes window.admiral stub that queues commands before bootstrap loads
Dynamically loads admiral-bootstrap.js from the commercial CDN
Sets up event logging with type-safe event handlers:
- measure.detected - Tracks adblocking and whitelisting state
- candidate.shown - Tracks when recovery UI is displayed
- candidate.dismissed - Tracks user dismissal of recovery UI
Records Ophan component events with proper AB test variant tracking for all actions
Sets dcrOwnsAdmiral switch to signal to commercial bundle that DCR owns Admiral
Comprehensive conditional checks before initialization:
- CMP must be initialized
- User must be in the US
- User must be in Admiral AB test variant
- Respects gu_hide_support_messaging cookie
- Skips sensitive content, paid content, and specific sections

Dynamic AB Test Variant Handling

Added getAdmiralAbTestVariant() helper that detects all three Admiral variants:
- variant-detect - Detection only
- variant-recover - Detection + recovery messaging
- control - Control group

Notes
The commercial bundle's prepare-admiral.ts is bypassed when dcrOwnsAdmiral = true. It is a temporary measure before code is removed from Commercial

Screenshots

variant-detect => admiral-bootstrap script is loaded, but no modal is shown up for US user

variant-recover => admiral-bootstrap script is loaded, modal is shown up for US user

github-actions · 2026-02-13T14:26:44Z

Deploy build 24906 of `dotcom:rendering-all` to CODE

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From guardian/actions-riff-raff.

github-actions · 2026-02-16T10:09:26Z

Hello 👋! When you're ready to run Chromatic, please apply the run_chromatic label to this PR.

You will need to reapply the label each time you want to run Chromatic.

Click here to see the Chromatic project.

tomrf1 · 2026-02-16T15:24:39Z

+	abTestTest,
+	userBenefitsApi,
+	noAuxiaSignInGate,
+	admiralAdblockRecovery,


I believe we should be using the new ab test config instead of this file.
@domlander is this a good example to follow?

There's some documentation on the new AB testing framework here https://github.com/guardian/dotcom-rendering/blob/e8fc9932e1779489fd8c58e8b935dbb10fd2d259/dotcom-rendering/docs/development/ab-testing-in-dcr.md

You essentially just need to add the test definition to abTests.ts

Having said that, I imagine you may want to use the legacy framework for now until DCR is fully handling this, since otherwise you will have two AB tests doing the same thing on different platforms which could get confusing!
Maybe converting to the new framework could be done as a secondary step after this work is done?

Yes exactly, I chose the "legacy" framework in order to keep one AB test instead of duplicating the same logic in separate tests

Good point! 👍

juabara · 2026-02-16T16:43:51Z

+		'whitelisted' in e &&
+		'subscribed' in e;
+
+	if (isMeasureDetectedEvent(event)) {


You can unnest this if block by flipping the if/else and then removing the else by using early return.

thanks, flipped

tomrf1

👍 looks good

arelra · 2026-02-17T15:27:44Z

+		const BASE_AJAX_URL =
+			window.guardian.config.stage === 'CODE'
+				? 'https://code.api.nextgen.guardianapps.co.uk'
+				: 'https://api.nextgen.guardianapps.co.uk';


This is also available on the window config:

guardian.config.page.ajaxUrl

Neat, I hadn't spotted that before!

thanks! Updated

- added check if Commercial is handling Admiral - updated logging to use 'dotcom' logger

github-actions · 2026-02-18T09:15:43Z

Deploy build 762 of `dotcom:ab-testing` to CODE

All deployment options

From guardian/actions-riff-raff.

gu-prout · 2026-02-18T09:49:52Z

Seen on PROD (merged by @AnastasiiaBalenko 7 minutes and 54 seconds ago) Please check your changes!

AnastasiiaBalenko added the feature Departmental tracking: work on a new feature label Feb 13, 2026

AnastasiiaBalenko commented Feb 13, 2026

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Comment thread dotcom-rendering/src/components/AdmiralScript.importable.tsx Outdated

AnastasiiaBalenko force-pushed the ab/admiral-migration branch from 3d400e8 to 8396a15 Compare February 16, 2026 10:09

AnastasiiaBalenko marked this pull request as ready for review February 16, 2026 10:09

AnastasiiaBalenko force-pushed the ab/admiral-migration branch from 8396a15 to 9e07d1e Compare February 16, 2026 10:10

AnastasiiaBalenko added the run_chromatic Runs chromatic when label is applied label Feb 16, 2026

github-actions Bot removed the run_chromatic Runs chromatic when label is applied label Feb 16, 2026

tomrf1 reviewed Feb 16, 2026

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cemms1 reviewed Feb 16, 2026

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Comment thread dotcom-rendering/src/components/AdmiralScript.importable.tsx Outdated

cemms1 reviewed Feb 16, 2026

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Comment thread dotcom-rendering/src/components/AdmiralScript.importable.tsx Outdated

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AnastasiiaBalenko force-pushed the ab/admiral-migration branch from 9e07d1e to df2c83a Compare February 17, 2026 09:12

AnastasiiaBalenko added the run_chromatic Runs chromatic when label is applied label Feb 17, 2026

github-actions Bot removed the run_chromatic Runs chromatic when label is applied label Feb 17, 2026

AnastasiiaBalenko mentioned this pull request Feb 17, 2026

Switch for DCR Admiral Migration added guardian/frontend#28612

Merged

7 tasks

AnastasiiaBalenko added the run_chromatic Runs chromatic when label is applied label Feb 17, 2026

github-actions Bot removed the run_chromatic Runs chromatic when label is applied label Feb 17, 2026

tomrf1 approved these changes Feb 17, 2026

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arelra reviewed Feb 17, 2026

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cemms1 approved these changes Feb 17, 2026

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juabara approved these changes Feb 17, 2026

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AnastasiiaBalenko added 5 commits February 18, 2026 09:10

admiral-migration: add AdmiralScript component and AB test integration

438288b

- guardian.switch should be immutable

b5fd17e

- added check if Commercial is handling Admiral - updated logging to use 'dotcom' logger

use early return

b95124d

switch check added

6eda1af

get url from config

37a62b0

AnastasiiaBalenko force-pushed the ab/admiral-migration branch from 17176da to 37a62b0 Compare February 18, 2026 09:14

AnastasiiaBalenko added the run_chromatic Runs chromatic when label is applied label Feb 18, 2026

github-actions Bot removed the run_chromatic Runs chromatic when label is applied label Feb 18, 2026

AnastasiiaBalenko merged commit 98cbe02 into main Feb 18, 2026
31 checks passed

AnastasiiaBalenko deleted the ab/admiral-migration branch February 18, 2026 09:42

gu-prout Bot added Pending-on-PROD Seen-on-PROD and removed Pending-on-PROD labels Feb 18, 2026

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AnastasiiaBalenko commented Feb 13, 2026 •

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