2025 December product update

November proved we could run. December proved we could fly. We ripped out AWS and Lambda, moved to Mailgun and Vercel. We shipped email threading, conversation history, and custom from addresses. We built a tier system with credits and rate limits. We wired Stripe for real payments. We added attachments—documents, images—and image generation in replies. We built agent CRUD by email. We hit 55 analytics metrics. We shipped registration invitations. By Christmas we had a product people could actually pay for and use. The grind was real. The product was too.

Overview

December was the month we stopped being a prototype. We migrated the entire stack, redesigned the email experience, and turned usage into a business. Tier access, credit ledgers, Stripe Checkout and Portal. Multimodal attachments with tier-based model selection. AI task analysis that picks the right model for each job. Cascading fallbacks when things break. We built the pipes, then we built on top of them. Over 80 commits. One month.

Infrastructure & Platform

Mailgun Migration & Vercel

We left AWS behind. Mailgun for email. QStash for queues. Supabase for data. Next.js for the app. Vercel for deployment. We changed register@via.email to join@via.email. We removed Lambda artifacts and never looked back. The new stack was faster, simpler, and built for the way we actually ship.

Email Experience

Threading. Custom from addresses. Full conversation history in every reply. We fixed quoted content parsing—nested blockquotes, attribution lines, Gmail-style display. Email stopped feeling like isolated messages and started feeling like a real conversation.

Product & Monetization

Tier Access System

Credit ledger. Rate limiting. Cron jobs for renewal and cleanup. We designed it, built it, and wired it to Stripe. Checkout for new subscribers. Portal for existing. Test mode IDs. We fixed the API version dance. By month's end, people could subscribe.

Stripe & Payments

Environment-based Stripe IDs for test/live switching. Tier pricing. The subscribe flow that actually worked. We made billing boring—which is exactly what you want.

AI & Intelligence

Multimodal Attachments

Documents. Images. PDFs. We extracted attachments from Mailgun, passed them through the pipeline, and fed them to the right models. Tier-based selection: image output for higher tiers, documents for all. We fixed CID embedding so Gmail would render our generated images. Base64 died. Inline attachments lived.

Task Analysis & Model Selection

AI that figures out what you need before it answers. Capability-based model selection. A 16-combination matrix. Cascading fallbacks: Plan A, Plan B, Plan C. Web search for tiers that had it. We stopped guessing. We started routing.

Agent CRUD

Create, edit, remove, list—all by email. AI polishing for agent names. Amendment mode. Batch removal. Detailed view. We added reserved email addresses so the system wouldn't collide with user agents. It was agent management without a dashboard.

Analytics & Operations

Live Stats & Analytics

55 metrics. Nested API structure. Daily snapshots. History endpoint. CORS for www.via.email. Webflow integration. We built it so the landing page could show real numbers. We fixed the cron for Vercel's limits. One maintenance route. One job.

Registration Invitations

Invite by email. Full safety measures. Suspension on bounce or spam. Feature toggle. We let people bring their team. We also made sure abuse died fast.

Usage Check

check@via.email MVP. Credits. Usage. The thing you email when you want to know where you stand.

Polish & Templates

Componentized email templates. Design tokens. CID logo embedding. Branding header on everything. Prompt configuration. Markdown rendering. Dynamic subject lines. CC support for task replies. We made the emails feel like they came from a real product, not a prototype.

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it." — Alan Kay