read.markets/docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-25-beta-mode-and-paid-gap-design.md

# Beta Mode + Wider Paid/Free Gap — Design Spec

**Date:** 2026-05-25
**Status:** Draft — awaiting approval
**Scope:** Three coordinated changes that ship together because they all
target the closed-beta launch: (1) a visible BETA indicator in the app
chrome, (2) a free-tier cap on the news feed window, and (3) email
digests — daily for paid, Sunday-weekly for everyone.

## 1. Goals

- Set expectations for closed-beta testers that the product is still
  evolving, without making the app look unfinished.
- Create a tangible reason to upgrade beyond portfolio import + sync.
  Today the free tier carries nearly the entire editorial layer; after
  this change, paid gets meaningfully more.
- Use existing infra (scheduler, SMTP, OpenRouter, settings page)
  rather than introducing new dependencies.

## 2. Non-goals

- No payment / Paddle work. Pricing copy is updated, but checkout is
  still gated behind the existing "Coming soon" CTA.
- No per-user personalised digests. Same content for all recipients.
- No timezone handling for users. Fixed 06:30 UTC daily send.
- No new analytics / metrics dashboards for opens or clicks beyond a
  simple audit row per send.

## 3. Component overview

| Component | Change |
|-----------|--------|
| `app/templates/base.html` | BETA chip in header next to brand. |
| `app/static/css/cassandra.css` | `.beta-chip` styles. |
| `app/config.py` | `BETA_MODE: bool = True` env flag. |
| `app/services/access.py` | `FREE_NEWS_WINDOW_HOURS = 6` constant. |
| `app/routers/api.py:222-280` (`news_list`) | Soft-auth dep + free-tier window clamp. |
| `app/templates/partials/news.html` | "Showing last 6h — upgrade for 24h" footer when capped. |
| `app/models.py` | New columns on `User`: `email_digest_opt_in: bool`, `digest_tone: str | None`. New table `EmailSend(user_id, kind, sent_at, status, error)`. |
| `alembic/versions/0017_email_digest.py` | Migration. |
| `app/services/openrouter.py` | Add `build_daily_digest_prompt(tone)` and `build_weekly_digest_prompt(tone)`, bump `PROMPT_VERSION`. |
| `app/services/email_service.py` | Add `render_digest_email(kind, tone, content)` + `send_digest(user, kind, tone, html, text)`. |
| `app/jobs/email_digest_job.py` (new) | Daily-or-weekly orchestrator. Generates content once per tone, fans out to recipients. |
| `app/scheduler_main.py` | Register the new job at 06:30 UTC. |
| `app/templates/settings.html` | "Email digests" section: opt-in toggle, tone radio. |
| `app/templates/login.html` (post-OTP-verify flow) | Default-checked "send me the digest" checkbox. |
| `app/routers/auth.py` | OTP-verify handler reads the new `subscribe_to_digests` form field and sets `email_digest_opt_in` on the new `User`. |
| `app/routers/settings.py` (or wherever existing settings PATCH lives) | New `PATCH /api/settings/digest` endpoint: body `{opt_in: bool, tone: "NOVICE"|"INTERMEDIATE"}`. |
| `app/routers/email.py` (new) | `GET /email/unsubscribe?token=...` — HMAC-verified one-click off switch. |
| `app/templates/pricing.html` | Updated bullets — free gets weekly digest + last 6h news; paid gets daily digest + last 24h news. |

## 4. Detailed design

### 4.1 BETA chip

`app/templates/base.html` only (not `public_base.html`). Insert
immediately after the brand link:

```html
<a href="/" class="brand">{{ BRAND_NAME }}</a>
{% if BETA_MODE %}<span class="beta-chip" title="Beta — feedback welcome">BETA</span>{% endif %}
```

The `BETA_MODE` flag is injected into the template context globally —
add it to `app/templates_env.py` so every render gets it (analogous to
how `BRAND_NAME` is provided today).

CSS: small uppercase pill with `var(--accent)` background and brand-bg
foreground; spaced ~8px from the brand link. Sizing matches the
existing top-right `.meta` chip so the visual weight is balanced.

`BETA_MODE` defaults to `True` in `app/config.py`. Flip to `False` for
general launch — one-line change.

### 4.2 Free-tier news cap (6h window)

`app/routers/api.py`'s `news_list` (lines 222-280) currently has no
auth dep. Add `principal: CurrentUser | None = Depends(maybe_current_user)`
(soft-auth — keeps the endpoint reachable by anonymous visitors,
matching today's behaviour).

Compute the effective window:

```python
window = since_hours
if not is_paid_active(principal):
    window = min(window, FREE_NEWS_WINDOW_HOURS)  # 6.0
cutoff = utcnow() - timedelta(hours=window)
```

`FREE_NEWS_WINDOW_HOURS = 6.0` lives in `app/services/access.py` as a
module-level constant. Tuning it later is one edit; promoting it to env
config is YAGNI for now.

`is_paid_active` already accepts `CurrentUser | User | None` and admins
auto-pass — no special-casing needed here.

When the cap is in effect, pass `capped: True` into the news partial so
it can render a soft footer:

> Free tier — showing the last 6 hours of news. [Upgrade] for the full
> 24-hour feed plus daily and weekly email digests.

When the user is paid (or admin), the footer is absent. When the
visitor is anonymous, the link goes to `/pricing`.

### 4.3 Database changes

```python
# app/models.py — User columns added:
email_digest_opt_in: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False,
                                                  default=True, server_default=text("1"))
digest_tone: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(16))  # NOVICE | INTERMEDIATE
```

Defaults to opted-in (matches the chosen UX). `digest_tone` is nullable;
NULL is interpreted as INTERMEDIATE at render time.

New table:

```python
class EmailSend(Base):
    __tablename__ = "email_sends"
    id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(BigInteger, primary_key=True, autoincrement=True)
    user_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(ForeignKey("users.id", ondelete="CASCADE"),
                                         nullable=False, index=True)
    kind: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(16), nullable=False)  # "daily" | "weekly"
    sent_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(DateTime(timezone=True),
                                              default=utcnow, nullable=False)
    status: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(16), nullable=False)  # "sent" | "skipped" | "error"
    error: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(255))
    __table_args__ = (
        Index("ix_email_sends_user_kind_sent", "user_id", "kind", "sent_at"),
    )
```

Idempotency: the job queries `EmailSend` for the current day before
sending, so a job restart can't double-deliver.

Migration: `alembic/versions/0017_email_digest.py`.

### 4.4 Digest content generation

Two new prompts in `app/services/openrouter.py`:

- `build_daily_digest_prompt(tone)` — returns a `(system, user)` pair.
  Pulls the same `quotes_by_group` + `headlines_by_bucket` data as
  the hourly log but with a 24h headline window and a different
  instruction set: less "current state" framing, more "what mattered in
  the past day, what to watch today". Target length ~600 words.
- `build_weekly_digest_prompt(tone)` — 7-day headline window, weekly
  recap + week-ahead anticipation. Target length ~900 words.

Both reuse `call_llm()` and the existing cost-cap / ledger plumbing.
`PROMPT_VERSION` is bumped so the audit trail is unambiguous.

For each digest run, the job generates **two** variants
(NOVICE + INTERMEDIATE) and stores them in memory for the fan-out
batch. There is no DB persistence of digest content — emails are the
artefact. If we later want to render them on a web archive, that's a
separate spec.

Cost: at our current model pricing, two daily generations ≈ $0.04/day,
two weekly generations ≈ $0.06/week. Both well under the existing
`OPENROUTER_MONTHLY_CAP_USD` headroom.

### 4.5 Email rendering and delivery

`render_digest_email(kind, tone, html_body, text_body) -> (subject,
text, html)` in `email_service.py`. Wraps the LLM output in the same
multipart template family used for OTPs (light/dark palette, inline
styles, monospace stack, 520px max-width). Adds two footer rows:

- "Don't want these? [Unsubscribe in one click](.../email/unsubscribe?token=...)"
- "Or change your preferences in [Settings](.../settings)"

Subjects:

- Daily: `"Read the Markets · Daily — {date}"`
- Weekly: `"Read the Markets · Weekly recap — {date}"`

Fan-out: one SMTP send per recipient. Sequential with a small
`asyncio.sleep(0.1)` between sends to stay under common SMTP rate
limits. Failures are caught per-recipient, logged into `EmailSend`,
and don't block the rest of the batch.

### 4.6 Sign-up opt-in checkbox

The OTP-verify POST handler in `app/routers/auth.py` is where the user
is first established — that handler reads a `subscribe_to_digests`
form field and persists it into `User.email_digest_opt_in`. Default to
`True` if the field is absent (covers older clients or curl flows).
The verify template (`app/templates/verify.html`) gets a checkbox:

```html
<label>
  <input type="checkbox" name="subscribe_to_digests" checked>
  Email me the digest (daily for paid, Sunday for everyone). One-click
  unsubscribe in every email.
</label>
```

Pre-existing users get `email_digest_opt_in=True` from the migration's
server-side default — but see §6 for the cutover plan.

### 4.7 Settings page

In `app/templates/settings.html`, add a section:

```
Email digests
  [✓] Send me digests
       Free tier: Sunday weekly. Paid: daily + Sunday.
  Reading level: ( ) Novice  (•) Intermediate
  Last delivery: 2026-05-24 06:30 UTC — sent
```

The "Last delivery" row reads the most recent `EmailSend` row for this
user. If none, shows "—".

Wire it via the existing settings JS pattern (look for the sync /
tone-toggle handlers in `static/js/`); the endpoints are
`PATCH /api/settings/digest` with body `{opt_in: bool, tone: str}`.

### 4.8 One-click unsubscribe

`GET /email/unsubscribe?token=<base64>`:

- Token is `itsdangerous.URLSafeSerializer` over `{"uid": user_id,
  "purpose": "digest_optout"}`, signed with `CASSANDRA_SECRET`.
- Handler verifies, flips `email_digest_opt_in=False`, renders a tiny
  confirmation page ("You're unsubscribed. Re-enable any time in
  [Settings](/settings).").
- No auth required — that's the whole point of one-click unsubscribe.
- Replay-safe: re-running the same URL is idempotent (the column
  is already false; the page renders the same confirmation).

### 4.9 Scheduler integration

`app/scheduler_main.py` already runs the hourly jobs. Add:

```python
schedule_daily(  # whatever helper exists, or apscheduler equivalent
    "email_digest_job",
    hour=6, minute=30,
    target=email_digest_job.run,
)
```

The job itself decides what to do:

```python
async def run():
    today = utcnow().date()
    if today.weekday() == 6:  # Sunday — weekly digest for everyone
        await _run_weekly()
    else:
        await _run_daily()  # paid only
```

`_run_weekly()` queries all users with `email_digest_opt_in=True`.
`_run_daily()` queries paid users with `email_digest_opt_in=True`.

### 4.10 Pricing copy updates

`app/templates/pricing.html` — modify the bullet lists. New copy:

Free:
- "News aggregator — last 6 hours, auto-tagged by theme" (was: no time qualifier)
- "Cross-asset macro signals across every asset class"
- "Hourly AI interpretation of the news + the tape"
- "Per-group cross-asset summaries"
- "Novice / Intermediate reading levels"
- "**Sunday weekly digest by email**" *(new)*
- "❌ Portfolio import & analysis"
- "❌ Encrypted cloud sync"

Paid (replaces the "Priority email when something material changes (later)" line):
- "Everything in Free"
- "**News aggregator — full 24 hours**" *(replaces the implicit 24h)*
- "Portfolio import (Trading 212 CSV)"
- "AI commentary on diversification, sector and currency concentration, …"
- "Optional encrypted cloud sync across devices"
- "**Daily email digest** (Mon–Sat) + Sunday weekly" *(replaces 'Priority email')*

The intro paragraph at lines 8-13 needs to soften:

> Two tiers. The news aggregator and hourly AI interpretation are
> available to everyone — paid extends the time window from 6h to 24h
> and adds daily editorial by email, plus the portfolio-import features.

(Old copy said "free for everyone — we want the read out where people
can use it." That stance is moderated, not abandoned.)

## 5. Error handling

- **SMTP failure**: per-recipient try/except. Log to `EmailSend` with
  `status="error"`, `error=str(exc)[:255]`. Job continues. Job-level
  failure metrics surface via existing `JobRun` mechanism.
- **OpenRouter failure**: if the content generation fails for both
  tones, the job records `JobRun.status="error"` and sends nothing.
  Half-success (one tone) → send the variant that worked, skip the
  other; users on the failed tone get nothing today (rather than wrong
  content).
- **Cost-cap hit**: same pattern as the hourly job — skip the run with
  a logged reason.
- **Unsubscribe token invalid / tampered**: render the same
  confirmation page generically; do not leak whether the token was
  valid (avoid enumeration).

## 6. Cutover plan

- Migration sets `email_digest_opt_in=True` for all existing users via
  `server_default`. This is the user-requested default — they want
  every paid beta-tester actually receiving the email.
- BETA mode is on from the first deploy.
- News cap is on from the first deploy.
- The first daily run lands at 06:30 UTC the morning after deploy.
- The first weekly run lands at 06:30 UTC the next Sunday.
- A pre-deploy admin CLI command (`python -m app.cli send-test-digest
  --email me@…`) is added for the operator to dry-run a digest into
  their own inbox before flipping the scheduler.

## 7. Testing

- Unit: `is_paid_active` window-clamping, opt-in flag round-trip,
  token signing/verification.
- Integration: `tests/test_news_api.py` — anonymous + free vs paid
  windowing. `tests/test_email_digest.py` — job runs, EmailSend rows
  written, idempotency on re-run within the same day.
- Manual: send-test-digest CLI, click unsubscribe link, verify Settings
  toggle round-trips.

## 8. Open questions

None at design time — all earlier ambiguities (chip scope, window
shape, content shape, send time, tone variants, opt-in default,
unsubscribe model) were resolved during brainstorming.