Remove demo video and launch announcement from Phase 7 scope

ARCHITECTURE.md

@@ -751,28 +751,25 @@ Deliverables:
   frontend/ (React + D3.js or React Flow)
   Dashboard: decision timeline, coverage heatmap, contradiction queue
   Graph explorer: interactive Neo4j visualization
-  Animated GIF for README (demo scenario)
+  Animated GIF for README (demo scenario via generate_readme_demo_gif.py)
 
 Done when:
   Dashboard loads in < 2 seconds
   Graph explorer navigable without instructions
-  GIF captures the "new engineer asks why CockroachDB?" demo
+  README GIF captures the memory-fabric demo path
 ```
 
-### Phase 7 — Open-source launch (Week 5)
+### Phase 7 — Live demo + README polish (Week 5)
 ```
 Deliverables:
   README.md final polish
   docker-compose.yml tested on clean machine (no residual config)
-  3-minute Loom demo video
-  Animated GIF in README
-  Hacker News "Show HN" post
-  LinkedIn post
-  dev.to technical writeup
+  Public live demo URL
+  README memory-fabric GIF (scripts/generate_readme_demo_gif.py)
 
 Done when:
-  Fresh clone + docker-compose up + working demo in < 10 minutes
-  HN post submitted
+  Fresh clone + make demo + working local demo
+  Live dashboard URL linked from README
 ```
 
 ---

CLAUDE.md

@@ -93,10 +93,10 @@ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/abhinaysai-kamineni
 
 ## Current Phase
 
-**Phase:** 7 — Demo launch + open-source polish
-**Status:** Phase 6 dashboard stack complete on `feat/ui-qa-a11y`; merge to `main` in progress
-**Next phase:** Phase 8 — Outcome tracking + coverage scoring (post-launch)
-**Target:** Working public demo URL + README launch
+**Phase:** 8 — Outcome tracking + coverage scoring
+**Status:** Phase 7 complete — live demo URL + README polish on `main` (set `CORTEX_API_ORIGIN` on Vercel for API-backed search)
+**Next phase:** Phase 8 deliverables (coverage scorer, outcome linker)
+**Target:** Coverage score on every query + outcome-linked decisions in the graph
 
 ---
 
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/abhinaysai-kamineni
 | 4 | Importance scorer + trust scorer + RBAC | Week 2-3 | ✅ Done |
 | 5 | Contradiction detector + decay engine | Week 3 | ✅ Done |
 | 6 | React dashboard + knowledge graph explorer | Week 3-4 | ✅ Done |
-| 7 | Demo video + README polish + open-source launch | Week 4 | ⏳ |
+| 7 | Live demo URL + README polish | Week 4 | ✅ Done |
 | 8 | Outcome tracking + coverage scoring | Post-launch | ⏳ |
 | 9 | Behavioral mining + elicitation bot | Post-launch | ⏳ |
 | 10 | Federated cross-org memory | v2 | ⏳ |
@@ -127,8 +127,8 @@ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/abhinaysai-kamineni
 | Local LLM | Ollama + Gemma 4 E4B — ~10GB RAM, 8-12 tok/s CPU |
 | Secondary | MacBook Air (development), iPhone (SSH via Termius + Tailscale) |
 | Cloud budget | Minimize — free tiers only for MVP |
-| Timeline | 4-week MVP, open-source launch week 5 |
-| Portfolio goal | Demo-able in under 3 minutes. GitHub README must be self-explanatory. |
+| Timeline | 4-week MVP |
+| Portfolio goal | Demo-able via live URL + `make demo`. GitHub README must be self-explanatory. |
 
 ---
 

DECISIONS.md

@@ -217,21 +217,22 @@ access_policy: {
 
 ---
 
-### D-012 — 2026-05-11 — 4-week MVP, open-source launch week 5
+### D-012 — 2026-05-11 — 4-week MVP
 **Status:** Active
-**Decision:** MVP shipped in 4 weeks. Open-source launch (HN, LinkedIn, dev.to) in week 5.
+**Decision:** MVP shipped in 4 weeks.
 **MVP scope:**
 - Slack + GitHub connectors
 - Decision extractor + importance scorer (basic)
 - Neo4j graph with core schema
 - `cortex.query()` REST API
 - MCP server
 - React dashboard (read-only, graph explorer)
-- Demo video (3 min max)
-- README with animated GIF
+- README with memory-fabric GIF
+- Live demo URL
 **NOT in MVP:** Trust scorer, contradiction detector, decay engine, outcome tracker, Jira/Linear connectors, RBAC (basic auth only), elicitation bot
 **Rationale:** Ship something real. Extend after traction. The Jira connector, decay engine, and RBAC can be added as community contributions once the repo has stars.
 **Owner:** Abhinaysai
+**[UPDATE 2026-09-17]:** Demo video recording, release tagging, and social launch posts (Show HN / LinkedIn / Loom) are out of scope — removed from Phase 7 and operating docs.
 
 ---
 

MISTAKES.md

@@ -86,14 +86,12 @@
 ### [M-006] — 2026-05-11 — No demo video in initial scope
 **Phase:** Phase 0
 **Type:** Product / Process
-**What happened:** Launch plan included HN post and LinkedIn post. No demo video or animated GIF for README.
-**Why it happened:** Focused on technical build, not distribution.
-**Impact:** Open-source repos without demo GIFs get significantly fewer stars. HN "Show HN" posts without live demos get fewer upvotes. The technical work becomes invisible.
-**Fix / Learning:** Week 4 deliverable must include:
-- 3-minute Loom demo video (new engineer asking Cursor "why CockroachDB?" → Cortex returns full decision history)
-- Animated GIF for README (same scenario, compressed to 30 seconds)
-- Plan this in advance — not bolted on after the fact
-**Prevents:** Shipping a working product that nobody engages with.
+**Status:** SUPERSEDED 2026-09-17 — demo video / Loom / Show HN / LinkedIn launch posts removed from scope
+**What happened:** Launch plan originally included HN/LinkedIn posts and a Loom demo video plus README GIF.
+**Why it happened:** Focused on technical build, then over-indexed on distribution checklist items.
+**Impact:** Open checklist items blocked Phase 7 closure even after live demo URL + README GIF shipped.
+**Fix / Learning:** Phase 7 closes on live demo URL + README polish (including generated memory-fabric GIF). Do not block product work on manual video recording or social announcement posts.
+**Prevents:** Scope creep that keeps “launch” forever open after the product is demo-able.
 
 ---
 
@@ -140,5 +138,5 @@
 
 ### [L-005] — 2026-05-11 — Four-week MVP discipline
 **What:** Full architecture includes trust scorer, RBAC, contradiction detector, decay engine, outcome tracker, behavioral mining, federated memory. If all of that is Phase 1, nothing ships.
-**Why it matters:** Portfolio project needs a demo in 4 weeks. Open-source project needs stars in 5 weeks. The job search timeline is real. MVP is: Slack + GitHub connectors + Neo4j graph + MCP server + basic dashboard + demo video. Everything else is post-launch.
+**Why it matters:** Portfolio project needs a working demo in 4 weeks. The job search timeline is real. MVP is: Slack + GitHub connectors + Neo4j graph + MCP server + basic dashboard + live demo URL. Everything else is post-launch.
 **Apply to:** Every temptation to add "just one more feature" before shipping — check the 4-week constraint first.

README.md

@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ This brings up Kafka, Neo4j, Redis, Postgres, applies graph migrations, writes t
 
 **Dashboard looks stale?** The UI is served from a Docker image on port **3000**. Rebuild with `docker compose --profile api --profile frontend build frontend && docker compose --profile api --profile frontend up -d --force-recreate frontend`, then hard-refresh the browser (`Cmd+Shift+R`). For hot reload during UI work, run `cd frontend && npm run dev` → [http://localhost:5173](http://localhost:5173) (dev server uses **5173** so it does not clash with Docker).
 
-**Recording a video or GIF for the README:** see [docs/DEMO_RECORDING.md](docs/DEMO_RECORDING.md). **Validating real webhooks (Slack / GitHub / Jira):** [docs/CONNECTOR_VALIDATION.md](docs/CONNECTOR_VALIDATION.md).
+**Validating real webhooks (Slack / GitHub / Jira):** [docs/CONNECTOR_VALIDATION.md](docs/CONNECTOR_VALIDATION.md).
 
 ### Context API (REST)
 
@@ -387,7 +387,7 @@ cortex/
 | Phase 4 | Importance + trust scoring + graph RBAC | ✅ Shipped |
 | Phase 5 | Contradiction detector + decay engine | ✅ Shipped |
 | Phase 6 | React dashboard (Ask, memory map, guide, agent inject) | ✅ Shipped |
-| Phase 7 | Live demo URL + demo video + open-source launch | 🔄 In progress |
+| Phase 7 | Live demo URL + README polish | ✅ Done (wire `CORTEX_API_ORIGIN` for API-backed search) |
 | Phase 8 | Outcome tracking + coverage scoring | ⏳ Post-launch |
 | Phase 9 | Elicitation bot (implicit knowledge) | ⏳ Post-launch |
 | Phase 10 | Federated cross-org memory | ⏳ v2 |

SESSIONS.md

@@ -197,13 +197,12 @@
 
 ### State at end
 - 207 pytest tests passing
-- Phase 7 launch items (video, HN post) remain manual owner tasks
+- Phase 7 focus: live demo URL + README polish (demo video / social launch posts out of scope)
 
 ### Next session starts with
 1. ~~Run `python -m graph.migrate` (apply V006)~~ — superseded: migrations through **V007**; use `make demo` or `python -m graph.migrate` after schema changes (see Session 4).
 2. `docker compose --profile api up` and validate **webhook → worker → graph** on a dev workspace (Slack/GitHub tokens in `.env`).
-3. Phase 7: screen recording + README GIF — follow [docs/DEMO_RECORDING.md](docs/DEMO_RECORDING.md).
-
+3. Phase 7: public live demo URL in README + README polish.
 ---
 
 ## Session 3 — 2026-05-14
@@ -239,16 +238,15 @@
 - `graph/migrations` — **V007** fulltext repair; **V001–V006** `SchemaVersion` **MERGE (v {version}) SET** (stable identity); **V001** dropped Enterprise-only property-existence constraint for Neo4j Community
 - `.github/workflows/ci.yml` — **pytest** + **`scripts/seed_demo.py --dry-run`** on Python 3.11
 - `tests/graph/test_migrate_strip.py` — unit tests for migration chunk stripping
-- `docs/DEMO_RECORDING.md` — Phase 7 recording / GIF checklist; README links to it
 - `docs/CONNECTOR_VALIDATION.md` — webhook → Kafka validation steps (GitHub / Slack / Jira); README links to it
 
 ### State at end
 - **213** pytest passes; CI workflow ready for GitHub Actions on `main` / `develop` / PRs
 
 ### Next session starts with
-1. **Owner:** Record demo + GIF per [docs/DEMO_RECORDING.md](docs/DEMO_RECORDING.md); add link in README when hosted
-2. **Live connector path:** Slack (or GitHub) webhook → Kafka → worker → graph on a real workspace (tokens in `.env`)
-3. **Optional:** Slim `api` Docker image (extras in `pyproject.toml`) so CI/local `docker compose build` is not dominated by Torch/spaCy unless needed for that image
+1. **Live connector path:** Slack (or GitHub) webhook → Kafka → worker → graph on a real workspace (tokens in `.env`)
+2. **Optional:** Slim `api` Docker image (extras in `pyproject.toml`) so CI/local `docker compose build` is not dominated by Torch/spaCy unless needed for that image
+3. Phase 7: public live demo URL + README polish
 
 ---
 
@@ -290,9 +288,9 @@
 - **228** pytest passes (~80% coverage)
 
 ### Next session starts with
-1. Owner demo recording ([docs/DEMO_RECORDING.md](docs/DEMO_RECORDING.md))
-2. Live webhook validation with real Slack/GitHub/Linear tokens
-3. Optional: graph explorer UI tab calling `/decisions/.../chain`
+1. Live webhook validation with real Slack/GitHub/Linear tokens
+2. Optional: graph explorer UI tab calling `/decisions/.../chain`
+3. Phase 7: public live demo URL + README polish
 
 ---
 
@@ -393,7 +391,7 @@
 ### Next session starts with
 1. Merge live E2E PR; configure real Slack app webhook
 2. Optional: slim pipeline-worker Docker image (worker-only deps)
-3. Demo recording per `docs/DEMO_RECORDING.md`
+3. Phase 7: public live demo URL + README polish
 
 ---
 
@@ -506,7 +504,7 @@
 ### Next session starts with
 1. Merge PR #14 after CI green
 2. LLM-backed CMVK verifiers (production)
-3. Phase 6: dashboard polish + demo video
+3. Phase 6: dashboard polish
 
 ---
 
@@ -526,7 +524,7 @@
 
 ### Next session starts with
 1. Merge PR #15 after CI green
-2. Phase 6: dashboard polish + demo video
+2. Phase 6: dashboard polish
 3. Staging smoke with `CORTEX_CMVK_BACKEND=openai`
 
 ---
@@ -554,7 +552,7 @@
 ### Next session starts with
 1. Merge `feat/ui-qa-a11y` → `main` PR when CI green
 2. Execute Plan A deploy per `docs/DEPLOY-FREE.md`
-3. Phase 7: live demo URL in README + 3-minute demo video
+3. Phase 7: live demo URL in README
 
 ---
 
@@ -576,5 +574,30 @@
 
 ### Next session starts with
 1. Set `CORTEX_API_ORIGIN` on Vercel after Render API deploy (Plan A)
-2. Record 3-minute demo video per `docs/DEMO_RECORDING.md`
-3. GitHub release tag `v0.1.0` + open-source announcement
+2. Phase 8: coverage scorer + outcome linker
+3. High-priority OSS backlog: #33 cache invalidation, #36 decay scheduler
+
+---
+
+## Session — 2026-09-17 — Remove demo video / launch announcement scope
+**Duration:** ~20m
+**Phase:** Phase 7 closeout → Phase 8
+
+### Built
+- Deleted **`docs/DEMO_RECORDING.md`** (Loom / video / GIF recording checklist out of scope)
+- Removed demo-video, `v0.1.0` tag, Show HN / LinkedIn / open-source announcement from operating docs
+- Marked Phase 7 complete (live demo URL + README polish); advanced current phase to Phase 8
+- Updated: `README.md`, `CLAUDE.md`, `ARCHITECTURE.md`, `DECISIONS.md` (D-012), `MISTAKES.md` (M-006 superseded, L-005), `docs/PRODUCTION_READINESS.md`, `SESSIONS.md` next-steps
+
+### State at end
+- Phase 7 no longer blocked on manual video or social launch posts
+- Remaining deploy ops: set `CORTEX_API_ORIGIN` for API-backed public demo
+- Next product work: Phase 8 coverage + outcomes
+
+### Decisions made
+- D-012 update: demo video / release tagging / social launch posts removed from Phase 7 scope
+
+### Next session starts with
+1. Set `CORTEX_API_ORIGIN` on Vercel after Render API deploy (Plan A)
+2. Implement coverage scorer (`coverage_score` on `/query`)
+3. Implement outcome linker (schema already in V004)

docs/PRODUCTION_READINESS.md

@@ -221,8 +221,7 @@ Already present and correct: `.env`, `node_modules/`, `__pycache__/`, `.pytest_c
 - [ ] Push `feature/production-refinement`
 - [ ] Open PR → `main`
 - [ ] CI green on PR
-- [ ] Staging: `docker compose up` + seed + manual 3-min demo
-- [ ] Tag release `v0.1.0` (optional)
+- [ ] Staging: `docker compose up` + seed + manual demo walkthrough
 
 ---