The headline · Micah's custom canvas design
Social Studio: one clear path for a social post, built on the code we already had
Micah designed Social Studio on a custom canvas: 9 clickable screens, with screenshots of today's flow beside them (PR #406). Then he built it on the existing planner, publisher and data model (PR #407, merged). It's a different look, but it isn't a rewrite. Each screen reuses the components it replaces, the primary features of the previous version stay, and templates are the first step of every post.
What the redesign measurably changed
First draft text on screen9.5 s → 1.5 s
Drafts finished, images included27.1 s → 14.9 s
Drafting when Claude is downhung 7 min, no error → ~20 s
Post quality issues, final tuning run42 posts checked
0 issues in 42 posts · 3 networks × 7 templates × 2 drafts
End-to-end click-through, live AI0 console or server errors
Primary features carried over from the previous version
- ✓Templates are step one. A network-aware picker, a live structure preview and "Try it on a sample". Instagram and X went from 2 templates to 7. LinkedIn keeps all 14 and gains 4.
- ✓Calendar: week and month views, reschedule, and a "…" menu on every post
- ✓List view and bulk actions: Remix, Reschedule, Change status, Delete
- ✓Composer: per-network preview, length feedback, image checks, Shorter / Stronger / More like us
- ✓Scheduling from articles, events, the API and MCP, with a check on each connection
- ✓Failure handling: Needs attention, Retry now, "Did it go live?", and the failure email
- ✓Image options: upload, generate, use the article's image, paste a link
- ✓Deleted posts are kept until someone removes them, with Restore
- +New: post metrics on the card, Save as draft without an image or connection, writing rules against generic copy
VP-782 · Social Panel moved to GitHub. Micah kept the Social Panel (Social Studio, the Social planner, the composer and scheduling) local while it came together. It's now in deepstation/vantagepost as PR #407, with follow-ups VP-779, VP-780 and VP-781. The build rests on 16 research documents and a comparison against similar social tools. It's tested and it works. The only blocker is approval to push to staging. Next: get that approval, open the VP-779 → VP-781 PRs, present it, and ship with release/v0.1.4.
On the "don't reinvent the base" concern: PR #407 rebuilt post creation on the code we had. It didn't rewrite the planner, the publisher or the data model. Every screen in the build plan names the components it reuses, for example PlannerShell, useComposerState, WeekCalendar, PlannerListTable, PostMetrics and publish-service. Only the duplicate paths were removed.
Rolled back, held, or left alone on purpose
Sep 23Production was rolled back from v0.1.1 to the old grantkurz build, over keyword quality (per VP-460). Micah's Engine v2, invented-URL fix (VP-431) and keyword work came off with it. Production stayed on the old build until the Oct 3 cutover (VP-460).
Sep 28Micah opened VP-750, "We keep bumping heads on the social work", with 6 questions on base branch, stacking, ownership and migrations. It's assigned to Grant and still in Todo, with no answer.
Oct 1Grant moved every social PR off v0.1.3 to v0.1.4. Ten merged social PRs, including the security and billing fixes above, are not in production yet.
All weekMicah stayed off the article engine to avoid colliding with Grant's engine and keyword stream. His engine-adjacent fixes (billing refunds, the stuck-run refund, keyword placement) are open PRs for his review, not merges.