What's in HewnTree

• Signing out now takes effect straight away. You could be left looking at a signed-in page with an empty ideas list until you refreshed, and in some cases an old sign-in got stuck bouncing between the sign-in and two-factor pages until you cleared your browser data.
• If you were on Pro or an Idea Pass and went back to the free plan, the tokens you used while paying no longer count against your free allowance. They did before, so anyone who used more than the free allowance while subscribed came back to a plan that was already full and couldn’t do anything. Your free allowance now only counts what you used on the free plan.

• A visual pass across the site and your ideas list. Cards sit on the page more softly instead of being boxed in by a thin outline, and the header no longer looks slightly grey before you scroll.
• The cards on Use Cases now say Preview, so it’s clearer you can open one and see a sample tree. They were always clickable, but nothing said so.
• Cookie preferences now list error reporting separately, and show it as always on. It was described under Analytics, which suggested you could switch it off. You couldn’t. The privacy and cookie pages say the same thing now.
• On Account, each plan now has its own upgrade button. They used to sit in a row underneath, which didn’t always line up with the plan they belonged to.
• If you ask for a copy of your data, it now arrives as a spreadsheet with a sheet per section, instead of a single file meant for machines to read. Add?format=json to the download link if you want the old one.
• When Export PDF is greyed out because an idea isn’t Ready yet, it now says so on the page. You had to hover to find out, which never worked on a phone.
• Nudge emails pause if you move to the free plan, and your setting is kept. Turn them on with Pro or an Idea Pass, go back to free, and they stop; come back to a paid plan and they resume as they were.

• If you use two-factor authentication, you can reset your password again. The reset page now asks for your authenticator code alongside your new password. Before this it showed a technical error at the last step and there was no way to finish, which meant anyone with two-factor turned on and a forgotten password had to contact us.
• Errors on that page are readable. A failure could previously show raw technical detail instead of telling you what to do.

• Articles. Writing on defining an idea before you build it: why HewnTree exists, how to ask better questions, and how to structure a creative project. No account needed.
• Plan guidance in your account settings. Which plan suits you now depends on how much you plan to build, not on a feature list. An Idea Pass covers one idea inside 30 days; Pro suits several ideas or work that runs longer.

• Questions now come one at a time.The question you’re on is the only one with an answer box, and sending your answer opens the next. The rest of the batch stays on screen so you can still read ahead. Several of you filled in a whole batch and found nothing had been saved, because each answer has always needed sending individually. The Send button now stands out while you have an answer typed.
• You can still revise anything you’ve answered using the pencil on that answer, and part-finished batches pick up where you left off.
• My Ideas looks empty when it is empty. The faded example card is gone. Several people read it as a real project of theirs.
• Your first batch explains itself.It’s always 10 questions because it builds the shape of your tree, and the page now says so instead of leaving two greyed-out buttons unexplained.
• Requesting a beta invite is easier to find, from the banner and the signup form.
• The New Idea form notes that HewnTree works best in English. It follows whatever language you write in, and other languages do work.
• “Do I need to write prompts?” is answered on How It Works. You don’t. You describe your idea in a sentence or two and answer questions.

• Password reset links work again. They were taking you to the sign-in page rather than the form for setting a new password. If a reset link failed you before, request a new one and it will work.
• Verifying your email now signs you straight in. The link used to return you to the site signed out, so you had to log in again.
• Choosing Pro or an Idea Pass before you have an account is remembered. Checkout opens by itself once you verify your email, instead of sending you back to find the pricing page.
• The reminder-emails opt-in saves.Ticking it at signup previously had no effect on any plan. It’s now offered only with a paid plan, since reminders are a Pro feature.
• Pro-only buttons say they’re Pro-only.Export PDF, Force export and the nudge settings used to tell you that you’d used all your tokens, which was confusing if you still had plenty.
• Running out of tokens now says so wherever it happens: starting an idea, generating or committing a batch, answering a question, or adding a comment. Each one used to report a different and often wrong reason, and Pro members saw Free wording.
• A comment you add at your limit no longer looks saved. It used to appear in the list without being stored.
• Your tree remembers which categories you collapsed. They used to spring open every time the tree refreshed.
• Signing up with an address that already has an accountno longer tells you an email is on the way. For security we don’t reveal whether an address is registered, so nothing is sent in that case. The screen used to say otherwise and left you waiting. It now offers a link to sign in instead.
• A reset link that has genuinely expired says so, rather than quietly returning you to sign-in.

• HewnTree has a proper icon in your browser tab, and on your phone’s home screen.
• Clearer wording across the site. The marketing pages, the plan descriptions and the messages inside the app were reviewed and rewritten to be plainer.
• If you’re already on Pro, the pricing page says so instead of showing you a “Start Pro” button that quietly took you to your account.

• Email + password signup with email verification before account is fully active.
• Two-factor authentication (TOTP), enrolled manually from your account page. Recovery codes are generated at enrollment so you can still get in.
• Password reset via emailed link.
• Email change requires re-verification of the new address.
• Account deletion: immediate for Free; end-of-billing-cycle for Pro / active Idea Pass (so you keep what you paid for).
• Cookie consent banner on first visit. Essential cookies (sign-in session) always on; analytics is opt-in. (Corrected August 27, 2026. This previously said error reporting was opt-in. It never was: when something breaks we always receive the error, so it can be fixed. What you turn on or off is performance monitoring. Error reports carry no personal data and no idea content.)
• Closed beta gating during the launch window: signup is limited to the cohort cap and gated by an env flag. Closed beta terms for the cohort-specific rules.

• An idea is a title + free-form description (3–5,000 chars). There is no size or preset to choose at that point; HewnTree works out the structure.
• AI auto-classifies your idea into one of 18 types (SaaS product, mobile game, browser extension, creative writing, visual art, event, research project, business plan, hobby project, etc.). Classification runs in the background, so you can start your first batch straight away.
• An initial tree of categories + required fields is seeded based on the classification. You’ll see it appear in the Tree tab within seconds.
• Idea creation caps: Free is 3 lifetime; each Idea Pass adds 1 slot; Pro Monthly is unlimited.

• The AI generates targeted questions based on your idea and what’s already answered.
• Batch 1 is always 10 questions (Small). The first batch establishes the tree structure; larger first batches produce shallow questions. From batch 2 onward you can pick Small (10), Medium (20), or Large (30).
• Answers appear next to the question they belong to. Each answer is saved when you send it, and checked for safety and quality at that point. (Corrected August 11, 2026. This previously said answers auto-save as you type. They never did; sending each answer has always been a required step.)
• Multi-page batches: Medium and Large are paginated (10 questions per page). Your current page is remembered if you navigate away.
• Token cost for the batch is shown before commit. Committing a batch triggers the tree-building AI pipeline.
• Double-tapping Commit is safe. The second press is ignored rather than running the AI twice.

• After each batch commits, the AI builds (or extends) your tree from your answers. The tree is a 3-level hierarchy: categories → subcategories → leaves.
• Each leaf has a status: confirmed (you’ve answered + accepted), ai_suggested (AI proposed, awaiting your accept/decline), or empty (placeholder for a gap to fill later).
• Readiness score per category (out of 100%) + an idea-level rollup. Categories need at least 40% to count toward readiness.
• Score dots show the same thing visually, five dots at 20% intervals, beside every category and at the idea level.
• Actions you can take on any node: accept (turns ai_suggested into confirmed + counts toward score), decline (removes), deactivate (hides without deleting), restore (un-hides).
• Every commit fires a quality check (Layer 2) that looks for conflicts or gaps and asks the tree-builder to retry if anything’s off.
• Version history per node: Free retains 10 versions, Pro 30, Ultra 70 (rolling deletion past those caps).

• You can leave a comment on any tree node. The AI (Layer 3a) reads the comment and updates the tree to match, which might mean splitting a node, rewording it, or adding what you said as context.
• For under-filled categories, the AI offers proactive suggestions (Layer 3b) you can accept or decline.
• Free tier: 3 comments total across all ideas. Pro / active Idea Pass: unlimited.

• The readiness percentage updates live as you accept, decline, or deactivate leaves.
• An idea automatically transitions to Ready status when all categories reach the readiness threshold.
• It can also revert from Ready back to In Progress if you decline or deactivate a required leaf. A message tells you which category dropped below the threshold.
• “Force export” lets Pro users export an in-progress idea (the PDF marks it DRAFT and highlights incomplete categories).

• Pro and active Idea Pass only.
• Branded PDF containing your idea title, description, and the full tree (categories + subcategories + leaves).
• Deactivated nodes are excluded.
• Force-export of an in-progress idea marks the document DRAFT and visibly tags any category below the readiness threshold as INCOMPLETE.
• Filename format: <slug>-byhewntree-DDmmmYYYY.pdf (lowercase, dated).

Three plans. See /pricing for the full breakdown and Terms §6 for the formal limits.

• Free: 50,000 lifetime tokens, 3 ideas, 3 batches, 3 comments. No PDF export, no nudge reminders.
• Idea Pass: $5 one-time. 350,000 tokens, 30 days of Pro features, +1 idea-creation slot. Passes stack (tokens add, expiry extends).
• Pro Monthly: $29 / month. 4,000,000 tokens per billing cycle. Unlimited ideas, batches, and comments.

Stripe-managed checkout. Your tier appears in the app header along with a token-usage bar and the days-until-token-reset for Pro.

Payment-failed banner: if Stripe reports a failed payment, a red banner appears in-app with a link to your account.

Auto-downgrade on refund or chargeback: if you receive a full refund or open a dispute with your bank, your subscription is canceled immediately, your account drops to Free, and you’ll get a notification email. (If the chargeback was a mistake, reply to the email and we’ll work it out.)

HewnTree sends transactional + optional reminder emails. Every email comes from a noreply@hewntree.com address; replies route to support@hewntree.com. Below is the full inventory.

Authentication (sent via Supabase, not us directly):

• Signup verification: confirm your email address before first sign-in.
• Password reset: link to set a new password.
• Email change confirmation: sent to the new address; you must click to complete the change.

Account lifecycle:

• Deletion scheduled: confirms your request, names the date deletion will complete.
• Deletion cancelled: confirms if you cancel a pending deletion request.

Billing:

• Pro welcome: sent on first Pro Monthly subscription.
• Idea Pass welcome: sent on every Pass purchase, names the new expiry date.
• Idea Pass expiring: sent 3 days before a Pass expires.
• Idea Pass expired: sent when a Pass has just expired and your account has moved to Free.
• Refund downgrade: sent if your subscription was canceled following a refund.
• Chargeback downgrade: sent if your subscription was canceled following a dispute / chargeback.

Security events (account-takeover defense):

• Password changed: sent after a successful password change.
• Email change requested: sent to the old address as a heads-up.
• Two-factor authentication added.
• Two-factor authentication removed.

Optional reminders (opt-in):

• Nudge emails: gentle reminder when you haven’t touched an idea in a while. Configure frequency per idea from the idea’s settings; global on/off toggle on your account page. Every nudge has a one-click unsubscribe in the email header (Gmail / Yahoo / Outlook inbox button) and a footer link.

Data:

• GDPR data export: secure download link, valid for 7 days, usable only while you’re signed in.

• GDPR JSON export: request from your account page; we email a secure download link immediately. Link expires after 7 days; works only while you’re signed in.
• Account deletion: Free: deletion is immediate. Pro / active Idea Pass: deletion completes at the end of your current billing cycle (you keep access for what you paid for).
• Deleted-account email reservation: when an account is deleted, the email address is reserved for 7 days to prevent immediate re-registration with the same address.
• Cookie controls: banner on first visit; reopenable anytime via the “Cookie Preferences” link in the footer.
• Sub-processors: Supabase, Stripe, OpenRouter, Resend, Sentry, Vercel, Upstash. Full disclosure in Privacy Policy §4.
• Sentry error reports contain your user ID and nothing else. Never your email, your IP address, or anything from your idea. A centralized scrubber strips sensitive keys from every reported event.
• Permanent bounce / spam suppression: if your email address hard-bounces or you mark a HewnTree email as spam, we stop sending to that address. If this was a mistake (e.g. you filtered our address by accident), reply to support from a different inbox and we’ll unsuppress.

• General support: support@hewntree.com. You can also just reply to any HewnTree email; replies land there.
• Bug reports during closed beta: email mike@hewntree.com directly. There’s a feedback banner on your ideas page while beta is active.
• Billing or account questions: support@hewntree.com.