Demo

Demo Mode

Share deployed auth'd surfaces with stakeholders without requiring them to verify. Demo mode creates pre-authenticated links with configurable notification routing and optional workflow suppression.

For full API reference (all flags, notification modes, KV record format), see .mug/docs/demo.md.

Input

Surface name or question: $ARGUMENTS

If no argument provided, ask the user what they need:

• Which surface to demo? (must be auth-gated — not public). Use _home for the workspace home screen.
• Who should view it as? (email or phone identity from their auth table)
• Should notifications fire? If so, where should they go?
• Should workflows run on form submission?

Step 1 — Prerequisites

Verify:

1. Surface exists in surfaces/ and has access.mode set to "identify" or "auth" (demo mode is not needed for public surfaces). Exception: _home (workspace home screen) always requires auth — it is never public.
2. If using --as with an email from the auth table, confirm the identity exists in the table so the surface shows real data
3. Surface is deployed (mug deploy has been run)

Important: The workspace home screen (subdomain.mug.work/) requires authentication. It is NOT public. To demo it, use _home as the surface ID. Demo mode on individual surfaces does NOT carry over to the home screen — you must enable _home separately.

Step 2 — Enable demo mode

# Basic: demo as a specific identity
mug demo enable <surface> --as demo@example.com

# With notification routing
mug demo enable <surface> --as demo@example.com --notify dev
mug demo enable <surface> --as demo@example.com --sms-to +15551234567

# Suppress workflows (show form UI only)
mug demo enable <surface> --as demo@example.com --no-workflows

# Custom expiry
mug demo enable <surface> --as demo@example.com --expires 30d

Present the command and explain what will happen. Wait for confirmation.

Step 3 — Verify demo is active

mug demo status

Test the surface URL in a browser — it should render without requiring verification.

Step 4 — Update workflow code (if needed)

Notification routing is automatic — no code changes needed for ctx.notify.* calls. The --notify mode handles redirection/suppression transparently.

Only add ctx.isDemo guards for non-notification side effects:

workflow("handle-request", async (ctx) => {
  // Notifications auto-routed by demo config — no guard needed
  await ctx.notify.email({ to: params.manager_email, message: "New request" });

  // Guard destructive writes
  if (ctx.isDemo) return;
  await ctx.exec("UPDATE requests SET status = 'submitted' WHERE id = ?", [params.id]);
});

Feature Catalog

Notification modes

Per-channel overrides

Override any mode for specific channels:

• --email-to <address> — redirect email to this address
• --sms-to <phone> — redirect SMS to this number
• --slack-to <channel> — redirect Slack to this channel/user

Overrides take precedence over the mode. Combine with any --notify value.

Workflow suppression

--no-workflows prevents any workflow from firing on surface submissions. The surface still renders, accepts input, and shows success — but nothing executes server-side. Use when demoing form UI without triggering backend logic.

ctx.isDemo

true in workflows triggered from demo surfaces. Notifications are already handled by demo config — use ctx.isDemo only for:

• Destructive database writes
• External API calls (payment processing, third-party integrations)
• State mutations that shouldn't happen during a demo

Suppressed notification logging

All suppressed notifications appear in mug logs step output with the reason:

notify-email-1: suppressed (demo mode: demo-user)
notify-sms-2: suppressed (demo mode: off)

This lets you verify the workflow path without sending real notifications.

Home screen demo

The workspace home screen (subdomain.mug.work/) requires authentication — it is not public. Use _home as the surface ID:

mug demo enable _home --as demo@example.com
mug demo disable _home

Demo mode on _home must be set separately from individual surfaces. Enabling demo on a surface like employee-portal does not make the home screen accessible — visitors still hit the auth gate at the root URL.

Managing demos

mug demo status              # list all active demos
mug demo disable <surface>   # immediately revoke

Demos auto-expire based on --expires (default 7 days). No cleanup needed.

Complete Example

# 1. Create a demo persona in your auth table
mug sql main "INSERT INTO employees (email, name, role) VALUES ('demo@example.com', 'Demo User', 'Technician')"

# 2. Enable demo on both home screen and surfaces
mug demo enable _home --as demo@example.com --notify dev
mug demo enable employee-portal --as demo@example.com --notify dev --sms-to +15551234567

# 3. Share the root URL with stakeholder — they see home screen → surfaces
# https://my-workspace.mug.work/

# 4. When done, disable both
mug demo disable _home
mug demo disable employee-portal