Payday — Master Specification

Version: 1.0
Stack: NestJS + PostgreSQL + Redis + Docker
Scale Target: 1,000–10,000 members

#1. Product Vision

Payday is a members-only platform for online business owners to network, build teams, and scale revenue. It operates as a private, high-trust environment — every member is vetted before access is granted.

"

"The private operating system for empire builders — where deals get done, teams get built, and empires get scaled."

#2. Who It's For

Primary user: Online business operators generating revenue via e-commerce, agencies, SaaS, content, consulting, or info products.

Core need: Find trusted partners, hire fast, learn from peers, and close deals — without public social media noise.

#3. Membership Tiers

#4. The 10 Core Features

##4.1 Member Onboarding & Verification

• Application-based entry — not public sign-up
• Admin approval queue with manual review
• Referral fast-track by existing members
• Onboarding wizard after approval (profile setup, channel selection)

##4.2 Member Profiles

• Business snapshot: niche, revenue stage, team size, years in business
• Skillset tags array (e.g., Paid Ads, Copywriting, Fulfillment, Shopify)
• Portfolio / case studies with media attachments
• Availability status: Open to Deals / Hiring / Not Available
• Verified badges, reputation score, profile views
• AI-generated match embedding (vector stored in pgvector)

##4.3 Discovery & Networking Engine

• Member directory with filters: niche, skills, revenue stage, availability, location
• AI-powered match suggestions (pgvector cosine similarity)
• "Who to Meet This Week" — weekly algorithmic list, cached per user 24h
• Mutual connection map
• Member directory full-text search via pg_trgm

##4.4 Community Feed & Discussions

• Topic channels: General, Wins, Paid Ads, E-commerce, Agency, Copy, Investing, Hiring, Tech, Mindset, Deal Room
• Post types: text image video link poll document
• Reactions: 🔥 🚀 👏 💰 ❤️ 💡 (6 types tracked individually)
• Comments as posts with parent_id — threaded replies
• Save posts to personal collections

##4.5 Direct Messaging & Deal Rooms

• 1:1 DMs with read receipts and typing indicators (real-time via Socket.io)
• Group chats for teams and masterminds
• Deal Rooms (Elite tier): structured conversation threads for proposals and contracts
• File sharing: images, PDF, spreadsheets, video up to 50MB
• Message requests for non-connections (no unsolicited DMs)

##4.6 Opportunities Board

• Post types: full_time freelance partnership revenue_share jv
• In-platform applications with cover letter + portfolio URLs
• Status tracking: Open / Under Review / Filled / Expired
• Requires Pro or Elite tier to post
• Notification alerts for matching opportunities

##4.7 Events & Masterminds

• Virtual events with live RTMP streaming (self-hosted, see 10_Live_Event_Streaming.md)
• Mastermind groups: recurring small-group sessions
• Calendar sync (Google, Apple, Outlook) — frontend responsibility
• Replay library: events.recording_url stored after completion
• RSVP with confirmation email + reminder 1h before

##4.8 Resource Library

• Types: template sop course playbook swipe_file script tool other
• Member-contributed resources (Pro/Elite only)
• Rating + review system with auto-calculated avg_rating
• Admin approval required before a resource is visible

##4.9 Leaderboard & Reputation System

• Append-only reputation_events table — never update/delete rows
• Score auto-updated by PostgreSQL trigger on every INSERT
• Key events: profile_complete (+50), first_post (+25), post_got_10_reactions (+100), opportunity_filled (+150), event_hosted (+200), member_referred (+100)
• Weekly + all-time leaderboards cached in Redis sorted sets

##4.10 Admin & Moderation Dashboard

• Membership application review: approve / reject / waitlist
• Content moderation queue: reported posts and messages
• Platform analytics: DAU, MAU, revenue, churn, engagement
• Broadcast announcements (in-app + email, target by segment or tier)
• Moderation log: all admin actions audited in moderation_logs

#5. System Architecture

##Architecture Style: Modular Monolith

All domain logic lives in one NestJS process. Each domain is a fully isolated module with its own controller, service, entities, and DTOs. Modules communicate through NestJS DI — not HTTP. Designed for clean extraction into microservices at 10K+ members.

##Request Lifecycle

Client → Nginx (rate limit, gzip, proxy) → NestJS HTTP Server
  → Middleware (helmet, cookieParser, compression)
  → Guards (JwtAuthGuard → RolesGuard → TiersGuard)
  → Interceptors (LoggingInterceptor → TransformInterceptor)
  → Pipe (ValidationPipe — whitelist, forbidNonWhitelisted)
  → Controller → Service → Repository → PostgreSQL
  → TransformInterceptor wraps response: { success, data, meta, timestamp }
  → HttpExceptionFilter catches errors: { success: false, statusCode, message }

##NestJS Module Tree

AppModule
├── ConfigModule (global)           ← .env validation via Joi
├── DatabaseModule (global)         ← TypeORM → PostgreSQL
├── RedisModule (global)            ← ioredis + CacheManager
├── ThrottlerModule (global)        ← per-IP + per-user rate limiting
├── BullModule (global)             ← job queues backed by Redis DB 3
├── ScheduleModule                  ← cron jobs (@nestjs/schedule)
├── EventEmitterModule              ← in-process events between modules
├── AuthModule                      ← JWT, Passport, Google, Apple OAuth
├── MembersModule                   ← profiles, connections, discovery
├── FeedModule                      ← posts, comments, reactions, channels
├── MessagingModule                 ← conversations, messages, participants
├── GatewayModule                   ← Socket.io WebSocket gateway
├── OpportunitiesModule             ← job board + applications
├── EventsModule                    ← events + RSVPs + streaming
├── ResourcesModule                 ← library + ratings
├── NotificationsModule             ← dispatch engine (in-app/email/push)
├── ReputationModule                ← points, leaderboard, badges
├── PaymentsModule                  ← Stripe subscriptions + webhooks
├── AdminModule                     ← moderation, analytics, broadcast
└── HealthModule                    ← /health endpoint (terminus)

##Background Jobs (BullMQ)

##Security Layers

1. Nginx WAF rules + rate limiting (100 req/min global, 10/min auth)
2. NestJS ThrottlerGuard (per-user, tier-based limits)
3. JwtAuthGuard — every request needs valid Bearer JWT
4. RolesGuard — admin/moderator routes
5. TiersGuard — pro/elite feature gating
6. ValidationPipe — strips unknown fields, validates DTOs
7. TypeORM parameterized queries — SQL injection prevention
8. Helmet.js — security headers
9. bcrypt 12 rounds — password hashing
10. Stripe webhook signature verification

#6. Technology Decisions

#7. Docker Containers

All containers on bridge network payday-network, subnet 172.20.0.0/24. API connects to other services by Docker hostname: postgres, redis, mailhog.

#8. Data Models (Summary)

#9. Engineering Roadmap