diff --git a/rfcs/2026-08-clockwork-commerce-service-adoption.md b/rfcs/2026-08-clockwork-commerce-service-adoption.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c792e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/rfcs/2026-08-clockwork-commerce-service-adoption.md @@ -0,0 +1,101 @@ +# RFC: Use Clockwork to unblock the quote-to-order journey we show clients + +**Status:** Proposal +**Author:** [James Kurz](https://github.com/jameskurz-filecoin) +**Audience:** Fil One engineers +**Date:** 2026-08-19 + +## TL;DR + +Enterprise and channel conversations still cannot walk one path from a tailored +quote to approval, order, provisioning, and billing. That work lives in HubSpot, +Stripe, PDFs, and people. It makes Fil One look less finished than the storage +product, and it blocks deals we should be able to close or demo. + +[Clockwork](https://github.com/fil-one/clockwork) is a working prototype of that +journey: someone issues a quote, an approver accepts it, the customer sees an +order, and that order is what we would provision. We would not sell Clockwork. +PAYG in the Fil One console stays as it is. + +**Decision after a 45-minute demo:** pilot this app, trial a vendor (Chargebee +or Stripe Billing + HubSpot), or kill it. Off-the-shelf is allowed to win. +Doing nothing is not, if we keep showing partners a journey we cannot run. + +Not a billing cutover. Not a Fil One rewrite. Not anyone owning the repo from +this document alone. + +## Who is stuck today + +- **A prospective customer** who needs an annual or custom quote, not self-serve + PAYG. Today that is email and a PDF. They cannot see the quote, accept it, or + watch it become an account. +- **A channel partner** who should register a deal, price it, and see commission + without a spreadsheet. +- **Us (sales, partnerships, finance)** who cannot point at one record and say + which quote became which order, which invoice, which tenant. + +Clockwork is for all three. Sales and finance have not signed off that they +will live in it; the demo is how we find that out. + +## What you can show a client tomorrow + +https://clockwork-commerce-demo.netlify.app/ + +Shared password (Netlify env; I will put it in the FF 1Password vault before +we sit down — it is not in git). Then pick a persona. The site is fake data on +Netlify. It does not talk to Stripe, WorkOS, Auth0, or Forge. + +Walk this: + +1. `/demo` → **Start as Mara Voss** (customer). +2. Open the issued annual quote and accept it (PO `PO-DEMO-0312`). +3. Download the order-form PDF. The quote flips to accepted. +4. Switch to an internal persona if you want the operator view. +5. **Restore demo data** when you are done. + +That is the impression I want in the room: quote → accept → order, in one +place, looking like a product. The RFC is whether we make a slice of that +true against Fil One. + +## What Clockwork is (and is not) + +A TypeScript app I built, with a lot of AI assistance. Not a vendor. Not a +SKU we sell. + +The **demo** is Next.js on Netlify plus a password and persona cookies. + +**If we ran it for real:** Next.js on Vercel, Supabase Postgres, WorkOS AuthKit +for Clockwork login, a Stripe adapter in-repo, Trigger.dev. Fil One customers +would still log into Fil One with Auth0. Clockwork would not sit in front of +Auth0 or become the PAYG Stripe writer. + +There is no Fil One API yet. Provisioning is typed ports and fakes. A pilot +would need the smallest real call: “this approved order means enable this +product for this org.” That is later work. This RFC does not design it. + +Engineering would own uptime, bugs, and security if we keep the app. That +competes with storage work. Name that cost before we fall in love with the +demo. + +## Alternatives + +- **Pilot Clockwork.** My lean, because we can put it in front of a client + now. Smallest next step after the demo: one non-PAYG path, no Stripe cutover, + no Auth0 federation. +- **Buy Chargebee, or Stripe Billing + HubSpot.** Allowed to win. I have not + done a bake-off. If the team would rather buy, that is a valid result of + this RFC — as long as we can still demo a coherent journey to clients. +- **Keep stitching email/PDF/HubSpot.** Cheap for engineering. Continues to + block the conversations that need a quote-to-order story. + +## Decisions needed + +1. Sit through the demo. +2. Then: **pilot Clockwork**, **trial a vendor**, or **kill it**. +3. If we pilot: who is on-call, and what is the one customer path in scope. + +## References + +- [Live demo](https://clockwork-commerce-demo.netlify.app/) +- [Clockwork repo](https://github.com/fil-one/clockwork) +- [README rewrite (not merged)](https://github.com/fil-one/clockwork/pull/35)