# CASCADE — Product Specification

## 2026-05-19

---

## The Problem

Social apps optimize for infinite accumulation. More followers. More matches. More engagement. But human social capacity is finite. We can genuinely maintain about 150 relationships (Dunbar's number). Every app that ignores this creates anxiety, comparison, and burnout.

The current landscape:
- **Dating apps**: Skinner boxes that monetize desperation. 60%+ of marriages now start online, but users report more frustration than fulfillment. Algorithms are black boxes. Ghosting is free.
- **Social networks**: engagement-maxing engines that reward controversy and outrage. Infinite scroll. No closure. Relationships are likes, not tending.
- **Community apps**: either too niche (no network effects) or too broad (no real connection).

## The Insight

**The best relationships in your life didn't start with a search. They emerged.**

You met someone through someone. You kept running into them. A friend introduced you. A shared context created the conditions for connection. The relationship *grew* from proximity, not from a match algorithm.

Cascade builds that pattern into the architecture.

## The Product

Cascade is a bounded social network built on the reality of finite human social capacity. Not infinite reach — **126 hexes** in a honeycomb lattice, growing organically from your inner circle.

You plant 6. The field responds. The cascade does the rest.

**The pitch:** *"Room for 126. Grown from 6."*
**Tagline:** *"Tend your constellation."*

## The 126 Number

- **126 hexes** surround the user (functional + symbolic)
- **+1 center hex** = YOU
- **= 127 total nodes** (Dunbar ceiling maintained)
- **126 is triangular** (15×16/2 = 120+6) — tiles hex grid without gaps or overflow
- **Numerology:** 1+2+6 = 9 — humanitarian, compassionate, spiritually grounded
- **Angel number:** Trust. Service to humanity. Lightwork.

## The 3-6-9 Pattern

Every ring size is a multiple of 3. Every digit sum resolves to 3, 6, or 9.

| Ring | Nodes | Digit Root | Tesla Number |
|------|-------|------------|--------------|
| R0 | 1 | — | — |
| R1 | 6 | 6 | ✓ |
| R2 | 12 | 3 | ✓ |
| R3 | 18 | 9 | ✓ |
| R4 | 24 | 6 | ✓ |
| R5 | 30 | 3 | ✓ |
| R6 | 36 | 9 | ✓ |

Every ring is a Tesla number. The lattice is not arbitrary — it mirrors the structure of energy itself.

## Ring Architecture

| Ring | Size | Root | Name | Nature | Assignment |
|------|------|------|------|--------|------------|
| R0 | 1 | — | YOU | The center | Fixed |
| R1 | 6 | 6 | Inner Circle | People who anchor your world | Manual claim (bidirectional) |
| R2 | 12 | 3 | Archetypes | Roles, not people | Manual curation |
| R3 | 18 | 9 | The Longing | What you're reaching for | Auto-fill from circulation |
| R4 | 24 | 6 | The Echo | People who reflect your creative output | Auto from creative output |
| R5 | 30 | 3 | The Wave | People moving in your direction | Auto from Echo convergence |
| R6 | 36 | 9 | The Current | Ambient social atmosphere | Auto from Wave alignment |

## Ring Tempo — The Core Design

Each ring has a different refresh rate. This is not arbitrary — it mirrors how relationships actually work.

| Ring | Turns Over | Stability | What This Means |
|------|-----------|-----------|-----------------|
| R1 | Yearly | Nearly permanent | You claim your 6 once. They don't change often. |
| R2 | Quarterly | Stable | Reviewed seasonally. |
| R3 | Monthly | Responds to life shifts | Your longing changes with seasons and chapters. |
| R4 | Weekly | Creative resonance | Shared creative output + cart resonance over 7 days. |
| R5 | Daily | Sustained direction | Daily pulse — the wave you and another person are building. |
| R6 | Hourly | Always fresh | Discovery layer. New resonances appear every hour. |

## The Gravity Mechanism — How People Rise

People can rise through your rings based on sustained resonance. Nobody can be pushed down from R1 — that's locked. But R2-R6 can demote if resonance fades.

```
R6 (hourly)   → new appearance, immediate signal
    ↓ sustained
R5 (daily)    → confirmed as Wave
    ↓ sustained  
R4 (weekly)   → confirmed as Echo
    ↓ sustained
R3 (monthly)  → Longing match
    ↓ sustained
R2 (quarterly) → Archetype candidate
    ↓ sustained + mutual agreement
R1 (yearly)   → Inner Circle (requires mutual claim)
```

## The Cascade — How Outer Rings Fill

Cascade growth is not algorithmic ranking. It is organic, based on your existing social graph:

1. **R1 (Inner Circle)** — You manually claim your 6 anchors. Bidirectional. Permanent-ish.
2. **R2 (Archetypes)** — You manually assign roles. A person can fill multiple archetypes.
3. **R3 (The Longing)** — Auto-fills from users circulating in your R2 network. The system guesses what you're reaching for based on your graph.
4. **R4 (The Echo)** — Auto-fills from creative output (posts, cart additions, shared items) that resonates with your R2-R3 network. 7-day confirmation window.
5. **R5 (The Wave)** — Auto from R4 convergence. 30-day confirmation window.
6. **R6 (The Current)** — Ambient layer. Hourly refresh. You discover new people organically through resonance.

## The Cart System — Identity Mirror

Every user has a **Cart** with three categories:

| Category | What Goes In | What It Reveals |
|----------|-------------|-----------------|
| **Food** | Restaurants, food types, cooking habits | Social rhythm, how you nourish yourself, values around eating |
| **Activities** | Hobbies, sports, entertainment, social style | Energy level, planner vs. spontaneous, creator vs. consumer |
| **Habitat** | Living space signals, plants, pets, aesthetic | Nurturing instinct, standards, who you are when nobody's watching |

The cart is **NOT foregrounded as "matching"**. It is simply who you are. The resonance emerges from it.

## The Five Currencies

Five currencies, each tied to a pattern type and earned through genuine participation:

| Currency | Shape | Earned When | Spent On |
|---------|-------|-------------|----------|
| ❤️ Hearts | Heart | Your cart item appears in another user's cart | Send a care package |
| ⭐ Stars | Star | Your cart category matches another's category type | Boost item visibility |
| 🌙 Moons | Crescent | Your cart fills a gap in someone else's (and vice versa) | Unlock complementary filter |
| ⏳ Hourglasses | Hourglass | Pass a values-alignment quiz | Reveal deeper resonance |
| 🎈 Balloons | Balloon | Consistent presence over time (streaks, check-ins) | Float to higher visibility tiers |

**Balloons = Presence, Not Payment**

Balloons measure how consistently you show up. They are the anti-engagement-hack: you can't buy them, you earn them by being real.

## Resonance — How Matching Emerges

Resonance is NOT a search. It propagates through your claim chains and surfaces passively.

**Principles:**
1. Resonance is passive — you don't search for it
2. Resonance is asymmetric by ring distance — closer rings see more signal
3. Resonance cannot be forced — no paid boosts
4. Resonance is discovered — you investigate warmth, not delivered match notifications

**How it propagates:**
- Your cart broadcasts through YOUR rings at each ring's tempo
- Users in R6 see only ambient warmth (hourly refresh)
- Users in R1 see full cart resonance from their Inner Circle

## Positioning

This is NOT a dating app. It is a social constellation app.

Dating emerges organically from people who discover they resonate deeply. The app does not push romance. It creates the conditions for all relationship types — inner circle anchors, archetypes, creative partners, collaborators, and yes, romantic connections — to emerge naturally from resonance.

**The frame:** *"We built the conditions for real connection. What grows is up to you."*

## Competitive Landscape

| App | What It Does | What's Broken |
|-----|-------------|---------------|
| Hinge | Prompts + matches | Algorithm is black box; endless swipe fatigue |
| Bumble | Women-first messaging | Still infinite-scroll; hookup culture dominant |
| Tinder | Volume + gamification | Skinner box; no relationship depth possible |
| BeReal | Authentic moments | No social graph depth; ephemerality |
| Discord | Communities | Not person-centered; chaos |
| Facebook | Everything + algorithm | Engagement-maxing; no social depth |

Cascade occupies a unique position: person-centered, bounded, tempo-gated, resonance-driven.

## Technical Stack (Recommended)

- **Frontend**: React + TypeScript (web + mobile PWA)
- **Backend**: Node.js + Hono API
- **Database**: SQLite (local-first) + PostgreSQL (sync/collaboration)
- **Realtime**: WebSockets for R6 hourly refresh
- **Hosting**: Zo Sites

## What's Next

This document is the foundation. The following documents detail each subsystem:

- `01-RING-SYSTEM.md` — Full ring mechanics, assignments, ghost hexes
- `02-CART-SYSTEM.md` — Food/Activities/Habitat, item schema, pattern recognition
- `03-CURRENCIES.md` — Five currencies, earning/spending mechanics, Float levels
- `04-RESONANCE.md` — Propagation algorithm, gravity mechanics, discovery UI
- `05-ONBOARDING.md` — User flow, claiming, first cart addition
- `06-THE-CURRENT.md` — R6 mechanics, hourly refresh, ambient layer