Launch Plan
Last reviewed: 2026-08-31.
Four stages, each with its own page. Stages describe how mature the product is and who is allowed to touch it. Phases live inside a stage and describe the ORDER work happens in. Category describes what a task is about.
The roadmap is owned by the canonical Lantern Business Plan, not by this page. The wider idea space lives in the ideation matrix. See
docs/business/README.mdfor how the business docs fit together.
| Stage | Target | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Prototype | Now, releasing December 2026 | PROTOTYPE.md |
| Alpha | Summer 2027 | ALPHA.md |
| Beta | Unscheduled, follows Alpha | BETA.md |
| 1.0 | Unscheduled | below |
We are in Prototype, and December 2026 is the Prototype release, not Alpha. Being 100% production ready by December is not realistic, so the invite-only launch events, recruitment, and the production cutover moved to Alpha in Summer 2027 (operator decision, 2026-08-31, rationale in the stage-timeline-shift project). December now means the product is feature-complete and deliberately attacked and verified, with the funding search (grants only, no shareholders, no venture capital) running alongside. Legal clearance is not a December blocker; it rides with Alpha, where outsiders make it binding (operator, 2026-08-31). Dates may move as the work lands.
What each stage means
| Stage | Goal | Audience | Stability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype | Test if an idea works, behaves, or feels right | Internal developers and designers only | Very low; parts are temporary |
| Alpha | Build and test the foundational, working core | Internal team plus closed testers | Low to medium; major change expected |
| Beta | Find edge-case bugs, balance performance, refine usability | External users, wider public, targeted opt-in groups | Medium to high; core is stable |
| 1.0 | Deliver the final, polished product | The general public | High; patches and updates only |
Which stage does a task belong to?
Does the December Prototype release need it? Yes, Prototype.Does it only matter once invited outsiders touch the product? Alpha.
Testing and code review gate December, and the grant search runs alongside it, so those are Prototype. Legal clearance, recruitment, the launch events, and the production cutover only bind because outsiders are coming, so they are Alpha (start long-lead legal early anyway).
Phases
Sequential within a stage, ordered by what unblocks what.
- The order means you cannot finish a phase before the one before it, not that you cannot start it.
- Work that gates nothing and is gated by nothing goes in Runs throughout.
- Only the current stage and the next carry phases. Beta and 1.0 are buckets until they are next.
- A bucketed item carries a deferral reason: the condition that would promote it.
P-ratings
Per stage. A task can be P0 for Beta and absent from Alpha entirely.
| Rating | Means |
|---|---|
| 🔴 P0 | Blocks the stage. If it is not done, we do not ship. |
| 🟠 P1 | Should be in the stage. Shipping without it is a deliberate, stated choice. |
| 🟡 P2 | Wanted, cut without ceremony if time is short. |
In Prototype, P0 reads as blocks the December release.
Status
| Value | Means |
|---|---|
| ✅ Built | Shipped and exercised, verified against the repo on the last-reviewed date |
| ✅ Fixed | Bugs only: the fix shipped and was verified |
| 🚧 In progress | Started, not finished |
| ⬜ Not started | Agreed as needed, no work yet |
| ❓ Needs operator input | A business decision, an external conversation, or a judgment call |
Status here is a dated snapshot. Live status belongs in GitHub, on the milestone matching the stage. A Built row may cite an open parent issue: the parent is the umbrella the feature can still grow under.
Bugs are not a phase. Each stage page keeps a Bugs section after its phases.
Code names
Light-themed and strictly alphabetical, one letter per release, stages included (operator, 2026-08-31). Names stay internal until ship, then are revealed with the release.
| Release | Code name |
|---|---|
| Prototype | Pilot Light. The small flame that stays lit so the real burner can ignite, and a pun on "pilot program". Deliberately outside the alphabet, the way Prototype sits outside the versioned sequence |
| Alpha | Aurora |
| Beta | Beacon |
| 1.0 | Candela. The scientific unit of brightness, Latin for "candle": the first real public release, named for the moment light became measurable |
| Later releases | Continue the alphabet, each named when its release is planned. Penciled runway: Dawn, Ember, Flare, Glow, Halo |
Not scheduled
Wanted, with no release attached yet.
| Item | Category | Description | Issues |
|---|---|---|---|
| Go links | Eng | Internal short links (go/thing) for docs, dashboards, and runbooks | #811 |
| Intranet search | Eng | Search across our internal docs and tools | #800 |
| Better admin home | Design, Eng | A real dashboard instead of blocks of links | |
| Bonfires | Eng, Design | Group gatherings rather than one-to-one meets | #162 |
| App theming and colors | Design | User-facing theme options | |
| Profile lanterns | Design, Eng | A lantern representing the user: curated by us or submitted for approval, possibly tied to badges | |
| QR code friend linking | Eng | Add a fren by scanning, for people already standing together | |
| App creation portal | Eng, Business | Let a non-engineer build an app on Lantern infrastructure. Needs a spec first | #849, #827 |
1.0
Unscheduled. Code name Candela. Lives here as a section rather than its own page until it has content; an empty page with placeholder headings is worse than an absent one.
Reference
Needs review
Nothing pending. The last item here (nine rows with no issue behind them, flagged 2026-08-11) is resolved: all nine were filed 2026-08-13 as #865 (penetration testing), #866 (Google Places), #867 (safety-comfort measurement), #868 (pilot venue agreements), #869 (repeatable pitch), #870 (sales and onboarding), #871 (target launch events), #872 (Workspace and Slack), and #873 (second engineer).
History
- 2026-08-10 Restructured from per-month phases into releases containing phases.
- 2026-08-11 Audited against the repo and GitHub.
- 2026-08-14 Restructured into four stages, one page each. Prototype and 1.0 added; phases became sequential; December confirmed as Alpha.
- 2026-08-31 Timeline shift: December 2026 became the Prototype release; Alpha moved to Summer 2027 and kept recruitment, the launch events, and the production cutover; Beta went unscheduled. Prototype absorbed Build, Prove, and the grants outreach.
- 2026-08-31 Same-day adjustments: legal is not a December blocker, so Clear moved to Alpha; safety-comfort measurement moved to Alpha's Run; a pre-launch penetration re-test joined Ready; code names settled as strictly alphabetical with stages included: Pilot Light, Aurora, Beacon, then Candela for 1.0 and the alphabet onward.
- 2026-09-01 GitHub milestones resorted to match the shift: 74 issues moved from the Alpha milestone to Prototype under the new sorting test; 18 stayed in Alpha (launch events, recruitment, safety-comfort, production-facing follow-ups).
Rationale for each restructure lives in its plan, not here: 2026-08-10, 2026-08-14, 2026-08-31.