Design decisions

The full file lives at DESIGN-DECISIONS.md in the repo. This page is the public summary.

Locked YES

These are explicitly in scope and won't be removed.

Single broadcaster, single channel — channel page IS the home page (/). No /[username] routing.
Two roles only — broadcaster + viewer. No mod role. Broadcaster moderates via GetStream's built-in tools.
One permission flag — profiles.is_invited. Replaces all tier / sub / VIP logic.
Den layout only — no theater mode, no editorial layout. The two-column grid is canonical.
Two Discord webhooks — public + private. The only outbound notification channel.
One email template — "Private stream invite". Used for both magic-link sign-in and invite-onboarding.
No R2 emote proxy — emote images load direct from provider CDNs. Browser caches them. Only metadata in KV.
Twitch ID is the single setup input — first-run wizard resolves display name, bio, avatar, emotes from one numeric ID.
Cross-subdomain cookies in prod — needed for tv.your-domain.tv ↔ api.tv.your-domain.tv session sharing.
No /signup — viewers arrive only via emailed magic-link invites. allow_signups column dropped in migration 0004.
Dark mode only — explicit product choice. No light mode.

Things that look like good ideas but aren't.

❌ Mod role — too much complexity for den-sized audiences
❌ Subscriber tiers — no $3/mo, no $8/mo, no Tier 1/2/3
❌ Viewer tiers — single is_invited boolean replaces all
❌ Multi-channel notification fanout — email blasts, RSS, web push all skipped
❌ Multiple email templates — one template only
❌ Theater / Editorial layouts — Den only
❌ Schedule, Tags, VODs, Subscribe, Follow, Channel URL — all removed
❌ Mounting Hono in the same Worker as Next.js — BTS doesn't support; not worth hacking
❌ Module-scope betterAuth(...) instance — must be per-request factory in Workers
❌ @cloudflare/next-on-pages — deprecated; use @opennextjs/cloudflare
❌ MailChannels — free tier died Aug 2024
❌ NextAuth / Clerk — picked Better Auth instead
❌ Postgres / MySQL — D1 only; BTS doesn't support otherwise
❌ drizzle-kit migrate against D1 — use wrangler d1 migrations apply
❌ Recording / VODs — live only by product choice
❌ Light mode — explicit choice
❌ Painting backgrounds with cyan — cyan reserved for primary CTAs, focus rings, LIVE pulse, brand mark, verified check, used sparingly