0006. Graduated engagement: "you choose your depth"

Status

Accepted (backfilled 2026-07-31; the thesis was written 2026-06-29 in adepthood NORTH-STAR.md).

Context

Adepthood began with a course-shaped surface — stages, habits, practices, and reading as co-equal tabs. The north-star review (NORTH-STAR.md) concluded that mandatory curriculum framing conflicts with the product's ethos (anti-guru, anti-lock-in, care boundaries) and with how its four personas actually engage: most people flourish at different, self-chosen depths, and some flourish by eventually leaving.

Decision

Make the journal the floor and every other system an optional, independent ring. The governing principle is "you choose your depth": nothing past the journal is mandatory, nothing is gated behind anything else, and deeper rings (prompted journaling, habit scaffolding, the practice ramp, the course reading, the Digital Sangha) are offered only as resonant, one-tap-declinable invitations — never gamified pressure, streak-shame, or guilt mechanics. The Map reads as a wheel of wholeness (balance across ten facets), never as altitude climbed. Success explicitly includes a user outgrowing the app.

Consequences

• The invitation engine becomes a first-class subsystem with resonance gating (backend domain/invitations.py, domain/resonance.py, models/invitation_signal.py, models/user_depth_preferences.py).
• Every feature epic is re-scoped through this lens: journal-as-home navigation, opt-in course, wheel-shaped Map, surfaced privacy.
• Dark patterns are structurally forbidden — any design that punishes leaving or shames shallowness fails review regardless of engagement metrics.
• Care guardrails are load-bearing: the app complements professional mental-health care, never replaces it, and must surface human pathways in acute distress (NORTH-STAR.md, section 10; backend domain/care.py, domain/safety.py).
• The docs treatment lives at Graduated engagement.