Information Architecture Base layer Concept map

Concept map

The concept of the structure: the objects the product is made of, the screens grouped by what a person is trying to do, the navigation model, and the matrix that proves every job has a home. States and page contents are not here: states live in the flows, page contents in the detail layer.

Source of truth: docs/sitemap.md. Seventeen screens across six clusters, fourteen of them MVP (node 1.6 Sign In joined on 2026-08-10, with the auth model). The scope row under the matrix is the gate for every stage after this one: the detail layer, the wireframes and the colour pass all take the MVP subset first.

Entities

The core objects a person deals with to close their jobs. Screens display entities; entities grow out of jobs, not out of a competitor's menu. Nine core entities, plus objects held under question.

1. Subscription

Name, real merchant name and logo, amount, frequency, next date, category, status, source, linked account. The central object.

J-MAIN, J3

2. Account (source)

Bank connection via Plaid, or a manual private source. Status, last sync, count detected.

J1, J5, D5

3. Preset

Service template (name, logo, typical price, frequency) so manual entry is low effort. 400+ at launch.

J5, D2

4. Alert

Price change and payment failed are free; trial ending, unusual, duplicate are Pro. Plain-language, active voice.

J4

5. Charge

A billing instance: date, amount, subscription, status. Full timeline is Pro history.

J4, D3

6. Cancellation

Method (basic free, full guide Pro), progress status, money saved. The relief moment stays free.

J2, E2

7. Snapshot

Shareable card: count, monthly total, optional win, no bank data. Virality is a hypothesis.?

S1, E2

8. User & data controls

Minimal identity, path, plan, notification preferences, data-access explanation, one-tap deletion.

E3, J1

9. Plan (Tendd Pro)

Tier (Free / Pro monthly / yearly / lifetime), price $7.99 or $69, status. A business rule.

D3, D4

Under question (no entity, no screen): household / shared view JH1, Gmail scan and screenshot import v2, AI assistant JH2, budgets, credit score, investments, bill negotiation (all explicitly cut). A scope note: the free tier is uncapped on both subscription count (per D3) and bank connections (July 2026 product decision), over the older CLAUDE.md "up to 10" and "up to 2 bank accounts" lines.

Screens by intent

Clusters are named by intent, not by section of a site. Each node is a screen and carries the job it serves; the tag after the job is its scope. No states, no page contents, no critique: this stays a readable concept.

flowchart TD
  subgraph OB["1 Onboarding"]
    W["Welcome / Value Intro
J1 - MVP"] --> PC["Activation Path Choice
J1 + J5 - MVP"] PC --> CB["Connect Bank
J1 - MVP"] PC --> AS["Add Subscription
J5 - MVP"] CB --> GR["Guided Reveal
J-MAIN - MVP"] AS --> GR end subgraph CORE["2 Core"] HOME["Home / Subscription List
J-MAIN - MVP"] --> DET["Subscription Detail
J3 + J4 - MVP"] end subgraph SA["3 Stay Ahead"] AL["Alerts / Activity
J4 - MVP"] end subgraph CC["4 Cut and Celebrate"] CG["Cancel Guide
J2 - MVP"] --> CW["Cancel Win Moment
E2 - MVP"] --> SH["Share Snapshot
S1 - LATER"] end subgraph PR["5 Depth Pro"] HT["History and Trends
J-MAIN over time - LATER"] --> UP["Upgrade / Tendd Pro
D3 + D4 - LATER"] end subgraph AC["6 Account and Trust"] CON["Connections / Accounts
J1 + J5 - MVP"] DP["Data and Privacy
E3 - MVP"] SET["Settings / Profile
E3 - MVP"] end GR --> HOME HOME --> AL HOME --> AS DET --> CG AL --> DET DET --> HT HT --> UP SET --> CON SET --> DP CON --> CB CON --> AS

The concept is expanded into the detail map. This schema stays honest at its own level (screens by intent, no states, no page contents) and is the entry into the structure. The numbered nodes, their states and dialogs, their blocks and transitions live in the detail layer: Sitemap for the cluster tree and Structure for the node by node specification.

Coverage matrix

Functional jobs against screens. A checkmark means the screen genuinely helps close that job; a gate that only unlocks a job does not count. Emotional and social jobs are deliberately absent: they are not closed by a screen, so they get the mechanism table below instead of a stretched checkmark. The scope row under the matrix carries MVP or LATER for every screen.

Job WelPthBnkAddRevHomDetAlrGdeWinShrHisUpgConPrvSet
J-MAIN see charges calmly
J1 activate without anxiety
J2 identify and cancel unused
J3 understand a charge
J4 stay ahead of surprises
J5 track without sharing bank
SCOPEMVPMVPMVPMVPMVPMVPMVPMVPMVPMVPLATERLATERLATERMVPMVPMVP

Outcome: zero orphan jobs, three screens that trace to a decision instead of a job. Every job has a home. Three columns carry no checkmark. Upgrade / Tendd Pro traces to D3 and D4, not to a job, and is retained as a contextual gate over the Pro surfaces. Settings / Profile and Share Snapshot lost theirs when the emotional and social jobs moved to the mechanism table: Settings holds the plan, the notifications and the account controls that E3 and D4 require, and Share Snapshot is kept tagged LATER because the job behind it is still a hypothesis. All three are named here rather than given a stretched checkmark. Key: Wel Welcome, Pth Path Choice, Bnk Connect Bank, Add Add Subscription, Rev Guided Reveal, Hom Home, Det Subscription Detail, Alr Alerts, Gde Cancel Guide, Win Cancel Win, Shr Share Snapshot, His History and Trends, Upg Upgrade, Con Connections, Prv Data and Privacy, Set Settings.

Emotional and social jobs: what supports them

Not screens, mechanisms. Two stages read this table by name: the detail layer takes the emotional support line of a node card from it, and Voice takes it as the order for tone.

JobMechanism (not a screen)Where it livesWhat backs it
E1 feel competent, not judgedMoney is framed as what you signed up for, never as spending or waste; no score, no red, no advice; the biggest thing on screen is one number the person can act onGuided Reveal, Home summary strip, Cancel Win, and the voice rules of every statepersonas.md O7; the PMC finding that avoidance is triggered by a threat to a positive self-image; design principle 3
E2 the small winThe saved amount is stated as a specific number with a next step, then the product stops talking; the moment gets its own screen rather than a toastCancel Win Moment; the savings line in the Home save-focus statejtbd.md E2, the Claudia quote; competitors.md gap G4
E3 feel safe, control dataRead-only is stated in the same breath as the bank request; the source of every figure is shown; disconnect and delete are one tap, not buriedConnect Bank trust line, Connections / Accounts, Data and Privacy, Settingspersonas.md Ravi; benchmark.md (Apple Card); D5; design principle 4
S1 share the discoveryA snapshot card carrying the count and the total and no bank data, so sharing never leaks a statementShare Snapshot, entered from Cancel Winjtbd.md S1, marked ?: the virality is a hypothesis, which is why the screen is LATER