Embers

keep every thread warm

Voice-matched reply drafter for every relationship. A different voice for every person. Self-Hosted (your Mac) or Cloud (we host). Coming Summer 2026 — join the waitlist at tryembers.com.

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Repo layout

embers/
├── site/              ← marketing + waitlist site (Vercel target)
│   ├── index.html        ← landing page with waitlist modal
│   ├── design-system.html
│   ├── privacy.html
│   └── terms.html
├── api/               ← Vercel serverless functions
│   └── waitlist.js       ← POST /api/waitlist → Supabase
├── vercel.json        ← Vercel routing + headers
├── bin/               ← Self-Hosted bridge (Mac listener)
├── install.sh         ← Self-Hosted install
├── uninstall.sh       ← Self-Hosted uninstall
└── config.sh.example  ← Self-Hosted config template

The marketing site (site/ + api/) deploys to Vercel. The Self-Hosted bridge (bin/, install.sh) is the Mac listener that customers run locally for the Self-Hosted tier.

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Deploying the waitlist site to Vercel

The site is plain static HTML + a single Node serverless function. No build step.

One-time setup

1. Import the repo into Vercel.

   • Vercel dashboard → New Project → import TOPAZ-ZC/embers
   • Owner: Assay Ventures team
   • Framework Preset: Other (Vercel auto-detects from vercel.json)
   • Root directory: leave at repo root
   • Build & Output Settings: leave defaults — vercel.json sets outputDirectory: "site" and points functions at api/

2. Environment variables (Vercel dashboard → Project Settings → Environment Variables).

   Both are optional — defaults are baked into api/waitlist.js so the route works without any env vars set. Override only if you ever rotate keys or point at a different Supabase project.

   Key	Value
   SUPABASE_URL	https://cziyronfdqznnqkpfrlh.supabase.co
   SUPABASE_ANON_KEY	(anon JWT — see Supabase dashboard → Project Settings → API)

   Apply to: Production + Preview + Development.

3. Custom domain.

   • Vercel dashboard → Domains → add tryembers.com
   • Vercel will give you DNS records (either nameservers or A/CNAME records)
   • Set the records at your registrar (Namecheap, Porkbun, etc.)
   • Wait for propagation (~5-30 min usually)

4. Plausible Analytics (cookie-free).

   • Sign up at plausible.io (or self-host Plausible CE)
   • Add tryembers.com as a site
   • The <script> tag is already in site/index.html, privacy.html, terms.html — events flow as soon as the domain is verified

Deploy

Vercel auto-deploys on every push to main. To deploy manually:

vercel --cwd ~/embers           # preview deploy
vercel --prod --cwd ~/embers    # production deploy

Verify after deploy

# 1. Site loads
curl -sI https://tryembers.com/ | head -3

# 2. Privacy + terms
curl -sI https://tryembers.com/privacy | head -3
curl -sI https://tryembers.com/terms | head -3

# 3. API rejects GET
curl -sI https://tryembers.com/api/waitlist | head -3   # expect 405

# 4. API accepts POST + writes to Supabase
curl -sX POST https://tryembers.com/api/waitlist \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email":"smoke-test@example.com","hosting_preference":"undecided","tier_interest":"undecided","source":"smoke-test"}'
# expect: {"success":true}

# 5. Re-submit same email — should also succeed (ignore-duplicates)
curl -sX POST https://tryembers.com/api/waitlist \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email":"smoke-test@example.com","hosting_preference":"undecided","tier_interest":"undecided","source":"smoke-test"}'

# 6. Read the row back via Supabase MCP or dashboard:
#    select email, hosting_preference, tier_interest, source, ip_country, created_at
#    from waitlist where email = 'smoke-test@example.com';

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Database

Supabase project: cziyronfdqznnqkpfrlh. Region: us-east-1. Org: Assay Ventures.

Schema

• waitlist — single table, citext-unique email, hosting_preference + tier_interest enums, source/UA/referrer/ip_country capture
• waitlist_stats — view: total + per-hosting-preference counts + last-24h / last-7d cohorts
• RLS: anon can INSERT only. No SELECT/UPDATE/DELETE possible from the public key.

Migrations applied:

• init_waitlist — table, enums, indexes, updated_at trigger, RLS-on, stats view
• waitlist_anon_insert_policy — anon INSERT policy with defense-in-depth length checks

To inspect signups (admin):

-- Recent signups
select email, hosting_preference, tier_interest, source, ip_country, created_at
from waitlist
order by created_at desc
limit 50;

-- Cohort breakdown
select * from waitlist_stats;

Run via Supabase SQL Editor or mcp__85f8dfd8-…__execute_sql.

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Self-Hosted bridge (the Mac listener — for customers post-launch)

The rest of this README documents the original Mac-side iMessage bridge. This is the Self-Hosted execution layer — what runs on a customer's Mac when they pick the Self-Hosted tier. It is not part of the Vercel marketing-site deploy.

It reads your thread, drafts a reply in your voice via Claude, and sends it through Messages.app — all locally on your Mac. Nothing leaves your machine except the prompt to Anthropic's API (through Claude Code).

What it does

• Watches one iMessage thread (identified by phone number)
• When the other person sends a message and you haven't replied yet, Embers drafts a short contextual reply in your voice
• Sends it through your own iMessage (it's literally coming from your Mac, from your number, as you)
• Sleeps, checks again every N minutes
• Runs in the background via launchd — set it and forget it

It only replies when they message you and you haven't responded yet. It never initiates.

Requirements

• macOS (uses Messages.app + the chat.db sqlite database)
• Claude Code CLI installed and logged in
• Python 3 (python3 on PATH — macOS ships with one, or brew install python@3.11)
• iMessage must be set up and working on this Mac with the recipient

Install

git clone https://github.com/TOPAZ-ZC/embers.git
cd embers
./install.sh

The installer will:

1. Check for Claude Code and python3
2. Verify Full Disk Access (and open System Settings if needed — see below)
3. Ask you a few onboarding questions (name, recipient, tone, interval)
4. Write config to ~/.embers/config.sh
5. Install a LaunchAgent at ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.embers.listener.plist
6. Start the listener

Log: ~/.embers/listener.log

Full Disk Access — you have to grant this

macOS sandboxes iMessage's database. Embers reads it read-only, but you still need to explicitly allow Python to access it.

If the installer says FDA isn't granted:

1. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access
2. Click +
3. Press Cmd + Shift + G and paste the python path the installer showed you (usually /opt/homebrew/Cellar/python@3.11/.../python3.11)
4. Toggle it ON
5. Also add /bin/bash the same way — launchd needs it to spawn the listener
6. Re-run ./install.sh

Pause / resume / uninstall

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.embers.listener.plist   # pause
launchctl load   ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.embers.listener.plist   # resume
./uninstall.sh                                                       # remove

Safety rails

• Read-only access to chat.db. Embers never modifies your message history.
• One-direction only. It replies when the other person messages you. It never initiates a new conversation.
• One thread only (v1). It only watches the phone number in config.
• Short replies only. If Claude's output is under 5 chars or over 500, Embers skips that turn and logs the skip.
• Idempotent. It tracks the last message it replied to and won't double-send.
• Local. Everything runs on your Mac. The only network call is Claude Code → Anthropic to generate the reply.

Troubleshooting

sqlite3.DatabaseError: authorization denied — Full Disk Access isn't granted to your python binary. See the FDA section above.

The listener starts but never replies — Check ~/.embers/listener.log. If you see ALREADY_SEEN or LAST_IS_OURS repeatedly, that's correct — there's nothing to reply to.

Claude replies are weird / out of character — Edit TONE_GUIDANCE in ~/.embers/config.sh. Describe your texting style in plain English.

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License

MIT. See LICENSE.

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Built originally so one person could stay connected to his dad through a busy stretch. Now growing into a full product so anyone can keep every thread warm.