hangar.blackbyrd.cc — unified ops platform
Context
The skills-driven maintenance plan needs a face. The team needs an internal handbook (this document, in fact). Clients eventually need a portal with CMS docs. Three product surfaces, three potential codebases, three potential subdomains.
Original plan called this ops.blackbyrd.cc. Renamed to hangar.blackbyrd.cc to fit the aviation theme (planes are stored and maintained in a hangar; sets up future product naming under the same theme — tower, runway, beacon).
Decision
Build a unified Next.js app at hangar.blackbyrd.cc housing four surfaces under one roof:
| Path | Audience | Role |
|---|---|---|
/dashboard/* | Blackbyrd team | admin, staff |
/handbook/* | Blackbyrd team | admin, staff |
/c/[slug]/* | Per-client portal | client (scoped) |
/c/[slug]/docs/* | Client CMS docs | client (scoped) |
Stack: Next.js (App Router) + Tailwind + shadcn/ui + Nextra (for /handbook and /c/*/docs). Postgres via Supabase with Row-Level Security policies. Clerk for auth (organizations primitive maps to clients). Vercel hosting.
Public methodology surface stays separate — when v3 launches publicly-readable methodology content for SEO, that lives at blackbyrd.cc/methodology or its own marketing subdomain, not on hangar. Hangar is authenticated users only.
Rationale
- Single design system, single auth, single deploy. Three apps would be three codebases to maintain. Consolidation is worth ~20 hours upfront for hundreds of hours saved over the platform’s lifetime.
- Multi-tenant from day 1. Even when Blackbyrd is the only user, the architecture is multi-tenant-shaped (tenant-scoped queries, RLS policies, RBAC middleware). Single-user-now-multi-tenant-later is a refactor trap.
- Three-phase product roadmap aligns:
- v1 (internal MVP, ESCSC weeks 5–8): /dashboard + /handbook for Blackbyrd team
- v2 (post-ESCSC-launch): /c/[slug]/* tenant-scoped client portals + CMS docs
- v3 (future): Multi-tenant SaaS for other small WP agencies, $50–150/mo per agency. Largest revenue line item over a 3-year horizon.
Consequences
- All cross-surface concerns are decided once: same brand system, same nav primitives, same auth flow.
- Security is non-negotiable: HttpOnly cookies, strict CSP, locked headers, server-side RBAC enforcement on every route, RLS as backstop.
- The handbook (this section of the platform) becomes the canonical source-of-truth for “how Blackbyrd builds.” Every meaningful decision lives here, not in chat history.
- The decision to keep public methodology separate prevents a category error — public crawlers should never touch the auth boundary of the ops platform.
- Future product additions under the aviation theme have a naming pattern ready (tower, runway, beacon).
Related
decisions/2026-04-27-stack-foundation.mdx— the WP+Etch stack hangar managesdecisions/2026-04-27-license-centralization.mdx— license registry lives in hangar