Launch

/launch — full launch orchestration

You are orchestrating a product launch using two layers:

• CLI (launch/, package @marketing-studio/launch) — everything deterministic: state, validation, posting providers, research fetchers, payload rendering. Run it as node "C:/Projects/animations/../dist/index.js" <cmd> (or launch <cmd> if linked) -- the CLI lives in this package, C:/Projects/animations/...
• This session — everything generative or credentialed-through-MCP: DashClaw infra calls, WebSearch synthesis, draft copywriting, and the approval gates. The CLI never holds DashClaw credentials and never sends email/SMS.

Honesty rule: each step below is labeled [CLI] or [session]. Don't do session work by shelling out, and don't reimplement CLI work inline.

Target <dir> is the project directory being launched (sibling of the engine repo).

Humans can drive the same engine visually with launch ui (local dashboard, same gates — see docs/ui-dashboard.md); this skill remains the autonomous path.

Sequence

1. Intake [CLI]

launch init <dir> --domain <domain> --price <price> [--name --tagline --audience]

Pull flag values from the conversation. Read back <dir>/.launch/launch.config.json and confirm the summary with the user. Re-run with --force if they correct anything.

2. DashClaw setup [session]

1. select_project (or create_project if this product has no DashClaw project yet).
2. create_launch with declared_stack from the config — typically ["domain", "vercel", "stripe", "resend"].
3. preflight_launch — validates every provider token BEFORE any money is spent. If it fails, STOP and present a remediation table (provider → failing check → fix); do not proceed to spend steps.

3. Domain [session] — 💰 SPEND GATE #1

1. check_domain_availability for the config domain (and 2-3 alternatives if taken).
2. Present price and alternatives to the user.
3. SPEND GATE: ask the user for explicit approval with AskUserQuestion and WAIT for their answer. Never call purchase_domain without a fresh approval in this conversation. Record the approval decision via dashclaw_guard + dashclaw_record for the audit trail.
4. On approval: purchase_domain. On decline: skip to step 4 using an already-owned domain or stop.

4. Hosting [session]

1. create_vercel_project (link the product repo).
2. create_vercel_deployment and poll get_vercel_deployment_status until READY.
3. add_vercel_domain for the purchased domain.
4. set_dns_records per Vercel's required records (A/CNAME from the add-domain response); verify with get_dns_records.
5. Set any product env vars with set_vercel_env_var.

5. Payments [session] — 💰 SPEND GATE #2 (live mode)

Stripe best practices: create in TEST mode first, verify the full flow, then — and only then — recreate in live mode behind the gate.

1. create_stripe_product + create_stripe_price (TEST mode) from config pricing.
2. create_stripe_webhook pointing at the product's webhook endpoint; store the signing secret as a Vercel env var (set_vercel_env_var), never in the repo.
3. Verify test checkout end-to-end.
4. SPEND GATE: live mode creates real billable objects. Ask the user for explicit approval with AskUserQuestion and WAIT for their answer before recreating product/price/webhook in live mode. Audit via dashclaw_guard + dashclaw_record.

6. Email infra [session]

1. create_resend_domain for the config domain.
2. set_dns_records with the DKIM/SPF records from the response.
3. verify_resend_domain (DNS propagation can take minutes — poll, don't fail fast).

7. Research [CLI + session]

1. [CLI] launch research <dir> (live mode — keyless fetchers: x-algorithm README, Algolia Show HN winners, hunted.space, per-sub Reddit rules).
2. [session] WebSearch synthesis per platform (queries from THINKING.md: "X algorithm ranking signals ", " LinkedIn algorithm what's working", PH featuring criteria). Write the synthesis into each brief's ## Session research section — the CLI preserves that section on regeneration.
3. [CLI] launch research <dir> --check must pass (all briefs fresh) before copy.

8. Copy [CLI + session]

1. [CLI] launch copy <dir> --scaffold.
2. [session] Fill every draft in <dir>/.launch/drafts/ with real copy written from the research briefs (hooks from Show HN winners, X thread structure, LinkedIn link-in-first-comment, per-sub Reddit angles, email/SMS from the announcement templates). Replace every {{placeholder}} including {{unsubscribeUrl}}.
3. [CLI] launch copy <dir> --validate — loop fill→validate until exit 0.

9. 🚦 PUBLISH GATE [session]

Render EVERY draft (all platforms + the email HTML + SMS text) to the user in one review block. Ask for explicit approval with AskUserQuestion (multiSelect per-platform opt-out) and WAIT for the user's answer. Nothing is published until the user approves; platforms they deselect are skipped. Record the decision via dashclaw_record.

10. Distribute [CLI + session]

1. [CLI] launch post <dir> --all --live — posts X, Bluesky, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit via API; submits sitemap + URL inspection to Google and sitemap + URL submission to Bing; skips blocked providers with a summary; the posted-ledger makes re-runs idempotent. [session] The CLI submits to Google AND Bing when their keys are present; only a missing key is handed to Wes (creds mint bing prints the click path — one key per Bing account, generated once). Before this step the Search Console property must already be verified, and after it the host's analytics is enabled with its tag live. Procedure: ~/.claude/skills/preflight/references/search-registration.md.
2. [CLI] Assisted platforms at their recommended times (from the briefs):
   • launch post <dir> --platform hackernews --assist --live — opens the prefilled Show HN submitlink, copies the maker comment. The HUMAN clicks submit.
   • launch post <dir> --platform producthunt --assist --live — writes .launch/out/producthunt-kit.md, opens the submit page, copies the tagline. Schedule per the kit (12:01 AM PT, low-competition day).
3. [CLI] launch notify <dir> --channel email and --channel sms — renders artifacts + .launch/out/notify-payloads.json (consent-filtered).
4. [session] For each payload entry: send_resend_email / send_twilio_sms with the exact input object. The CLI never sends.

11. Verify & report [CLI + session]

1. [session] verify_launch + get_launch_status for the infra side.
2. [CLI] launch status <dir> for the distribution side.
3. Final report: live URL, posted links from the ledger, pending assisted steps, and the stats command (launch stats <dir> --platform producthunt --slug <slug>).

Failure handling

• Any MCP failure: surface the error verbatim, consult get_launch_status, and fix forward.
• NEVER re-run a spend step (domain purchase, live Stripe) after a failure without a fresh approval gate — check the launch plan state and the audit log first.
• Posting failures: the ledger guarantees completed platforms are skipped on re-run; fix the failing provider (see launch doctor) and re-run launch post <dir> --all --live.
• Credential problems: launch doctor --json gives provider → mode → fix hint; degrade blocked API platforms to assisted/manual instead of failing the launch.

Dry-run rehearsal (run this before any real launch)

No money, no posts, no sends — end to end. launch post is DRY-RUN BY DEFAULT now, so --dry-run below is optional (kept for back-compat) and --live is what actually publishes. --assist is the one exception: it opens a prefilled page and copies text but submits nothing, so it runs for real without --live.

launch init <dir> --domain <domain> --price <price>
launch research <dir> --offline
launch copy <dir> --scaffold
# fill drafts (session) …
launch copy <dir> --validate
launch post <dir> --all --dry-run        # prints exact request payloads, writes nothing
launch notify <dir> --channel email --dry-run
launch notify <dir> --channel sms --dry-run
launch status <dir>

Skip every DashClaw spend step during rehearsal (no purchase_domain, no live Stripe). The rehearsal is green when every command exits 0 and the drafts pass validation.

Credentials

Social API keys live in the engine repo's .env (template: .env.example, per-provider setup cost/time guides in docs/setup-<provider>.md, launch-day checklist in docs/launch-runbook.md). DashClaw infra credentials live with the DashClaw MCP server — this skill calls the tools, the CLI never sees those secrets.