Shaan-alpha · Shaan-alpha · May 28, 2026 · May 28, 2026 · May 28, 2026 · May 28, 2026
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,13 @@ Every version listed here must correspond to a slice in [`PLAN.md`](./PLAN.md) w
 
 ---
 
+## [0.9.8] — 2026-05-29
+
+### Added
+- **Launch landing sections.** Beneath the hero: a "see it in action" row of example profiles linking to live reports, a "how it works" methodology section, and a "Star on GitHub" call-to-action.
+
+---
+
 ## [0.9.7] — 2026-05-28
 
 ### Added

diff --git a/PLAN.md b/PLAN.md
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 | **v0.9.5** | Security review + hardening (OAuth scope ↓ `read:user`, HTTP security headers) | ✅ shipped |
 | **v0.9.6** | Load-test harness (warm /analyze; full 100 RPS run = operator step) | ✅ shipped |
 | **v0.9.7** | Privacy policy + terms + global footer | ✅ shipped |
+| **v0.9.8** | Launch landing sections (examples + how-it-works + star CTA) | ✅ shipped |
 | **v1.0.0** | Public launch | pending |
 
 ---
@@ -705,6 +706,23 @@ The narrative-mode CHECK constraint was a third drift in the same family — the
 
 ---
 
+## v0.9.8 — Launch landing sections (shipped 2026-05-29)
+
+**Goal:** Below-the-fold launch landing sections beneath the existing hero.
+
+**Delivered:** `ExampleProfiles` (clickable example-profile cards → live `/u/<username>` reports — the honest proof), `HowItWorks` (deterministic-methodology feature grid), `StarCta` ("Star on GitHub" → repo). Hero/search/stats untouched; `/` still static-prerendered; responsive. No testimonials/usage-stats (none real). Shipped as v0.9.8, keeping 1.0.0 for the actual launch.
+
+**Design spec:** [`docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-28-v0.9.8-launch-landing-design.md`](./docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-28-v0.9.8-launch-landing-design.md).
+**Sub-plan:** [`docs/superpowers/plans/2026-05-28-v0.9.8-launch-landing.md`](./docs/superpowers/plans/2026-05-28-v0.9.8-launch-landing.md).
+
+**Exit criteria:**
+- [x] Three sections render beneath the hero; hero unchanged; `/` still static.
+- [x] Example cards link to live reports; star CTA → repo (new tab).
+- [x] Smoke test passes; frontend lint/tsc/test/build clean; mobile verified.
+- [x] Docs ritual + version bump to 0.9.8; tag + release.
+
+---
+
 ## v1.0.0 — Public launch
 
 **Goal:** Ship it.

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ Engineering insight first. AI flavor second. Scoring is deterministic and explai
 
 ## Status
 
-Pre-alpha. Latest shipped release is **v0.9.7** (a Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, linked from a new site-wide footer). v0.9.6 before it added a reusable load-test harness for the warm `/analyze` path (full 100 RPS run is an operator step); v0.9.5 ran a full pre-launch security audit — no high/critical findings — tightening the GitHub OAuth scope to read-only and adding HTTP security headers; v0.9.4 made the DB connection pool size env-tunable and genuinely fixed the back-nav search spinner; v0.9.3 added deletable `/me` history with undo, a golden "creator" scorecard for the project's creator account, and a first (incomplete) attempt at the back-nav spinner fix. Live at https://skill-issue-tau.vercel.app — GitHub OAuth sign-in, Neon Postgres persistence, `/me` history, opt-in `/share/[slug]` public links. The AI narrative layer (Roast + Mentor) runs on **Groq** (`llama-3.3-70b-versatile`). v0.7.0 added Upstash Redis caching (warm `/analyze` ≤ 200 ms); v0.7.2 prod-certified the perf budget (CLS 0.080 → **0** structurally, perf 90 → 94, LCP 2,804 → 2,773 ms); v0.8.0 shipped Sentry (FE+BE), PostHog (events + web vitals), structlog JSON logging, on-voice 404, and a full axe a11y pass; v0.8.1 ships the nightly cron with bearer auth; v0.8.2 pairs it with the manual force-refresh button on `/me`; v0.8.3 hotfixes the empty-repo crash; v0.8.4 fixes the silent narrative misattribution; v0.8.5 closes the post-deploy-Sentry loop with a pre-merge CI gate; v0.8.6 closes v0.7.1's deferred share-page caching; v0.8.7 modernizes project config; v0.9.0 opens Beta hardening with bounded GH fan-out; v0.9.1 closes the /me N+1 + adds per-namespace Report cache versioning; v0.9.2 adds rate limiting (per-IP for anonymous, higher per-user caps for signed-in) on `/analyze` and `/narrative`; v0.9.3 adds deletable `/me` history with undo, attempts the back-nav search-spinner fix, and gilds the creator's scorecard. v0.9.4 makes the DB connection pool size env-tunable (defaults unchanged — RUM showed no pool exhaustion) and lands the real back-nav spinner fix (the v0.9.3 attempt addressed the wrong mechanism); v0.9.5 runs a full pre-launch security audit (no high/critical findings), tightens the OAuth scope to `read:user`, and adds HTTP security headers; v0.9.6 adds a reusable load-test harness for the warm `/analyze` path (the full 100 RPS run is an operator step); v0.9.7 adds a Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, linked from a new global footer. **v1.0.0 — public launch** is next. See [`CHANGELOG.md`](./CHANGELOG.md) for shipped slices, [`PLAN.md`](./PLAN.md) for the full roadmap, and [`docs/PROGRESS_LOG.md`](./docs/PROGRESS_LOG.md) for the most recent session handoff.
+Pre-alpha. Latest shipped release is **v0.9.8** (launch landing sections — example reports, a "how it works" methodology section, and a GitHub-star CTA). v0.9.7 before it added a Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, linked from a new site-wide footer; v0.9.6 added a reusable load-test harness for the warm `/analyze` path (full 100 RPS run is an operator step); v0.9.5 ran a full pre-launch security audit — no high/critical findings — tightening the GitHub OAuth scope to read-only and adding HTTP security headers; v0.9.4 made the DB connection pool size env-tunable and genuinely fixed the back-nav search spinner; v0.9.3 added deletable `/me` history with undo, a golden "creator" scorecard for the project's creator account, and a first (incomplete) attempt at the back-nav spinner fix. Live at https://skill-issue-tau.vercel.app — GitHub OAuth sign-in, Neon Postgres persistence, `/me` history, opt-in `/share/[slug]` public links. The AI narrative layer (Roast + Mentor) runs on **Groq** (`llama-3.3-70b-versatile`). v0.7.0 added Upstash Redis caching (warm `/analyze` ≤ 200 ms); v0.7.2 prod-certified the perf budget (CLS 0.080 → **0** structurally, perf 90 → 94, LCP 2,804 → 2,773 ms); v0.8.0 shipped Sentry (FE+BE), PostHog (events + web vitals), structlog JSON logging, on-voice 404, and a full axe a11y pass; v0.8.1 ships the nightly cron with bearer auth; v0.8.2 pairs it with the manual force-refresh button on `/me`; v0.8.3 hotfixes the empty-repo crash; v0.8.4 fixes the silent narrative misattribution; v0.8.5 closes the post-deploy-Sentry loop with a pre-merge CI gate; v0.8.6 closes v0.7.1's deferred share-page caching; v0.8.7 modernizes project config; v0.9.0 opens Beta hardening with bounded GH fan-out; v0.9.1 closes the /me N+1 + adds per-namespace Report cache versioning; v0.9.2 adds rate limiting (per-IP for anonymous, higher per-user caps for signed-in) on `/analyze` and `/narrative`; v0.9.3 adds deletable `/me` history with undo, attempts the back-nav search-spinner fix, and gilds the creator's scorecard. v0.9.4 makes the DB connection pool size env-tunable (defaults unchanged — RUM showed no pool exhaustion) and lands the real back-nav spinner fix (the v0.9.3 attempt addressed the wrong mechanism); v0.9.5 runs a full pre-launch security audit (no high/critical findings), tightens the OAuth scope to `read:user`, and adds HTTP security headers; v0.9.6 adds a reusable load-test harness for the warm `/analyze` path (the full 100 RPS run is an operator step); v0.9.7 adds a Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, linked from a new global footer; v0.9.8 adds launch landing sections (example reports, a how-it-works section, a GitHub-star CTA). **v1.0.0 — public launch** is next. See [`CHANGELOG.md`](./CHANGELOG.md) for shipped slices, [`PLAN.md`](./PLAN.md) for the full roadmap, and [`docs/PROGRESS_LOG.md`](./docs/PROGRESS_LOG.md) for the most recent session handoff.
 
 ---
 
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ cp .env.example .env        # then edit .env and add your GITHUB_TOKEN and OPENA
 uv run uvicorn app.main:app --reload --port 8000
 ```
 
-Verify: `curl http://localhost:8000/health` → `{"status":"ok","version":"0.9.7","db":"up"|"down","cache":"up"|"down"|"unconfigured"}`. The `db` field reports DB reachability when `DATABASE_URL` is configured; the `cache` field reports Upstash reachability (`unconfigured` when `UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_URL` isn't set — perfectly fine for local dev, the in-process fallback covers it).
+Verify: `curl http://localhost:8000/health` → `{"status":"ok","version":"0.9.8","db":"up"|"down","cache":"up"|"down"|"unconfigured"}`. The `db` field reports DB reachability when `DATABASE_URL` is configured; the `cache` field reports Upstash reachability (`unconfigured` when `UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_URL` isn't set — perfectly fine for local dev, the in-process fallback covers it).
 Hit the analyzer: `curl http://localhost:8000/analyze/octocat`.
 
 ### Frontend (`:3000`)

diff --git a/backend/app/settings.py b/backend/app/settings.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings, SettingsConfigDict
 
-VERSION = "0.9.7"
+VERSION = "0.9.8"
 
 
 class Settings(BaseSettings):

diff --git a/backend/pyproject.toml b/backend/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "skill-issue-backend"
-version = "0.9.7"
+version = "0.9.8"
 description = "Skill Issue backend — FastAPI service that ingests a GitHub profile and returns a deterministic engineering report."
 readme = "README.md"
 authors = [

diff --git a/backend/uv.lock b/backend/uv.lock
diff --git a/docs/PROGRESS_LOG.md b/docs/PROGRESS_LOG.md
@@ -19,6 +19,30 @@ Format:
 
 ---
 
+## 2026-05-29 — Claude (Opus 4.7) — v0.9.8 shipped (launch landing sections)
+
+**Slice:** v0.9.8 — below-the-fold launch sections beneath the hero. First v1.0.0-prep piece (the user picked "marketing landing variant"); the launch itself stays human-gated as v1.0.0.
+
+**Done:**
+- Three new client section components under `frontend/src/components/landing/`: `ExampleProfiles` (clickable cards for torvalds/gaearon/sindresorhus/antfu/yyx990803/tj → live `/u/<username>` reports), `HowItWorks` (4-point deterministic-methodology grid), `StarCta` ("Star on GitHub" → repo, new tab). Wired into `page.tsx` after the hero (hero container changed from `flex-1` fill to a `min-h-[calc(100vh-header)]` section; fragment + 3 sections below).
+- 1 smoke test (`example-profiles.test.tsx`) — mocks `framer-motion` to plain divs (the happy-dom `m.*` lesson) and asserts 6 cards + the `/u/torvalds` link. Frontend vitest 57 → 58.
+- Docs ritual + version bump to 0.9.8.
+
+**Decisions:**
+- **Honest proof only** — example reports (live, clickable), no testimonials/usage-stats (user confirmed none real). The repo wasn't selected as a proof asset, but the user separately asked for a **Star-on-GitHub CTA** to grow stars — added as the closing section.
+- **Static star button, no live count** — a live count needs a GitHub-API server fetch, which trips the Cache-Components prerender guard (cf. the v0.9.7 `new Date()` lesson); static keeps `/` cleanly static. Count is a later enhancement.
+- **Hero untouched; shipped v0.9.8, not 1.0.0** — 1.0.0 is reserved for the actual launch (its exit criteria are about live traffic). Avatars via plain `<img>` (`github.com/<u>.png`) to skip an image-config change.
+
+**Verified:**
+- Frontend `lint` + `tsc` clean; vitest 58 passed; `next build` clean with `/` still `○ Static`. Backend untouched (290 pass).
+- Visual check of the three sections (desktop + mobile): operator quick-confirm on prod after deploy — the smoke test + build only cover structure, not appearance.
+
+**Blocked / open:** none for v0.9.8. v1.0.0 (public launch) is human-gated.
+
+**Next:** v1.0.0 — public launch (domain + SSL, launch posts, 72h-stable traffic, on-call, retro). Pre-launch reminders still open: professional legal review; run the full 100 RPS load test.
+
+---
+
 ## 2026-05-28 — Claude (Opus 4.7) — v0.9.7 shipped (privacy + terms)
 
 **Slice:** v0.9.7 — the final pre-1.0 slice. Privacy Policy + Terms of Service pages + a new global footer.