Account pitch - "your versions, your apps, your releases"

UNOFFICIAL/EXPERIMENTAL.

The thesis

The second rung of the ladder: free serverless (look before you install) → an account (run your own). The pain that pushes you here is simple - one chart becomes many, and now you need your own versions, your own apps, and a safe way to release them.

The pitch is the table of contents for this rung, so we unite it with what already exists instead of adding a page:

• versions → the homepage "Manage Helm Variants" box (and the Variants page)
• apps → the "Apps" button (the homepage "Your Own Live Apps" box → journey.html)
• releases → the promote/stage/release flow that runs through both

The rung below this one is the free-path pitch (free-path-pitch.md).

The pitch (plain)

Your versions, your apps, your releases

The free path is for trying public charts. An account is for running your own.

Custom versions and variants. Start from one base and make as many versions as you need - dev, staging, prod, one per region or customer - all from that one base, not nine separate copies.

Your own apps. Not just public charts. Bring your own apps and configs into the same place, managed the same way.

Promote, stage, and release. Move a change from dev to staging to production through checks, with a record of what changed.

Deliver with what you already run. Hand off to your Argo, Flux, or OCI - no new tool to roll out.

Helm still renders. Your controller still delivers. The account is where you keep, change, and release everything in between.

Shipped vs frontier

• Shipped (rough but real): cub variant create (versions and variants, with links back to the base), importing your own apps and configs as Units, promote/stage/release through gates and receipts, and GitOps/OCI delivery.
• Frontier (keep off the page): one value rippling across the whole fleet on its own, and pulling live drift back into the graph. offering.md already lists fleet-wide propagation and reverse live→desired as bounded frontiers. The variant workflow today is the current substrate, not a polished Creator UI - true, but not worth putting in hero copy.

Placement - unite, don't add a page

Homepage box "Then" (→ variants.html)

• From: "Manage Helm Variants - Create customised variants of your chart, promote through environments, and manage target-specific choices before app delivery."
• To: "Your versions" - "Start from one base and make as many versions as you need: dev, staging, prod, one per region or customer."

Homepage box "Later" (→ journey.html / Apps)

• From: "Your Own Live Apps - Combine public charts, custom app pieces, and stacks, then deploy and operate them once the app is running."
• To: "Your apps, your releases" - "Add your own apps alongside public charts, then move them from staging to production."

Apps page (journey.html) opening line

• Add as the lead, above the existing "Apps Guide" content: "The free path is for trying public charts. An account is for running your own - your apps, your custom versions, and releases you move from staging to production."

Ladder coherence

When the free pitch ships, the homepage "First" box ("See How It Works") should become "Look before you install" so the whole ladder reads as one story: look first (free) → your versions, your apps, your releases (account).

Generator notes (Codex)

• All in scripts/generate-public-site.mjs; regenerate; keep npm run site:verify passing.
• If the journey.html opening change moves the checked terms, update verify-site-ux-contract.mjs (the journey.html opening currently tests "public Helm charts", "Start by choosing what you already have", "safe first result is visibility").
• Keep the experimental banner. Plain house voice, house layout.
• Do not claim the frontier items (auto-propagation, drift write-back).