Information Architecture Detail layer Node page

1.6 Sign In

Let a person who already has an account get back to their list, without a password. Nothing persuasive happens here: that all happened at node 1.1.

Node 1.6Type: page plus two statesMVP Cluster 1 Onboarding and ActivationnoindexAdded 2026-08-10

Added 2026-08-10, with the auth model. Nothing in the map specified this screen before: node 1.1 block 1 already had a "Sign in" link in its header and node 6.16 block 7 already had "sign out", so the map had a door in and a door out of an account that nothing in it created. Source: docs/nodes/1-6-sign-in.md. Ground: docs/decisions.md, 2026-08-10.

Purpose and jobs

The boundary, stated first. There is no password anywhere in this product. A person types their email, we send a link, the link signs them in. The same mechanism verifies a new address, so one thing does both jobs and there is nothing to reset, nothing to store and nothing to leak. This node never creates an account on the bank path: that happens on node 1.3, in the same breath as the bank ask. This screen is only for coming back.

JobsJ1 indirectly, because the return has to be as calm as the arrival, and J5. Realizes the auth model decision of 2026-08-10.
URL/signin
Entry, exitIn from the "Sign in" link in the node 1.1 header, from an expired session on any app screen, and from the offer on node 6.16.1. Out to node 2.6 on success.
ComponentsGC1 App Header, onboarding variant. GC6 Data Source and Trust, short variant, in block 7. No GC2: this sits outside the signed-in shell.

Content blocks

From the block bank, type B, the onboarding-step shape. It is the one type B page that returns a person rather than activating one, so it takes the shape and none of the persuasion.

#BlockCarriesFrom the bank
1Step chrome: the brand mark, and a way back to node 1.1GC1 onboarding variantTAKE
2H1 and one line: what this does and what will arriveJ1TAKE
3One field, the emailprinciple 2TAKE
4What arrives, said before it is asked for: a link, not a code to copy, and it expiresJ1, principle 4TAKE, DIFFERENTLY: the category sends the mail and explains afterwards. A person who does not know a mail is coming reads the empty screen as a failure
5The one actionprinciple 2TAKE
6"No account yet? Start here", into node 1.2J1TAKE: a sign-in screen that is a dead end for a new person is the commonest dead end in the category
7The trust line (GC6), short: we hold an email and a currencyJ5, E3, principle 4TAKE, DIFFERENTLY: stating what little we hold is cheaper than a security badge and it is true

Named and not added: a password field, "remember me", social sign-in buttons, and a CAPTCHA. The first three do not exist in this model, and the fourth is a wall in front of a person who is already ours, on the screen where they are least patient.

States, filters, the one action

NodeStateReads likeTrigger
-defaultThe seven blocks, one fieldOpened
1.6.1Check your email"A link is on its way to <address>", what to do if it does not arrive, and how to send anotherThe address was submitted
1.6.2That link has expiredPlainly not the person's fault, and one action to send a fresh oneAn old or used link was opened

On 1.6.1: the screen states the address it sent to, because the commonest failure is a typo the person cannot see once the field is gone. Resending is available but not loud. On 1.6.2: links expire, and this is maintenance rather than an error, in exactly the register node 6.14.2 uses for a bank connection that needs reconnecting. Filters and facets: none.

Deliberately not a state: "that email is not registered". Saying which addresses have accounts tells anybody who asks which addresses have accounts. The screen behaves identically either way, and the mail that arrives is the one that fits.

Primary CTA: "Send a sign-in link". One action. Block 6 is the only other route and it leads out of this node entirely.

Responsive. Mobile: single column, the field above the fold, the trust line under the action. Desktop: the same order, centred at a narrow measure. Nothing about this screen changes with width.

Emotional support

JobMechanismWhere exactly on this page
E3 feel safe, control dataThe screen holds one field, states what we hold, and asks for no secretBlocks 3 and 7

SEO, locked, open

SEO. noindex, no schema. Transactional.

Locked: passwordless, one field, no account enumeration, a way out to node 1.2, the same mechanism for verification and for return. Open: none in the IA. Link lifetime and rate limiting are operations.

Drawn 2026-08-10, in the round that re-opened the grey stage on purpose. Grey screens: wireframes/sign-in.html, sign-in-sent (1.6.1), sign-in-expired (1.6.2). The landing's "Sign in" link pointed at settings.html until that round, because there was nowhere else for it to go.