feat(onboarding): persona-driven swipe onboarding

[davidercruz]

Changes

Combines the swipe onboarding flow (#5865) with the persona picker (#5939) and removes the user-facing free-text prompt. Users now pick up to three personas; the prompt sent to onboardingDiscoverPosts is built silently from the persona titles + tags + the user's experienceLevel from registration. The "Show popular posts" fallback is preserved for users who skip persona selection.

Implementation notes: PersonaSelector gains a mode: 'follow' | 'seed' prop so the swipe path can read the selection without batch-following tags upfront. The pre-swipe panel is powered by SwipePersonaIntro, and /onboarding/swipe redirects back to /onboarding while preserving query params.

Events

Type	event_name	value
New	select onboarding persona	target_type: 'persona', target_id: <persona id>, `extra: { action: 'select'

Experiment

Yes — the swipe flow remains gated by the existing swipe_onboarding GrowthBook flag (default true in code, controlled at the experiment level). No new experiment introduced in this PR.

Manual Testing

Caution

Please make sure existing components are not breaking/affected by this PR

On those affected packages:

• Have you done sanity checks in the webapp?
• Have you done sanity checks in the extension?
• Does this not break anything in companion?

Did you test the modified components media queries?

• MobileL (420px)
• Tablet (656px)
• Laptop (1020px)

Did you test on actual mobile devices?

• iOS (Chrome and Safari)
• Android

Preview domain

https://davidercruz-swipe-personas.preview.app.daily.dev

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
daily-webapp	Ready	Preview	May 27, 2026 5:10pm

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PR Review — feat(onboarding): persona-driven swipe onboarding

• Read PR diff and key files
• Review modified core files
• Review new webapp files
• Check CLAUDE.md compliance
• Post review

Overall: the persona → swipe handoff and the mode: 'follow' | 'seed' split look solid, and the new tests for PersonaSelector and buildSwipePrompt are well-scoped. The blockers are mostly around dead code and a couple of out-of-scope changes that should be split out before merge.

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🔴 Issues

1. Dead onboardingPopBus infrastructure — no subscribers exist
packages/shared/src/components/onboarding/onboardingPopBus.ts exports subscribePersonaSelection/subscribeRecommendRequest, and PersonaSelector.handleClick calls broadcastPersonaSelection + broadcastRecommendRequest on every select. A repo-wide grep finds zero subscribe* callers. The bus is shipping unused — either wire it up to whatever was supposed to listen, or delete the module + the two broadcast calls in PersonaSelector.tsx:107,111. CLAUDE.md: "Delete dead code… Remove unused exports."
Fix this →

2. milestoneBurstKey is a dead prop
SwipeOnboardingProgressHeader.tsx:11 declares it on the props type but the function body (SwipeOnboardingProgressHeader.tsx:14-16) destructures only progressCount. The parent in FunnelSwipeOnboardingStep.tsx:248,284,474 allocates state, increments it on every milestone crossing, and threads it down for no observable effect. Either implement the burst animation it implies, or drop the state + prop entirely.

3. EditTag.headlineClassName is added but never consumed
packages/shared/src/components/onboarding/EditTag.tsx:23,31,56 adds an optional headlineClassName prop. The only caller (packages/webapp/components/onboarding/OnboardingV2.tsx:1274) doesn't pass it. Drop the prop unless a downstream use is coming in a follow-up PR.

4. packages/webapp/pages/onboarding/swipe.tsx doesn't match the PR description
The PR body says "the standalone /onboarding/swipe preview" is shared via SwipePersonaIntro, but swipe.tsx is just a getServerSideProps redirect to /onboarding. Either it should render the preview directly, or the description should be updated — currently the route exists only to redirect, which adds a server hop on a path users won't reach organically.

5. Out-of-scope global gradient change
packages/shared/src/styles/base.css:883-891 widens both .bg-gradient-funnel-default and .bg-gradient-funnel-top (22.49% → 38%, 100% → 135%). This is a global token used across the funnel, not a swipe-onboarding-specific surface. Per CLAUDE.md "Prefer component-level token swaps for one-off contrast fixes… avoid changing global tokens in base.css unless explicitly requested," this should either move to a component-scoped override or be split into its own PR with a screenshot of every funnel step it affects.

6. Out-of-scope MainLayout.tsx reshuffle
packages/shared/src/components/MainLayout.tsx moves the isPageReady declaration up by a few lines with no behavioral change. Not related to persona swipe — please drop the hunk to keep this branch's diff focused.

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🟡 Recommendations

7. useConditionalFeature evaluated without shouldEvaluate
packages/webapp/pages/onboarding.tsx:307-309 evaluates swipeOnboardingFeature unconditionally on every onboarding visit. CLAUDE.md guidance: "Use useConditionalFeature with shouldEvaluate to gate evaluation." Gate on isAuthReady && !!funnelState so anonymous/unsettled visitors don't trigger GrowthBook evaluations on the funnel entry page.

8. retryFetch() loses original prompt + initialTags
packages/webapp/hooks/useAdaptiveSwipeDeck.ts:181-183 defines retryFetch = () => startDeck() with no options. If the very first startDeck({ prompt, initialTags }) fails and onOnboardingFeedRetry fires, the retry call goes out with empty prompt/selectedTags — effectively falling back to popular even though the user already picked personas. Cache the initial options in a ref and replay them on retry.

9. rightSwipedPostIds returned from useAdaptiveSwipeDeck is never consumed
packages/webapp/hooks/useAdaptiveSwipeDeck.ts:60,67,306 track and expose a Set<string> of right-swiped post IDs, but FunnelSwipeOnboardingStep doesn't read it (bookmarking is handled via getBookmarkablePost + toggleBookmark). Remove the state to avoid an unnecessary re-render path on every right swipe.

10. buildSwipePrompt will produce awkward strings for some persona titles
packages/webapp/lib/buildSwipePrompt.ts:20-23 always appends engineer after the role name. If a persona ships as "Site Reliability Engineer" or "ML Engineer", the prompt becomes "I'm a site reliability engineer engineer". Worth normalizing the role label (strip a trailing "engineer", or have the backend return a clean role noun on the persona).

11. HotAndColdModal.tsx is now 2,511 lines
The diff adds ~1,400 lines to a single component that already mixes the hot-takes voting flow with the new onboarding swipe deck (isOnboardingMode branches throughout). Even on a startup pace, this hits the readability bar in CLAUDE.md ("Writing Readable Hooks" / single-purpose helpers). Consider extracting OnboardingPostCard, OnboardingFeedEmptyState, OnboardingCardBehindParticles, and the intro animation into their own files. Not a merge blocker, but the next swipe-onboarding change will be painful otherwise.

12. Inline <style>{…}</style> blocks
FunnelSwipeOnboardingStep.tsx:178-226,412-459, SwipePersonaIntro.tsx:213-249, and similar blocks inside HotAndColdModal.tsx inject @keyframes into the DOM at render time. With strict mode (double renders) and multiple deck instances, this multiplies stylesheet inserts. Move these keyframes to a shared CSS file or Tailwind config — they're not dynamic, so there's no reason to inject them per-mount.

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🟢 Nits

13. Origin.OnboardingPersona = 'onboarding persona'
packages/shared/src/lib/log.ts:57 uses a space, while neighboring entries (ManageTag = 'manage_tag', EditTag = 'edit_tag', Onboarding = 'onboarding') use snake_case. There are existing space-separated values too ('collection modal'), but the local cluster is consistent — recommend 'onboarding_persona' to match.

14. headline default duplicates the title in OnboardingV2.tsx
packages/webapp/components/onboarding/OnboardingV2.tsx:1277 passes headline="Pick tags that are relevant to you", which is also the default inside EditTag.tsx:59. The explicit prop can be dropped.

15. Test mock doesn't cover the new AlertDot import in MyFeedHeading.spec.tsx
You already mock it correctly (MyFeedHeading.spec.tsx:51-56) — just confirming this is hit by the new "tags reminder" cases.

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✅ What's good

• mode: 'follow' | 'seed' split on PersonaSelector is the right abstraction; the seed path correctly avoids batch-following tags and lets the swipe deck consume the selection.
• buildSwipePrompt.spec.ts covers the experience-level + dedupe + empty-personas branches.
• PersonaSelector.spec.tsx exercises the multi-select cap, deselect, and broadcast paths.
• The dismissedOnboardingCardIds controlled/uncontrolled fork on HotAndColdModal (lines 1719-1734) is implemented cleanly and lets the parent persist dismissals across mode switches.
• feat(swipe): only advance progress on accepted posts (commit 8280f53) is a good fix — progress tied to right-swipes only matches the unlock semantics.
  • Branch: davidercruz/swipe-personas

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---

PR Review (round 2) — feat(onboarding): persona-driven swipe onboarding

• Compare against round-1 review and confirm fixes
• Review code added since round 1 (a485b85, 9535f7f, 49f160d, a57e4bd)
• Post updated review

---

Fixes confirmed since the previous review ✅

Most round-1 findings are addressed in cdd94a0 and a485b85:

• onboardingPopBus.ts deleted; PersonaSelector no longer broadcasts (feat: turn links in comments to anchor elements #1) ✅
• milestoneBurstKey state + prop removed (feat: profile modal #2) ✅
• EditTag.headlineClassName dropped (feat: share footer for mobile devices #3) ✅
• MainLayout.tsx reshuffle reverted — file now matches main (feat: cookie banner #6) ✅
• Global bg-gradient-funnel-default / bg-gradient-funnel-top rolled back; new bg-gradient-funnel-onboarding-tall is scoped to FunnelStepType.EditTags via FunnelStepBackground.tsx:65,94,112 (fix: showing 00 when read time is zero #5) ✅
• useConditionalFeature({ shouldEvaluate: isAuthReady && !!funnelState }) (feat: share new comment modal #7) ✅
• retryFetch now caches startDeckOptions and replays prompt/initialTags (useAdaptiveSwipeDeck.ts:85,194-196,228-230) (feat: home page #8) ✅
• rightSwipedPostIds state removed (Unable to run the code #9) ✅
• buildSwipePrompt strips trailing "engineer" via normalizeRoleLabel + new spec case (feat: set post image to be link to the article #10) ✅
• Origin.OnboardingPersona = 'onboarding_persona' (snake_case) (feat: allow mods to delete comments #13) ✅
• Duplicate headline prop removed in OnboardingV2.tsx (feat: better a11y for the post page #14) ✅

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🔴 Issues still open / introduced since round 1

1. Dead exports in swipeOnboardingGuidance.ts
getSwipeOnboardingHeadline and getSwipeOnboardingGuidanceMessage (packages/webapp/lib/swipeOnboardingGuidance.ts:37,67) are only referenced from their own spec — no production caller. The constants (SWIPE_ONBOARDING_MIN_TO_UNLOCK, SWIPE_ONBOARDING_REFINE_TARGET) are used, but the two functions and the unitWord helper are not. CLAUDE.md: "Delete dead code… Remove unused exports." Either wire them into the UI or drop them along with the matching tests.
Fix this →

2. HotAndColdModal.tsx is now 2,534 lines
This was a round-1 recommendation (then 2,511 lines). The most recent commits added another ~57 lines of mobile/tablet branching (e.g., HotAndColdModal.tsx:2235-2351) on top of the already-mixed hot-takes + onboarding logic. The isOnboardingMode branching now spans 16+ sites in the file. Extracting OnboardingPostCard, OnboardingFeedEmptyState, OnboardingCardBehindParticles, the intro animation, and the onboarding swipe-area layout into their own files is overdue. Not a merge blocker, but the next change here will compound the pain.

3. Multi-persona prompt drops "engineer" for engineering titles
buildSwipePrompt.ts:11-12,22-26 strips a trailing "engineer" before formatting. For a single persona the suffix is re-added in the template (I'm a ${roles[0]} engineer). In the multi-persona branch (I work across ${roles.join(' and ')}) it isn't, so ["Site Reliability Engineer", "Frontend"] becomes "I work across site reliability and frontend" — "site reliability" reads as a noun rather than a role. Two safer options:

• Strip the suffix only in the single-persona path, and add a normalized "role + engineer" join in the multi-persona path; or
• Have the backend return a clean role noun on the persona so the FE doesn't infer.
  The new spec (buildSwipePrompt.spec.ts:59-71) only covers the single-persona case — worth adding a multi-persona case before locking in the normalization.

4. pages/onboarding/swipe.tsx still just redirects
Flagged in round 1 (#4). The PR description says the standalone preview is rendered via SwipePersonaIntro, but swipe.tsx:3-15 is a getServerSideProps redirect to /onboarding. If this is intentional backwards-compat for old inbound links, update the PR body — otherwise the route adds a server hop on a path users won't reach organically. Either way, mismatch between description and behavior should be reconciled before merge.

5. Inline <style>{…}</style> blocks still injected per-mount
Still present in FunnelSwipeOnboardingStep.tsx:213-272,446-493, SwipePersonaIntro.tsx:229-265, and SwipeOnboardingProgressHeader.tsx:121-131. Under strict-mode double renders and multiple deck mounts (back-and-forth between intro/swipe view), these keyframes are re-inserted into the DOM repeatedly. Move them to a shared CSS file in packages/shared/src/styles/ (or near the components) since none of the rules are dynamic.

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🟡 Smaller things to consider

6. useAnimatedLoadingLabel's 550ms setInterval keeps ticking after the loading state finishes
FunnelSwipeOnboardingStep.tsx:126-157 — the cleanup path correctly clears the interval when isActive becomes false, but on every label change the component re-renders just to swap the displayed string. That's fine while loading; just worth noting that displayPercent and useAnimatedProgressPercent in SwipeOnboardingProgressHeader.tsx:52-95 both run RAF-driven animations on mount. With strict-mode double-mount, you'll get two RAF cycles per swipe. Consider guarding with if (startPercent === targetPercent) return; (already done — good), but verify there's no perceptible jitter.

7. SwipePersonaIntro RootPortal for the mobile next-button bar
SwipePersonaIntro.tsx:285-289 portals a fixed-bottom action bar. When this component is inside HotAndColdModal (which itself portals into a modal root), the portal target should still resolve fine — but worth a sanity check on iOS Safari since position: fixed + env(safe-area-inset-bottom) can sit incorrectly behind the keyboard when a future variant adds a text field.

8. swipeOnboardingPopularDeck.ts recursion
packages/webapp/lib/swipeOnboardingPopularDeck.ts:52-86 recurses up to MAX_PAGES=12 (~600 posts) sequentially. That's fine in absolute terms, but if the GraphQL endpoint is slow, the user can be staring at the loader for a long time without a timeout. Consider a Promise.race against an abort signal, or short-circuit once strictPosts.length >= STRICT_MIN_BEFORE_RELAXED rather than TARGET_STRICT_COUNT.

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✅ Net assessment

Round-1 blockers are essentially resolved. The remaining items are quality-of-life and one truly dead-code finding (getSwipeOnboardingHeadline/getSwipeOnboardingGuidanceMessage). Recommend addressing #1 (and ideally #3) before merge; #2 is worth scheduling as a follow-up.
· Branch: davidercruz/swipe-personas