DandyLine — Button Logic Map · Full Decision Tree

Flow Overview

The Planting Ritual — 8 Decision Layers

Every DandyLine vault starts with a single tap: "Plant a Seed." What follows is a cascade of decisions that determines what the user is planting, who it's for, when it opens, and how it's delivered. Each choice narrows the path and reveals new options — a branching tree that adapts to the user's intent.

This map documents every fork in that tree — what buttons appear, what conditionals they trigger, what sub-options emerge based on prior selections, and where the logic gets complex enough to require careful product decisions. Each step below is expandable. Click to reveal the full branching logic.

How to read this document: Start at Step 1 and follow downward. Each numbered step is a decision point the user encounters. Within each step, the colored pills represent the available choices. Sub-branches show what happens after each choice. Nuance callouts flag edge cases, conditionals, and unknowns. The Unknowns section at the bottom captures every open question that needs resolution before build.

8

Decision Layers

5

Vault Types

5

Media Types

7

Bloom Triggers

26+

Unique Paths

Grove

Personal

Milestone

Legacy

Journey

Unknown / Open Question

Nuance / Edge Case

Decision Layer 01

01

What are you planting?

The user's first choice: what kind of media is this seed? This determines the capture interface, file handling, and what the bloom experience looks like on the other end.

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Photo → Opens camera or gallery picker

User can capture a new photo or select from their library. Single image or multi-image? If multi-image, does it become a slideshow or a "memory stack" at bloom? The bloom experience needs to feel like discovering photos in a box — not scrolling a gallery.

Capture New

Opens camera with DandyLine overlay. Minimal UI — the moment matters, not the interface. No filters. DandyLine preserves the real moment. Optional: soft warm-tone processing applied only at bloom (a "memory warmth" layer that simulates how memories soften over time).

Choose from Library

Standard photo picker. Allows selecting 1 photo (or up to a maximum — unknown: what's the max?). Selected photos are imported and sealed — edits to the original on the phone do NOT affect the sealed seed.

Nuance — Photo Metadata

Should DandyLine preserve EXIF data (location, timestamp) and surface it at bloom? "Planted from [City] on [Date]" could be emotionally powerful. But raises privacy considerations — especially for Grove vaults where contributors may not want their location shared. Recommendation: preserve metadata but let the planter choose what's shown at bloom.

Video → Opens camera in video mode or gallery picker

Raw, unfiltered video captures. The most emotionally powerful media type — voice, face, environment, movement all preserved. The bloom experience for video is the most cinematic moment DandyLine delivers.

Record New

Camera opens in video mode. Maximum duration unknown — 60 seconds? 3 minutes? 10 minutes? Shorter forces intentionality. Longer allows full expression. Recommendation: default 90 seconds, premium/Legacy tiers unlock longer.

Select from Library

Allows selecting an existing video. Trimming interface? User should be able to trim start/end — but no other editing. The raw quality is the point.

Storage & Compression

Video is the most storage-intensive media type. For vaults that might wait 20+ years (Legacy), what format is used for archival? This is a technical decision that affects cost and quality preservation. Original resolution vs. compressed? Should DandyLine commit to maintaining original quality indefinitely?

Voice Note → Opens audio recorder with waveform visualization

The signature DandyLine media type. A person's voice is the most irreplaceable thing they can leave behind. The waveform visualization during recording communicates "this is being honored, not just recorded."

Record

DandyLine waveform UI with gold bars. Duration counter visible. Max duration unknown — same question as video. Voice notes can be re-recorded before sealing but cannot be edited (no cutting, splicing). The raw take is the point. Optional: soft ambient background tone during recording to create a "DandyLine moment."

Preview & Re-record

After recording, user can listen back. Two options: "Keep this" or "Try again." No editing — just keep or redo. This forces authenticity over perfection.

Voice Notes for Legacy Vaults

For Legacy vaults, a voice note may be the only remaining record of someone's voice. This is not a casual feature. Should DandyLine flag this significance to the planter? Something like: "A voice note in a Legacy vault may be the most important thing you ever record." This is a product language decision, not just a feature decision.

Written Letter → Opens text composition interface

A written message — the digital letter. The most intentional media type. Writing requires more thought than speaking or photographing. The bloom experience for a written letter should feel like unfolding a page, not reading a text message.

Blank Composition

Clean text field. Minimal formatting — no bold, no fonts, no distractions. Just words. Character limit? Probably no hard limit but a soft indicator ("most letters are under 500 words"). Premium/Legacy could unlock longer.

Guided Prompts

Optional: DandyLine offers writing prompts based on the vault type and recipient. "What do you want them to know about who you are right now?" or "What would you tell your future self about today?" The prompts appear as gentle suggestions, never required. Especially valuable for Legacy vaults where the planter may not know where to start.

Bundle → Multi-media composition — combine types into one seed

The richest seed format. A bundle combines multiple media types into a single seed — a photo with a voice note over it, a video followed by a written letter, a series of photos with text between them. The bloom experience for a bundle is the closest thing to a "memory package."

Add Media Items

User adds items one at a time. Each item is a photo, video, voice note, or text block. Maximum items per bundle? Unknown — probably 5–10 to keep it intentional. Drag to reorder. The order matters for the bloom narrative.

Arrange Sequence

The bloom plays through the bundle items in order. This is not a gallery — it's a narrative. The user is creating a sequence: first they see this photo, then they hear this voice note, then they read these words. The arrangement IS the storytelling.

Nuance — Bundle Premium

Is Bundle a premium feature? It's the most complex and storage-intensive media type. Could be: free tier gets single media type per seed, premium unlocks bundles. Or: all tiers get bundles with a 3-item limit, premium unlocks 10+. This is a monetization decision.

Decision Layer 02

02

Where does this seed live?

Vault type selection. This is the most consequential choice — it determines contributor structure, bloom behavior, sharing rules, and visual identity. The user shouldn't have to understand all five options. DandyLine should guide them with questions.

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Smart Guide Path → DandyLine asks 2–3 guiding questions instead of showing 5 vault types

Rather than presenting all five vault types upfront (overwhelming), DandyLine asks simple questions to guide the user to the right vault. This is the recommended UX path.

Question 1: "Is anyone else planting with you?"

Yes → Grove. This is the single clearest differentiator. If multiple people are each contributing their own seeds, it's Grove. Period. No other vault type supports co-contributors.

No → Continue to Question 2.

Question 2: "Is this for a specific life event?"

Yes, a known event → Milestone. The vault IS the occasion — a graduation, a wedding, a birthday with a zero. The event defines the vault.

No, it's more personal → Continue to Question 3.

Question 3: "Does this need to arrive no matter what — even if you're not around?"

Yes → Legacy. The vault needs to outlast the planter. Continuity guarantees, inheritance transfer, posthumous delivery — these are Legacy features.

No → Personal. A solo vault with flexible timing. The most common path.

Alternate Path: "Are you on a personal journey?"

Yes → Journey. If the user is planting at a milestone in an ongoing personal journey (sobriety, grief, recovery, etc.), and wants to connect with others at the same milestone. Note: this question may not surface for most users — Journey might be accessed from a separate entry point rather than the main vault chooser.

Grove → Multi-contributor vault — everyone plants, everyone blooms

Trigger: Multiple people contributing. Defining feature: Each contributor plants their own seeds independently. Seeds within the same vault can have different bloom triggers. Unlocks: contributor invites, visibility settings, contribution deadlines, simultaneous vs. sequential bloom delivery.

Grove — Hybrid Handling

A family planting for a child's 18th birthday = Grove with a milestone trigger (not Milestone). The contributor count is always the deciding factor. This distinction needs to be clear in the UI — users will think "18th birthday → Milestone" but if multiple people are planting, it's Grove. The smart guide handles this; direct selection might cause misclassification.

Personal → Solo vault — one planter, flexible timing, any recipient

Trigger: One person planting alone. Defining feature: Private, intimate, entirely yours. Recipient can be yourself or someone else. Unlocks: privacy levels, re-seal options, feeling tags, all six trigger types.

Milestone → Event-anchored vault — the occasion IS the vault

Trigger: A known, significant life event. Defining feature: The vault exists because the occasion exists — they're the same thing. Unlike Personal, Milestone supports multi-recipient delivery — the event often belongs to more than one person (bride and groom, both parents at a birth). Unlocks: event type selection, multi-recipient assignment, countdown display, grouped delivery, repeat milestone re-seeding.

Resolved — Milestone Is Its Own Vault Type

Milestone is confirmed as a distinct vault type. The key differentiator from Personal: Milestone events often belong to multiple people — a wedding belongs to both the bride and groom, a child's birth belongs to both parents, a 20th anniversary belongs to the couple. This means Milestone needs a multi-recipient model that Personal doesn't have. One planter → multiple recipients tied to the same occasion. This is structurally different from Grove (multi-contributor) and Personal (single recipient).

Legacy → Long-hold vault — built to outlast the planter

Trigger: "I need this to arrive no matter what." Defining feature: Continuity guarantees, inheritance transfer, legacy guardian, posthumous delivery. Unlocks: guardian designation, capsule continuity, identity verification, archival format, guided prompts.

Journey → Milestone-anchored, community-connected — temporal relay

Trigger: "I'm on a personal journey and want to connect with others at the same point." Defining feature: Time measured in personal progress, not dates. Seeds reach strangers who hit the same milestone. Unlocks: journey category, milestone marker, identity settings, tone tags, community access, bloom window.

Decision Layer 03

03

Who is this for?

Recipient and sharing configuration. This step branches significantly based on which vault type was selected in Step 2. Each vault type has different recipient rules and sharing models.

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If Personal → Choose: Myself, a specific person, or a person who doesn't have DandyLine yet

Personal vaults have the widest range of recipient options because they're the most flexible vault type.

For Myself → Future Self

The recipient is a future version of you. No sharing needed. Bloom delivers to your own account. This is the "letter to future me" path — the simplest possible vault. No recipient configuration required. Proceeds directly to bloom trigger selection.

For Someone Specific → Enter Recipient

User enters a name and delivery method. Options: In-app user (search by name/username) → bloom delivers in their DandyLine feed. Email delivery → recipient gets a DandyLine email at bloom with a link. Unknown: What if the recipient doesn't have DandyLine? Do they need to create an account to view? Or can they view as a guest?

For Someone Who Doesn't Exist Yet

Edge case: a message planted for an unborn child, or a grandchild who hasn't been conceived. How does delivery work? The planter designates a guardian or trusted person who will assign the vault to the actual recipient when the time comes. This path automatically suggests Legacy vault upgrade because it implies a long timeline and need for continuity guarantees.

If Grove → Configure contributors AND recipients (they may or may not be the same people)

Grove has the most complex sharing model because it involves multiple planters and potentially different recipients.

Add Contributors

Invite by name, email, or shareable invite link. Each contributor plants independently. Contributor limit? Unknown — probably tiered (free: 5 contributors, premium: 25, family plan: unlimited). Each accepted invite shows the contributor a dedicated planting interface for this vault.

Who Receives the Bloom?

Three recipient models:
→ A single designated person (all seeds go to one person — e.g., a child receives seeds from the whole family)
→ All contributors (everyone who planted also receives everything — shared time capsule model)
→ Contributor-specific delivery (each planter addresses their seed to a specific person — mixed recipients within one vault)

Contribution Deadline

Optional: set a date after which no new seeds can be added. The vault seals on this date regardless of who has or hasn't contributed. This creates urgency without pressure. Without a deadline, the vault stays open for planting indefinitely (the "ongoing family archive" model).

Critical Edge Case — Contributor Changes

What happens if a contributor's relationship changes before bloom? Divorce, estrangement, death. Can a seed be recalled? If someone is removed from the Grove, do their seeds stay? Does the recipient know a seed was removed? This is a hot open question — see Unknowns section.

If Milestone → Select the event, then the recipient

Milestone vaults start with the event selection — the event IS the vault identity — and then assign recipients. Unlike Personal, Milestone supports multiple recipients because the event often belongs to more than one person.

Choose Event Type

Options: Birthday (with age) · Graduation · Wedding · Anniversary · Retirement · Birth of a Child · Departure · Custom. Each event type may surface unique UI — birthday asks for age, wedding asks for date (or "date TBD"), graduation asks for school/year, birth of a child asks "who are the parents?"

Assign Recipient(s) — Single or Multiple

Single recipient: one person receives the bloom (e.g., a parent planting for a graduate). Enter name and delivery method.

Multi-recipient (event-shared): the event belongs to multiple people and all of them receive the bloom. A wedding vault goes to both the bride and groom. A "birth of our child" vault goes to both parents. A 20th anniversary vault goes to the couple. Each recipient is added by name/email. All recipients receive the same bloom at the same time.

If "for myself" → this is a vault to your future self at a specific milestone (e.g., "open when I'm 40").

Key Distinction — Milestone Multi-Recipient vs. Grove Multi-Contributor

Milestone = one planter, multiple recipients (the event is shared). Grove = multiple planters, any recipient model. Don't confuse "multiple people receiving" with "multiple people planting." A parent planting a wedding vault for both the bride and groom = Milestone. Both the bride and groom each planting their own seeds for each other = Grove.

If Legacy → Designate recipient AND legacy guardian

Legacy vaults require both a recipient and a backup — someone who ensures delivery if the planter can't.

Designate Recipient

Same as Personal — a specific person, by name/email/in-app. But Legacy recipients may not exist yet (unborn grandchildren), may not have DandyLine, or may need identity verification at bloom (decades later). The delivery mechanism is the most complex in the product.

Designate Legacy Guardian

Required for Legacy. A trusted person who holds responsibility if the planter is unavailable. The guardian can: confirm delivery, update recipient info (if the recipient was unnamed at planting, e.g. "my first grandchild"), and verify that bloom should proceed. This is the feature that makes Legacy distinct from Personal.

Inheritance Transfer (Optional)

For the longest-arc vaults: who inherits ownership of the vault if the planter passes? The guardian? The recipient? A designated heir? This starts to touch legal territory — DandyLine needs clear terms of service for vault ownership transfer.

If Journey → No traditional recipient — community access configuration instead

Journey vaults don't have recipients in the traditional sense. Your seed goes to anyone who reaches the same milestone in the same journey.

Choose Journey Category

Options: Sobriety · Grief · New Parenthood · Career Transition · Health/Illness Recovery · Fitness Goal · Mental Health · Immigration/Relocation · Divorce/Separation · Education · Custom. The category determines the milestone scale (days vs. weeks vs. months) and the tone of the community.

Set Your Milestone Marker

"I am at ___" — Day 30, Month 6, Year 1. The milestone you're planting from = the milestone someone else must reach to receive your seed. Fuzzy matching option: your seed appears at Day 28–32 instead of exactly Day 30.

Community Access Setting

→ Open: anyone on this journey receives it at the milestone
→ Invite Group: only people in your designated circle (e.g., a specific AA meeting, a grief support group)
→ Private Receiver: you receive others' seeds at this milestone but don't plant one yourself

Identity Setting

→ Anonymous (default): seed attributed to "someone at Day 30" — no name, no identity
→ First Name Only: "From Sarah, at Day 30"
→ Full Identity: name + optional profile link

Decision Layer 04

04

Who can see what, and when?

Visibility and access controls. This is where sharing permissions, contributor visibility, and privacy levels are configured. Branches heavily based on vault type.

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Privacy Level → Applies to Personal, Milestone, Legacy

How visible is this vault before it blooms? Three tiers of privacy:

Just Me — Fully Invisible

Nobody knows this vault exists until it blooms. Not the recipient, not anyone else. The vault sits in the planter's account as a sealed, private seed. For "letter to future self" this is the only option. For vaults with external recipients, this creates the "surprise" factor — the recipient has no idea something is coming.

Shared Bloom — Recipient Knows a Vault Exists

The recipient is notified that a vault has been planted for them, but cannot open or preview the content until bloom. They see a sealed jar in their own DandyLine, with an optional countdown. This creates anticipation without spoiling the surprise. Branches to: show countdown? Yes/No (see Step 7).

Private with Backup — Trusted Person Holds a Key

A designated trusted person knows the vault exists and can trigger delivery if the planter becomes unavailable. This bridges Personal → Legacy behavior. The key holder can't see the content, only confirm delivery. Useful for vaults that might need manual intervention but don't require full Legacy infrastructure.

Contributor Visibility → Grove only — what contributors can see about each other

In a Grove vault with multiple contributors, how much do they know about each other's participation?

See Names + Count

Contributors can see who else has been invited and who has planted. "3 of 5 people have planted" — creates gentle accountability. Most appropriate for family/friend groups where transparency is expected.

See Names Only

Contributors see who else is invited but not whether they've planted yet. Reduces pressure. Nobody knows if Grandma has recorded her voice note yet.

Fully Blind Until Bloom

No contributor knows who else is participating. The vault blooms and — surprise — there are seeds from people you didn't know were planting. This is the most emotionally powerful option but the hardest to manage (no accountability, no reminders, no way to know if the vault has "enough" seeds).

Nuance — Asymmetric Contributions

If Grandma contributed 12 seeds and Dad contributed 1, does the recipient see counts per contributor? This could create guilt or comparison. Recommendation: the bloom experience should not display counts. All seeds arrive as a unified experience — the recipient discovers each voice, not a scoreboard.

Shareability After Bloom → Can the recipient share the bloomed content with others?

After a vault blooms, what can the recipient do with the content? This is a planter-controlled permission.

Private — Only the Recipient

The bloomed content stays in the recipient's DandyLine. No screenshots, no sharing, no export. This is the most private option — the memory was planted for one person and stays with one person. Technical question: can DandyLine actually prevent screenshots? Probably not on all platforms, but the UI should not include share buttons.

Shareable Within DandyLine

The recipient can forward the bloomed content to other DandyLine users. The planter's name remains attached. Useful for family vaults where the recipient wants to show siblings, etc.

Exportable — Save Outside DandyLine

The recipient can download the media (photo, video, voice note) to their device. For Legacy vaults, this might be essential — a grandchild should be able to save their grandmother's voice note forever, not depend on DandyLine's continued existence.

Unknown — Default Shareability

What's the default? Should DandyLine default to "Private" (safest) and let planters opt into sharing? Or default to "Shareable within DandyLine" (more viral) and let planters restrict? Product philosophy question: DandyLine's brand is about privacy and intentionality — defaulting to private feels more aligned. But defaulting to shareable drives organic growth.

Re-Seal & Edit Access → Can the planter modify the vault after sealing?

Once sealed, how rigid is the lock? This varies by vault type.

Sealed Forever

No additions, no edits, no deletions after sealing. The purest "time capsule" model. Recommended default for Milestone and Legacy. The commitment IS the point.

Open Window for Additions

The planter can add new seeds to the vault (but can't edit or delete existing ones). Useful for Personal vaults where someone wants to add to a letter over time. Window options: 24 hours / 7 days / 30 days / until bloom date.

Recall Option — Grace Period

Within a short window after sealing (24–72 hours?), the planter can recall and delete the entire vault. After the grace period, it's permanent. This handles the "I sealed it drunk and regret it" scenario. But it slightly undermines the "sealed commitment" philosophy. Tension to resolve.

Decision Layer 05

05

When does this bloom?

The bloom trigger — the mechanism that determines when the sealed vault opens. This is the emotional core of DandyLine: the distance between planting and blooming is where meaning lives. 7 trigger types available, with availability depending on vault type.

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Specific Date → Available: All vault types

The simplest trigger. Pick a date on the calendar → the vault blooms on that date. This branches to Step 6 (Date & Timing) where the user configures the exact date — or marks it as "to be determined."

Nuance — "Date TBD" for Events Like Weddings

Critical path: A user wants to plant a vault for a wedding, but the wedding date hasn't been set yet. They know the event, they know the recipient, they know the content — they just don't know the date. DandyLine needs a "Set Date Later" option. The vault is sealed but the bloom trigger is pending. The planter (or guardian) gets a reminder to set the date when it's known. This is essential for Milestone vaults.

Age Milestone → Available: All vault types (strongest fit: Milestone, Legacy)

Blooms when the recipient reaches a specific age. "Open when they turn 18." Requires knowing the recipient's birthday — or a mechanism to discover it.

Recipient Birthday Known

Enter the target age. DandyLine calculates the bloom date from the recipient's stored birthday. Simple path.

Recipient Birthday Unknown

Fork: Ask the planter to provide it? Ask the recipient to verify at some point? Defer to guardian? For unborn recipients (Legacy), this is unknowable at planting time. The guardian would need to provide it later. DandyLine needs a "verify birthday later" mechanism.

Years From Now → Available: All vault types

Blooms after a set duration. "Open in 5 years." The simplest countdown trigger. The bloom date is calculated from the seal date. No recipient birthday needed. This is the lowest-friction trigger for planters who don't want to pick a specific date.

Duration Picker

Options: 6 months · 1 year · 2 years · 5 years · 10 years · 20 years · 25 years · Custom. The UI surfaces common options as pill buttons with a "custom" option for exact input. Maximum: 25 years for standard vaults, 50 years for Legacy tier vaults. Beyond 50 years is not offered — DandyLine's offboarding mechanism (Sunset Notifications, export/download, final bloom delivery) kicks in for vaults approaching their limit. Custom durations must fall within the user's tier ceiling.

Anniversary Trigger → Available: Grove, Personal, Milestone

Blooms on the Nth anniversary of a date. "Open on our 10th wedding anniversary." The planter provides the original date, and DandyLine calculates the Nth recurrence. Branches to repeat-milestone logic: does this re-trigger every year, or only once?

Surprise Me → Available: Personal, Grove

DandyLine chooses when the vault blooms. The planter gives up control. The vault could bloom in 3 months or 3 years. This is the most emotionally risky trigger — and the most magical when it works. "I don't know when I'll need this. DandyLine, you decide."

Nuance — Surprise Algorithm

How does DandyLine choose? Random within a range? Context-aware (blooms on a detected "hard day")? Guaranteed minimum wait (no bloom within 30 days of planting)? This needs a product spec. The algorithm is invisible to the user but defines the emotional experience. Getting it wrong (too soon, too late, bad timing) could feel hollow.

Location Unlock → Available: Personal, Grove

The vault blooms when the recipient physically visits a specific location. "Open when you return to Grandma's house." Requires location services on the recipient's device. The most spatial trigger — ties memory to place.

Set Location

Pin a location on a map or enter an address. Radius setting: how close must the recipient be? 100 meters? 1 mile? This matters for places like "the lake house" vs. a specific bench in a park.

Privacy Concern

Location-based triggers require ongoing location access on the recipient's device. This is a significant privacy consideration. The recipient must opt in. If they haven't opted in, the vault can't bloom — does it fall back to a date-based trigger? Or wait indefinitely? This trigger type may be technically difficult to implement reliably.

Gradual Bloom → Available: Personal, Milestone

The vault doesn't bloom all at once — it reveals content in stages over time. "First seed opens today, second seed opens next month, third on your birthday." A staggered experience that stretches the bloom over weeks or months. For bundles and multi-seed vaults.

Set Cadence

Options: Daily · Weekly · Monthly · Custom intervals. The planter decides the rhythm. Each reveal is its own moment. This makes DandyLine a recurring presence in the recipient's life — not a one-time event.

Journey Milestone → Journey only — blooms when another person reaches your milestone

Not a date, not a countdown — a human milestone. Your seed blooms when someone else reaches the same point in their journey. Day 30, Month 6, Year 1. The bloom trigger is a stranger's personal progress, not a calendar.

Decision Layer 06

06

What's the exact date — or is it undetermined?

Date and timing configuration. This is where the nuance gets heavy: some planters know the exact date, some know the event but not the date, some don't know either. Each path has different UI requirements and downstream effects.

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Date Known → Standard date picker → sealed with exact bloom date

The simplest path. User picks a date. Done. The vault is sealed with a confirmed bloom date. Countdown begins (if enabled). This is the majority case for most vault types.

Time of Day Selection

Should the planter choose what time of day it blooms? "Bloom at 7am on her birthday" vs. "bloom at midnight." Default could be morning (the start of the day). Or: DandyLine picks the optimal time based on recipient timezone and activity patterns. Unknown: how important is time-of-day precision?

Timezone Handling

If the planter is in New York and the recipient is in Tokyo, whose timezone governs the bloom? Recommendation: recipient's timezone. The bloom should arrive in THEIR morning, not the planter's. But this requires knowing the recipient's timezone — another data point to collect or infer.

Date TBD — Event Known → Vault sealed, bloom trigger pending assignment

The wedding scenario. You know the event (wedding day), you know the recipient (your daughter), you know the content (your voice note). But the wedding date hasn't been set yet. DandyLine must support this.

Seal Without Date

The vault is sealed and content is preserved, but no bloom date is set. The vault sits in a "pending trigger" state. The planter sees it marked as "Sealed · Date Pending" in their vault list. The content is locked — no edits — but the trigger is open.

Set Date Later — Notification Flow

DandyLine sends periodic, gentle reminders: "Your vault 'For Emma's Wedding Day' still needs a bloom date." How often? Quarterly? Only when the planter opens the app? The reminder must not feel like spam — it's a nudge about something meaningful.

Guardian / Co-Planter Can Set Date

For Legacy vaults with a guardian: the guardian can set the bloom date if the planter is unavailable. For Grove vaults: the vault creator (not individual contributors) can set the date later. Who has permission to modify a pending trigger? This needs strict access control.

Critical Unknown — What if the date is never set?

If a planter seals a vault with "Date TBD" and then abandons their account, deletes the app, or dies — the vault sits in limbo forever. Should DandyLine have a maximum "pending" duration? After 10 years with no date set, does the guardian get escalated? Does it auto-bloom? Does it archive? This is a product + legal question with no current answer.

Calculated Date — Derived from Input → DandyLine computes the bloom date from trigger data

For triggers like "Age Milestone" or "Years From Now," the user doesn't pick a calendar date directly. Instead they provide inputs (target age, duration, anniversary date) and DandyLine calculates the bloom date.

From Age → Birthday + Target Age = Bloom Date

Input: recipient's birthday + target age. Output: exact bloom date. Shown to planter for confirmation: "This will bloom on March 15, 2044 — Emma's 18th birthday." If birthday unknown → "Date TBD" path above.

From Duration → Seal Date + Duration = Bloom Date

Input: duration (5 years). Output: "Blooms on March 23, 2031." The simplest calculation. No external data needed.

From Anniversary → Original Date + Nth Year = Bloom Date

Input: the original date (wedding date, first date, etc.) + which anniversary (10th, 25th, etc.). Output: exact bloom date. Repeat logic: does this trigger every year, or only on the specified anniversary?

No Date — Journey / Surprise / Location → Bloom trigger is non-temporal — skip date selection entirely

For triggers that aren't date-based at all: Journey milestones (progress-based), Surprise (algorithm-based), and Location Unlock (proximity-based). No date picker is shown. The planter accepts that bloom timing is not in their hands.

Decision Layer 07

07

How does it arrive?

Countdown visibility, delivery method, and bloom-day experience. The final configuration before sealing. This determines what the wait feels like and what the moment of arrival looks like.

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Countdown Display → Should the recipient see a countdown to bloom?

This is an emotional design choice, not just a UI choice. A countdown creates anticipation. No countdown creates surprise.

Show Countdown

The recipient sees a sealed jar with a timer: "Your vault blooms in 47 days." The number decreasing over time creates anticipation. The jar could glow brighter as the date approaches. Best for: known recipients who already know a vault has been planted for them.

Hide Countdown — Sealed Mystery

The recipient sees a sealed jar with no indication of when it opens. Just: "A vault has been planted for you. It will bloom when it's time." This is the purest DandyLine experience — trust the timing. Best for: surprise vaults, emotional gifts, long-arc Legacy vaults.

Partial Countdown — Vague Signals

A middle ground: the jar shows subtle changes (glow intensity, color warmth) as bloom approaches, but no numbers. The recipient senses it's getting closer without knowing when. This is the most DandyLine-feeling option — emotional, analog, intuitive.

Delivery Method → How does the bloom reach the recipient?

In-App Notification

Push notification + in-app bloom experience. The most cinematic delivery. Full-screen reveal, audio, animation. Requires the recipient to have DandyLine installed.

Email Delivery

For recipients without DandyLine. An email arrives with a link to a web-based bloom experience. This is a critical acquisition channel — every bloom email is a potential new user. The web experience must be nearly as good as in-app.

Physical Print Option (Legacy/Premium)

At time of bloom, DandyLine offers to produce a physical artifact — a printed memory book, a framed photo, a memorial box. Premium add-on. For Legacy vaults, this could be the definitive product: a physical heirloom that doesn't depend on servers or apps.

Grove Bloom Mode → Grove only — how do multi-contributor seeds arrive?

Simultaneous

All seeds bloom at the same moment. The recipient opens the vault and discovers everything at once. Reunion energy. Best for time-capsule-style Groves.

Sequential — Staggered Over Bloom Day

Seeds arrive one at a time throughout the day. Grandma's at 7am, Dad's at noon, Sister's at 6pm. The day becomes a slow unwrapping. More intimate than simultaneous.

Individual Timelines

Each contributor's seed has its own bloom trigger. Grandma's blooms on the birthday, Dad's blooms on the wedding, Sister's blooms randomly. The same vault delivers moments across years. The most powerful Grove behavior — and the most complex to implement.

Journey Bloom Window → Journey only — how long does a bloomed seed stay visible?

24 Hours Only

The seed appears for one day, then fades. Creates urgency and scarcity — the moment matters.

1 Week / 30 Days / Always Accessible

Longer windows let the recipient revisit. "Always accessible" means the seed becomes part of a permanent archive at that milestone point. Trade-off: permanence vs. the DandyLine philosophy that not everything needs to last forever.

Decision Layer 08

08

Seal the vault.

The final confirmation. This is the "planting ritual" — the moment the content becomes a seed, the vault becomes sealed, and the commitment is made. What the user sees and feels here determines whether DandyLine feels like a product or a ceremony.

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Review Summary Screen → Shows everything the user configured before final seal

A summary of all decisions: media type, vault type, recipient, bloom trigger, date, sharing settings, countdown preference. Last chance to change anything. Each section is tappable to go back and edit.

Optional: Feeling Tag → How does this seed feel?

A final emotional label: Hopeful · Grateful · Proud · Tender · Bittersweet · Scared · Raw · Celebratory. This tag doesn't change functionality — it colors the bloom experience (subtle color shifts, tone, context for the recipient). Optional but powerful for setting the emotional frequency of the bloom.

Optional: Description / Title → Give this vault a name or a short caption

A planter-facing title ("For Emma's 18th", "What I Kept", "The Kitchen at 7am"). Shown in the planter's vault list. May or may not be shown to the recipient at bloom — unknown: should the title be visible to the recipient, or is it just for the planter's organization?

The Seal → The planting ritual — the most important 3 seconds in DandyLine

The user taps "Seal This Vault" — and something happens that makes this feel like a ceremony, not a form submission. The jar animation closes. A gentle sound plays. The glow intensifies, then settles into a quiet, steady pulse. A confirmation message: "Sealed. This seed is planted." — no confetti, no celebration, just quiet gravity.

Post-Seal State

The vault appears in the planter's list as a sealed jar. Status indicators: Sealed · Blooms [date] or Sealed · Date Pending or Sealed · Blooms when ready (for Surprise). The planter cannot open or preview the content. The act of sealing is a one-way door — this is the commitment that gives DandyLine its meaning.

Grace Period (If Enabled)

If the recall option is enabled (see Step 4), a subtle "Unseal within 24 hours" option is available. After the grace period expires, this disappears permanently. The grace period should feel reluctant, not encouraged — a safety valve, not an undo button.

Unknowns & Open Questions

What still needs answers before this can be built.

Every unknown below emerged from mapping the button logic. These aren't theoretical — they're specific forks in the decision tree where the product doesn't yet have a defined behavior. Each one will block or constrain the build if left unresolved. Ordered by impact: the ones at the top affect the most downstream paths.

Vault Architecture — Foundational Decisions

Is Milestone a distinct vault type, or is it Personal with an event label? Resolved

The entire 5-vault architecture depends on this answer. If Milestone collapses into Personal, the UI simplifies to 4 vault types, the Smart Guide flow loses a branch, and event-specific features (countdown display, repeat milestone, event templates) either become Personal settings or disappear. If kept separate, Milestone needs unique features that Personal doesn't have.

Decision: Yes — Milestone is a distinct vault type. The structural differentiator: Milestone supports multi-recipient delivery tied to the event. A wedding vault goes to both the bride and groom. A "birth of our child" vault goes to both parents. A 20th anniversary vault goes to the couple. Personal is single-recipient. This isn't just a label difference — it's a different sharing and delivery model. Milestone also gets unique features Personal doesn't: event type templates, countdown display, repeat-milestone re-seeding, and "Date TBD" support for events whose date hasn't been set yet. The 5-vault architecture stands.

Affects: Step 2 (vault selection), Step 3 (event type picker), Step 5 (bloom triggers), Step 6 (date handling), Step 7 (countdown), entire vault chooser UX.

Can a vault be re-categorized after creation? Resolved

A solo parent plants for their kid's birthday → Personal. Then their partner wants to add a seed → should it become Grove? If vault type is locked at creation, one-way-door is clear. If it can upgrade (Personal → Grove), the migration path needs design. If it can't, users who picked wrong are stuck.

Decision: No — vault type is locked at creation. When someone plants a seed, they're doing so under an understood set of rules: who sees it, when it opens, how it's shared. Allowing the vault type to change after the fact would break that contract. If a contributor planted into a Personal vault expecting privacy, and it suddenly became a Grove, that trust is violated. The vault type is a one-way door — choose it at creation, and it's set. If a partner later wants to contribute, the answer is: start a new Grove vault for that occasion. Two separate vaults for the same moment is a little redundant, but the rules stay clean.

Future consideration (not v1): A possible one-way "upgrade" from Personal → Grove could be explored post-launch, but only if the original creator explicitly approves and a clear confirmation communicates the permanence of the change. This is a v2+ conversation.

Affects: Step 2 (vault type permanence), Step 3 (contributor addition), data model for vaults.

What's the maximum duration DandyLine commits to holding a vault? Resolved

Legacy vaults could theoretically be set for 50 or 100 years. DandyLine as a company may not exist in 100 years. What's the realistic commitment? A 50-year cap? A "best effort beyond 25 years" clause? This is a legal, financial, and brand promise question.

Decision: 25 years guaranteed (all vaults), 50 years "Legacy Promise" (Legacy tier), best-effort beyond with offboarding.

Tier 1 — 25-Year Guarantee (all vaults): Every vault DandyLine holds — free or paid — is guaranteed for 25 years. This is the baseline promise baked into the product.

Tier 2 — 50-Year Legacy Promise (Legacy vaults): Legacy tier subscribers get an extended 50-year commitment. This is a premium feature and part of what justifies the Legacy pricing tier.

Beyond 50 years — Best-Effort + Offboarding: DandyLine does not promise indefinite preservation. Starting 2 years before any vault's commitment window ends, a "Sunset Notification" flow begins. The guardian, heir, or recipient is contacted with the option to: (a) export/download all content locally, (b) extend preservation for another paid term, or (c) do nothing — in which case, after multiple notifications, the content is packaged and delivered to the last known recipient/guardian as a final bloom. Nothing disappears silently.

Export is always available: Regardless of vault duration, recipients should always be able to download bloomed content (photos, videos, voice notes, letters) to their own device after bloom. DandyLine is the delivery mechanism, not the permanent archive. The memory should live on even if the platform doesn't.

Affects: Step 5 (duration limits), Step 6 ("Years From Now" max), Legacy vault pricing, terms of service.

Date & Timing — The "TBD" Problem

What happens to a "Date TBD" vault if the planter never sets the date?

The wedding example: the vault is sealed, the content is locked, but no bloom date is set. The planter abandons the app, loses their phone, or dies. The vault sits in limbo. Does it sit forever? Auto-bloom after X years? Transfer to guardian? Archive with notification? There's no current answer.

Affects: Step 6 (entire "Date TBD" flow), Legacy guardian responsibilities, account lifecycle, data retention policy.

Who can modify a pending bloom trigger?

For "Date TBD" vaults: only the planter? The guardian? A co-planter in Grove? If the planter dies and the guardian sets the date, is there any verification? This is an access control question with emotional stakes.

Affects: Step 6 (guardian permissions), Legacy vault flow, security model.

How does DandyLine verify an age-milestone trigger?

If a vault is set to bloom "when they turn 18," DandyLine needs to know the recipient's birthday. What if the recipient hasn't provided it? What if the planter guesses wrong? For unborn recipients, the birthday is unknowable at planting time.

Affects: Step 5 (age milestone trigger), Step 6 (calculated dates), Legacy vault delivery verification.

Sharing & Access — Permissions Complexity

What happens when a Grove contributor's relationship changes before bloom?

Divorce, estrangement, death. Can a seed be recalled by the planter? If someone is removed from the Grove, do their seeds stay? Does the recipient ever know a seed was removed? This touches legal (content ownership), emotional (grief and family dynamics), and product (what the UI shows) concerns simultaneously.

Affects: Step 3 (contributor management), Step 4 (access controls), Grove vault lifecycle, content ownership policy.

What's the default shareability after bloom?

Private (safer, more aligned with brand) vs. Shareable (more viral, drives growth). This is a philosophy question dressed as a default setting.

Affects: Step 4 (shareability defaults), growth strategy, brand positioning.

Can DandyLine recipients who don't have the app view blooms?

If someone receives a bloom via email and doesn't have DandyLine, can they view it as a guest? Or must they create an account? Requiring an account is a friction point that could kill the emotional moment. Not requiring it loses the conversion opportunity.

Affects: Step 7 (email delivery), acquisition funnel, web-based bloom experience.

Journey Vault — The Most Undefined

How does the "temporal community" actually work at the product level?

When someone hits Day 30, how many seeds do they receive? One? Five? All of them? Is it curated, random, or algorithmic? Is there a UI for browsing seeds at your milestone, or is it delivered like a traditional bloom — one at a time? This is Journey's defining feature and it has no interaction model yet.

Affects: Step 3 (community access), Step 7 (Journey bloom window), entire Journey vault experience.

How are Journey milestones verified?

Self-reported and honor-based? Or is there a verification mechanism? Sobriety days, grief months, therapy sessions — these are deeply personal and unverifiable. DandyLine probably should NOT verify (privacy), but what prevents abuse?

Affects: Step 3 (milestone markers), content trust model, moderation policy.

Does Journey need its own entry point separate from the main vault chooser?

Journey is so different from the other 4 vault types (community-oriented, no traditional recipient, progress-based triggers) that it might confuse the Smart Guide flow. A separate "Start a Journey" entry in the app could be cleaner than mixing it into the vault chooser.

Affects: Step 2 (vault selection architecture), app navigation, onboarding flow.

Technical & Monetization

What are the media limits per tier (free vs. premium vs. Legacy)?

Video duration limits, bundle item count, photo count per seed, storage caps, number of active vaults. Every limit affects the button logic — certain options need to be gated or upsell-triggered based on the user's plan.

Affects: Step 1 (media type gating), Step 5 (trigger availability), pricing model, UI for upsells.

How does the Surprise trigger algorithm work?

Random within a range? Context-aware? Minimum wait guarantee? Maximum wait cap? The algorithm is invisible but defines the emotional experience. Bad timing (too soon, too late, insensitive moment) could damage trust.

Affects: Step 5 (Surprise trigger), backend algorithm design, user expectations.

What's the posthumous delivery mechanism for Legacy?

If the planter has died, who confirms delivery should happen? How is death verified? Is there a "legacy guardian" with a sealed key? How is the recipient's identity verified decades later? This is the most technically and ethically complex feature in the entire product.

Affects: Step 3 (guardian designation), Step 7 (delivery method), Legacy vault architecture, legal framework, terms of service.

What is the minimum viable "planting ritual"?

DandyLine's language treats planting as a ceremony. But how many steps is "ceremonial enough" without being tedious? 8 decision layers (this document) might be too many for casual use. Can some steps be collapsed, auto-defaulted, or skipped for simpler vaults? A "quick plant" mode (choose media → choose trigger → seal) vs. "full ceremony" mode.

Affects: all 8 steps, onboarding experience, completion rates, emotional weight of the experience.