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Call notes — Data Model / CMS (2026-06-29)

Primary source. Verbatim summary pasted from the call; distilled into 02-product-domain.md, 04-mvp-scope.md, 06-content-migration-risk.md. Transcript (Granola): https://notes.granola.ai/t/0715888a-d1b4-4f41-8390-909f7bf841f5

Note: "Payload" appears below as an example CMS alongside "Sanity, Payload, etc." The decision leans Wagtail (ADR-0001); Payload here is illustrative, not the chosen tool.

Content Architecture and UX Concepts

  • App centers on a "portal" metaphor: splash screen animates through a door into a master homepage
  • Master homepage is the first touchpoint (not theme-filtered), featuring curated content, journeys, and a top passage
  • Two distinct content structuring mechanisms:
  • Themes: thematic/mood-based filters (grief, joy, myth, courage, etc.); switching theme recolors the whole UI
  • Journeys: editorially curated reading lists/courses (e.g., "Seven Days with CS Lewis", Narnia); can span multiple themes
  • Passage types at the top of the homepage:
  • From a letter: links to the full letter (short enough to hold in-app)
  • From a book: links to a "Work" landing page with title, quote, and buy CTA (no e-reader)
  • AI interpretations attached to each piece of content; editor QA'd but AI-generated
  • Displayed as a prompt/lens before reading (e.g., "What if loneliness was a dog?")
  • Applies to the chapter if content is in a journey; applies to the standalone piece if not
  • Reflections tied to context:
  • Standalone piece: reflection attached to that piece
  • Journey chapter: reflection attached at chapter completion
  • Soul Map = visual representation of bookmarks and reflections; out of scope for Phase 1

CMS Approach and Content Migration

  • CMS is the centerpiece: the app is essentially a styled content engine
  • Strong preference for an existing CMS (Sanity, Payload, etc.) over building from scratch
  • Needs: taxonomy/tag relationships, hierarchical content, reverse lookups, document matching
  • Content migration is the biggest risk and sequencing challenge:
  • No raw content received yet (unknown format: PDF, JSON, rows?)
  • AI pipeline planned to process corpus: extract passages, generate interpretations, apply tags
  • Preference for a script-based approach over pure AI to avoid hallucinated quotes
  • Content entry explicitly excluded from Fueled's statement of work
  • Phase 1 CMS priorities:
  • Basic CMS setup with Payload
  • Passage defined with body type, content type (letter, poem, nonfiction), source, theme tags, draft/review/published workflow stages, image attachment
  • Tag types for passages and articles
  • Direct data access via API

Phase 1 Scope and Next Steps

  • Authentication: simple email/password login; Apple ID or Google ID as stretch; guest mode for unauthenticated users
  • Basic user profile and reflection storage
  • API-side authentication pipeline to be started this week
  • Podcast = just a receptacle for future content; not built yet
  • Client needs to approve CMS recommendation before build starts (potential hosting/licensing costs not yet communicated)
  • 14-week timeline is extremely tight; realistic only with a content subset to start
  • Demo deferred: Lina to share a URL or reschedule for Wednesday

Next Steps

  • Prepare CMS recommendation for client approval — client signs off before build begins; hosting/licensing costs may not yet be on their radar.
  • Define content subset for Phase 1 migration — agree a manageable set of letters/passages to seed the CMS before curation or journey-building.
  • Start authentication and basic user profile on the API side this week (Mayank) — email/password login, guest mode, reflection storage.
  • Reschedule demo to Wednesday (Lina) — share a URL or confirm Wednesday slot.