ADR: Service-First Scout, No Supported App UI

Date: 2026-06-29 Status: Accepted

Context

The old Scout /app surface looked like a product dashboard but did not behave like one. It created user confusion, exposed too much local-app thinking, and diluted the stronger launch story: Scout is an acquisition and evidence service that produces records, citations, blocked-page evidence, and portable artifacts.

Decision

Scout will not ship the old /app UI as a supported product surface.

Supported surfaces are:

• launch website,
• CLI,
• local HTTP API,
• hosted /v1/hosted/* API,
• Docker-from-source,
• Claude/Codex skill usage,
• artifact outputs.

The old static /app UI and /api/config route were removed from the source code and verified as unavailable locally and on the hosted deployment.

Consequences

• Website copy must not imply a dashboard app exists.
• Docs must direct users to CLI/API/hosted endpoints, examples, and artifacts.
• Future UI work must be scoped as a real product with navigation, persistence, security review, and E2E certification before exposure.
• Downstream tools such as PRISM and Competitive Intelligence should integrate through Scout APIs/artifacts, not through a human app surface.

Verification

• Commit: d27b24e
• Branch: codex/scout-platform-foundation
• Hosted URL: https://scout.chowmes.com
• Verified locally and hosted:
• /health returns 200;
• homepage includes "Records plus proof" and feature/use-case markers;
• /app returns 403;
• /api/config returns 403;
• /app/live-browser returns 403.