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Foundations Checklist

Use this before building major feature slices.

This file exists to stop implementation from drifting away from the actual starter product boundary.

Product Foundations​

  • define the starter's core job: provide the hard operational foundation for real B2B2C SaaS apps
  • define the three primary surfaces: org, portal, and platform
  • define that enterprise identity and provisioning are not in the launch tier
  • define the launch-tier feature promise in one short, stable checklist suitable for docs and marketing reuse
  • define what counts as premium or later-tier work versus core starter baseline
  • confirm billing depth scope: which of seat counts, usage limits, and downgrade behavior are launch-tier versus Phase 2
  • confirm API productization minimum: what the external API surface must look like before Phase 4 marketing claims it

Operational Foundations​

  • lock org, portal, and platform identity boundaries
  • lock billing, entitlement, webhook, export, audit, and notification baseline concepts
  • lock maintenance mode, feature flags, and incident notice baseline concepts
  • confirm which remaining billing-provider details are required before launch versus explicitly deferred
  • confirm which operational API capabilities are part of the launch tier versus later productization work
  • confirm seat-count and usage-limit enforcement is in place before billing is considered launch-ready
  • confirm impersonation and portal support-session lifecycle is fully audited and testable
  • confirm webhook event catalog is stable enough to document before Phase 5

Hardening Foundations​

  • browser-validate the critical auth and workspace-entry flows
  • browser-validate the critical billing and premium-operations flows
  • finish rate-limit enforcement on remaining sensitive callsites
  • confirm cleanup and retention behavior with realistic seeded data
  • confirm audit coverage on the highest-risk operator actions

Starter Experience Foundations​

  • confirm a clean bootstrap path from env setup to first successful app run
  • confirm seed and demo paths showcase the starter's real value without manual repair steps
  • confirm setup docs are sufficient for a developer who did not build the repo
  • confirm branding, theming, and extension points are documented tightly enough for downstream app forks

Commercial Readiness Foundations​

  • confirm the docs describe shipped functionality only
  • confirm the roadmap reflects starter reality instead of a legacy product roadmap
  • confirm launch-tier non-goals are stated explicitly so marketing does not imply enterprise scope
  • confirm the feature list is honest, crisp, and grounded in runtime behavior

Build Readiness Rule​

Before starting a major new phase:

  1. check this file
  2. mark the prerequisite decisions and validation work that are complete
  3. if a prerequisite is still missing, add that work to the roadmap before implementation