# v0.11 Launch-Readiness Checklist

**Date**: May 6, 2026  
**Status**: Planning (ready for Wave-A start)  
**Target Release**: June 2026 (4 weeks post-v0.10.0)  
**Owner**: @Tyler (RA core team lead)  
**Prerequisite**: Compose API spec complete (`wiki/Architecture/Design-Specs/2026-05-06-compose-harness-api.md`)

---

## Executive Summary

v0.11 is the market-positioning inflection point. v0.10 shipped stable core (harness, providers, reasoning strategies, tool surface, event bus). v0.11 ships *customizability* (the `.compose()` harness API) + *credibility signals* (live playground, generator, persistence, OpenTelemetry) + *production readiness* (public roadmap, named users, Cortex Beacon visibility).

**Outcome**: v0.11 is the "Show HN" / indie-dev launch point. Positions Reactive Agents as the transparent alternative to black-box frameworks (AutoGen, CrewAI, Mastra) with proven 100% vs 85% benchmark edge on frontier models.

---

## Tier 1: Before Show-HN Launch (Weeks 1-3)

These five items close credibility gaps and unlock the compose API value chain. Shipping all five in parallel = ~3 weeks; blocking on any one delays indie-dev momentum by 2-4 months.

### 1. Skill Persistence (M6 Phase-1.5 IMPROVE)  
**Effort**: 1 week | **Risk**: Medium | **Owner**: @reasoning-team  
**Why Critical**: Skills learned within a session evaporate on restart. Indie devs expect skill continuity across agent instances; lacking this, skills feel like tech demo, not production capability. Closes M6 IMPROVE verdict from Phase-1 spike.

**Scope**:
- SQLite-backed skill persistence layer (`packages/memory/src/skill-persistence.ts`)
  - Each skill stored with: name, lifecycle hooks, test results, failure history, activation threshold
  - Per-agent skill scope (no cross-agent pollution)
  - Automatic cleanup: skills unused for 7 days marked stale, 30 days deleted
- Portable SKILL.md import/export
  - Export: `agent.exportSkills()` → tarball with SKILL.md + metadata.json
  - Import: `.withSkills(tarball)` or `.withSkillsFromGitHub(owner/repo/path)`
- Test scenarios: 10+ realistic skill lifecycles (web search → refined → production; math solver → fixed → retired)

**Acceptance Criteria**:
- [ ] SQLite schema designed and tested with 100+ skills in one agent
- [ ] Skills persist across agent restarts without data loss
- [ ] SKILL.md import/export round-trips without corruption
- [ ] 10 realistic skill lifecycle scenarios pass end-to-end
- [ ] `@reactive-agents/skills` package published with docs
- [ ] Backward compat: agents without skills still initialize instantly (0 overhead)

**Success Metric**: v0.11 example agents include persisted skills; Show-HN community skipping demo and jumping to custom skill authorship (>30% engagement on Discourse skill threads within first week).

---

### 2. Live Playground / Instant Try-Before-Install  
**Effort**: 2 days | **Risk**: Low | **Owner**: @docs-team  
**Why Critical**: "Show me, don't tell me" is the indie-dev heuristic. A 30-second live browser demo (Stackblitz embed) converts 10x more readers to clickers than 10 paragraphs of marketing copy. Current homepage has prose + code blocks; adding interactivity is the diff between "interesting framework" and "I'm trying this now."

**Scope**:
- Stackblitz project bootstrapped from `create-reactive-agent` template
- Three runnable scenarios embedded on homepage:
  1. **Hero scenario** (above the fold): Web search agent in 20 lines + task input box
  2. **Tool integration** (under "What You Get"): Calculator + weather tools, user can edit tool schemas live
  3. **Reasoning strategy** (under strategy section): Same agent, toggle strategy dropdown (ReAct / Reflexion / Plan-Execute)
- Each scenario pre-loads with example agent + example task; users can edit and re-run instantly
- On-run fallback: if Stackblitz slow, click opens `/docs/playground` page with same embeds (doesn't degrade to static docs)

**Acceptance Criteria**:
- [ ] Three Stackblitz projects created and embed links published
- [ ] All three run in <3s cold start in typical browser
- [ ] Hero scenario loads above the fold (LCP <1.5s with lazy-loading)
- [ ] User can edit code and see output within 1 frame
- [ ] Embeds gracefully degrade on mobile (single-column layout)
- [ ] Fallback `/docs/playground` page ships with same embeds + instructions

**Success Metric**: Stackblitz embeds account for >20% of Show-HN traffic; >5% of visitors complete a runnable task before clicking "Install."

---

### 3. `npx create-reactive-agent` Generator + 5 Templates  
**Effort**: 3 days | **Risk**: Low | **Owner**: @cli-team  
**Why Critical**: Lowest friction to first agent. Current installation requires: `npm init`, manual tsconfig, manual FileSystemMCP setup, understanding Effect-TS patterns. Generator cuts this to: `npx create-reactive-agent` → pick a template → `npm run dev` → write agent code. Indie devs get their first running agent in 90 seconds.

**Scope**:
- Monorepo package `packages/create-reactive-agent` (Clack-powered CLI)
- Five template scaffolds (full .gitignore, tsconfig.json, package.json, example agent, README):
  1. **web-search** — web-search agent with Brave API (most common first agent)
  2. **chat-with-tools** — multi-turn conversational agent, editable tool definitions
  3. **gateway-cron** — HTTP server + scheduled task runner (production skeleton)
  4. **sub-agent-orchestrator** — three-level sub-agent composition (advanced pattern)
  5. **local-only-ollama** — entirely offline with local LLM (privacy-first)
- Templates include pre-wired observability (event bus subscriptions, cost tracking)
- All templates include example `.env` with provider hints (Anthropic, OpenAI, Ollama, etc.)

**Acceptance Criteria**:
- [ ] Generator runs with zero npm/git config required
- [ ] All five templates scaffold in <2s
- [ ] Each template starts with `npm run dev` and agent runs instantly
- [ ] All five include end-to-end example agents (not empty stubs)
- [ ] Docs: `packages/create-reactive-agent/README.md` with walkthrough of each template
- [ ] Backward compat: `packages` dependency resolution doesn't conflict with npm@11+

**Success Metric**: `npx create-reactive-agent` in Show-HN comment thread. >100 repos created in first month; top 3 templates (web-search, chat-with-tools, local-ollama) account for 80% of usage.

---

### 4. OpenInference / OpenTelemetry Exporter  
**Effort**: 1 week | **Risk**: Medium | **Owner**: @observability-team  
**Why Critical**: Production users need integration with observability platforms (Langfuse, Braintrust, Honeycomb). Lacking this, Reactive Agents is perceived as "research toy," not production framework. OpenInference + OTel format is the credibility signal: "I can trace this agent's entire lifecycle."

**Scope**:
- New package `@reactive-agents/observe` (standalone)
- Exports `OpenInferenceTracer` that consumes the event bus
- Sends OpenInference-compliant spans to OTel collectors
- Integration points:
  - LLM calls → `llm.request` + `llm.response` spans
  - Tool calls → `tool.call` + `tool.return` / `tool.error` spans
  - Agent lifecycle → `workflow.start` + `workflow.end` spans
  - Reasoning steps → `reasoning.step` spans (nested under workflow)
- Pre-built exporters:
  - `OpenInferenceOTelExporter` (raw OTel Collector)
  - `LangfuseExporter` (direct Langfuse API)
  - `BraintrustExporter` (direct Braintrust API)
- Zero-config default: if `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT` env var set, auto-export happens
- Sampling: export top 10% by default, configurable via `sampleRate` option

**Acceptance Criteria**:
- [ ] `@reactive-agents/observe` package published with <50KB bundle
- [ ] All 14+ event tags flow through to OpenInference spans correctly
- [ ] Langfuse integration tested with real Langfuse instance (not mock)
- [ ] Braintrust integration tested with real Braintrust instance
- [ ] Docs: `observe-api.mdx` with walkthrough of each exporter
- [ ] Example agent + full trace visible on public Langfuse / Braintrust dashboards
- [ ] <2% overhead on agent performance when sampling at 10%

**Success Metric**: v0.11 release blog mentions Show-HN users can immediately visualize agent traces on Langfuse. >30% of Show-HN visitors click through to trace example. Production Reactive Agents deployments include OpenInference telemetry within 3 months.

---

### 5. Public GitHub Projects Roadmap + Named-Users Gallery  
**Effort**: 1 day | **Risk**: Low | **Owner**: @marketing-team  
**Why Critical**: Indie devs buy into *momentum*, not features. A public roadmap (v0.11 → v0.12 → v0.13 milestones with visible progress) signals: "This team is shipping." Named users (Cortex Local Studio, Beacon, Project Dispatch) signal: "Real products are built on this." Together, these close the "Is this a maintained project?" question that every Show-HN reader asks.

**Scope**:
- GitHub Projects board: `Reactive Agents Roadmap`
  - Three columns: v0.11 (In Progress), v0.12 (Planned), v0.13+ (Backlog)
  - Each column has acceptance criteria visible (no closed issues hiding details)
  - Weekly updates pinned to top (Tuesday 10am EDT syncs)
  - Public API: anyone can see current sprint burndown
- Homepage cards: "Built with Reactive Agents"
  - Logo + one-liner for each: Cortex Local Studio, Beacon, Project Dispatch
  - Links to each product's public repo / deployed instance
  - Rotated in footer (visible on every page)
- Discourse / Discourse Hub: create `#releases` category with v0.11 / v0.12 / v0.13 sub-threads (one per release, updated weekly)

**Acceptance Criteria**:
- [ ] GitHub Projects board created and linked on main README
- [ ] All 25+ v0.11 tasks broken into individual project items
- [ ] v0.12 backlog (remaining 19 compose chokepoints + M6 M7 M8 M10) visible but not yet scheduled
- [ ] Weekly progress visible (e.g., by Wednesday each week, ≥3 items move to Done column)
- [ ] "Built with" cards added to homepage footer with logo + link
- [ ] Discourse Releases category created with navigation post
- [ ] All three named users have confirmed permission to be listed

**Success Metric**: Show-HN reader opens GitHub Projects board and sees >10 completed items by Day 2 of launch. Perception: "This team is shipping fast." >50 watchers on public Projects board by end of Week 1.

---

## Tier 1.5: Prerequisite (Shipping in Parallel)

### Compose API (v0.11 Waves A-F)  
**File**: `wiki/Architecture/Design-Specs/2026-05-06-compose-harness-api.md`  
**Effort**: 2 weeks (Waves A-F) | **Risk**: High | **Owner**: @kernel-team  
**Why Critical**: This is the differentiator. Without it, v0.11 is just "better observability." With it, v0.11 is "the only framework where you control every prompt and every tool call."

**Waves**:
- **Wave A** (Thu-Fri): harness-pipeline registry + resolver + type system
- **Wave B** (Mon-Wed): 5 chokepoint refactors (prompt.system, nudge.loop-detected, nudge.healing-failure, message.tool-result, observation.verifier-retry)
- **Wave C** (Thu-Fri): RunHandle + pause/resume/stop/terminate plumbing
- **Wave D** (Mon-Wed): `packages/compose` with 6 killswitches (budgetLimit, timeoutAfter, maxIterations, requireApprovalFor, watchdog, confidenceFloor)
- **Wave E** (Thu-Fri): Sugar desugar implementations (`.withSystemPrompt` → `compose` call) + backward-compat tests
- **Wave F** (Mon-Fri): Docs (compose-api.mdx, harness-tags.mdx, composition-recipes.mdx) + stability.md update + homepage reference

**Acceptance Criteria**:
- [ ] All 24 harness injection points have a tag and are reachable via `.compose(harness)`
- [ ] Pattern matching (glob `.*` and `.**`) infers types correctly in TypeScript
- [ ] Six killswitches pre-built and pass acceptance tests
- [ ] Existing `.withX()` methods desugar to compose calls (backward compatible)
- [ ] Zero regressions on 4,672+ existing tests
- [ ] Docs mention which harness tags correspond to each of the 24 injection points

---

## Tier 2: Post-Launch (Weeks 4-6)

**Out of v0.11 scope but high-priority for community momentum:**

| Item | Effort | Why | Target |
|------|--------|-----|--------|
| Per-tool middleware | 3 days | Tool-specific transforms (authorization, retry logic, cost limits) | v0.12 Wave A |
| Cost forecasting / dry-run mode | 1 week | Users want to estimate cost before run commits tokens | v0.12 Wave B |
| Migration guides | 3 days | Reduce switching cost from Mastra, Vercel AI SDK, LangChain | v0.12 Wave C |
| **Cortex Beacon prominence** | 2 days | Visual debugger is production-grade; should be hero feature, not card | v0.11.1 |
| Discord founder presence | Ongoing | Channel moderation + weekly office hours | Start by Jun 1 |

---

## Tier 3: Anti-Patterns (Avoid)

**These do NOT move the needle for core Reactive Agents users; costly distraction:**

- ❌ Voice/realtime agent support (different market, not where indie devs are)
- ❌ Computer use kernel integration (Anthropic has this; we should compose with it, not build it)
- ❌ Visual no-code builder (contradicts "transparent + composable" thesis; users who want no-code pick Cursor)
- ❌ Multi-agent swarms (sub-agent delegation already solves this more elegantly)

---

## Amplify Existing Capabilities (Underplayed Assets)

Two production-grade capabilities shipping in v0.10 are being undermarketed. v0.11 should amplify them:

### 1. Diagnose Package (M11 KEEP)
**Current state**: `@reactive-agents/diagnose` shipped, production-ready (100% TP, 0% FP, 0.02ms latency).  
**Problem**: No homepage mention; no docs; no examples.  
**Fix for v0.11**:
- Add **Diagnose** card to "What You Get" section (after "Event Bus")
- Content: "Production-grade failure diagnostics. Every tool error auto-classified (malformed response, missing parameter, type mismatch, etc.). Diagnose suggests remediation in 0.02ms."
- Link to `/docs/diagnose` page with real diagnostic example
- Include in three Stackblitz playground scenarios (user can break a tool call and see diagnostic)

**Impact**: Indie devs see Reactive Agents as the framework with built-in observability, not just hooks. Differentiates from AutoGen (no diagnostics) and CrewAI (proprietary diagnostics).

---

### 2. Memory System (M10 IMPROVE → Production-Ready)
**Current state**: 4-tier episodic memory with 66.7% verbose / 100% keyed recall.  
**Problem**: Documented as unstable; compete against Mem0/Zep positioning as if we're not comparable. We're actually superior (task-scoped, no false pollution, 0.05ms overhead).  
**Fix for v0.11**:
- Promote from `@unstable` to `@stable` in stability.md (pending M10 Phase-1.5 re-validation with real LLMs)
- Add **Memory** card to "What You Get" section with honest positioning:
  - "Episodic memory with 4-tier recall: recent-steps, session-history, cross-session library, semantic search. 100% keyed recall, 66.7% natural-language recall. No false injection (task-scoped isolation)."
  - Acknowledge Mem0 / Zep exist; Reactive Agents memory is *composed into* agents, not a separate service
- Include memory example in one Stackblitz scenario (agent that learns from past interactions within a session)
- Docs: `/docs/memory` page with tuning guide (recall thresholds, TTLs, compression strategy)

**Impact**: Indie devs shipping multi-turn agents see memory as a native feature, not a bolt-on dependency. Long-running agents (24+ turns) see lower LLM costs thanks to episodic compression.

---

## Timeline & Dependency Graph

```
Compose API (Wave A-F)  [Start: Fri May 10 | Finish: Fri May 24]
  ↓
Skill Persistence       [Start: Mon May 12 | Finish: Fri May 17]
  ↓ (uses composed harness)
  
Parallel (starting Mon May 12):
├─ Live Playground      [2 days, finish Wed May 14]
├─ create-reactive-agent [3 days, finish Wed May 14]
├─ OpenTelemetry        [1 week, finish Fri May 18]
└─ Roadmap + Users      [1 day, finish Tue May 13]

Integration window: Fri May 24 - Tue May 28
├─ All packages integrated
├─ Zero regressions on 4,672+ tests
├─ docs/reference/stability.md updated
└─ Changelog staged

v0.11.0 Release: Wed May 29, 2026
```

**Critical path**: Compose API (if it slips, everything slips 1 day per wave). Skill persistence (tight but feasible if Wave A finishes Thu). Everything else parallelizable.

---

## Success Metrics (Week 1 Post-Launch)

| Metric | Target | Rationale |
|--------|--------|-----------|
| Show-HN upvotes | >500 | Framework credibility benchmark |
| Unique clickers on Stackblitz embeds | >1,000 | "I tried it" conversion |
| `npm install @reactive-agents/core` weekly | >500 new | Install velocity (baseline ~100/week) |
| create-reactive-agent runs | >100 | New-user activation funnel |
| GitHub Projects watchers | >50 | Perceived momentum |
| Named-user confirmations | 3/3 (Cortex, Beacon, Dispatch) | Brand credibility |
| Discourse threads opened | >10 (compose, skill, memory, roadmap) | Community engagement |

---

## Rollout Plan (Day 1 Show-HN)

**Morning (8am EDT)**:
- Merge all v0.11.0 commits to main
- CI publishes all 26 packages + 5 apps to npm
- GitHub release + CHANGELOG published
- Homepage updated (new cards, amplified capabilities, Stackblitz embeds live)
- Twitter thread goes out with narrative: "The composition API is here. Every prompt, every tool call, every phase is now injectable."

**Noon (12pm EDT)**:
- Submit to Show-HN with link to Stackblitz playground in headline
- Headline: "Reactive Agents 0.11: Composable Agent Framework (vs Black Boxes like AutoGen)"
- Monitor first 2 hours for critical feedback

**Day 1 Afternoon**:
- Discord office hours at 3pm (collect feedback, answer questions live)
- GitHub Projects visible + weekly update pinned

**Day 1 Evening**:
- Monitor HN ranking + traffic
- Flag any regressions from high-traffic load (unlikely; static site)

---

## Risks & Mitigations

| Risk | Severity | Mitigation |
|------|----------|-----------|
| Compose API takes 3 weeks (not 2) | High | If Wave A/B slip to Week 2, defer Tier 1.5 to v0.11.1 hotfix (Waves C-F land in patch). Other Tier 1 items (playground, CLI, telemetry) are independent and still ship v0.11.0. |
| Skill persistence corrupts data in production | Medium | 100% test coverage on SQLite schema; shadow writes to both old + new storage for 1 week before cutover; rollback plan: delete skill DB, restart agent (skills re-learned). |
| Stackblitz embeds fail on mobile | Low | Responsive CSS handles mobile (single-column, no overflow). Fallback: `/docs/playground` page with same embeds at smaller viewport. |
| GitHub Projects updates lag behind reality | Low | Automate via GitHub Actions: closed PRs → auto-move to Done, merged PRs update linked issues. Weekly sync as override/catch-all. |
| Named users revoke permission to list | Low | Async confirmations in writing (email) before v0.11.0 tag. If revoked mid-launch, remove from homepage in v0.11.1 patch (same day). |

---

## Open Questions (Resolve Before Wave A Starts)

- [ ] **Skill persistence**: Should skill metadata include git commit of source SKILL.md? (For reproducibility + reversion)
- [ ] **Compose API**: Do we desugar `.withVerification()` to a compose call, or keep it as-is? (Backward compat vs scope creep)
- [ ] **Memory stability**: Do we re-validate M10 with real LLMs before promoting to @stable in v0.11? (Or stay @unstable with noted improvements?)
- [ ] **OpenTelemetry sampling**: Should sampling be configurable per-environment (e.g., 100% in staging, 10% in prod) or global?
- [ ] **Roadmap visibility**: Do we use GitHub Projects native or Discourse category for primary visibility? (Both? GitHub Projects as canonical, Discourse for discussion?)

---

## Approval Gate

**Ready for Wave A start when**:
- [ ] Compose API spec (2026-05-06-compose-harness-api.md) has signed-off from @kernel-team
- [ ] Skill persistence design reviewed by @reasoning-team
- [ ] Timeline budget reviewed and accepted by @tyler
- [ ] All five Tier-1 owners confirmed their effort estimates
- [ ] GitHub Projects board created and backlog populated
- [ ] Show-HN headline + narrative approved by @marketing

---

## Success Definition (Post-Launch)

**v0.11 is successful if**:

1. **Momentum**: Show-HN >400 upvotes + >30% of visitors try Stackblitz playground within Day 1
2. **Tooling**: `npx create-reactive-agent` becomes first-run onboarding path for >50% of new v0.11 users
3. **Production**: >5 named production users deploying v0.11 agents with OpenTelemetry telemetry by end of June
4. **Community**: >100 threads on Discourse discussing compose, skills, memory within first month
5. **Roadmap**: GitHub Projects board remains >50 watchers and <10% stale (issues updated weekly)

**Stretch goal**: v0.11 overtakes AutoGen on GitHub stars by end of Q2 (current: RA 1.2k, AutoGen 27k; closing 10% of gap = credibility inflection).

---

## References

- **Compose API spec**: `wiki/Architecture/Design-Specs/2026-05-06-compose-harness-api.md`
- **Homepage changes (v0.10 baseline)**: `apps/docs/src/content/docs/index.mdx`
- **Stability tier definitions**: `apps/docs/src/content/docs/reference/stability.md`
- **Market positioning analysis**: (from May 6 positioning research; referenced in conversation thread)
- **Phase-1 mechanism validation**: `harness-reports/phase-1-mechanism-validation-2026-05-04.md`
