Today
Shipped. Run the seed script and watch it work.
- Full protocol spec.
- Express REST API — 13 endpoints.
- MCP server — 6 tools, 1 resource, stdio transport.
- Scoring engine — 6 factors, auto-accept, auto-reject.
- Three-tier privacy — Filter functions and session tokens at the route level.
- React 19 SPA — 5 screens: dashboard, intent detail, registry, vendor portal, vendor dashboard.
- Server-Sent Events — Live updates for intents and offers.
- Seed script — 3 vendors, 5 intents, 8 offers — one-command demo.
- Vitest suite — 29 tests across database, scoring, and privacy.
30 days
Harden the reference implementation.
- JWT auth — Replace the x-user-id dev header.
- HTTPS + HSTS.
- Rate limiting — Per-IP for unauth, per-key for vendors.
- Structured JSON logs with request IDs.
- Error middleware — Uniform error envelope, no stack leaks.
90 days
Make it usable by a real buyer and vendor.
- Email notifications on offer / acceptance.
- Intent TTL + automatic expiration.
- Offer history and audit trail.
- Pagination metadata on all list endpoints.
- Full-text search + faceted filters on the registry.
- Vendor rating system — Built from real transaction outcomes, not self-reported stars.
Platform
Scale it, open it, federate it.
- Postgres migration path — Single-file → multi-node.
- API versioning — /v1/ prefix, deprecation windows.
- OpenAPI spec generated from Zod schemas.
- Client SDKs — TypeScript, Python, Go.
- Federation protocol — Cross-registry discovery so private + public registries can resolve each other.
- KYC-lite vendor verification.
- Mobile app.
- Stripe integration — Tier-3 unlock on confirmed payment.
- ML scoring v1 — Learned model trained on acceptance outcomes; free tier stays rule-based.
- Category taxonomy service.
- Analytics dashboard for buyers and vendors.
Business model opportunity
Named on purpose as an opportunity, not a plan. People API is a protocol first — the reference implementation is MIT-licensed and self-hostable forever. These are the ways a hosted operator could sustain it.
Stream 01
Hosted registry
Charge vendors cost-per-lead on accepted offers. Free to buyers, always.
Stream 02
Premium scoring
Learned-model scoring as an upgrade over the open rule-based version.
Stream 03
Vendor verification
Identity and category verification that travels across federated registries.
Stream 04
Market analytics
Aggregate, anonymized intent data by category and metro for vendors and ops.
Stream 05
Federation fees
Optional settlement layer between private and public registries.