[ROADMAP] SignalFlow Studio — product, cloud, extension, UI, and stabilization backlog

[Ankit6149]

Product direction

SignalFlow Studio is one product with two deployment profiles:

1. Hosted cloud — for users who should be able to sign up, capture context, generate content, save it, return from another device, collaborate, export, and publish without knowing GitHub, terminals, API endpoints, provider model IDs, or self-hosting.
2. Local/self-hosted — for privacy-focused and technical users who want browser/local persistence, temporary BYOK credentials, local models, MCP, and trusted local repository access.

Both profiles must share the same campaign, source, asset, generation, draft, review, export, extension, and publication contracts. Cloud functionality must be implemented through adapters and services—not as a second product or another divergent frontend/backend.

How to use this roadmap

• Epics describe product outcomes and boundaries.
• Implementation issues are independently testable units of work.
• The original [P0][Plan 1] SF-002 — Mark review stale when generation inputs change #16–[P0][Plan 6] SF-038 — Prove V1 with real providers, connectors, MCP, exports, and release gates #53 issues remain the stabilization layer; they are not discarded.
• New [EPIC] Product architecture and deployment profiles #55–[P0][QA/Ops] Build end-to-end acceptance, correlation-based observability, and release evidence #109 issues add missing product architecture, hosted/cloud, extension, asset, UI, collaboration, security, contributor, and operational depth.
• Keep one primary implementation issue active at a time unless two issues have a documented stable contract boundary.
• Do not close issues for partial code. Attach test/evidence notes and explicitly list anything still incomplete.

Product epics

• [EPIC] Product architecture and deployment profiles #55 — Product architecture and deployment profiles
• [EPIC] Beginner-first hosted product experience #56 — Beginner-first hosted product experience
• [EPIC] Cloud data platform, synchronization, and background processing #57 — Cloud data platform, synchronization, and background processing
• [EPIC] Browser extension and capture pipeline #58 — Browser extension and capture pipeline
• [EPIC] Asset library, processing, provenance, and reuse #59 — Asset library, processing, provenance, and reuse
• [EPIC] Campaign workspace, editor, autosave, and version history #60 — Campaign workspace, editor, autosave, and version history
• [EPIC] Generation orchestration, providers, quality, and cost control #61 — Generation orchestration, providers, quality, and cost control
• [EPIC] UI/UX design system, layout quality, responsiveness, and accessibility #62 — UI/UX design system, layout quality, responsiveness, and accessibility
• [EPIC] Collaboration, review, approvals, connectors, and publishing #63 — Collaboration, review, approvals, connectors, and publishing
• [EPIC] Security, privacy, tenant isolation, and user trust #64 — Security, privacy, tenant isolation, and user trust
• [EPIC] Contributor experience, architecture documentation, and issue quality #65 — Contributor experience, architecture documentation, and issue quality
• [EPIC] QA, observability, performance, release operations, and rollback #66 — QA, observability, performance, release operations, and rollback

Recommended execution gates

Gate 1 — Canonical architecture and data integrity

• [P0][Architecture] Define the hosted, local, and self-hosted capability matrix #67 deployment/session capability matrix — merged in feat: add capability discovery and atomic generation acceptance #110
• [P0][Architecture] Establish shared domain contracts and adapter boundaries #68 shared domain contracts and adapter boundaries — merged in feat: establish domain contracts and authoritative campaign exports #111
• [P0][Plan 1] SF-002 — Mark review stale when generation inputs change #16 source freshness — merged in fix: track campaign source freshness #54
• [P0][Plan 1] SF-003 — Reject fallback responses before mutating campaign state #17 atomic generation-response acceptance — merged in feat: add capability discovery and atomic generation acceptance #110
• [P0][Plan 1] SF-004 — Protect manual edits during regeneration #18 edit-safe regeneration
• [P0][Plan 1] SF-005 — Use one authoritative draft in saves and exports #19 authoritative drafts and export projection — merged in feat: establish domain contracts and authoritative campaign exports #111
• [P1][Plan 1] SF-022 — Show explicit dirty, stale, edited, saved, and version states #20 dirty/stale/edited/saved/version state
• [P2][Plan 1] SF-023 — Stop same-title campaigns from overwriting each other #21 stable campaign identity and persistence
• [P1][Architecture] Design local-to-cloud import, export, and compatibility migration #69 local/cloud portable migration contract

Next Gate 1 implementation issue: #18. The domain/application/adapter foundation and canonical browser Campaign migration are now established; do not bypass them by adding database, storage, queue, export, or persistence logic directly to UI handlers.

Gate 2 — Source, asset, and extension foundations

• [P0][Plan 3] SF-001 — Align links-only campaign readiness with server validation #22 links-only readiness
• [P1][Plan 3] SF-010 — Normalize GitHub URLs before validation and ingestion #23 GitHub URL normalization
• [P1][Plan 3] SF-011 — Improve repository file planning and nested app discovery #24 repository planning and nested application discovery
• [P1][Plan 3] SF-009 — Make local repository mode reachable only in trusted deployments #25 trusted local repository mode
• [P1][Plan 3] SF-012 — Normalize media MIME types into semantic source categories #26 media semantic normalization
• [P0][Assets] Define the canonical Asset and SourceArtifact contract with provenance #86 canonical Asset/SourceArtifact contract
• [P0][Extension] Define least-privilege permissions, capture threat model, and privacy boundaries #78 extension permission and threat model
• [P0][Extension] Build installation, sign-in, deployment pairing, and workspace targeting #79 extension pairing and workspace target
• [P0][Extension] SF-033 — Implement a versioned acknowledged extension-to-Studio ingestion bridge #41 acknowledged extension-to-Studio bridge
• [P1][Extension] Capture page context, selected text, links, and user notes with provenance #80 page context capture

This gate establishes contracts before screenshot, recording, cloud storage, or asset-library UI is expanded.

Gate 3 — Reliable generation and jobs

• [P0][Plan 2] SF-006 — Replace destination burst with bounded generation concurrency #27 bounded destination concurrency
• [P0][Plan 2] SF-007 — Add a real strategy quality gate before channel generation #28 strategy quality gate
• [P1][Plan 2] SF-008 — Add persistent failed-channel recovery and retry #29 failed-channel recovery
• [P1][Plan 2] SF-013 — Resolve YouTube duration and timestamp validation contradiction #30 YouTube timing/evidence consistency
• [P1][Plan 2] SF-014 — Activate cross-channel duplicate detection in orchestration #31 cross-channel duplicate detection
• [P1][Plan 2] SF-015 — Distinguish needs-review drafts from completed drafts #32 needs-review state
• [P1][Plan 2] SF-016 — Normalize provider errors into actionable recovery states #33 provider errors
• [P1][Plan 2] SF-017 — Add request, context, concurrency, and cost controls #34 request/context/cost controls
• [P1][Plan 2] SF-036 — Expand MCP into a complete campaign workflow #35 complete MCP workflow
• [P1][Plan 2] SF-037 — Prevent long MCP generation from blocking unrelated requests #36 non-blocking MCP requests
• [P0][Cloud] Add a durable background job system for ingestion, generation, export, and publishing #73 durable background jobs
• [P0][Hosted UX] Make managed generation the default and move BYOK/local models to Advanced #75 managed generation default with Advanced BYOK/local routes
• [P1][UI/UX] Build a persistent generation progress and recovery workspace #94 generation progress/recovery workspace
• [P1][Cloud] Add usage metering, quotas, and a billing-ready ledger without premature pricing #106 usage/quota ledger

Gate 4 — UI architecture and complete layout coverage

• [P1][Plan 5] SF-018 — Consolidate eight global CSS layers into scoped design architecture #44 remove competing global CSS layers
• [P1][Plan 5] SF-019 — Split the monolithic client component into route and feature modules #45 split the monolithic client component
• [P0][UI/UX] Establish design tokens, layout primitives, and component usage rules #90 design tokens, layout primitives, and component rules
• [P1][UI/UX] Rebuild the global app shell, navigation, and workspace context #91 global app shell and navigation
• [P1][UI/UX] Redesign the campaign source workspace for clear hierarchy and correct space usage #92 source-workspace layout
• [P1][UI/UX] Redesign destination selection and model setup with progressive disclosure #93 destination/model layout
• [P0][UI/UX] Rebuild the Review editor, channel navigation, inspector, and action hierarchy #95 Review editor/inspector/action hierarchy
• [P1][UI/UX] Standardize Campaigns, Assets, Connections, Settings, and legal/support layouts #96 Campaigns/Assets/Connections/Settings/legal layouts
• [P0][UI/UX] Define responsive breakpoints, reflow rules, and zoom-safe behavior for every core workflow #97 responsive, reflow, and zoom behavior
• [P0][Accessibility] Make the complete hosted and local workflow keyboard and screen-reader usable #98 accessibility
• [P0][UI QA] Add visual regression fixtures for layout, long content, and every workflow state #99 visual regression and stress fixtures

UI work is not complete until desktop, tablet, mobile, 200%/400% zoom, long content, loading, empty, error, permission, offline, and partial-failure states pass.

Gate 5 — Hosted cloud foundation

• [P0][Cloud] Implement hosted authentication, account recovery, and workspace selection #70 hosted authentication and workspace selection
• [P0][Cloud] Design and implement the multi-tenant database schema and repository layer #71 multi-tenant database and repository layer
• [P0][Cloud] Implement object storage and resumable asset uploads #72 object storage and resumable uploads
• [P0][Cloud] Implement autosave, cross-device synchronization, and conflict recovery #74 autosave, cross-device sync, and conflict recovery
• [P0][Security] Implement centralized authorization and prove tenant isolation across every surface #104 centralized authorization and tenant isolation
• [P0][Security] Build secret management, privacy controls, retention, and redacted observability #105 secret management, privacy, retention, and redacted observability
• [P0][Cloud Ops] Implement database/storage migrations, backups, restore drills, and disaster recovery #107 migrations, backups, restore, and disaster recovery
• [P1][Hosted UX] Build guided onboarding and a safe first-campaign experience #76 guided onboarding
• [P1][Hosted UX] Create plain-language help, recovery guidance, and account data controls #77 plain-language help and account data controls

Cloud work is not production-ready until tenant isolation, conflict handling, deletion, backups, and restore are proven.

Gate 6 — Complete extension and asset product

• [P1][Extension] Implement visible-tab, region, and supported full-page screenshot capture #81 visible/region/full-page screenshots
• [P1][Extension] Implement tab, window, and screen recording with explicit lifecycle controls #82 tab/window/screen recording
• [P1][Extension] Add capture review, metadata, annotation, and redaction before delivery #83 capture review, metadata, annotation, and redaction
• [P0][Extension] Implement an offline upload queue with retry, cancellation, and duplicate protection #84 offline delivery queue
• [P1][Extension] Establish browser compatibility, version negotiation, diagnostics, and release packaging #85 browser compatibility, diagnostics, and store release
• [P1][Assets] Build the asset inbox and reusable asset library #87 asset inbox/library
• [P1][Assets] Add thumbnail, extraction, OCR, transcription, and analysis processing adapters #88 processing adapters: thumbnail/extraction/OCR/transcription/analysis
• [P1][Assets] Implement content hashing, duplicate handling, retention, and deletion semantics #89 hashing, duplicate handling, retention, and deletion

The extension must never claim delivery before durable acknowledgement and must never hide recording/capture scope from the user.

Gate 7 — Collaboration, connectors, and publication

• [P1][Collaboration] Implement workspace members, invitations, roles, and permission-aware UI #100 workspace members, invitations, and roles
• [P1][Collaboration] Add comments, review requests, version-specific approvals, and activity history #101 comments, review requests, version-specific approvals, and activity
• [P1][Connectors] Show verified account identity, scopes, capabilities, and expiry before publishing #102 verified connector account identity/scopes/capabilities
• [P0][Publishing] Implement idempotent immediate and scheduled publication jobs #103 idempotent immediate and scheduled publication jobs
• [P1][Plan 5] SF-021 — Prevent misleading ready states for owner-only model routes #47 permission-aware readiness
• [P2][Plan 5] SF-024 — Make publishing secondary to review, save, and export #48 review-first publishing hierarchy

Publication success must always be backed by the destination API; manual copy/open/export is not direct publishing.

Gate 8 — Product truth, contributor readiness, and release proof

• [P1][Plan 4] SF-029 — Rewrite README to match the real model-only product #37 README truth — merged in feat: establish domain contracts and authoritative campaign exports #111
• [P1][Plan 4] SF-030 — Remove obsolete generation claims from privacy, llms, and schema surfaces #38 privacy/llms/schema truth
• [P1][Plan 4] SF-031 — Remove or isolate placeholder experimental API routes #39 remove placeholder routes
• [P1][Plan 4] SF-032 — Remove unsupported Playwright capture from production routes #40 remove unsupported Playwright capture
• [P2][Plan 4] SF-034 — Correct or remove the broken legacy SessionBridge migration #42 correct/remove SessionBridge migration
• [P1][Plan 4] SF-035 — Retire the divergent Python FastAPI product architecture #43 retire divergent Python product architecture
• [P1][Contributors] Publish architecture docs, issue templates, fixtures, and contribution paths #108 architecture docs, issue/PR templates, fixtures, and contribution paths
• [P0][QA/Ops] Build end-to-end acceptance, correlation-based observability, and release evidence #109 E2E acceptance, correlation-based observability, and release evidence
• [P0][Plan 6] SF-038 — Prove V1 with real providers, connectors, MCP, exports, and release gates #53 credential-backed V1 release gate

PR #111 also corrected currently discovered stale Privacy, Open Graph, structured-data, capability, architecture, migration, open-source, and root/deployed AI-context claims. Issue #38 remains open for its broader legal/metadata/schema acceptance scope rather than being partially closed by those updates.

Issue quality standard

Every implementation issue should contain, where relevant:

• product problem and affected user;
• current behavior/evidence and target behavior;
• exact scope and explicit non-goals;
• UX states, layout, responsive, and accessibility expectations;
• domain/API/event/storage contracts;
• hosted/local/extension/MCP implications;
• security, privacy, permission, quota, and tenant considerations;
• dependencies, migration, compatibility, rollout, and rollback;
• measurable acceptance criteria;
• unit, contract, integration, E2E, visual, accessibility, load, security, or credential-backed tests;
• observability and documentation changes;
• definition of done that prevents partial-completion claims.

Per-issue completion gate

• Acceptance criteria pass.
• Required tests exist and pass.
• Existing relevant tests still pass.
• Production build/package passes.
• Relevant user flow is exercised end to end.
• Responsive and accessibility requirements are verified when UI is touched.
• No secret/private content appears in logs, analytics, diagnostics, screenshots, or evidence.
• Migration, compatibility, deployment, and rollback are handled where applicable.
• Documentation and public claims remain truthful.
• Verification evidence is attached to the issue/PR.

Product completion gate

SignalFlow is not production-ready merely because all code compiles. Hosted/local web, extension, cloud persistence/jobs, providers, connectors, MCP, assets, exports, accessibility, observability, deployment, backup/restore, and rollback must match the capabilities publicly claimed.