Coach applications and trial entry take shape

The entry model

Protocol Coach is taking an application-gated route instead of allowing an open sign-up to create professional access automatically.

The marketing site can now collect a focused Coach application without creating an auth user, profile, access row, or trial. Approved applicants can later claim an account, complete the required profile, and start a trial through a transactional server-owned path.

What changed on the branch

• Added the Coach application form and rate-limited intake route.
• Added native Coach sign-in, claim, recovery, profile, and access-required surfaces.
• Added server contracts for access status, onboarding, claims, recovery, upgrade requests, and account deletion.
• Added a trial and paid-access lifecycle that can move into read-only behavior without erasing the coach's saved source data.
• Kept founder conversion as an audited manual grant or upgrade-request path while Paddle remains deferred.

Why the gate exists

The product still needs direct learning from working coaches. Open registration would create accounts faster, but it would also make weak evidence look like adoption and expose unfinished lifecycle paths to people who were never approved for the workspace.

Application and account creation therefore remain separate events. A submission expresses interest. Approval creates a claim path. Profile completion starts the trial. Each step has a different purpose and audit trail.

Availability

This entry system is implemented on the Coach branch. Protocol Coach remains in development and invite-only. The reviewed entry migration is still a separate environment gate, and this announcement does not represent a public release.

Next

Use applications and direct founder conversations to test whether the workspace saves real coaching time before broadening access or automating commercial entry.