Entry intent taxonomy and post-auth home routing foundation

DEC-0011 - Entry intent taxonomy and post-auth home routing foundation

Context

Need outside-in backbone before deeper module logic: define first-contact intents, auth return behavior, and immediate post-auth routing.

Decision

Platform scope:

• Current scope is web app only.

Entry intent model (parallel):

• Course purchase intent.
• Self-study intent.
• Exploration intent.

Exploration scope:

• Explore self-study exercise lists.
• Explore course lists.

Post-auth routing:

• After successful login, route to unified Home post-login as the platform router.
• Home must expose resources, course entries, and self-study practice entries in parallel.
• If user is in a specific page/flow and must login (or register then login), send them back to that exact page/flow after login succeeds.

Onboarding trigger at signup:

• After successful registration, user is routed to Home post-login.
• Onboarding goal question is shown as a popup on Home (first-time onboarding, optional/skip allowed via DEC-0006).

Auth return contract:

• If auth is triggered from protected context, preserve returnTo.
• returnTo validity window: 24 hours.
• Invalid/expired returnTo falls back to Home post-login.
• If user triggers multiple login-required pages before login completes, keep the most recent requested page as the page to return to.

Mixed-context policy (course + self-study + no-goal):

• Do not hard-force a single route.
• Keep parallel entry surfaces on Home.
• Use soft ranking/order signals for visibility, while preserving user choice.

Rationale

Keep routing clear and actionable without forcing users into a single mode prematurely. This maintains flexibility while preserving a deterministic auth boundary.