Appendix A — Glossary, checklists, and the video storyboard
Glossary — every term this series used
Git & process
- Repository (repo) — the project plus its full history.
- Commit — one versioned snapshot with a message.
- Branch / merge / rebase — parallel lines of work / combining them / replaying yours on top.
- Worktree — a second checkout of the same repo, for working two branches at once (source of a war story).
- Tag — a named point in history (
blog-v1.0). - CI/CD — automation that tests (CI) and deploys (CD) on push.
- Concurrency group — pipeline lock ensuring one deploy at a time.
Frontend
- SPA — single-page app; the server ships a shell, JavaScript renders pages.
- PWA — progressive web app; installable, offline shell via service worker.
- UI vs UX — what's on the screen vs whether the person succeeds.
- Progressive disclosure — show only what's needed now; hide the rest behind "Advanced."
- Route input binding — URL parameters delivered as component inputs (timing matters — Story 1).
- Signals — reactive values the UI tracks automatically.
- SSR / prerendering — server renders pages per-request / static HTML generated at build time.
Backend & data
- REST / HTTP verbs / status codes — the request vocabulary (GET/POST/PUT/DELETE; 200/201/400/401/404/409/500).
- JWT — signed token carrying claims (user, tenant, permissions).
- Refresh token — long-lived credential rotated to extend sessions.
- ORM (EF Core) — write objects; it writes the SQL.
- Query filter — automatic
WHEREclause (ours: tenant scoping). - Migration — versioned schema-change script; the only legal writer of schema.
- Idempotent — safe to run twice (
ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS). - Transaction / outbox pattern — commit business row + email row atomically; a worker delivers.
- Value object — a type defined by its values (
Money= decimal + currency), equality by content, refuses illegal math. - Nexus — a presence in a US state that triggers sales-tax duties.
Infrastructure
- DNS records: A / MX / TXT — name→IP / mail routing / free-form proofs.
- TLS / certificate / ACME — encryption; the proof you own the domain; the protocol that issues it (Caddy automates).
- Grey-cloud — DNS-only routing (no proxy) — required for direct ACME challenges.
- VPS — your rented Linux box.
- Docker: image / container / compose / volume / network — blueprint / running instance / stack file / persistent disk / private LAN.
- BuildKit secret — credential mounted during build only; never in image layers.
- Rate limiting — per-IP request budgets on public endpoints.
- X-Robots-Tag / robots.txt allowlist — crawler directives; default-closed indexing.
- IndexNow — push protocol telling engines your URLs changed.
llms.txt— markdown menu for AI answer engines.
Product & ops
- Multi-tenancy — many businesses, one system, isolated data.
- RBAC — roles → permissions → guards.
- Share token — unguessable URL as scoped authorization.
- Funnel — stranger → visitor → signup → activated → paid.
- Marginal cost — cost of one more user (ours: ≈0).
- Break-even — subscribers covering fixed costs (ours: 2 Pro).
- GEO (generative-engine optimization) — being the machine-readable answer.
The checklists
Server setup (full walkthrough in Chapter 06):
- Domain bought; nameservers → Cloudflare; A record grey-cloud
- VPS up; compose stack: postgres healthy → api healthy → worker running
- Caddy certificates issued; site loads over HTTPS
- SES identity verified; probe email sent & received
- Email routing rules + verified destinations; probe again
- Nightly backups, size-checked, landing off-box
- Secrets generated on-host; repo secret-scan green
Launch (product-level):
- Signup → onboarding → first invoice sent, tested in a clean browser
- Feedback widget round-trip (submit → email → console → resolve)
- Payments sandbox end-to-end (link → webhook → Paid status)
- robots.txt allowlist reviewed; prerendered pages spot-checked with
curl - Search Console + Bing Webmaster verified; sitemap submitted
- Access logs on; one organic crawl observed
The GIF manifest (record → assets/video-src/ → I convert & embed)
| # | Flow | Chapter | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 60-second product tour (signup → invoice → paid) | 00 | pending |
| 2 | Dev environment boot (docker → api → spa) | 03 | pending |
| 3 | Tenant isolation test (two logins, same screen) | 04 | pending |
| 4 | Quote → public accept → invoice appears | 05 | pending |
| 5 | git push → pipeline → containers healthy → live | 07 | pending |
| 6 | Widget w/ screen recording → console → Resolved | 10 | pending |
| 7 | Generator → email me → signup → draft waiting | 12 | pending |
Recording notes: Xbox Game Bar (Win+Alt+R) or OBS; 1080p+; slow
mouse; mistakes fine (I trim); keep every original MP4 — the 4K video
re-cut comes from these.
Video storyboard — chapter → scene map
| Chapter | Narration beats | Screen / asset |
|---|---|---|
| 00 Intro | What it is; honesty contract | GIF 1 + Draw Things fox-logo reveal |
| 01 Terms | Six drawers, each bites | Animated term→drawer map; Draw Things workbench still |
| 02 Product | User zero; wedge; pricing promise | positioning-map.mmd animated; road-fork still |
| 03 Architecture | Walk the diagram; boring on purpose | architecture.mmd layer-by-layer; GIF 2 |
| 04 Security | Three locks; the proof | lock diagrams; GIF 3 |
| 05 Domain | State machine; tax waterfall | invoice-lifecycle.mmd; calculator B-roll |
| 06 Hosting | Shopping list; grey-cloud; probes | dashboards (blurred); checklist animation |
| 07 CI/CD | Push-to-live; the three lies | deploy-pipeline.mmd; GIF 5 timelapse |
| 08 Economics | The dinner-a-month table; break-even | cost table builds; coin/receipt stills |
| 09 Cadence | Twenty minutes; machines scan | daily-cadence loop; sunrise still |
| 10 Feedback | Report → resolved in 48h | GIF 6; boomerang still |
| 11 Reach | Blind crawlers; prerender; GEO | view-source vs rendered; lighthouse-bot still |
| 12 Engagement | Never lose work; gentle machines | GIF 7; snowball still |
| 13 War stories | Six lessons, one meta-lesson | campfire interstitials; Story-diff overlays |
| Appendix | Series map; CTA | subway-map finale |
Draw Things prompt bank (chapter covers, 16:9, no text): warm editorial illustration style throughout — fox mark silhouette; labeled workbench; road fork; blueprint drafting; vault door in a rack; ledger + calculator; domain deed; freight elevator; receipt under lamplight; sunrise desk; boomerang; text lighthouse; rolling snowball; circuit-board campfire; subway map.
— End of the series draft. Every chapter, diagram, and scar lives in the repo, versioned in git, ready for the camera.