Changelog
What we shipped, what changed, what we learned.
Member profiles require a name
Display name is now required to save a profile on /account. Client-side validation + server 400. Fixes 19 empty profiles that were cluttering the directory.
Completed courses now reviewable
Finished courses show 'Review course' button instead of greyed-out 'Completed' text. Links to first lesson for easy re-access.
/homeschool curriculum
5 lesson plans at /homeschool adapted from the Classroom Kit. Parent notes on every lesson, 10 discussion prompts, One-Pager exercise. Email-gated. Built around The Fundamentals of Value (free course).
/workflows — gated AI workflow articles
New section at /workflows for short, tactical build logs. Markdown-based with YAML frontmatter. Content splits at a gate marker: free preview up front, full implementation details behind membership.
13 workflow articles
Tactical build logs: How Package Was Built, Build by Talking, How This Site Was Built, How jackbutcher.md Was Made, How vvriter Works, 55K Customers Zero Passwords, How Self Checkout Worked, How We Migrated 55K Customers, Course Platform Without an LMS, Compound Context Built With AI, Education Program in One Session, 607 Reviews to Social Proof Engine, Migrating 282 Course Images. All written in jackbutcher.md voice.
Content connection pass
Cross-linking between workflows, courses, tools, visuals, and art. Workflow articles link to related courses and tools. Course visuals now link to /visuals/{id}. Visual detail pages show 'Featured in' courses. Homepage has Workflows section. Tools page links to related courses. Footer expanded. llms.txt updated with all workflows. Sitemap added 6 missing pages. JSON-LD Article schema on workflows.
Visual migration tool
Admin tool at /vv-admin/visual-migration with three tabs. Migration: review 282 Mighty Networks images, approve/skip/search/import as new, back button for undo. Format Fixer: canvas-based 1:1 crop on black background, drag to position, scroll to scale, color inversion for white images, upload replacement. Enrich: surfaces 34 lessons without images, suggests best VV visual match by context, insert at top or bottom.
Citation finder
Admin tool to track where VV visuals appear across the internet.
Profile nudge bar
Persistent top bar for logged-in members with empty profile. Links to /account. Dismissible per session.
Classroom kit
Free teaching materials at /education/classroom-kit. 5 lesson plans (50 min each), 8 discussion prompts, 'The One-Pager' student exercise. Built around The Fundamentals of Value.
Account page: logout + non-member restrictions
Logout button on /account. Profile editor and directory link hidden for non-members. "Already a member? Log in" added to all membership walls.
Security hardening
Full audit of 73 API routes. Rate limiting on education forms, subscribe, and nomination endpoints. Stripe checkout quantity capped at 100.
Member survey in account page
"Help us serve you better" on /account — role, stage, biggest challenge, learning preferences, most valuable. Pill-button selectors. Private answers. Members only.
Remaining free language cleaned up
Fixed 'all free' copy on learn page, about page, tools page. Only Fundamentals is marked free.
Social platform picker
Member profiles on /account now support X, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, or GitHub. Directory links go to the correct platform URL.
Lesson viewer
Vertical divider between sidebar and content. Edit button right-aligned in outline pill (admin only). Body text bumped to 16px.
Review syndication campaign
Email template asking course completers to review on Google, Trustpilot, and Class Central. 607 reviews on Trustshop — now we need them where people actually search.
Membership upsell email
After finishing the free course: 'Ready for the next one?' Pitches $9/mo membership. Prints upsell now only fires for paid courses.
Course SEO
Rich metadata, OpenGraph, and JSON-LD Course schema on every course page. Aggregate ratings, instructor, offers. All 5 courses added to sitemap at priority 0.8.
Grandfathered customer sync
55,632 prior Shopify customer emails cached in the database. Subscription check now does instant DB lookup instead of live Shopify API calls. Read how the migration worked.
Membership sales page
Complete rework of /membership: hero with stats (607 reviews, 55k students), pricing with inline auth, all 5 courses listed, 6 reviews from 3 courses, credibility section, FAQ including Shopify grandfathering.
Course landing pages
Full rework of course pages: tagline, stats, featured VV visuals, embedded preview lessons with video, highlight blocks (quotes, frameworks, principles), AI review summaries, top reviews with full text, then curriculum.
Stripe Customer Portal
Members can manage their subscription, update payment, or cancel directly from /account. One API call to Stripe Billing Portal.
Community directory
/members — members-only directory with search. Name, one-liner, courses completed, social links (X, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, GitHub). Visibility toggle per member.
/graduate landing page
/graduate — Permissionless Apprentice positioned as the course that picks up where school leaves off. 12 hand-picked reviews. AI disruption angle. Complementary to education, not adversarial.
Compound Context v4
Every lesson in Compound Context now pairs the timeless principle with a concrete implementation from actual VV build work. 'In practice' blocks feature code snippets, flow diagrams, metric cards, before/after comparisons, and live links to the features they describe.
Changelog
Public build log at /changelog. Every ship, update, and experiment since day one.
Visual search
Stemming, synonym expansion, and tiered scoring on visuals. "Building" now matches "build", "built", "builder". Related concepts surface automatically.
Print bundles + cross-sell
Any 3 prints for $150. All 6 for $300. Cross-sell section on every print page.
Header image tool
Search VV visuals by keyword, auto-crop to 5:2 with content detection and Carbon Bold watermark, download as PNG. Built for X article headers.
Membership gating
Fundamentals of Value stays free. All other courses and tools require an active membership.
Membership
$9/month or $99/year. Full access to all courses, tools, and everything we build going forward. Prior Shopify customers grandfathered automatically.
Reviews page
607 five-star reviews across all 3 courses, all in one place. Masonry layout, organized by course.
Education one-pager
Print-ready overview at /education/one-pager. Stats, courses, pricing, quotes. Download for budget approval conversations.
Nominate your school
Students nominate a school — we send a warm intro. Instant reward: 1 free month of membership. If the school starts a pilot: free print shipped.
Free pilot program
10 schools get the full VV curriculum free for one semester. Application at /education/pilot.
VV for Education
Full landing page at /education for schools, universities, and bootcamps. Self-serve pricing with Stripe checkout. Enterprise contact form for 100+ seats.
6 prints live
Deadline, Chisel, Shoot, Focus, Perspective, Work vs. Luck. 24×36, giclée printed on Japanese archival paper. $60 each. Shop.
Inline lesson editor
Admin can now edit lesson content directly in the browser. No more round-tripping to the database.
Tools page
/tools — Package, vvriter, Compose, and jackbutcher.md.
Shop page
Dedicated /shop with prints and merch in one place.
Compound Context course
New course on AI for builders at /learn/compound-context. Principle-driven, visual-first.
Compose drafts
Server-side draft saving in Compose. Work persists across sessions.
Print Studio
Admin tool for vector reconstruction of archive visuals. AI-powered SVG refinement for print production.
Homepage rewrite
"Ideas, made visible." Simplified hero on homepage. Prints section front and center.
Visual captions toggle
Show or hide text captions on the visuals grid. Default off for clean browsing.
jackbutcher.md
Open-source writing profile at GitHub. The distilled voice behind every VV tool. Read how it was made.
Package ZIP export
Download your entire Package output — landing page, email sequence, brief — as a ZIP file.
Course email drips
Welcome email on first lesson. Milestone emails on module completion. Stall nudges after 3 days of inactivity.
GEO optimization
robots.txt, llms.txt, schema markup, breadcrumbs, FAQ sections, speakable properties. Making VV visible to AI search engines.
Visual search and request form
Search the VV archive by keyword. Can't find what you need? Submit a visual request.
VV visual matching in Package
Every Package output now includes 3 matched VV visuals with captions.
Package showcase
Recent Package generations displayed publicly. Social proof that the tool works.
Stripe subscriptions
Subscription billing infrastructure. Checkout sessions, webhook handling, DB caching, Mailchimp sync.
Package
Package — turn any idea into a name, one-liner, landing page, and email sequence. Powered by 50,000 tweets distilled into a writing profile.
Art section
Art projects: Checks, Opepen, Hardware, Navalmanack, and more. Full context on each.
Learn page
Course descriptions, start buttons, review ratings, progress tracking. Fundamentals of Value first with 'New to VV?' label.
About page
/about — full bio, origin story, project links, FAQ.
vvriter
vvriter — long-form article generator in the VV voice. Read how it works.
Learn platform
Full course delivery system. Modules, lessons, video support, progress tracking. Read how it was built.
Writing profile system
jackbutcher.md — the distilled voice. Banned words, rewrite pairs, opening patterns, contrast frames, closing patterns. The foundation every tool builds on.
Compose
Turn an idea into an article with matched visuals and exportable carousels. The engine behind VV content.
Course curriculum pages
Editorial redesign of course pages with highlights, review summaries, and matched VV visuals.
visualizevalue.com
Headless store on Next.js 15. Shopify backend, custom frontend. Visuals, courses, about, product reviews. Day one. Read how it was built.