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Make Timeful free: remove ads and premium, add supporter perks - #280

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jonyTF merged 6 commits into
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claude/tender-tesla-iu9otw
Oct 7, 2026
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Make Timeful free: remove ads and premium, add supporter perks#280
jonyTF merged 6 commits into
mainfrom
claude/tender-tesla-iu9otw

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@jonyTF jonyTF commented Oct 4, 2026 •
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Summary

Timeful is now completely free. This PR removes ads, the Polar/Stripe payments integration, and all premium/paywall functionality, announces the change on the landing page, and thanks past paying users with a "Supporter" badge and a glowing avatar ring.

Blog post (already live): https://timeful.app/blog/timeful-is-now-free/

Key Changes

Backend

  • Removed payment routes: Deleted server/routes/polar.go (Polar checkout, webhooks, billing portal) and server/routes/stripe.go (legacy Stripe support)
  • Removed payment service: Deleted server/services/polar/ package including API client and webhook verification
  • Removed analytics endpoints: Deleted /analytics/upgrade-dialog-viewed, /analytics/upgrade-user, and /analytics/downgrade-user endpoints
  • Removed user premium fields: Removed IsPremium and HasPremium() from the User model; removed GetUserByStripeCustomerId database function. StripeCustomerId/PolarCustomerId are kept as Mongo-only fields (json:"-") so past payers can be recognized (see below)
  • Removed premium check endpoint: Deleted GET /users/:userId/is-premium route
  • Cleaned up dependencies: Removed Stripe SDK import from main.go; removed unused alecthomas/template from go.mod

Frontend

  • Removed upgrade dialog: Deleted UpgradeDialog.vue component (764 lines) and related pricing dialogs (StudentProofDialog.vue, AlreadyDonatedDialog.vue)
  • Removed payment redirect: Deleted StripeRedirect.vue view
  • Removed ad components: Deleted Advertisement.vue, CarbonAd.vue, and PubliftAd.vue components
  • Removed ad assets: Deleted tomotime ad images
  • Removed ad scripts: Removed Publift ad network script from public/index.html
  • Removed ad breakpoints: Removed Publift-specific Tailwind breakpoints (publift-s, publift-m, publift-l, publift-xl)
  • Removed paywall state: Removed enablePaywall, upgradeDialogVisible, upgradeDialogType, upgradeDialogData, and pricingPageConversion from Vuex store
  • Removed premium UI: Removed premium badge from header in App.vue (replaced by the Supporter badge below); removed premium-related text from Dashboard.vue and EventType.vue
  • Removed premium checks: Removed isPremiumUser utility function and related premium user checks throughout components
  • Removed test route: Deleted Test.vue view used for testing upgrade dialog
  • Cleaned up dependencies: Removed canvas-confetti from package.json

Configuration & Documentation

  • Updated env template: Removed all Polar-related environment variables from server/.env.template
  • Updated Swagger docs: Removed payment and upgrade endpoints from generated API documentation
  • Updated router: Removed /stripe-redirect route
  • Updated constants: Removed UPGRADE auth type from authTypes
  • Updated Slack bot: Removed MONETIZATION message type

Free-to-use announcement & supporters

  • Landing page banner: "🎉 Timeful is now completely free to use!" linking to the blog post (the "We got rid of…" sentence is desktop-only)
  • Removed "Formerly known as Schej" link from Landing, Home, and Event pages; deleted FormerlyKnownAs.vue
  • hasPaid on user JSON: User.MarshalJSON adds a computed hasPaid flag (true if the user has a Stripe or Polar customer ID, which were only set on successful payment). The IDs themselves are never sent to the client
  • Supporter badge: green "Supporter" pill next to the logo in the header for past payers (styled like the old Premium badge)
  • Avatar glow: pulsing green ring on past payers' avatars everywhere UserAvatarContent is used (respects prefers-reduced-motion). Removed a redundant wrapping v-avatar in AuthUserMenu that would have clipped it
  • Donate: restored the PayPal donate button in the header and the event page menu, and added a Donate link to the footer
  • Footer: "Support" → "Contact us"; added the new blog post to Articles
  • Removed public/ads.txt

Before deploying

  • Cancel all remaining Premium subscriptions in the Stripe and Polar dashboards (the webhook handlers are gone, and the blog post tells users they won't be charged again)
  • Disable the Stripe/Polar webhook endpoints
  • Optionally remove the now-unused Stripe/Polar/ad env vars from the server

Implementation Details

  • All ad-related UI has been removed from event pages and schedule overlap views
  • Premium user checks that gated features have been removed; all users now have access to the same feature set
  • The application no longer tracks subscription status or manages billing relationships
  • Legacy Stripe support was kept in the codebase but is now also removed; new purchases never went through Stripe (only Polar)

https://claude.ai/code/session_01EcVVmFPmgnmC1skyWANoyM

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

claude and others added 6 commits October 4, 2026 19:17
@claude
Remove ads and paid billing (Stripe/Polar premium)
dbec17c 
Ads:
- Remove Publift/Fuse ad slots, the Primis video ad, sticky footer
  handling, and the fuse.js script tag
- Delete PubliftAd, CarbonAd, and the old tomotime Advertisement
  component and assets, plus commented-out AdSense code
- Restore the pre-ads event page layout and drop publift breakpoints

Billing:
- Remove the upgrade dialog, free-event paywall, Premium badge,
  "Upgrade" links, billing settings section, and upgrade sign-in
  redirects
- Delete StripeRedirect and the Test page that only showed the dialog
- Remove Stripe and Polar routes/services, the is-premium endpoint,
  upgrade analytics endpoints, premium fields on the User model, and
  the monetization Slack channel
- Drop stripe-go and canvas-confetti, regenerate Swagger docs, and
  remove payment env vars from the template and DEPLOYMENT.md

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01EcVVmFPmgnmC1skyWANoyM
@jonyTF @claude
Add free-to-use announcement on landing page, remove "Formerly known …
070d4dd 
…as Schej"

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@jonyTF @claude
Add glowing avatar ring for users who once paid for Timeful
965b0cf 
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@jonyTF @claude
Add Supporter badge for past paying users, restore PayPal donate button
e9031ce 
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@jonyTF @claude
Footer: rename Support to Contact us, add Donate link and free-to-use…
8d7e8e4 
… article

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@jonyTF @claude
Remove ads.txt
a66ed61 
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@jonyTF jonyTF changed the title Remove Polar payments integration and premium features Make Timeful free: remove ads and premium, add supporter perks Oct 7, 2026
@jonyTF
jonyTF merged commit 799f94b into main Oct 7, 2026
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2 participants

@jonyTF @claude