gramps
20cfadca0c
The creator's ruling (2026-09-27) is Store MSIX + Store IAP, so Microsoft delivers the updates and the in-app updater is gone rather than parked. This is a COMPLIANCE action, not cleanup: the Velopack bootstrap downloaded and executed a payload, which Store policy 10.2.2 does not permit. Three edit sites, as planned: the PackageReference in ytLive.csproj, 'using Velopack;' in App.xaml.cs, and the bootstrap block. The self-hosted DigitalOcean update-URL droplet dies with it. Guard: ytLive.Tests/StorePackagingTests.cs - the ONE test asserts the app project references no updater package (Velopack/Squirrel/NetSparkle/AutoUpdater/WinSparkle) and that no app source file uses the updater API. The check matches CODE (a using directive, a type usage), not a bare word, so a file's prose may still name what it deliberately does not do. Smoke-tested after the removal: MainWindow loaded, 0 exceptions in startup.log. Full suite 437/437, 0 warnings.
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TASK 10 — Monetization: watermark-only paid delta (branding flash)
Catalog:
TASKS.md— status and requirements live here.
Goal: a paid tier that removes the branding flash and nothing else. Every feature is free — Alerts, social bar slots, voice filters, TRAX, recording, analytics. The free tier is the full app. ⛔ There is no feature gating, ever — revenue argument, not taste: the free tier's reach is the funnel, and the flash is an ad running inside other people's content, so a free user with a flash every 30–60s is already paying in exposure.
⚠️ STATUS: THIS IS A TEARDOWN, NOT A BUILD (2026-09-27). The billing provider is
Microsoft Store IAP, not Polar. Everything below describing Polar is dead and is retained
only as history. Do not resurrect any of it. The teardown's file-by-file list lives in
TASKS/task-48-distribution-msix.md item 0 — work from there,
not from this file.
Pricing — ✅ DECIDED 2026-09-27: $10/mo subscription, or $400 lifetime. No annual.
| Tier | Price | Net after 15% | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | — | Everything, plus the branding flash. The funnel. |
| Pro monthly | $10/mo | ~$8.50/mo | The default. Low-risk entry. |
| Pro lifetime | $400 | ~$340 | The hedge. Committed / subscription-hostile buyers. |
- 15% Store revenue share, subscriptions included — verified from the ADA v8.10 PDF, §6(b)(i). Net receipts are after VAT/GST, so commission is not paid on pass-through tax.
- Break-even is month 40, so the two tiers barely compete — which is why lifetime is safe to offer at launch rather than saving it for later.
- ⛔ No annual tier — Microsoft does not pro-rate and the developer cannot refund the
forfeited remainder. ⛔ No
.99prices. ⛔ No discounted upgrade SKU. - ADA §6(h): raising the price disables auto-renew ⇒
$10is effectively locked for life. - ⛔ Superseded pricing, do not cite: the 2026-09-21 one-time model (
$29founder →$49list lifetime) and the earlier$49.99/yr → $99/yrsubscription.
Related work — monetization awareness (2026-09-01, ungated, free): this task's billing is the
payer side; the product also carries built-in, ungated monetization awareness for every creator —
reward-event capture (all 7 liveChatMessage reward event types → canonical RewardEvent → SQLite
persistence), per-session/broadcast reports (members, Super Chat $, stickers, gifts, milestones — the
in-app replacement for the emailed "stream activity report"), and a journey tracker (position % +
ETA vs. versioned, date-aware YPP thresholds; the Tier-2 bar doubles for new applicants 2027-02-01).
Details and design notes: ai.md → Monetization. This is tracked as related work under this task's
narrative, not a separate task number — it ships in its own code slices with one integration test each.
Scope: v1 (2026-09-01 complete-v1 ruling — there is no v1.x): slice order = reward-event capture →
session report → journey tracker → Alerts (TASK 3 item 20).
Business details (pricing, Partner Center product declaration) in MONETIZATION.md (gitignored).
Status: 🔶 TEARDOWN — steps 1–7 shipped under Polar, all now to be removed
Steps 1–7 below are a record of what was built, not a description of what ships. The Polar licensing path is being deleted because Store IAP supplies the same bit from the OS entitlement.
- ⛔ Billing provider — was Polar (polar.sh). DELETED. The product, checkout link, and the
discount codes
LLAMAFOUNDER/LLAMA50no longer exist. Store IAP products are declared in Partner Center, not Polar. - ⛔ License key entry + verification UI — was the About-overlay swap panel ("Enter License Key"). DELETING.
- ⛔ Offline entitlement — was
LayoutStoreSettings (LicenseKey,LicenseValidatedAt,IsPremium) + a 14-day offline grace period + startup re-validation. DELETING. The OS supplies license state, so the entire offline-grace machine goes with it — along with the whole "network flaky → app thinks I'm expired" bug class. - ✅ BrandFlash → watermark toggle —
IsPremiumsetter flipsBrandFlashEnabled = !value, so the flash stops the moment the entitlement flips. This survives the teardown. Under Store IAPIsPremiumis derived from the Store entitlement rather than a remote HTTP call. One bit, locally cached, refreshed by the OS. ⚠️ This is the whole product surface of the paid tier. - ✅ Remove social slot locks — all 6 social bar slots open to everyone. Survives.
- ⛔ "Unlock Premium" button —
PremiumUrlpointed at Polar checkout. DELETING; the Store handles purchase. Paid users see zero license UI. - ⛔ Licensing model / renewal-lapse path — already dead before the Store ruling (a perpetual key never expires). Now superseded again: Store IAP has no keys at all.
- ✅ Velopack auto-updates — NuGet package + bootstrap in
App.xaml.cs. DELETED 2026-10-22 (TASK 48 slice 3) — a compliance action, not cleanup: the updater downloaded and executed, and Store policy 10.2.2 does not permit it. The Store updates the app instead. Guard:ytLive.Tests/StorePackagingTests.cs.