diff --git a/backend/api/src/app.ts b/backend/api/src/app.ts
index bb7c7f88..a526b717 100644
--- a/backend/api/src/app.ts
+++ b/backend/api/src/app.ts
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ import {likeProfile} from './like-profile'
 import {llmExtractProfileEndpoint} from './llm-extract-profile'
 import {markAllNotifsRead} from './mark-all-notifications-read'
 import {removePinnedPhoto} from './remove-pinned-photo'
+import {repoStats} from './repo-stats'
 import {report} from './report'
 import {rsvpEvent} from './rsvp-event'
 import {searchLocationEndpoint} from './search-location'
@@ -658,6 +659,7 @@ const handlers: {[k in APIPath]: APIHandler<k>} = {
   'update-event': updateEvent,
   health: health,
   stats: stats,
+  'repo-stats': repoStats,
   'unsubscribe/:token': unsubscribe,
   me: getMe,
   'get-user-and-profile': getUserAndProfileHandler,
diff --git a/backend/api/src/repo-stats.ts b/backend/api/src/repo-stats.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4ef25ab2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/api/src/repo-stats.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+import {githubRepoSlug} from 'common/constants'
+import {RepoStats} from 'common/stats'
+import {HOUR_MS} from 'common/util/time'
+import {log} from 'shared/monitoring/log'
+
+import {APIHandler} from './helpers/endpoint'
+
+// Cached far longer than `stats`: this is an outbound call to a third party, the numbers move slowly,
+// and unauthenticated GitHub allows only 60 requests/hour per IP. One call per 6h leaves that budget
+// almost untouched even with several API instances running.
+const CACHE_DURATION_MS = 6 * HOUR_MS
+
+// Counting contributors by list length rather than paginating the whole set. The repo is well under
+// this, and the alternative (parsing the Link header for the last page) buys accuracy we do not need.
+const CONTRIBUTOR_PAGE_SIZE = 100
+
+let cachedData: RepoStats | null = null
+let cacheTimestamp = 0
+
+const EMPTY: RepoStats = {
+  stars: null,
+  forks: null,
+  contributors: null,
+  openIssues: null,
+  lastCommitTime: null,
+}
+
+async function github(path: string) {
+  const res = await fetch(`https://api.github.com/repos/${githubRepoSlug}${path}`, {
+    headers: {
+      accept: 'application/vnd.github+json',
+      // GitHub rejects requests without one.
+      'user-agent': 'compass-api',
+    },
+  })
+  if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`GitHub ${res.status} ${res.statusText} for ${path}`)
+  return res.json()
+}
+
+export const repoStats: APIHandler<'repo-stats'> = async () => {
+  const now = Date.now()
+  if (cachedData && now - cacheTimestamp < CACHE_DURATION_MS) return cachedData
+
+  const [repo, contributors, commits] = await Promise.allSettled([
+    github(''),
+    github(`/contributors?per_page=${CONTRIBUTOR_PAGE_SIZE}&anon=1`),
+    github('/commits?per_page=1'),
+  ])
+
+  // Settled individually so one failing call does not blank the other two — each field independently
+  // falls back to null, and the page just omits whatever is missing.
+  const result: RepoStats = {
+    stars: repo.status === 'fulfilled' ? (repo.value.stargazers_count ?? null) : null,
+    forks: repo.status === 'fulfilled' ? (repo.value.forks_count ?? null) : null,
+    openIssues: repo.status === 'fulfilled' ? (repo.value.open_issues_count ?? null) : null,
+    contributors:
+      contributors.status === 'fulfilled' && Array.isArray(contributors.value)
+        ? contributors.value.length
+        : null,
+    lastCommitTime:
+      commits.status === 'fulfilled' && commits.value?.[0]?.commit?.committer?.date
+        ? new Date(commits.value[0].commit.committer.date)
+        : null,
+  }
+
+  const failures = [repo, contributors, commits].filter((r) => r.status === 'rejected')
+  if (failures.length) {
+    log.error('repo-stats: some GitHub calls failed', {
+      reasons: failures.map((f) => String((f as PromiseRejectedResult).reason)),
+    })
+  }
+
+  // Never cache a wholly empty result — that would pin the page to "nothing" for six hours because
+  // GitHub happened to be down for one request.
+  const gotSomething = Object.values(result).some((v) => v !== null)
+  if (!gotSomething) return EMPTY
+
+  cachedData = result
+  cacheTimestamp = now
+  return result
+}
diff --git a/backend/api/src/stats.ts b/backend/api/src/stats.ts
index 3e67cb85..17330247 100644
--- a/backend/api/src/stats.ts
+++ b/backend/api/src/stats.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import {getMessagesCount} from 'api/get-messages-count'
+import {CountryCount} from 'common/stats'
 import {HOUR_MS} from 'common/util/time'
 import {createSupabaseDirectClient} from 'shared/supabase/init'
 
@@ -9,6 +10,10 @@ let cachedData: any = null
 let cacheTimestamp: number = 0
 const CACHE_DURATION_MS = HOUR_MS
 
+// How many countries the breakdown returns. The about page shows a short ranked list, so a long tail
+// would be payload nobody renders; `countryCount` still reports the full spread.
+const TOP_COUNTRIES = 8
+
 export const stats: APIHandler<'stats'> = async (_, _auth) => {
   const now = Date.now()
 
@@ -21,16 +26,36 @@ export const stats: APIHandler<'stats'> = async (_, _auth) => {
 
   const pg = createSupabaseDirectClient()
 
-  const [userCount, profileCount, eventsCount, messagesCount, genderStats] = await Promise.all([
+  const [
+    userCount,
+    profileCount,
+    eventsCount,
+    messagesCount,
+    conversationCount,
+    genderStats,
+    countryStats,
+  ] = await Promise.all([
     pg.one(`SELECT COUNT(*)::int as count FROM users`),
     pg.one(`SELECT COUNT(*)::int as count FROM profiles`),
     pg.one(
       `SELECT COUNT(*)::int as count FROM events WHERE event_start_time > now() and status = 'active'`,
     ),
     getMessagesCount(),
+    // Counted off the messages table rather than the channels table: a channel that was created but
+    // never written in isn't a conversation anyone had.
+    pg.one(`select count(distinct channel_id)::int as count from private_user_messages`),
     pg.manyOrNone(
       `SELECT gender, COUNT(*)::int as count FROM profiles WHERE gender IS NOT NULL GROUP BY gender`,
     ),
+    // Grouped in full rather than limited in SQL: the about page shows a top-N bar list but also
+    // needs the total number of distinct countries, and both come off the same small result set.
+    pg.manyOrNone(
+      `select country, count(*)::int as count
+         from profiles
+         where country is not null and country <> ''
+         group by country
+         order by count desc, country asc`,
+    ),
   ])
 
   // Calculate gender ratios
@@ -49,13 +74,21 @@ export const stats: APIHandler<'stats'> = async (_, _auth) => {
     genderPercentage[gender] = Math.round((count / totalWithGender) * 100)
   })
 
+  const countries: CountryCount[] = (countryStats ?? []).map((row: any) => ({
+    country: row.country,
+    count: row.count,
+  }))
+
   const result = {
     users: userCount.count,
     profiles: profileCount.count,
     upcomingEvents: eventsCount.count,
     messages: messagesCount.count,
+    conversations: conversationCount.count,
     genderRatio: genderPercentage,
     genderCounts: genderRatio,
+    countries: countries.slice(0, TOP_COUNTRIES),
+    countryCount: countries.length,
   }
 
   // Update cache
diff --git a/backend/email/emails/functions/render-search-alert.tsx b/backend/email/emails/functions/render-search-alert.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fd21987b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/email/emails/functions/render-search-alert.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+/**
+ * Renders the search-alert email to a standalone HTML file, for the about-page clip (A4 in
+ * docs/marketing-visuals.md).
+ *
+ * The clip's middle beat is the email that a saved search produces. That email had to be the *real*
+ * template rather than a mock-up — the whole principle of these visuals is that anything which can be
+ * a capture of the real thing should be, so it goes stale visibly instead of silently.
+ *
+ * This lives in `backend/email` rather than in media-creator because this is where the `common/` and
+ * `shared/` path aliases already resolve. media-creator is a standalone npm project outside the yarn
+ * workspaces and cannot import the template at all.
+ *
+ * The props are the showcase personas — fictional by construction, same standing as everything else
+ * the capture scripts photograph, and never real member data. `NewSearchAlertsEmail.PreviewProps` is
+ * deliberately left alone: that serves developers opening the react-email preview, and it should keep
+ * showing the multi-search case rather than this one narrow scenario.
+ *
+ * Usage, from the repo root:
+ *   npx tsx backend/email/emails/functions/render-search-alert.tsx /tmp/alert.html
+ */
+
+import {writeFileSync} from 'node:fs'
+
+import {render} from '@react-email/components'
+import {type User} from 'common/user'
+import React from 'react'
+
+import {NewSearchAlertsEmail} from '../new-search-alerts'
+
+/**
+ * The showcase viewer, not `mockUser` from ./mock.
+ *
+ * `mockUser` is Martin's own name and a photo of him hosted on his personal site. That is fine for a
+ * developer eyeballing the preview, but this output is a marketing asset — it should carry the same
+ * fictional persona the rest of the clip is shot as (`SHOWCASE_VIEWER` in
+ * tests/e2e/utils/showcase-profiles.ts), so the email is addressed to the person whose session the
+ * surrounding frames were captured in.
+ */
+const RECIPIENT: User = {
+  createdTime: 0,
+  avatarUrl: '/images/showcase/alexmorel-1.jpg',
+  id: 'showcase-viewer',
+  username: 'alexmorel',
+  name: 'Alex Morel',
+}
+
+/**
+ * Mirrors the saved search the capture script builds in the UI: man, 24–40, atheist, vegan, near
+ * Grenoble. If you change the filters in `capture-alert.mjs`, change them here too — the email is
+ * supposed to be describing the search the viewer just saved, and a mismatch would make the clip
+ * quietly incoherent.
+ *
+ * No wants-kids facet, deliberately: that filter only renders for viewers whose own profile seeks a
+ * relationship, and the showcase viewer does not. See the note in capture-alert.mjs.
+ */
+const SAVED_SEARCH = {
+  genders: ['male'],
+  religion: ['atheist'],
+  diet: ['vegan'],
+  // These are the real `FilterFields` keys, and they have to be exact. `formatFilters` special-cases
+  // them — it folds the two age bounds into one "Age: 24-40" entry. Anything it does not recognise
+  // falls through to a generic de-camel-casing path, which is how an earlier draft of this file
+  // rendered "Agemin: 24 • Agemax: 40" into the email.
+  pref_age_min: 24,
+  pref_age_max: 40,
+  orderBy: 'created_time',
+}
+
+/**
+ * One match, not several. The clip's premise is that the search had no results when it was saved, so
+ * the honest payoff is the single person who has since joined — a list of five would imply the search
+ * was already working and undercut the reason to save it.
+ */
+const MATCHES = [
+  {
+    name: 'Julien Sarr',
+    username: 'juliensarr',
+    avatarUrl: '/images/showcase/juliensarr-1.jpg',
+  },
+]
+
+async function main() {
+  const out = process.argv[2]
+  if (!out) throw new Error('usage: render-search-alert.tsx <output.html> [baseUrl]')
+
+  // The template's logo and the match avatar are root-relative paths, which resolve against the
+  // recipient's mail host in a real send. Opened as a local file they resolve against file:// and both
+  // render as broken-image icons. A <base> makes them resolve against the dev server instead, so the
+  // capture shows the email as it actually arrives.
+  const base = process.argv[3] ?? 'http://localhost:3000'
+
+  const html = await render(
+    <NewSearchAlertsEmail
+      toUser={RECIPIENT}
+      email="alex.morel@compass.showcase"
+      unsubscribeUrl="https://compassmeet.com/unsubscribe"
+      matches={[
+        {
+          id: 'showcase-saved-search',
+          description: {
+            filters: SAVED_SEARCH,
+            location: {location: {name: 'Grenoble'}, radius: 100},
+          },
+          matches: MATCHES,
+        },
+      ]}
+    />,
+  )
+
+  // A viewport meta as well as the base. Email HTML has none — mail clients supply their own chrome —
+  // so a mobile browser opening this file falls back to a ~980px layout viewport and scales the whole
+  // thing down, which renders the body text at about 5px. With this, the template's `maxWidth: 600px`
+  // container reflows to the actual 390px viewport and reads at roughly 1:1, which is the entire
+  // reason this clip is captured on a phone rather than a desktop.
+  // No theme handling here any more. The template now carries real `prefers-color-scheme` support
+  // (DARK_MODE_CSS in emails/utils.tsx), so a dark capture just needs Playwright's colorScheme and the
+  // email renders dark on its own — which is also what a dark-mode mail client shows a real recipient.
+  // The earlier version framed a light email in invented dark chrome; supporting dark mode properly
+  // made that unnecessary and is the better fix.
+  const theme = process.argv[4] ?? 'light'
+
+  const head = `<head><base href="${base}/"><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">`
+  writeFileSync(out, html.replace('<head>', head))
+  console.log(`wrote ${out} (${theme}, assets resolved against ${base})`)
+}
+
+main().catch((err) => {
+  console.error(err.message)
+  process.exit(1)
+})
diff --git a/backend/email/emails/new-search-alerts.tsx b/backend/email/emails/new-search-alerts.tsx
index c74727f9..3685123e 100644
--- a/backend/email/emails/new-search-alerts.tsx
+++ b/backend/email/emails/new-search-alerts.tsx
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import {FilterFields} from 'common/filters'
 import {formatFilters, locationType} from 'common/filters-format'
 import {MatchesType} from 'common/profiles/bookmarked_searches'
 import {type User} from 'common/user'
-import {container, content, Footer, main, paragraph} from 'email/utils'
+import {container, content, DARK_MODE_CSS, Footer, main, paragraph} from 'email/utils'
 import React from 'react'
 import {createT} from 'shared/locale'
 
@@ -43,13 +43,15 @@ export const NewSearchAlertsEmail = ({
 
   return (
     <Html>
-      <Head />
+      <Head>
+        <style>{DARK_MODE_CSS}</style>
+      </Head>
       <Preview>
         {t('email.search_alerts.preview', 'New people share your values — reach out and connect')}
       </Preview>
-      <Body style={main}>
+      <Body style={main} className="cm-body">
         <Container style={container}>
-          <Section style={content}>
+          <Section style={content} className="cm-surface">
             <Text style={paragraph}>{t('email.search_alerts.greeting', 'Hi {name},', {name})}</Text>
 
             <Text style={paragraph}>
@@ -62,6 +64,7 @@ export const NewSearchAlertsEmail = ({
             {(matches || []).map((match) => (
               <Section key={match.id} style={{marginBottom: '20px'}}>
                 <div
+                  className="cm-card"
                   style={{
                     backgroundColor: '#f7f4ef',
                     border: '1px solid #dee5b2',
@@ -94,6 +97,7 @@ export const NewSearchAlertsEmail = ({
                     {match.matches.map((p) => (
                       <Link
                         key={p.username}
+                        className="cm-chip"
                         href={`https://${DOMAIN}/${p.username}`}
                         style={{
                           display: 'inline-block',
@@ -138,6 +142,7 @@ export const NewSearchAlertsEmail = ({
                               )}
                               <td style={{verticalAlign: 'middle'}}>
                                 <span
+                                  className="cm-name"
                                   style={{
                                     display: 'block',
                                     color: '#1e1a14',
@@ -149,6 +154,7 @@ export const NewSearchAlertsEmail = ({
                                   {p.name}
                                 </span>
                                 <span
+                                  className="cm-accent"
                                   style={{
                                     display: 'block',
                                     color: '#c17f3e',
diff --git a/backend/email/emails/utils.tsx b/backend/email/emails/utils.tsx
index d72ac407..8068569d 100644
--- a/backend/email/emails/utils.tsx
+++ b/backend/email/emails/utils.tsx
@@ -221,3 +221,30 @@ export const button = {
   padding: '6px 10px',
   margin: '10px 0',
 }
+
+/**
+ * Dark-mode overrides for email clients that honour `prefers-color-scheme` (Apple Mail, iOS Mail,
+ * and Outlook.com among others). Drop into a template's <Head/>.
+ *
+ * Emails are built from inline styles because that is what mail clients reliably support, and inline
+ * styles beat a stylesheet — hence `!important` throughout. The hooks are the `cm-*` class names on
+ * the handful of surfaces that actually carry colour; everything else inherits.
+ *
+ * Clients that ignore the media query keep the light email exactly as before, so this is additive.
+ */
+export const DARK_MODE_CSS = `
+  @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
+    body, .cm-body { background-color: #16130F !important; }
+    .cm-surface { background-color: #16130F !important; }
+    .cm-surface p, .cm-surface div, .cm-surface td { color: #EDE6DA !important; }
+    .cm-card { background-color: #221D17 !important; border-color: #3A332B !important; }
+    .cm-card p { color: #F5EFE6 !important; }
+    .cm-chip { background-color: #2C251D !important; border-color: #5A4A33 !important; }
+    .cm-name { color: #F5EFE6 !important; }
+    .cm-muted { color: #A99C8C !important; }
+    /* The amber accent and the primary button already read correctly on a dark ground; leaving them
+       alone keeps the brand colour identical in both modes. */
+    .cm-accent { color: #D9975A !important; }
+    hr { border-color: #3A332B !important; }
+  }
+`
diff --git a/backend/email/package.json b/backend/email/package.json
index cdea7607..73fa0c46 100644
--- a/backend/email/package.json
+++ b/backend/email/package.json
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
     "dev": "email dev -p 3001",
     "lint": "npx eslint . --max-warnings 0",
     "lint-fix": "npx eslint . --fix",
+    "render:alert": "tsx emails/functions/render-search-alert.tsx",
     "test": "jest --config jest.config.ts --passWithNoTests",
     "typecheck": "npx tsc --noEmit"
   },
diff --git a/common/messages/de.json b/common/messages/de.json
index 72a1b55a..f0139d51 100644
--- a/common/messages/de.json
+++ b/common/messages/de.json
@@ -57,6 +57,24 @@
   "about.growth.label": "Mitglieder, Tendenz steigend",
   "about.growth.today": "Heute",
   "about.help.label": "Helfen Sie Compass zu wachsen",
+  "about.mission.label": "Warum es uns gibt",
+  "about.final.label": "Sag es weiter",
+  "about.alert.caption": "Die E-Mail ist echt und geht an alle mit gespeicherten Suchen. Höchstens einmal täglich, und nur wenn wirklich jemand Neues passt.",
+  "about.stat.members": "Mitglieder",
+  "about.stat.countries": "Länder",
+  "about.stat.conversations": "Gespräche",
+  "about.stat.price": "Nutzungskosten",
+  "about.stat.price_value": "0 €",
+  "about.repo.label": "Offen entwickelt",
+  "about.repo.claim": "Der Community gehörend. Keine Investoren, kein Verkauf, nichts, was wir dir andrehen wollen.",
+  "about.repo.intro": "Alles entsteht öffentlich — jede Zeile Code, jede Änderung, offen zum Nachlesen und Hinterfragen:",
+  "about.repo.contributors": "Mitwirkende",
+  "about.repo.stars": "GitHub-Sterne",
+  "about.repo.last_commit": "Letzte Änderung",
+  "about.repo.today": "heute",
+  "about.repo.yesterday": "gestern",
+  "about.repo.days_ago": "vor {count} Tagen",
+  "about.repo.link": "Quellcode lesen →",
   "add_photos.add_description": "Beschreibung hinzufügen",
   "add_photos.profile_picture_hint": "Das hervorgehobene Bild ist Ihr Profilbild",
   "answers.add.error_create": "Fehler beim Erstellen der Kompatibilitätsfrage. Erneut versuchen?",
@@ -142,6 +160,7 @@
   "common.saved": "Gespeichert!",
   "common.with": "mit",
   "common.yes": "Ja",
+  "common.step_progress": "Schritt {current} von {total}",
   "compatibility.empty.answered": "Sie haben noch keine Fragen beantwortet.",
   "compatibility.empty.no_results": "Keine Ergebnisse für \"{keyword}\"",
   "compatibility.empty.not_answered": "Alle Fragen wurden beantwortet!",
@@ -1193,6 +1212,7 @@
   "profile.wants_kids_4": "Möchte Kinder",
   "profile.work": "Arbeit",
   "profile.wont_be_notified_unless_mutual": "Sie werden nicht benachrichtigt, es sei denn, das Interesse ist gegenseitig.",
+  "profile.big5_reset": "Zurücksetzen",
   "profile_card.alt": "Profilkarte von {username}",
   "profile_card.crafting": "Profilkarte wird erstellt...",
   "profile_card.loading": "Ihre Karte wird geladen, es kann ein paar Sekunden dauern...",
diff --git a/common/messages/fr.json b/common/messages/fr.json
index f4feba5a..ff6cb661 100644
--- a/common/messages/fr.json
+++ b/common/messages/fr.json
@@ -57,6 +57,24 @@
   "about.growth.label": "membres, et ça continue",
   "about.growth.today": "Aujourd'hui",
   "about.help.label": "Aide Compass à grandir",
+  "about.mission.label": "Pourquoi nous existons",
+  "about.final.label": "Faites passer le mot",
+  "about.alert.caption": "L'e-mail est le vrai, celui envoyé aux personnes ayant des recherches enregistrées. Une fois par jour au maximum, et uniquement quand quelqu'un de nouveau correspond vraiment.",
+  "about.stat.members": "Membres",
+  "about.stat.countries": "Pays",
+  "about.stat.conversations": "Conversations",
+  "about.stat.price": "Coût d'utilisation",
+  "about.stat.price_value": "0 €",
+  "about.repo.label": "Développé au grand jour",
+  "about.repo.claim": "Propriété de la communauté. Aucun investisseur, aucun rachat, rien à vous vendre.",
+  "about.repo.intro": "Tout est construit en public — chaque ligne de code, chaque changement, ouvert à la lecture et à la critique :",
+  "about.repo.contributors": "Contributeurs",
+  "about.repo.stars": "Étoiles GitHub",
+  "about.repo.last_commit": "Dernière modification",
+  "about.repo.today": "aujourd'hui",
+  "about.repo.yesterday": "hier",
+  "about.repo.days_ago": "il y a {count} jours",
+  "about.repo.link": "Lire le code source →",
   "add_photos.add_description": "Ajouter une description",
   "add_photos.profile_picture_hint": "L'image mise en surbrillance est votre photo de profil",
   "answers.add.error_create": "Erreur lors de la création de la question de compatibilité. Réessayez ?",
@@ -142,6 +160,7 @@
   "common.saved": "Enregistré !",
   "common.with": "avec",
   "common.yes": "Oui",
+  "common.step_progress": "Étape {current} sur {total}",
   "compatibility.empty.answered": "Vous n'avez répondu à aucune question pour le moment.",
   "compatibility.empty.no_results": "Aucun résultat pour \"{keyword}\"",
   "compatibility.empty.not_answered": "Toutes les questions ont été répondues !",
@@ -1192,6 +1211,7 @@
   "profile.wants_kids_4": "Veut des enfants",
   "profile.work": "Travail",
   "profile.wont_be_notified_unless_mutual": "Il/elle ne sera pas notifié(e) à moins que l'intérêt soit mutuel.",
+  "profile.big5_reset": "Réinitialiser",
   "profile_card.alt": "Carte de profil de {username}",
   "profile_card.crafting": "Création de la carte de profil...",
   "profile_card.loading": "Chargement de votre carte, cela peut prendre quelques secondes...",
diff --git a/common/src/api/schema.ts b/common/src/api/schema.ts
index d6818bc2..71994fcf 100644
--- a/common/src/api/schema.ts
+++ b/common/src/api/schema.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import {Notification} from 'common/notifications'
 import {CompatibilityScore} from 'common/profiles/compatibility-score'
 import {MAX_COMPATIBILITY_QUESTION_LENGTH, OPTION_TABLES} from 'common/profiles/constants'
 import {Profile, ProfileRow, ProfileWithoutUser} from 'common/profiles/profile'
-import {Stats} from 'common/stats' // mqp: very unscientific, just balancing our willingness to accept load
+import {RepoStats, Stats} from 'common/stats' // mqp: very unscientific, just balancing our willingness to accept load
 import {PrivateMessageChannel} from 'common/supabase/private-messages'
 import {Row} from 'common/supabase/utils'
 import {PrivateUser, User} from 'common/user'
@@ -156,6 +156,24 @@ export const API = (_apiTypeCheck = {
     summary: 'Get platform statistics',
     tag: 'General',
   },
+  /**
+   * Get open-source repository activity
+   * Proxies a small slice of the GitHub API so the about page can evidence the "community owned"
+   * claim. Proxied rather than called from the browser because unauthenticated GitHub is limited to
+   * 60 requests/hour per IP, which a public page would exhaust.
+   *
+   * @returns Contributor / commit / star counts, or nulls when GitHub is unreachable
+   */
+  'repo-stats': {
+    method: 'GET',
+    authed: false,
+    rateLimited: true,
+    props: z.object({}),
+    cache: 'public, max-age=3600',
+    returns: {} as RepoStats,
+    summary: 'Get open-source repository activity',
+    tag: 'General',
+  },
   /**
    * Get Supabase JWT token
    * Returns a JWT token for authenticated clients to access Supabase directly
diff --git a/common/src/stats.ts b/common/src/stats.ts
index 0643b96b..ee619fde 100644
--- a/common/src/stats.ts
+++ b/common/src/stats.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,33 @@
+/** One row of the country breakdown. `country` is the display name stored on `profiles.country`. */
+export type CountryCount = {
+  country: string
+  count: number
+}
+
 export type Stats = {
   users: number
   profiles: number
   upcomingEvents: number
   messages: number
+  /** Message channels that carry at least one message — empty channels aren't conversations. */
+  conversations: number
   genderRatio: Record<string, number>
   genderCounts: Record<string, number>
+  /** Top countries by profile count, descending. Profiles with no country set are excluded. */
+  countries: CountryCount[]
+  /** Distinct countries represented, including any outside the `countries` top-N. */
+  countryCount: number
+}
+
+/**
+ * Open-source activity for the public repo. Every field is nullable: the about page evidences the
+ * "community owned" claim with these, and a number we could not actually fetch is worse than no
+ * number, so the UI renders nothing rather than a zero when GitHub is unreachable.
+ */
+export type RepoStats = {
+  stars: number | null
+  forks: number | null
+  contributors: number | null
+  openIssues: number | null
+  lastCommitTime: Date | null
 }
diff --git a/docs/marketing-visuals.md b/docs/marketing-visuals.md
index 3c643f90..f8ff86fe 100644
--- a/docs/marketing-visuals.md
+++ b/docs/marketing-visuals.md
@@ -198,13 +198,11 @@ they are still same-origin off Vercel's CDN and another ~270 KB of binaries stay
 Uploads use `Cache-Control: public, max-age=86400` rather than `immutable`, since filenames are
 stable across re-renders and a long TTL would strand the build on an old clip.
 
-Nothing about the hero is committed now, so **a deploy without `MEDIA_SOURCE_BASE_URL` set renders
-neither the clip nor its poster.** The build warns rather than failing in that case, because a
-contributor without R2 access should still be able to build.
-
-> The root `.gitignore` blanket-ignores `*.jpg` / `*.mp4`. Those two paths are explicitly un-ignored,
-> and only the two **posters** are un-ignored, because the app serves them as the LCP image. The
-> videos are intentionally left ignored — R2 serves those. The showcase portraits are likewise
+> The root `.gitignore` blanket-ignores `*.jpg` / `*.mp4` / `*.webp`, and **nothing here is un-ignored** —
+> not the videos, not the posters, not the vote-tally stills. Every one of them reaches `public/` through
+> `fetch-media.mjs` at build time, which is why that script failing has to fail the build. (An earlier
+> version of this note claimed the two posters were committed; `git ls-files web/public/images` says
+> otherwise.) The showcase portraits are likewise
 > **not** un-ignored: they are dev-only seed data and `scripts/generate-showcase-portraits.ts`
 > regenerates them, so they stay out of the repo in line with the existing no-binaries policy. A fresh
 > clone seeds profiles with the default avatar until that script is run.
@@ -405,6 +403,201 @@ nothing beneath it is worse than no section.
 in the browser. Fine at ~700 and identical to what `/stats` already does, but linear — past a few thousand
 members this wants an aggregate endpoint returning daily totals.
 
+### A4 — Search-alert demo video — **done** (pending R2 upload)
+
+"Get Notified About Searches" is the page's most distinctive claim and the only one with no proof at all.
+It is also the hardest to evidence with a still, because the whole point of it happens _later_. The clip:
+
+1. `/people`, filtered down — Man, 24–40, atheist, vegan, near Grenoble.
+2. **Nobody matches.** Not a compromise — this is the premise. The app's own empty state says it:
+   "No profiles found. Feel free to click on Get Notified…". The clip follows the product's instruction.
+3. Press **Get notified for selected filters**; the saved-search modal confirms it.
+4. **Three days pass** — the interstitial, the one beat the product does not render.
+5. The alert email, describing that saved search and the one person who has since joined.
+6. His profile, then the composer.
+
+**Captured in two passes, and it has to be.** The saved search must _match_ Julien for the email to mean
+anything and _not_ match him for the "nobody fits yet" beat. Both cannot be true of one database at one
+moment. So the first half is shot while he does not exist and the second after he is seeded:
+
+```bash
+SHOWCASE_SKIP=juliensarr SHOWCASE=1 ./scripts/seed.sh
+npm run capture:alert -- --phase before        # and capture:alert:dark
+SHOWCASE=1 ./scripts/seed.sh
+npm run capture:alert -- --phase after         # merges both halves into manifest.json
+```
+
+Staging the empty state instead — the result card has a hide control — would have been one pass and a
+fiction, and an invisible one to anyone watching. This costs a seed run and stays true.
+
+`SHOWCASE_SKIP` (in `seed-showcase.ts`) **deletes** the named slugs before skipping them, rather than
+merely not inserting. It has to: seeding is otherwise a no-op for anyone who already exists, which also
+means edits to a persona — or portraits generated _after_ the first seed — never take effect. Delete and
+re-run is how you pick them up. That bit us: Julien's first seed predated his portraits, so his row
+pointed at `default-avatar.png` and the whole clip had a placeholder where his face should be.
+
+**Which database.** These run against the **local** stack (`yarn dev:isolated` + `./scripts/seed.sh`),
+not the remote dev DB. Deleting a persona is destructive, and the remote dev DB is shared.
+
+**The "wants kids" facet was dropped.** It was in the original brief, but the Relationship group renders
+only when the _signed-in viewer's own_ `pref_relation_styles` includes `'relationship'`, and the showcase
+viewer seeks friendship and collaboration (`filters.tsx`, `youSeekingRelationship`). Same class of
+constraint as H1's gender-filter note. Including it would have meant changing the viewer persona, which
+H1 is also captured as; the remaining four facets already narrow to exactly one person.
+
+Four things that bite when scripting the filter rail, none of which apply to H1:
+
+- **Filters are nested and collapsed groups are not in the DOM.** `FilterGroup` renders
+  `{isOpen && children}`, so looking for "Religion" before opening "Values & Beliefs" finds nothing at
+  all. Only gender and location are top level.
+- **Scope every query to `#headlessui-portal-root`.** `firstVisible()` is not enough here: the desktop
+  rail is not reliably `display: none` at this viewport, so Playwright calls it visible, clicks it, and
+  times out with the sheet's own overlay "intercepting pointer events".
+- **Section headers read as label-plus-selection** — "Living anywhere", "Any gender". So the location
+  section is "Living", never "Location", and anchoring a regex at the end matches nothing.
+- Groups _and_ sections are accordions, so each selection closes the previous one. Harmless — the
+  selections persist, and the folding reads as progress through a form.
+
+**The email needed a viewport meta.** Email HTML has none, because mail clients supply their own chrome —
+so a mobile browser falls back to a ~980px layout viewport and scales the whole thing down, rendering the
+body text at about 5px. With it, the template's `maxWidth: 600px` container reflows to the real 390px and
+reads at roughly 1:1, which is the entire reason this clip is on a phone.
+
+**The email now supports dark mode for real.** It was light-only, so the dark clip cut to a full-bleed
+white screen for four seconds. The first fix framed it in invented dark chrome; the better one was
+`DARK_MODE_CSS` in `emails/utils.tsx` — a `prefers-color-scheme` block with `!important` overrides hung
+off `cm-*` class hooks, since inline styles (which is what mail clients need) otherwise win. **This
+changes real sent email** in clients that honour the query — Apple Mail, iOS Mail, Outlook.com. Clients
+that ignore it keep the light version exactly as before, so it is additive. Only `new-search-alerts` uses
+it so far; the other templates could adopt it the same way.
+
+**The interstitial.** A dissolve alone said "something changed", not "days went by" — which left the email
+looking like it arrived the instant the search was saved, precisely the wrong idea about a feature whose
+point is that it works while you are not looking. So the saved-search screen recedes behind a scrim,
+three days tick across it, and the email arrives out of that. Synthesised in Remotion and injected by
+`calculateMetadata` rather than emitted by the capture script, so the manifest stays a pure record of what
+was photographed.
+
+**The scrim does not lift before the email arrives.** It used to, and the result was visible: the veil
+faded out, the saved-search screen returned at full strength for a few frames, and only then did the email
+begin dissolving in — so the clip appeared to bounce back to where it had just been. The scrim now holds
+through the handover and the email fades up over exactly the state the interstitial ended in. The gap is
+also a little shorter (54 frames), which brings the email forward.
+
+Its caption is light ink in **both** themes: the scrim has to be dark either way, or the screenshot
+behind it still reads as the live screen, and taking the ink from the theme put dark brown text on a dark
+scrim in light mode.
+
+This clip is **English-only**, unavoidably — its middle beat is a screenshot of an English email, and the
+interstitial says "3 days later". The hero clip has no text for the opposite reason: one render, every
+locale. The surrounding caption is translated normally.
+
+**Proving the match.** The profile beat used to scroll straight past the fields the search asked for, so
+the viewer had to take the match on trust. Two changes fixed that, and the first is nearly free:
+
+- **Pacing.** The two beats that carry the proof — the header (age, gender, city) and the details row
+  where religion and diet land together — hold for 96 frames instead of the scroll's 3. They are the only
+  moments in the clip meant to be _read_ rather than watched. That is exactly what per-frame `hold` in
+  the manifest is for.
+- **Spotlight.** The rest of the frame dims and each matching value gets a hand-drawn amber ellipse,
+  stroked on over about a third of a second and staggered so the eye is walked through them one at a
+  time. Geometry is measured off the live DOM, so a profile restyle moves the circles with it rather than
+  leaving them pointing at blank space.
+
+Two things that had to be got right:
+
+- **Measure the text, not the element.** `boundingBox()` returns the layout box, and in the details list
+  each value sits in a full-width row — circling that produced a flat oval spanning the whole card. A
+  `Range` over the text node gives the glyphs' own bounds.
+- **Frame both values together.** Centring on religion alone left diet at y≈762, half under the fixed
+  bottom nav. The script re-centres on the midpoint of the two against the viewport minus that nav.
+
+An earlier version captioned each circle with the criterion it satisfied ("✓ Vegan"). Dropped: the fields
+are about 25px apart, so every caption landed on the next value and buried what it was pointing at — and
+the criteria have just been read out in the email a beat earlier, so the labels were repetition as well as
+clutter. The circles alone carry it.
+
+**This is editorial annotation, not product UI**, and it is drawn to look like it. Compass has no
+"matches your search" highlighting on profiles; chrome implying otherwise would claim a feature that does
+not exist. A hand-drawn ring is unmistakably someone marking up a screen. (The tap indicator is different
+in kind — it depicts a finger, not a feature.)
+
+**Where it sits.** Inside "What makes us different", as a card in the column beside the three cards it
+is evidence for — "Keyword Search the Database", "Get Notified About Searches", "Personality-Centered".
+It first went in as a section of its own below the grid, which put the claim and its proof a full screen
+apart; that is the one arrangement in which the clip does no work. Two columns on desktop (cards stacked
+left, clip right, which the clip's phone aspect ratio suits); on mobile the cards simply stack above it.
+
+**Files**: `media-creator/scripts/capture-alert.mjs`, `media-creator/src/scenes/SearchAlert.tsx`
+(compositions `SearchAlertLight` / `SearchAlertDark`),
+`backend/email/emails/functions/render-search-alert.tsx` (`yarn --cwd=backend/email render:alert`), and
+the `web/components/about/search-alert-demo.tsx` embed. `TapIndicator` and `shotAt` are imported from
+`SearchDemo` rather than duplicated.
+
+```bash
+npm run capture:alert[:dark] -- --phase before|after
+npm run render:alert[:dark]    # -> out/compass-search-alert-{light,dark}.mp4  (2.5 MB, 31s, 916 frames)
+npm run still:alert[:dark]     # -> out/compass-alert-poster-{light,dark}.png  (frame 0)
+```
+
+**Still to do: `npm run upload:media`.** The four new assets are wired into `upload-media.sh` and into the
+`ASSETS` list in `web/scripts/fetch-media.mjs`, and they exist locally — but until they are in R2, a
+Vercel build will fail on them by design. Uploading is publishing, so it is Martin's call.
+
+### A5 — Stat band + country spread — **done**
+
+Two numbers-not-assets blocks, both off the existing `stats` endpoint, which already has a 1-hour
+server-side cache.
+
+- **Stat band** under the page header — members, messages, countries. The page currently opens with a
+  wall of identical cards; this gives it a first beat that is not one.
+- **Country spread** on **`/stats`**, as the right column of the **Community** group
+  (`web/components/widgets/country-spread.tsx`,
+  in `widgets/` because it is no longer an about-page component). It evidences "worldwide", asserted in
+  the home copy and shown nowhere. It started beside `MemberGrowth` on the about page and moved: it is a
+  distribution readout for someone who came to read numbers, and the about page already makes its one
+  claim about reach in the stat band. It belongs _inside_ Community because it answers the same question
+  as the four numbers beside it — who the members are — split by place rather than counted; on `lg` the
+  cards drop to a 2×2 block on the left and it takes the right half, and below `lg` it stacks under them
+  (its bars need the horizontal room). `/stats` fetches the whole `stats` payload for the page and passes
+  `countries`/`countryCount` in as props, so there is no second request. The page gates the column on
+  `MIN_COUNTRIES` rather than letting the component return null into it: a hidden child still leaves its
+  grid track behind, so hiding it would have left half a row blank instead of giving the width back.
+
+`stats` gained `countries` (top 8 by `profiles.country`) and `countryCount` rather than a new endpoint:
+same query batch, same cache, one round trip. Both blocks render **nothing** when the data is missing,
+per A3. Country bars are scaled against the _largest_ country rather than the total — against the total
+the long tail collapses into slivers of identical apparent length and the ranking stops being readable.
+
+Kept away from the vote tally — 12 voters next to a large member count is exactly the turnout tension A1
+was placed on this page to avoid.
+
+One number in the band is not a measurement: "$0 / Cost to join" is a policy, and it is the whole
+argument of the "Completely Free" card. Everything beside it is queried.
+
+Both live in `components/about/platform-stats.tsx`. Extracting `SectionLabel` / `Divider` into
+`components/about/section.tsx` was part of this: several blocks on the page now return null, and a
+heading or rule left behind by an absent block is worse than no section, so the label has to sit inside
+the component that decides whether to render.
+
+### A6 — Repo activity (the unblocked half of A2) — **done**
+
+A2 assumes a human photo and stays yours. But "Community Owned / no VC" can be evidenced without anyone's
+consent: contributor count, commits, stars, last commit. New `repo-stats` endpoint, long server-side cache,
+rendered in **our own components** — not a screenshot of GitHub's contributor wall, which H2 already
+rejected as stale on capture and not Compass pixels. Client-side calls to `api.github.com` are out: 60/hr
+per IP unauthenticated is not viable on a public page, so `repo-stats` proxies it with a 6-hour
+server-side cache.
+
+Each field is independently nullable and independently omitted, and the section renders nothing at all
+when every call fails — a zeroed contributor count would undercut the exact claim being made. A wholly
+empty result is never cached either, or one GitHub outage would pin the page to "nothing" for six hours.
+
+Currently reads 4 contributors, 38 stars, last change yesterday. **Worth a decision from Martin**: that
+is honest but modest, and it is the same tension as A1's twelve voters. It reads as a real early
+open-source project, which is what it is. Inflating it is not an option; dropping the block if it reads
+as weak is.
+
 ## Cross-cutting constraints
 
 - **Dark mode doubles the assets.** The site is fully tokenised (`bg-canvas-*`, `text-ink-*`); a light-mode
@@ -430,9 +623,21 @@ members this wants an aggregate endpoint returning daily totals.
 | A1  | Vote-tally screenshot          | —          | Claude ✅  |
 | A2  | Community photo                | —          | **Martin** |
 | A3  | Growth chart                   | —          | Claude ✅  |
+| A4  | Search-alert demo video        | W0c        | Claude ✅  |
+| A5  | Stat band + country spread     | —          | Claude ✅  |
+| A6  | Repo activity                  | —          | Claude ✅  |
 
-The home page is finished. On the about page, A2 needs a photo only Martin can supply and A3 is optional.
-H3 option 1 (real member photos, opt-in) stays available but is not blocking anything.
+A4 is captured, rendered and mounted; the one step left is `npm run upload:media`, which is publishing
+and so Martin's. Until that runs, a Vercel build fails on the four missing assets — deliberately.
+
+The home page is finished. On the about page, A2 needs a photo only Martin can supply; A6 covers the half
+of that claim that does not. H3 option 1 (real member photos, opt-in) stays available but is not blocking
+anything.
+
+**Why three at once**: the about page reads flat because ten of its twelve blocks are the same card
+(`FeatureCard` ×6, `HelpCard` ×4, identical surface and icon tile). A4/A5/A6 are as much about breaking
+that rhythm as about adding proof, so they are designed together — a clip, a number band, and a data
+block, none of which is another beige card.
 
 ---
 
diff --git a/media-creator/.gitignore b/media-creator/.gitignore
index 96524c01..62a48368 100644
--- a/media-creator/.gitignore
+++ b/media-creator/.gitignore
@@ -16,3 +16,4 @@ npm-debug.log*
 
 # Captured marketing stills (regenerate with the capture scripts).
 public/search/
+public/alert/
diff --git a/media-creator/package.json b/media-creator/package.json
index f0b3cd2c..0dc047e4 100644
--- a/media-creator/package.json
+++ b/media-creator/package.json
@@ -5,11 +5,15 @@
   "description": "Standalone Remotion studio for Compass media creation. Intentionally NOT part of the root yarn workspaces — install and run it on its own with npm.",
   "license": "MIT",
   "scripts": {
+    "capture:alert": "node scripts/capture-alert.mjs --theme light",
+    "capture:alert:dark": "node scripts/capture-alert.mjs --theme dark",
     "capture:profile": "node scripts/capture-profile.mjs",
     "capture:search": "node scripts/capture-search.mjs --theme light",
     "capture:search:dark": "node scripts/capture-search.mjs --theme dark",
     "capture:vote": "node scripts/capture-vote.mjs",
     "render": "npm run render:post",
+    "render:alert": "remotion render SearchAlertLight out/compass-search-alert-light.mp4 --crf 30",
+    "render:alert:dark": "remotion render SearchAlertDark out/compass-search-alert-dark.mp4 --crf 30",
     "render:carousel": "node scripts/render-carousel.mjs",
     "render:post": "remotion render IntroPost out/compass-intro-post.mp4",
     "render:search": "remotion render SearchDemoLight out/compass-search-demo-light.mp4 --crf 30",
@@ -17,6 +21,8 @@
     "render:story": "remotion render IntroStory out/compass-intro-story.mp4",
     "render:tour": "remotion render ProfileTourStory out/compass-profile-tour-story.mp4",
     "render:tour:post": "remotion render ProfileTourPost out/compass-profile-tour-post.mp4",
+    "still:alert": "remotion still SearchAlertLight out/compass-alert-poster-light.png --frame=0",
+    "still:alert:dark": "remotion still SearchAlertDark out/compass-alert-poster-dark.png --frame=0",
     "still:search": "remotion still SearchDemoLight out/compass-search-poster-light.png --frame=0",
     "still:search:dark": "remotion still SearchDemoDark out/compass-search-poster-dark.png --frame=0",
     "studio": "remotion studio",
diff --git a/media-creator/remotion.config.ts b/media-creator/remotion.config.ts
index 82ef67bc..1e1dc3a6 100644
--- a/media-creator/remotion.config.ts
+++ b/media-creator/remotion.config.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 // Remotion CLI configuration. Applies to `remotion studio` and `remotion render`.
 // Docs: https://www.remotion.dev/docs/config
-import {Config} from '@remotion/cli/config';
+import {Config} from '@remotion/cli/config'
 
-Config.setVideoImageFormat('jpeg');
-Config.setOverwriteOutput(true);
+Config.setVideoImageFormat('jpeg')
+Config.setOverwriteOutput(true)
 // High quality for social platforms (Reels / Shorts / TikTok re-encode aggressively).
-Config.setCodec('h264');
-Config.setCrf(18);
+Config.setCodec('h264')
+Config.setCrf(18)
diff --git a/media-creator/scripts/capture-alert.mjs b/media-creator/scripts/capture-alert.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e8a323a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/media-creator/scripts/capture-alert.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,544 @@
+/**
+ * Captures the saved-search alert loop for the about page (A4 in docs/marketing-visuals.md).
+ *
+ * The about page claims "Get Notified About Searches" and shows nothing. It is the hardest claim on
+ * that page to evidence with a still, because the whole point of it is something that happens *later*:
+ * you search, nobody fits, and days afterwards the platform tells you somebody does.
+ *
+ * The flow, in order:
+ *   1. /people, filtered to man / 24-40 / atheist / vegan, near Grenoble
+ *   2. no results — which is the honest reason to save a search, and the app's own empty state says so
+ *   3. "Get notified for selected filters", and the saved-search modal confirming it
+ *   4. the alert email that arrives (dissolved into — see SearchAlert.tsx on why there is no title card)
+ *   5. the match's profile
+ *   6. the composer
+ *
+ * Beats 1-3 and 5-6 are the live app. Beat 4 is the real email template rendered by
+ * `yarn --cwd=backend/email render:alert`, shown in invented mail-client chrome — the one seam in the
+ * clip, because the product has no mail surface of its own to photograph.
+ *
+ * Mobile for the same reason as the hero clip: at 390px the email's container (maxWidth 600px, no
+ * fixed width) reflows fluid and stays legible at roughly 1:1, where a desktop capture scaled into a
+ * phone column would be unreadable.
+ *
+ * Usage:
+ *   npm run capture:alert         # light theme
+ *   npm run capture:alert:dark    # dark theme
+ *
+ * Needs `yarn dev` running and the SHOWCASE=1 seed applied, including the `juliensarr` persona — he is
+ * the only profile that matches this search, and without him beat 5 has nobody to open.
+ *
+ * Borrows Playwright from the monorepo root by absolute path, deliberately — this package stays
+ * Remotion-only. Same trick as capture-search.mjs.
+ */
+
+import {execFileSync} from 'node:child_process'
+import {mkdirSync, readFileSync, rmSync, writeFileSync} from 'node:fs'
+import {tmpdir} from 'node:os'
+import {dirname, join} from 'node:path'
+import {fileURLToPath} from 'node:url'
+
+import pw from '../../node_modules/@playwright/test/index.js'
+
+const HERE = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url))
+const REPO = join(HERE, '../..')
+const ALERT_DIR = join(HERE, '../public/alert')
+
+const BASE = 'http://localhost:3000'
+const VIEWER_EMAIL = 'viewer@compass.showcase'
+const VIEWER_PASSWORD = 'showcase-viewer-pass'
+
+/** The persona this search is built to find. See tests/e2e/utils/showcase-profiles.ts. */
+const MATCH_SLUG = 'juliensarr'
+const MATCH_NAME = 'Julien Sarr'
+
+const VIEWPORT = {width: 390, height: 844}
+const SCALE = 2
+
+const args = process.argv.slice(2)
+const argOf = (name, fallback) => {
+  const i = args.indexOf(`--${name}`)
+  return i === -1 ? fallback : args[i + 1]
+}
+
+const THEME = argOf('theme', 'light')
+if (THEME !== 'light' && THEME !== 'dark') {
+  throw new Error(`--theme must be "light" or "dark", got "${THEME}"`)
+}
+const OUT_DIR = join(ALERT_DIR, THEME)
+
+/**
+ * Which half of the clip to shoot.
+ *
+ * The two halves cannot be captured in one run, and not for a technical reason. The saved search has to
+ * *match* Julien for the alert email to mean anything, and *not* match him for the "nobody fits this
+ * yet" beat that motivates saving it at all. Both cannot be true of one database at one moment, so the
+ * first half is shot while he does not exist and the second after he is seeded:
+ *
+ *   SHOWCASE_SKIP=juliensarr SHOWCASE=1 ./scripts/dev_db_seed.sh
+ *   npm run capture:alert -- --phase before
+ *   SHOWCASE=1 ./scripts/dev_db_seed.sh
+ *   npm run capture:alert -- --phase after      # merges both halves into manifest.json
+ *
+ * Staging the empty state instead — hiding him from the results with the card's own hide control —
+ * would have been one pass and a fiction, and an invisible one to anybody watching. This costs a seed
+ * run and stays true.
+ */
+const PHASE = argOf('phase', 'before')
+if (!['before', 'after'].includes(PHASE)) {
+  throw new Error(`--phase must be "before" or "after", got "${PHASE}"`)
+}
+const PART_MANIFEST = (phase) => join(OUT_DIR, `frames-${phase}.json`)
+
+// The city the location filter is set to. The viewer persona and the match both live here, so the
+// beat cannot fail on wherever the radius slider happens to sit.
+const CITY = argOf('city', 'Grenoble')
+
+// ─── Pacing (video frames @ 30fps) ──────────────────────────────────────────
+const HOLD = {
+  establish: 34,
+  tap: 20,
+  panel: 34,
+  empty: 50, // "no results" — needs long enough to register as a dead end, not a loading state
+  settle: 46,
+  email: 70, // the payoff of the first half; it is dense and people need to read it
+  scroll: 3,
+  // The two beats that prove the match. Long, because they are the only moments in the clip that are
+  // meant to be *read* rather than watched: the viewer is checking five facts against five criteria.
+  criteria: 96,
+  finale: 60,
+}
+
+const pad = (n) => String(n).padStart(2, '0')
+
+/**
+ * First *visible* match for a locator.
+ *
+ * Both filter UIs are always in the DOM — desktop rail and mobile sheet — with one hidden by `lg:`
+ * classes. Playwright's `.first()` is DOM order, not visibility, so on a phone viewport it returns the
+ * hidden desktop control and then times out. Same helper, same reason, as capture-search.mjs.
+ */
+async function visibleMatches(locator) {
+  const out = []
+  const n = await locator.count()
+  for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
+    const el = locator.nth(i)
+    if (await el.isVisible().catch(() => false)) out.push(el)
+  }
+  return out
+}
+
+async function firstVisible(locator, label) {
+  const found = await visibleMatches(locator)
+  if (!found.length) {
+    throw new Error(`no visible element for ${label} (${await locator.count()} hidden match(es))`)
+  }
+  return found[0]
+}
+
+async function main() {
+  // Only the first phase clears the directory; the second has to find the first half's frames still
+  // there to merge with.
+  if (PHASE === 'before') rmSync(OUT_DIR, {recursive: true, force: true})
+  mkdirSync(OUT_DIR, {recursive: true})
+
+  // Rendered from the real template as part of the run rather than by hand, so the email and the frames
+  // around it cannot drift apart — it is supposed to describe the very search just saved.
+  const emailPath = join(tmpdir(), `compass-alert-${THEME}.html`)
+  if (PHASE === 'after') {
+    execFileSync('yarn', ['--cwd=backend/email', 'render:alert', emailPath, BASE, THEME], {
+      cwd: REPO,
+      stdio: 'inherit',
+    })
+  }
+
+  const browser = await pw.chromium.launch()
+  const context = await browser.newContext({
+    ...pw.devices['iPhone 13'],
+    viewport: VIEWPORT,
+    deviceScaleFactor: SCALE,
+    isMobile: true,
+    hasTouch: true,
+    colorScheme: THEME,
+    locale: 'en-GB',
+  })
+  const page = await context.newPage()
+  // Playwright's 30s default is not enough against a cold `next dev`: the first hit on a route pays
+  // for compiling it, and this script visits several it has never touched. Same class of problem as
+  // the fixed waits H1 had to replace with explicit conditions — don't let compile time decide
+  // whether the capture succeeds.
+  page.setDefaultNavigationTimeout(120000)
+  page.setDefaultTimeout(45000)
+
+  const shots = []
+  // Hoisted: it is read in the `before` phase but written into the manifest at the end, outside it.
+  let count = null
+
+  const parkPointer = () => page.mouse.move(2, 2)
+
+  const quieten = () =>
+    page.addStyleTag({
+      content: `
+        *, *::before, *::after { animation: none !important; transition: none !important; }
+        nextjs-portal, #__next-build-watcher { display: none !important; }
+      `,
+    })
+
+  const shoot = async (kind, hold, extra = {}) => {
+    await parkPointer()
+    await page.waitForTimeout(120)
+    // Phase-prefixed so the two runs cannot overwrite each other's frames. Playback order comes from
+    // the manifest, not from these names.
+    const name = `${PHASE}-${pad(shots.length)}-${kind}.png`
+    await page.screenshot({path: join(OUT_DIR, name)})
+    shots.push({name, kind, hold, ...extra})
+  }
+
+  const centreOf = async (locator) => {
+    const box = await locator.boundingBox()
+    if (!box) return undefined
+    return {x: Math.round(box.x + box.width / 2), y: Math.round(box.y + box.height / 2)}
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Click something, then capture the result. The tap marker goes on the *previous* frame — the one
+   * still showing the pre-click state — because clicking reflows the page, so a position measured
+   * before the click does not describe the frame after it. Press, then result.
+   */
+  const tapAndShoot = async (locator, kind, hold, settleMs = 900) => {
+    const tap = await centreOf(locator)
+    const previous = shots[shots.length - 1]
+    if (tap && previous) previous.tap = tap
+    await locator.click()
+    await page.waitForTimeout(settleMs)
+    await quieten()
+    await shoot(kind, hold)
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Set one filter: open its group if it has one, open its section, then pick the option.
+   *
+   * Most filters are nested. `FilterGroup` renders `{isOpen && children}`, so a collapsed group keeps
+   * its sections out of the DOM entirely — not merely hidden — and looking for "Religion" before
+   * opening "Values & Beliefs" finds nothing at all. Only gender and location sit at the top level.
+   *
+   * Both groups and sections are accordions (`openGroup === title` / `openFilter == title`), so each
+   * of these closes the previous one. That is fine: the *selections* persist, and the closing is
+   * visible in the clip as the rail folding back up, which reads as progress through a form.
+   */
+  /**
+   * The filter controls to drive: the mobile sheet if it is open, otherwise the page.
+   *
+   * Both filter UIs are always mounted — the desktop rail and the mobile sheet — and `firstVisible`
+   * alone is not enough to tell them apart, because the desktop rail is not reliably `display: none`
+   * at this viewport. It is merely behind the sheet, so Playwright calls it visible, clicks it, and
+   * then times out with the sheet's own overlay "intercepting pointer events". Scoping every query to
+   * the sheet's portal removes the ambiguity instead of guessing at it.
+   */
+  const panel = () => {
+    const portal = page.locator('#headlessui-portal-root')
+    return portal
+  }
+
+  const pickFilter = async (group, sectionRe, optionText, kind) => {
+    const root = panel()
+    if (group) {
+      const groupHeader = await firstVisible(
+        root.getByRole('button').filter({hasText: group}),
+        `${group} group header`,
+      )
+      await groupHeader.evaluate((el) => el.scrollIntoView({block: 'center'}))
+      await page.waitForTimeout(250)
+      await tapAndShoot(groupHeader, `${kind}-group`, HOLD.tap, 600)
+    }
+
+    const section = await firstVisible(root.getByText(sectionRe), `${kind} section header`)
+    await section.evaluate((el) => el.scrollIntoView({block: 'center'}))
+    await page.waitForTimeout(250)
+    await tapAndShoot(section, `${kind}-open`, HOLD.tap, 600)
+
+    const option = await firstVisible(root.getByText(optionText, {exact: true}), `${kind} option`)
+    await option.evaluate((el) => el.scrollIntoView({block: 'center'}))
+    await page.waitForTimeout(250)
+    await tapAndShoot(option, `${kind}-set`, HOLD.panel, 1200)
+  }
+
+  // ── Sign in ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+  // Both phases need a session: the first to search and save, the second because the profile grid and
+  // the composer only render for a signed-in user.
+  await page.goto(`${BASE}/signin`, {waitUntil: 'networkidle'})
+  await page.fill('input[type="email"]', VIEWER_EMAIL)
+  await page.fill('input[type="password"]', VIEWER_PASSWORD)
+  await page.click('button[type="submit"]')
+  await page.waitForURL(`${BASE}/`, {timeout: 20000}).catch(() => {})
+  await page.waitForTimeout(4000)
+  if (page.url().includes('/signin')) {
+    throw new Error(
+      'still on /signin — is the viewer account seeded? Run: SHOWCASE=1 ./scripts/seed.sh',
+    )
+  }
+
+  const dismiss = page.getByText('Dismiss', {exact: true})
+  if (await dismiss.count()) {
+    await dismiss.first().click()
+    await page.waitForTimeout(600)
+  }
+  await quieten()
+  await page.waitForTimeout(1200)
+
+  if (PHASE === 'before') {
+    // ── 1. The unfiltered list ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
+    await shoot('idle', HOLD.establish)
+
+    // ── 2. Build the search ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+    const filterButton = await firstVisible(page.locator('button.lg\\:hidden'), 'filter button')
+    await tapAndShoot(filterButton, 'filters-open', HOLD.panel)
+
+    // Group titles are from filters.tsx: Gender is top level, the other two are nested.
+    //
+    // "Wants kids" was in the original brief and is deliberately absent. It lives in the Relationship
+    // group, which `filters.tsx` renders only when the *signed-in viewer's* own `pref_relation_styles`
+    // includes 'relationship' — and the showcase viewer seeks friendship and collaboration. Adding it
+    // would mean changing the viewer persona, which is also what the H1 hero clip is captured as. The
+    // remaining four facets already narrow to exactly one person, so the beat was not worth that.
+    await pickFilter(null, /gender$/i, 'Man', 'gender')
+    await pickFilter('Values & Beliefs', /religion$/i, 'Atheist', 'religion')
+    await pickFilter('Lifestyle', /diet$/i, 'Vegan', 'diet')
+
+    // Location is a city autocomplete backed by an external geo service, so it is the one beat that can
+    // fail for reasons unrelated to the app. Treated as optional: warn and carry on rather than losing
+    // the whole capture, since the search is already specific enough without it.
+    try {
+      // Headers read as label-plus-current-selection — "Living anywhere", "Any gender" — so the section
+      // is "Living", never "Location", and never bare. Anchoring the regex at the end (/location$/i,
+      // /^living$/i) matched nothing; match the leading word instead.
+      const locationSection = await firstVisible(panel().getByText(/^living/i), 'Living section')
+      await locationSection.evaluate((el) => el.scrollIntoView({block: 'center'}))
+      await tapAndShoot(locationSection, 'location-open', HOLD.tap, 600)
+
+      const cityInput = await firstVisible(
+        panel().locator('input[placeholder*="city" i]'),
+        'city search box',
+      )
+      await cityInput.fill(CITY)
+      await page.waitForTimeout(2500)
+      const cityResult = await firstVisible(
+        panel().getByText(CITY, {exact: false}),
+        `${CITY} result`,
+      )
+      await tapAndShoot(cityResult, 'location-set', HOLD.panel, 1500)
+    } catch (err) {
+      console.warn(`warning: location beat skipped (${err.message})`)
+    }
+
+    // ── 3. No results ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+    await page.keyboard.press('Escape')
+    await page.waitForTimeout(1800)
+    await quieten()
+    await shoot('no-results', HOLD.empty)
+
+    count = await page
+      .locator('text=/\\d+ (people|person)/')
+      .first()
+      .textContent()
+      .catch(() => null)
+
+    // ── 4. Save the search ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+    const notify = await firstVisible(page.getByText(/get notified/i), 'get-notified button')
+    await notify.evaluate((el) => el.scrollIntoView({block: 'center'}))
+    await page.waitForTimeout(400)
+    await quieten()
+    await shoot('notify-visible', HOLD.tap)
+    await tapAndShoot(notify, 'saved', HOLD.settle, 2500)
+  }
+
+  if (PHASE === 'after') {
+    // ── 5. The email ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+    // Dissolved into rather than cut to: this is where the clip stops being one continuous session.
+    await page.goto(`file://${emailPath}`, {waitUntil: 'networkidle'})
+    await page.waitForTimeout(1500)
+    await quieten()
+    await shoot('email', HOLD.email, {fadeIn: true})
+
+    // Scroll the email far enough to reach the match card, in small steps — a large jump followed by
+    // stillness reads as a stutter however long it is held.
+    for (let i = 0; i < 8; i++) {
+      await page.mouse.wheel(0, 90)
+      await page.waitForTimeout(90)
+      await shoot(`email-scroll-${i}`, HOLD.scroll)
+    }
+
+    const matchLink = page.getByText(MATCH_NAME, {exact: false}).first()
+    if (await matchLink.count()) {
+      const tap = await centreOf(matchLink)
+      if (tap) shots[shots.length - 1].tap = tap
+    } else {
+      console.warn(`warning: "${MATCH_NAME}" not found in the email — is the persona seeded?`)
+    }
+
+    // ── 6. The profile ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+    // Navigated directly rather than by clicking the email link. The link points at the production
+    // domain (the template builds absolute https://compassmeet.com URLs), so clicking it would leave the
+    // dev server and shoot the wrong database. The tap indicator above still shows the press.
+    await page.goto(`${BASE}/${MATCH_SLUG}`, {waitUntil: 'networkidle'})
+    await page.waitForTimeout(1500)
+    await quieten()
+
+    /**
+     * Bounding box of a locator in viewport CSS px, tagged with the search facet it satisfies.
+     *
+     * Measured live rather than hand-placed against a screenshot, so a profile restyle moves the
+     * spotlight with it instead of silently leaving it pointing at empty space. Returns null when the
+     * element is missing or off-screen, and the caller drops it — a spotlight on nothing is worse than
+     * one fewer spotlight.
+     */
+    const highlight = async (locator, label) => {
+      const el = await visibleMatches(locator)
+      if (!el.length) {
+        console.warn(`warning: no element to spotlight for "${label}"`)
+        return null
+      }
+      // Measure the *text*, not the element. `boundingBox()` returns the layout box, and in the profile's
+      // details list each value sits in a full-width row — so circling that gave a flat oval spanning the
+      // whole card rather than a ring round the word. A Range over the text node gives the glyphs' own
+      // bounds. Falls back to the layout box if the node has no text (it always does here, but the
+      // fallback costs one line and beats returning nothing).
+      const box =
+        (await el[0].evaluate((node) => {
+          const range = document.createRange()
+          range.selectNodeContents(node)
+          const r = range.getBoundingClientRect()
+          return r.width > 0 && r.height > 0
+            ? {x: r.x, y: r.y, width: r.width, height: r.height}
+            : null
+        })) ?? (await el[0].boundingBox())
+      if (!box || box.y < 0 || box.y + box.height > VIEWPORT.height) {
+        console.warn(`warning: "${label}" is outside the viewport; not spotlighting it`)
+        return null
+      }
+      return {
+        x: Math.round(box.x),
+        y: Math.round(box.y),
+        w: Math.round(box.width),
+        h: Math.round(box.height),
+        label,
+      }
+    }
+
+    // Beat one: who and where. Age, gender and city sit together in the profile header.
+    const topSpots = [
+      await highlight(page.getByText(/^32 years old$/), 'Age 24–40'),
+      await highlight(page.getByText('Man', {exact: true}), 'Man'),
+      await highlight(page.getByText(/^Grenoble, France$/), 'Near Grenoble'),
+    ].filter(Boolean)
+    await shoot('profile-top', HOLD.criteria, {fadeIn: true, highlights: topSpots})
+
+    // Beat two: the two facets that are the whole point of the search. They land in one frame, so the
+    // scroll stops here deliberately instead of sweeping past at three frames a step.
+    const religionRow = page.getByText('Atheist', {exact: true}).first()
+    const dietRow = page.getByText('Vegan', {exact: true}).first()
+    await religionRow.evaluate((el) => el.scrollIntoView({block: 'center'}))
+    await page.waitForTimeout(700)
+
+    // Centring on religion alone left diet down at y≈762, half under the fixed bottom nav. Re-centre on
+    // the midpoint of the two, against the viewport minus that nav, so both sit clear in the frame.
+    const NAV_H = 90
+    const relBox = await religionRow.boundingBox()
+    const dietBox = await dietRow.boundingBox()
+    if (relBox && dietBox) {
+      const mid = (relBox.y + dietBox.y + dietBox.height) / 2
+      const delta = Math.round(mid - (VIEWPORT.height - NAV_H) / 2)
+      if (Math.abs(delta) > 8) {
+        await page.mouse.wheel(0, delta)
+        await page.waitForTimeout(600)
+      }
+    }
+    await quieten()
+    await shoot('profile-scroll-approach', HOLD.scroll * 4)
+
+    const detailSpots = [
+      await highlight(page.getByText('Atheist', {exact: true}), 'Atheist'),
+      await highlight(page.getByText('Vegan', {exact: true}), 'Vegan'),
+    ].filter(Boolean)
+    await shoot('profile-criteria', HOLD.criteria, {highlights: detailSpots})
+
+    for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
+      await page.mouse.wheel(0, 100)
+      await page.waitForTimeout(90)
+      await shoot(`profile-scroll-${i}`, HOLD.scroll)
+    }
+
+    // ── 7. Write to him ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+    // Opens the composer only. Nothing is sent, and the recipient is a fictional persona regardless.
+    const contact = page.getByText(/thoughtful message/i).first()
+    if (await contact.count()) {
+      await contact.evaluate((el) => el.scrollIntoView({block: 'center'}))
+      await page.waitForTimeout(700)
+      await quieten()
+      await shoot('contact-visible', HOLD.panel)
+      await tapAndShoot(contact, 'contact-open', HOLD.finale, 2000)
+    } else {
+      console.warn('warning: no "Send them a thoughtful message" button — clip ends on the scroll')
+      await shoot('profile-end', HOLD.finale)
+    }
+  }
+
+  await browser.close()
+
+  // ── Manifest ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+  // Each phase writes its own frame list. The second run reads the first's and concatenates, so the
+  // scene sees one continuous clip and knows nothing about how it was shot.
+  writeFileSync(PART_MANIFEST(PHASE), JSON.stringify({frames: shots, resultCount: count}, null, 2))
+
+  if (PHASE === 'before') {
+    console.log(`captured ${shots.length} ${THEME} "before" frames`)
+    if (Number(count?.match(/^(\d+)/)?.[1] ?? NaN) > 0) {
+      console.warn(
+        `warning: the search matched ${count}. This half is supposed to find nobody — re-seed with ` +
+          `SHOWCASE_SKIP=${MATCH_SLUG} so the match does not exist yet.`,
+      )
+    }
+    console.log(`next: re-seed without SHOWCASE_SKIP, then npm run capture:alert -- --phase after`)
+    return
+  }
+
+  let before
+  try {
+    before = JSON.parse(readFileSync(PART_MANIFEST('before'), 'utf8'))
+  } catch {
+    throw new Error(
+      `no "before" frames in ${OUT_DIR}. Run --phase before first (see the header of this file).`,
+    )
+  }
+
+  const frames = [...before.frames, ...shots]
+  const durationInFrames = frames.reduce((sum, f) => sum + f.hold, 0)
+  writeFileSync(
+    join(OUT_DIR, 'manifest.json'),
+    JSON.stringify(
+      {
+        theme: THEME,
+        capturedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
+        viewport: {width: VIEWPORT.width * SCALE, height: VIEWPORT.height * SCALE},
+        cssViewport: VIEWPORT,
+        scale: SCALE,
+        resultCount: before.resultCount,
+        durationInFrames,
+        frames,
+      },
+      null,
+      2,
+    ) + '\n',
+  )
+
+  console.log(
+    `merged ${before.frames.length} + ${shots.length} = ${frames.length} ${THEME} frames -> ` +
+      `media-creator/public/alert/${THEME}/`,
+  )
+  console.log(`clip length: ${durationInFrames} frames (${(durationInFrames / 30).toFixed(1)}s)`)
+}
+
+main().catch((err) => {
+  console.error(err.message)
+  process.exit(1)
+})
diff --git a/media-creator/scripts/capture-profile.mjs b/media-creator/scripts/capture-profile.mjs
index 68521881..432d3dc6 100644
--- a/media-creator/scripts/capture-profile.mjs
+++ b/media-creator/scripts/capture-profile.mjs
@@ -20,20 +20,20 @@
 //
 // That opens a real window; sign in yourself, and the session is kept in
 // .auth-profile/ (gitignored) for every later headless run.
-import {existsSync, mkdirSync} from 'node:fs';
-import {dirname, join} from 'node:path';
-import {fileURLToPath} from 'node:url';
+import {existsSync, mkdirSync} from 'node:fs'
+import {dirname, join} from 'node:path'
+import {fileURLToPath} from 'node:url'
 
-import pw from '../../node_modules/@playwright/test/index.js';
+import pw from '../../node_modules/@playwright/test/index.js'
 
-const {chromium} = pw;
+const {chromium} = pw
 
-const HERE = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
-const args = process.argv.slice(2);
-const LOGIN = args.includes('--login');
-const URL = args.find((a) => !a.startsWith('--')) ?? 'http://localhost:3000/Martin';
-const OUT_DIR = join(HERE, '..', 'public', 'profile');
-const PROFILE_DIR = join(HERE, '..', '.auth-profile');
+const HERE = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url))
+const args = process.argv.slice(2)
+const LOGIN = args.includes('--login')
+const URL = args.find((a) => !a.startsWith('--')) ?? 'http://localhost:3000/Martin'
+const OUT_DIR = join(HERE, '..', 'public', 'profile')
+const PROFILE_DIR = join(HERE, '..', '.auth-profile')
 
 // Card title -> output file. Titles come from the ProfileCard headings in
 // web/components/profile/profile-info.tsx. The last two need a signed-in
@@ -46,11 +46,11 @@ const CARDS = [
   ['About Me', '06-bio.png'],
   ['Compatibility Prompts', '08-prompts.png'],
   ['Endorsements', '09-endorsements.png'],
-];
+]
 
-const PAD = 12; // CSS px of breathing room around each clip
+const PAD = 12 // CSS px of breathing room around each clip
 
-mkdirSync(OUT_DIR, {recursive: true});
+mkdirSync(OUT_DIR, {recursive: true})
 
 // One persistent context for both modes, so --login and the captures share a
 // session. Headed only while logging in.
@@ -59,38 +59,38 @@ const context = await chromium.launchPersistentContext(PROFILE_DIR, {
   viewport: {width: 430, height: 932},
   deviceScaleFactor: 2,
   colorScheme: 'light',
-});
-const page = context.pages()[0] ?? (await context.newPage());
+})
+const page = context.pages()[0] ?? (await context.newPage())
 
 if (LOGIN) {
-  console.log('\nA browser window is open. Sign in there yourself — this script never');
-  console.log('handles your credentials. It waits until you land back on a signed-in page.\n');
-  await page.goto('http://localhost:3000/signin', {timeout: 60000});
-  await page.waitForURL((u) => !u.pathname.includes('signin'), {timeout: 300000});
-  await page.waitForTimeout(3000);
-  await context.close();
-  console.log(`Session saved to ${PROFILE_DIR}. Re-run without --login to capture.`);
-  process.exit(0);
+  console.log('\nA browser window is open. Sign in there yourself — this script never')
+  console.log('handles your credentials. It waits until you land back on a signed-in page.\n')
+  await page.goto('http://localhost:3000/signin', {timeout: 60000})
+  await page.waitForURL((u) => !u.pathname.includes('signin'), {timeout: 300000})
+  await page.waitForTimeout(3000)
+  await context.close()
+  console.log(`Session saved to ${PROFILE_DIR}. Re-run without --login to capture.`)
+  process.exit(0)
 }
 
 if (!existsSync(join(PROFILE_DIR, 'Default'))) {
-  console.log('No saved session — prompts and endorsements will be skipped.');
-  console.log('Run with --login once to capture them.\n');
+  console.log('No saved session — prompts and endorsements will be skipped.')
+  console.log('Run with --login once to capture them.\n')
 }
 
-await page.goto(URL, {waitUntil: 'networkidle', timeout: 60000});
-await page.waitForSelector('[data-testid="profile-content"]', {timeout: 30000});
+await page.goto(URL, {waitUntil: 'networkidle', timeout: 60000})
+await page.waitForSelector('[data-testid="profile-content"]', {timeout: 30000})
 // Photos are lazy next/image — walk the page top to bottom so every one of them
 // starts loading, then come back up and let them decode.
 await page.evaluate(async () => {
-  const step = innerHeight * 0.8;
+  const step = innerHeight * 0.8
   for (let y = 0; y < document.body.scrollHeight; y += step) {
-    scrollTo(0, y);
-    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 150));
+    scrollTo(0, y)
+    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 150))
   }
-  scrollTo(0, 0);
-});
-await page.waitForTimeout(2500);
+  scrollTo(0, 0)
+})
+await page.waitForTimeout(2500)
 
 // Anything pinned to the viewport (bottom nav, sticky top bar, sign-up CTA) would
 // smear across a full-page capture — hide it, plus the CSS animations.
@@ -101,58 +101,55 @@ await page.addStyleTag({
     *, *::before, *::after { animation: none !important; transition: none !important; }
     nextjs-portal, #__next-build-watcher { display: none !important; }
   `,
-});
+})
 await page.evaluate(() => {
   for (const el of document.querySelectorAll('body *')) {
-    const pos = getComputedStyle(el).position;
-    if (pos === 'fixed' || pos === 'sticky') el.style.display = 'none';
+    const pos = getComputedStyle(el).position
+    if (pos === 'fixed' || pos === 'sticky') el.style.display = 'none'
   }
-});
+})
 
 // Absolute page rect for a node, padded, clamped to the document.
 const rectOf = (selectorFn, arg) =>
   page.evaluate(
     ([fn, a, pad]) => {
-      const el = new Function('a', `return (${fn})(a)`)(a);
-      if (!el) return null;
-      const r = el.getBoundingClientRect();
-      const x = Math.max(0, r.left + scrollX - pad);
-      const y = Math.max(0, r.top + scrollY - pad);
+      const el = new Function('a', `return (${fn})(a)`)(a)
+      if (!el) return null
+      const r = el.getBoundingClientRect()
+      const x = Math.max(0, r.left + scrollX - pad)
+      const y = Math.max(0, r.top + scrollY - pad)
       return {
         x,
         y,
         width: Math.min(r.width + pad * 2, document.documentElement.scrollWidth - x),
         height: r.height + pad * 2,
-      };
+      }
     },
     [selectorFn.toString(), arg, PAD],
-  );
+  )
 
 const shoot = async (file, clip) => {
   if (!clip) {
-    console.warn(`  ✗ ${file} — element not found, skipped`);
-    return;
+    console.warn(`  ✗ ${file} — element not found, skipped`)
+    return
   }
-  const path = join(OUT_DIR, file);
-  await page.screenshot({path, fullPage: true, clip});
-  console.log(`  ✓ ${file}  ${Math.round(clip.width)}×${Math.round(clip.height)} CSS px`);
-};
+  const path = join(OUT_DIR, file)
+  await page.screenshot({path, fullPage: true, clip})
+  console.log(`  ✓ ${file}  ${Math.round(clip.width)}×${Math.round(clip.height)} CSS px`)
+}
 
 // 1 — header: avatar, name, location, chips, pull-quote.
-await shoot(
-  '01-header.png',
-  await rectOf(() => document.querySelector('.animate-profile-appear')),
-);
+await shoot('01-header.png', await rectOf(() => document.querySelector('.animate-profile-appear')))
 
 // 2..6 — one card per section, found by its heading text.
 for (const [title, file] of CARDS) {
   await shoot(
     file,
     await rectOf((t) => {
-      const cards = [...document.querySelectorAll('.bg-canvas-50.border-canvas-300.border')];
-      return cards.find((c) => c.innerText.trim().startsWith(t));
+      const cards = [...document.querySelectorAll('.bg-canvas-50.border-canvas-300.border')]
+      return cards.find((c) => c.innerText.trim().startsWith(t))
     }, title),
-  );
+  )
 }
 
 // 7 — photo carousel. Grab the scrolling row, not one slide: the clip is clamped
@@ -160,11 +157,11 @@ for (const [title, file] of CARDS) {
 await shoot(
   '07-photos.png',
   await rectOf(() => document.querySelector('.snap-start')?.closest('[class*="overflow"]') ?? null),
-);
+)
 
 // 8 — the whole page, for the establishing slow-scroll shot.
-await page.screenshot({path: join(OUT_DIR, 'full.png'), fullPage: true});
-console.log('  ✓ full.png  (full page, for the scroll shot)');
+await page.screenshot({path: join(OUT_DIR, 'full.png'), fullPage: true})
+console.log('  ✓ full.png  (full page, for the scroll shot)')
 
-await context.close();
-console.log(`\nWrote ${OUT_DIR}`);
+await context.close()
+console.log(`\nWrote ${OUT_DIR}`)
diff --git a/media-creator/scripts/render-carousel.mjs b/media-creator/scripts/render-carousel.mjs
index 96c9229c..44b062a7 100644
--- a/media-creator/scripts/render-carousel.mjs
+++ b/media-creator/scripts/render-carousel.mjs
@@ -5,12 +5,12 @@
 // If you change scene timings there, update the `frame` values here to match.
 //
 // Run with:  npm run render:carousel   ->  out/carousel/01-logo.jpg … 06-cta.jpg
-import {execFileSync} from 'node:child_process';
-import {mkdirSync} from 'node:fs';
-import {join} from 'node:path';
+import {execFileSync} from 'node:child_process'
+import {mkdirSync} from 'node:fs'
+import {join} from 'node:path'
 
-const OUT_DIR = join('out', 'carousel');
-mkdirSync(OUT_DIR, {recursive: true});
+const OUT_DIR = join('out', 'carousel')
+mkdirSync(OUT_DIR, {recursive: true})
 
 // name (drives upload order via the numeric prefix) -> absolute frame in IntroPost
 const SLIDES = [
@@ -20,13 +20,13 @@ const SLIDES = [
   {name: '04-features', frame: 495},
   {name: '05-vision', frame: 602},
   {name: '06-cta', frame: 720},
-];
+]
 
-const bin = process.platform === 'win32' ? 'npx.cmd' : 'npx';
+const bin = process.platform === 'win32' ? 'npx.cmd' : 'npx'
 
 for (const {name, frame} of SLIDES) {
-  const output = join(OUT_DIR, `${name}.jpg`);
-  console.log(`→ ${output}  (frame ${frame})`);
+  const output = join(OUT_DIR, `${name}.jpg`)
+  console.log(`→ ${output}  (frame ${frame})`)
   execFileSync(
     bin,
     [
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ for (const {name, frame} of SLIDES) {
       '--jpeg-quality=95',
     ],
     {stdio: 'inherit'},
-  );
+  )
 }
 
-console.log(`\nDone — ${SLIDES.length} carousel slides in ${OUT_DIR}/`);
+console.log(`\nDone — ${SLIDES.length} carousel slides in ${OUT_DIR}/`)
diff --git a/media-creator/scripts/upload-media.sh b/media-creator/scripts/upload-media.sh
index 254ba76a..50750d0f 100755
--- a/media-creator/scripts/upload-media.sh
+++ b/media-creator/scripts/upload-media.sh
@@ -91,6 +91,12 @@ upload "$OUT_DIR/compass-search-demo-light.mp4" "videos/search-demo-light.mp4" "
 upload "$OUT_DIR/compass-search-demo-dark.mp4" "videos/search-demo-dark.mp4" "video/mp4"
 upload "$WEB_IMAGES/search-demo-poster-light.jpg" "images/search-demo-poster-light.jpg" "image/jpeg"
 upload "$WEB_IMAGES/search-demo-poster-dark.jpg" "images/search-demo-poster-dark.jpg" "image/jpeg"
+# About-page saved-search alert clip (A4). Same shape as the hero: clip in R2, poster converted to
+# JPEG into web/public by the step above.
+upload "$OUT_DIR/compass-search-alert-light.mp4" "videos/search-alert-light.mp4" "video/mp4"
+upload "$OUT_DIR/compass-search-alert-dark.mp4" "videos/search-alert-dark.mp4" "video/mp4"
+upload "$WEB_IMAGES/search-alert-poster-light.jpg" "images/search-alert-poster-light.jpg" "image/jpeg"
+upload "$WEB_IMAGES/search-alert-poster-dark.jpg" "images/search-alert-poster-dark.jpg" "image/jpeg"
 # About-page vote card (A1). Written straight to web/public by capture-vote.mjs — no render step.
 # Two widths per theme: the desktop shot is illegible scaled into a phone column, so the page picks
 # with a <picture> media query.
diff --git a/media-creator/src/Root.tsx b/media-creator/src/Root.tsx
index 7d2e8411..3536b819 100644
--- a/media-creator/src/Root.tsx
+++ b/media-creator/src/Root.tsx
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import {FORMATS} from './theme'
 import {Intro, INTRO_DURATION} from './scenes/Intro'
 import {ProfileTour, PROFILE_TOUR_DURATION} from './scenes/ProfileTour'
 import {SearchDemo, SearchDemoProps, calculateSearchDemoMetadata} from './scenes/SearchDemo'
+import {SearchAlert, SearchAlertProps, calculateSearchAlertMetadata} from './scenes/SearchAlert'
 
 // Register every video composition here. The same Intro scenes render into two
 // Instagram-ready canvases; render with:
@@ -70,6 +71,30 @@ export const RemotionRoot: React.FC = () => {
         defaultProps={{manifest: null, theme: 'dark'} as SearchDemoProps}
         calculateMetadata={calculateSearchDemoMetadata}
       />
+      {/* The about-page saved-search clip. Canvas and duration come from
+          public/alert/<theme>/manifest.json via calculateMetadata, so re-capturing with different
+          filters or an extra beat needs no change here.
+            npm run capture:alert && npm run render:alert */}
+      <Composition
+        id="SearchAlertLight"
+        component={SearchAlert}
+        durationInFrames={480}
+        fps={30}
+        width={780}
+        height={1688}
+        defaultProps={{manifest: null, theme: 'light'} as SearchAlertProps}
+        calculateMetadata={calculateSearchAlertMetadata}
+      />
+      <Composition
+        id="SearchAlertDark"
+        component={SearchAlert}
+        durationInFrames={480}
+        fps={30}
+        width={780}
+        height={1688}
+        defaultProps={{manifest: null, theme: 'dark'} as SearchAlertProps}
+        calculateMetadata={calculateSearchAlertMetadata}
+      />
     </>
   )
 }
diff --git a/media-creator/src/components/Animations.tsx b/media-creator/src/components/Animations.tsx
index dcdafd47..d7cd5244 100644
--- a/media-creator/src/components/Animations.tsx
+++ b/media-creator/src/components/Animations.tsx
@@ -1,43 +1,36 @@
-import React from 'react';
-import {interpolate, spring, useCurrentFrame, useVideoConfig} from 'remotion';
+import React from 'react'
+import {interpolate, spring, useCurrentFrame, useVideoConfig} from 'remotion'
 
 // Fade + rise, driven by a spring so motion feels physical rather than linear.
 // `delay` is in frames, relative to the start of the enclosing <Sequence>.
 export const FadeUp: React.FC<{
-  delay?: number;
-  distance?: number;
-  children: React.ReactNode;
-  style?: React.CSSProperties;
+  delay?: number
+  distance?: number
+  children: React.ReactNode
+  style?: React.CSSProperties
 }> = ({delay = 0, distance = 60, children, style}) => {
-  const frame = useCurrentFrame();
-  const {fps} = useVideoConfig();
+  const frame = useCurrentFrame()
+  const {fps} = useVideoConfig()
 
   const progress = spring({
     frame: frame - delay,
     fps,
     config: {damping: 200, mass: 0.6},
-  });
+  })
 
-  const opacity = interpolate(progress, [0, 1], [0, 1]);
-  const translateY = interpolate(progress, [0, 1], [distance, 0]);
+  const opacity = interpolate(progress, [0, 1], [0, 1])
+  const translateY = interpolate(progress, [0, 1], [distance, 0])
 
-  return (
-    <div style={{...style, opacity, transform: `translateY(${translateY}px)`}}>
-      {children}
-    </div>
-  );
-};
+  return <div style={{...style, opacity, transform: `translateY(${translateY}px)`}}>{children}</div>
+}
 
 // Fade a scene out over its final `fadeFrames` frames so cuts never pop.
-export const useSceneFade = (
-  durationInFrames: number,
-  fadeFrames = 12,
-): number => {
-  const frame = useCurrentFrame();
+export const useSceneFade = (durationInFrames: number, fadeFrames = 12): number => {
+  const frame = useCurrentFrame()
   return interpolate(
     frame,
     [0, fadeFrames, durationInFrames - fadeFrames, durationInFrames],
     [0, 1, 1, 0],
     {extrapolateLeft: 'clamp', extrapolateRight: 'clamp'},
-  );
-};
+  )
+}
diff --git a/media-creator/src/components/Background.tsx b/media-creator/src/components/Background.tsx
index e1a5bce5..83193ae5 100644
--- a/media-creator/src/components/Background.tsx
+++ b/media-creator/src/components/Background.tsx
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
-import {AbsoluteFill, useCurrentFrame} from 'remotion';
-import {colors} from '../theme';
+import {AbsoluteFill, useCurrentFrame} from 'remotion'
+import {colors} from '../theme'
 
 // Warm espresso gradient with a slow-drifting amber glow. Used behind every scene
 // so cuts feel like one continuous piece rather than isolated slides.
 export const Background: React.FC = () => {
-  const frame = useCurrentFrame();
+  const frame = useCurrentFrame()
 
   // Gentle vertical drift of the glow, looping calmly over ~8s.
-  const drift = Math.sin(frame / 70) * 120;
-  const drift2 = Math.cos(frame / 90) * 100;
+  const drift = Math.sin(frame / 70) * 120
+  const drift2 = Math.cos(frame / 90) * 100
 
   return (
     <AbsoluteFill
@@ -35,10 +35,9 @@ export const Background: React.FC = () => {
       {/* Subtle grain-free vignette to focus the center */}
       <AbsoluteFill
         style={{
-          background:
-            'radial-gradient(80% 80% at 50% 45%, transparent 55%, rgba(0,0,0,0.45) 100%)',
+          background: 'radial-gradient(80% 80% at 50% 45%, transparent 55%, rgba(0,0,0,0.45) 100%)',
         }}
       />
     </AbsoluteFill>
-  );
-};
+  )
+}
diff --git a/media-creator/src/components/Logo.tsx b/media-creator/src/components/Logo.tsx
index 7150763d..02c8f092 100644
--- a/media-creator/src/components/Logo.tsx
+++ b/media-creator/src/components/Logo.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-import {Img, staticFile} from 'remotion';
-import {colors} from '../theme';
+import {Img, staticFile} from 'remotion'
+import {colors} from '../theme'
 
 // The Compass rose (public/logo.svg is a copy of web/public/favicon.svg),
 // framed in a soft cream disc so it reads on the dark background.
@@ -14,16 +14,11 @@ export const Logo: React.FC<{size: number}> = ({size}) => {
         display: 'flex',
         alignItems: 'center',
         justifyContent: 'center',
-        boxShadow: `0 30px 90px ${colors.amberDeep}55, 0 0 0 ${
-          size * 0.03
-        }px ${colors.amber}33`,
+        boxShadow: `0 30px 90px ${colors.amberDeep}55, 0 0 0 ${size * 0.03}px ${colors.amber}33`,
         overflow: 'hidden',
       }}
     >
-      <Img
-        src={staticFile('logo.svg')}
-        style={{width: size, height: size}}
-      />
+      <Img src={staticFile('logo.svg')} style={{width: size, height: size}} />
     </div>
-  );
-};
+  )
+}
diff --git a/media-creator/src/index.ts b/media-creator/src/index.ts
index 6da20a49..899db00d 100644
--- a/media-creator/src/index.ts
+++ b/media-creator/src/index.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 // Remotion entry point. Registered compositions live in ./Root.
-import {registerRoot} from 'remotion';
-import {RemotionRoot} from './Root';
+import {registerRoot} from 'remotion'
+import {RemotionRoot} from './Root'
 
-registerRoot(RemotionRoot);
+registerRoot(RemotionRoot)
diff --git a/media-creator/src/scenes/Intro.tsx b/media-creator/src/scenes/Intro.tsx
index 26d05433..fbf13cdc 100644
--- a/media-creator/src/scenes/Intro.tsx
+++ b/media-creator/src/scenes/Intro.tsx
@@ -1,9 +1,16 @@
-import React from 'react';
-import {AbsoluteFill, Sequence, interpolate, spring, useCurrentFrame, useVideoConfig} from 'remotion';
-import {Background} from '../components/Background';
-import {Logo} from '../components/Logo';
-import {FadeUp, useSceneFade} from '../components/Animations';
-import {colors, DESIGN_HEIGHT, fonts} from '../theme';
+import React from 'react'
+import {
+  AbsoluteFill,
+  Sequence,
+  interpolate,
+  spring,
+  useCurrentFrame,
+  useVideoConfig,
+} from 'remotion'
+import {Background} from '../components/Background'
+import {Logo} from '../components/Logo'
+import {FadeUp, useSceneFade} from '../components/Animations'
+import {colors, DESIGN_HEIGHT, fonts} from '../theme'
 
 // ─── Scene schedule (frames @ 30fps) ────────────────────────────────────────
 const S = {
@@ -13,12 +20,12 @@ const S = {
   features: {from: 340, dur: 185},
   vision: {from: 520, dur: 105},
   cta: {from: 620, dur: 130},
-};
-export const INTRO_DURATION = S.cta.from + S.cta.dur; // 750 frames ≈ 25s
+}
+export const INTRO_DURATION = S.cta.from + S.cta.dur // 750 frames ≈ 25s
 
 // Wraps a scene so its whole content cross-fades at the edges — no hard pops.
 const Scene: React.FC<{dur: number; children: React.ReactNode}> = ({dur, children}) => {
-  const opacity = useSceneFade(dur);
+  const opacity = useSceneFade(dur)
   return (
     <AbsoluteFill
       style={{
@@ -31,8 +38,8 @@ const Scene: React.FC<{dur: number; children: React.ReactNode}> = ({dur, childre
     >
       {children}
     </AbsoluteFill>
-  );
-};
+  )
+}
 
 const Eyebrow: React.FC<{children: React.ReactNode}> = ({children}) => (
   <div
@@ -47,15 +54,15 @@ const Eyebrow: React.FC<{children: React.ReactNode}> = ({children}) => (
   >
     {children}
   </div>
-);
+)
 
 // ─── Scene 1 — logo + wordmark ──────────────────────────────────────────────
 const LogoScene: React.FC = () => {
-  const frame = useCurrentFrame();
-  const {fps} = useVideoConfig();
-  const pop = spring({frame, fps, config: {damping: 12, mass: 0.8}});
-  const scale = interpolate(pop, [0, 1], [0.6, 1]);
-  const spin = interpolate(pop, [0, 1], [-25, 0]);
+  const frame = useCurrentFrame()
+  const {fps} = useVideoConfig()
+  const pop = spring({frame, fps, config: {damping: 12, mass: 0.8}})
+  const scale = interpolate(pop, [0, 1], [0.6, 1])
+  const spin = interpolate(pop, [0, 1], [-25, 0])
 
   return (
     <Scene dur={S.logo.dur}>
@@ -89,8 +96,8 @@ const LogoScene: React.FC = () => {
         </div>
       </FadeUp>
     </Scene>
-  );
-};
+  )
+}
 
 // ─── Scene 2 — the hook ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 const HookScene: React.FC = () => (
@@ -105,8 +112,7 @@ const HookScene: React.FC = () => (
           lineHeight: 1.12,
         }}
       >
-        Tired of endless{' '}
-        <span style={{color: colors.amberLight}}>swiping</span>,{' '}
+        Tired of endless <span style={{color: colors.amberLight}}>swiping</span>,{' '}
         <span style={{color: colors.amberLight}}>ads</span>, and{' '}
         <span style={{color: colors.amberLight}}>algorithms</span>?
       </div>
@@ -125,7 +131,7 @@ const HookScene: React.FC = () => (
       </div>
     </FadeUp>
   </Scene>
-);
+)
 
 // ─── Scene 3 — what Compass is ──────────────────────────────────────────────
 const WhatScene: React.FC = () => (
@@ -143,8 +149,7 @@ const WhatScene: React.FC = () => (
           lineHeight: 1.18,
         }}
       >
-        A free, open platform for{' '}
-        <span style={{color: colors.amberLight}}>deep, authentic</span>{' '}
+        A free, open platform for <span style={{color: colors.amberLight}}>deep, authentic</span>{' '}
         1-on-1 connections.
       </div>
     </FadeUp>
@@ -164,7 +169,7 @@ const WhatScene: React.FC = () => (
       </div>
     </FadeUp>
   </Scene>
-);
+)
 
 // ─── Scene 4 — features ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 const FEATURES: {title: string; text: string}[] = [
@@ -173,13 +178,13 @@ const FEATURES: {title: string; text: string}[] = [
   {title: 'Depth over swipes', text: 'Values and ideas first. Photos stay secondary.'},
   {title: 'Always free', text: 'No ads. No subscriptions. Your data is never sold.'},
   {title: 'Open & democratic', text: 'Community-owned, open source, run by a public constitution.'},
-];
+]
 
 // The five feature cards are the tallest scene, so they compact on the shorter
 // 4:5 post canvas to keep comfortable breathing room top and bottom.
 const useFeatureSizing = () => {
-  const {height} = useVideoConfig();
-  const compact = height < DESIGN_HEIGHT; // true for the 4:5 post format
+  const {height} = useVideoConfig()
+  const compact = height < DESIGN_HEIGHT // true for the 4:5 post format
   return {
     compact,
     cardPad: compact ? '22px 32px' : '30px 36px',
@@ -188,15 +193,15 @@ const useFeatureSizing = () => {
     textSize: compact ? 30 : 34,
     rowGap: compact ? 16 : 22,
     headerGap: compact ? 28 : 40,
-  };
-};
+  }
+}
 
 const FeatureRow: React.FC<{title: string; text: string; delay: number}> = ({
   title,
   text,
   delay,
 }) => {
-  const s = useFeatureSizing();
+  const s = useFeatureSizing()
   return (
     <FadeUp delay={delay} distance={40}>
       <div
@@ -244,11 +249,11 @@ const FeatureRow: React.FC<{title: string; text: string; delay: number}> = ({
         </div>
       </div>
     </FadeUp>
-  );
-};
+  )
+}
 
 const FeaturesScene: React.FC = () => {
-  const s = useFeatureSizing();
+  const s = useFeatureSizing()
   return (
     <Scene dur={S.features.dur}>
       <div style={{width: '100%'}}>
@@ -262,8 +267,8 @@ const FeaturesScene: React.FC = () => {
         </div>
       </div>
     </Scene>
-  );
-};
+  )
+}
 
 // ─── Scene 5 — vision ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 const VisionScene: React.FC = () => (
@@ -280,20 +285,16 @@ const VisionScene: React.FC = () => (
           lineHeight: 1.28,
         }}
       >
-        What{' '}
-        <span style={{color: colors.amberLight, fontWeight: 700}}>Linux</span> is
-        to software and{' '}
-        <span style={{color: colors.amberLight, fontWeight: 700}}>Wikipedia</span>{' '}
-        is to knowledge —
+        What <span style={{color: colors.amberLight, fontWeight: 700}}>Linux</span> is to software
+        and <span style={{color: colors.amberLight, fontWeight: 700}}>Wikipedia</span> is to
+        knowledge —
         <br />
         Compass is to{' '}
-        <span style={{color: colors.amberBright, fontStyle: 'italic'}}>
-          human connection.
-        </span>
+        <span style={{color: colors.amberBright, fontStyle: 'italic'}}>human connection.</span>
       </div>
     </FadeUp>
   </Scene>
-);
+)
 
 // ─── Scene 6 — call to action ───────────────────────────────────────────────
 const CtaScene: React.FC = () => (
@@ -344,7 +345,7 @@ const CtaScene: React.FC = () => (
       </div>
     </FadeUp>
   </Scene>
-);
+)
 
 // ─── Composition ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 export const Intro: React.FC = () => {
@@ -370,5 +371,5 @@ export const Intro: React.FC = () => {
         <CtaScene />
       </Sequence>
     </AbsoluteFill>
-  );
-};
+  )
+}
diff --git a/media-creator/src/scenes/ProfileTour.tsx b/media-creator/src/scenes/ProfileTour.tsx
index 5edc6480..7e595da6 100644
--- a/media-creator/src/scenes/ProfileTour.tsx
+++ b/media-creator/src/scenes/ProfileTour.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import React from 'react';
+import React from 'react'
 import {
   AbsoluteFill,
   Img,
@@ -8,11 +8,11 @@ import {
   staticFile,
   useCurrentFrame,
   useVideoConfig,
-} from 'remotion';
-import {Background} from '../components/Background';
-import {Logo} from '../components/Logo';
-import {FadeUp, useSceneFade} from '../components/Animations';
-import {colors, fonts} from '../theme';
+} from 'remotion'
+import {Background} from '../components/Background'
+import {Logo} from '../components/Logo'
+import {FadeUp, useSceneFade} from '../components/Animations'
+import {colors, fonts} from '../theme'
 
 // A guided tour of a real Compass profile, section by section.
 //
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ const SHOTS = {
   photos: {src: 'profile/07-photos.png', w: 422, h: 324},
   prompts: {src: 'profile/08-prompts.png', w: 422, h: 2152},
   full: {src: 'profile/full.png', w: 422, h: 9948},
-} as const;
+} as const
 
 // ─── Scene schedule (frames @ 30fps) ────────────────────────────────────────
 // Scenes overlap by a few frames so the cross-fades in useSceneFade meet cleanly.
@@ -49,28 +49,28 @@ const S = {
   prompts: {from: 635, dur: 120},
   links: {from: 750, dur: 70},
   cta: {from: 815, dur: 105},
-};
-export const PROFILE_TOUR_DURATION = S.cta.from + S.cta.dur; // 920 frames ≈ 30.7s
+}
+export const PROFILE_TOUR_DURATION = S.cta.from + S.cta.dur // 920 frames ≈ 30.7s
 
 // ─── Layout ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 // The phone-ish frame the screenshots live in. Its height is what decides whether
 // a shot fits or has to pan, so it adapts to the canvas: the 9:16 story gets a tall
 // frame, the 4:5 post a short one.
-const FRAME_WIDTH = 840;
+const FRAME_WIDTH = 840
 
 const useFrameBox = () => {
-  const {height} = useVideoConfig();
-  const captionBlock = height > 1600 ? 430 : 330; // room for eyebrow + caption
+  const {height} = useVideoConfig()
+  const captionBlock = height > 1600 ? 430 : 330 // room for eyebrow + caption
   return {
     width: FRAME_WIDTH,
     height: height - captionBlock - 200,
     captionSize: height > 1600 ? 52 : 46,
     eyebrowSize: height > 1600 ? 30 : 26,
-  };
-};
+  }
+}
 
 const Scene: React.FC<{dur: number; children: React.ReactNode}> = ({dur, children}) => {
-  const opacity = useSceneFade(dur);
+  const opacity = useSceneFade(dur)
   return (
     <AbsoluteFill
       style={{
@@ -83,11 +83,11 @@ const Scene: React.FC<{dur: number; children: React.ReactNode}> = ({dur, childre
     >
       {children}
     </AbsoluteFill>
-  );
-};
+  )
+}
 
 const Eyebrow: React.FC<{children: React.ReactNode}> = ({children}) => {
-  const {eyebrowSize} = useFrameBox();
+  const {eyebrowSize} = useFrameBox()
   return (
     <div
       style={{
@@ -101,8 +101,8 @@ const Eyebrow: React.FC<{children: React.ReactNode}> = ({children}) => {
     >
       {children}
     </div>
-  );
-};
+  )
+}
 
 // ─── The shot ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 // A screenshot inside a rounded frame. Shots taller than the frame pan downward
@@ -112,33 +112,33 @@ const Eyebrow: React.FC<{children: React.ReactNode}> = ({children}) => {
 // `pan` caps how far a tall shot travels, as a fraction of its overscroll — the
 // bio is ~4 frames tall, and racing through all of it would just be a blur.
 const Shot: React.FC<{
-  shot: {src: string; w: number; h: number};
-  dur: number;
-  pan?: number;
+  shot: {src: string; w: number; h: number}
+  dur: number
+  pan?: number
 }> = ({shot, dur, pan = 1}) => {
-  const frame = useCurrentFrame();
-  const {fps} = useVideoConfig();
-  const box = useFrameBox();
+  const frame = useCurrentFrame()
+  const {fps} = useVideoConfig()
+  const box = useFrameBox()
 
-  const scale = box.width / shot.w;
-  const scaledHeight = shot.h * scale;
-  const overscroll = Math.max(0, scaledHeight - box.height);
+  const scale = box.width / shot.w
+  const scaledHeight = shot.h * scale
+  const overscroll = Math.max(0, scaledHeight - box.height)
 
   // Hold still for a beat at each end before travelling, so the top of a card
   // (its title) is readable on arrival and the bottom is readable on the cut.
-  const HOLD = 12;
+  const HOLD = 12
   const progress = interpolate(frame, [HOLD, dur - HOLD], [0, 1], {
     extrapolateLeft: 'clamp',
     extrapolateRight: 'clamp',
-  });
-  const eased = progress * progress * (3 - 2 * progress); // smoothstep
+  })
+  const eased = progress * progress * (3 - 2 * progress) // smoothstep
 
-  const translateY = -overscroll * pan * eased;
-  const zoom = overscroll > 0 ? 1 : interpolate(eased, [0, 1], [1, 1.05]);
+  const translateY = -overscroll * pan * eased
+  const zoom = overscroll > 0 ? 1 : interpolate(eased, [0, 1], [1, 1.05])
 
   // Frame itself springs in, so the cut lands with a little weight.
-  const entrance = spring({frame, fps, config: {damping: 200, mass: 0.7}});
-  const frameScale = interpolate(entrance, [0, 1], [0.94, 1]);
+  const entrance = spring({frame, fps, config: {damping: 200, mass: 0.7}})
+  const frameScale = interpolate(entrance, [0, 1], [0.94, 1])
 
   return (
     <div
@@ -163,20 +163,20 @@ const Shot: React.FC<{
         }}
       />
     </div>
-  );
-};
+  )
+}
 
 // A titled beat: eyebrow + one-line caption above the framed screenshot.
 const SectionScene: React.FC<{
-  eyebrow: string;
-  caption: React.ReactNode;
-  shot: {src: string; w: number; h: number};
-  dur: number;
-  pan?: number;
+  eyebrow: string
+  caption: React.ReactNode
+  shot: {src: string; w: number; h: number}
+  dur: number
+  pan?: number
 }> = ({eyebrow, caption, shot, dur, pan}) => {
-  const box = useFrameBox();
-  const opacity = useSceneFade(dur);
-  const {height} = useVideoConfig();
+  const box = useFrameBox()
+  const opacity = useSceneFade(dur)
+  const {height} = useVideoConfig()
 
   // The caption block is pinned to a fixed offset rather than centred with the
   // shot: a short card (Links) would otherwise drag the text down the frame while
@@ -212,13 +212,13 @@ const SectionScene: React.FC<{
         <Shot shot={shot} dur={dur} pan={pan} />
       </div>
     </AbsoluteFill>
-  );
-};
+  )
+}
 
 // ─── Scene 1 — title, over the whole page scrolling by ──────────────────────
 const TitleScene: React.FC = () => {
-  const frame = useCurrentFrame();
-  const {height} = useVideoConfig();
+  const frame = useCurrentFrame()
+  const {height} = useVideoConfig()
 
   return (
     <Scene dur={S.title.dur}>
@@ -275,8 +275,8 @@ const TitleScene: React.FC = () => {
         </FadeUp>
       </div>
     </Scene>
-  );
-};
+  )
+}
 
 // ─── Scene 9 — call to action ───────────────────────────────────────────────
 const CtaScene: React.FC = () => (
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ const CtaScene: React.FC = () => (
       </div>
     </FadeUp>
   </Scene>
-);
+)
 
 // ─── Composition ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 export const ProfileTour: React.FC = () => {
@@ -447,5 +447,5 @@ export const ProfileTour: React.FC = () => {
         <CtaScene />
       </Sequence>
     </AbsoluteFill>
-  );
-};
+  )
+}
diff --git a/media-creator/src/scenes/SearchAlert.tsx b/media-creator/src/scenes/SearchAlert.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..74ffc30e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/media-creator/src/scenes/SearchAlert.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,358 @@
+import React from 'react'
+import {AbsoluteFill, Img, staticFile, useCurrentFrame} from 'remotion'
+
+import {SearchFrame, SearchManifest, shotAt, TapIndicator} from './SearchDemo'
+
+// The about-page clip: the saved-search loop, end to end.
+//
+// Filter the people page down to something specific, find nobody, ask to be told when someone turns
+// up, and days later open the email that says someone has — then their profile, then the composer.
+//
+// This is the one differentiator on the about page that a screenshot cannot carry, because the whole
+// claim is about something that happens *later*. It needs elapsed time, so it needs a clip.
+//
+// Like SearchDemo this is a dumb sequencer over frames captured by scripts/capture-alert.mjs, with
+// pacing carried per-frame in the manifest. It adds exactly one thing that scene does not: a dissolve
+// at the moment the email arrives.
+
+/**
+ * Frames spent dissolving into a shot marked `fadeIn`.
+ */
+const GAP_FADE = 22
+
+/**
+ * The time-passing interstitial, in video frames (~2s at 30fps).
+ *
+ * A dissolve alone was not enough. It said "something changed", not "days went by" — and without that,
+ * the email looks like it arrived the instant the search was saved, which is precisely the wrong idea
+ * about a feature whose whole point is that it works while you are not looking.
+ *
+ * So there is a real beat here: the saved-search screen recedes and dims, three days tick across, and
+ * the email arrives out of it. Synthesised in Remotion rather than captured, because it is the one
+ * moment in the clip that is not a thing the product renders.
+ *
+ * This does bake English ("3 days later") into the clip. Acceptable here and not elsewhere: the middle
+ * of this clip is a screenshot of an English email, so it is already English-only. The hero clip has no
+ * text for exactly the opposite reason — one render serves every locale.
+ */
+const GAP_HOLD = 54
+const GAP_DAYS = 3
+
+/** Brand amber — the same accent the tap indicator and the app's primary controls use. */
+const ACCENT = '#C17F3E'
+
+/**
+ * Spotlights the fields on the profile that satisfy the saved search.
+ *
+ * The clip's whole argument is "the platform found someone who fits", and without this the profile
+ * beat just scrolls past — the viewer is asked to take the match on trust. This dims everything else
+ * and rings the fields that actually matched, each captioned with the criterion it satisfies.
+ *
+ * **This is editorial annotation, not product UI, and it is drawn to look like it.** Compass has no
+ * "matches your search" highlighting on profiles; inventing chrome that implied otherwise would be
+ * claiming a feature that does not exist, which is the one thing these visuals are not allowed to do.
+ * So: a scrim and a ring in the brand accent, captions in the clip's own voice — deliberately unlike
+ * anything the app renders. (The tap indicator is different in kind: it depicts a finger, not a
+ * feature.)
+ *
+ * Geometry comes from the capture script measuring the live DOM, so a profile restyle moves these
+ * with it rather than leaving them pointing at blank space.
+ */
+const Spotlight: React.FC<{
+  // `label` rides along on each highlight but is not drawn — it names the facet in the capture
+  // script's warnings and keeps the manifest self-describing.
+  highlights: NonNullable<SearchFrame['highlights']>
+  css: {width: number; height: number}
+  since: number
+  hold: number
+}> = ({highlights, css, since, hold}) => {
+  const fadeIn = Math.min(1, since / 12)
+  const fadeOut = Math.max(0, (since - (hold - 14)) / 14)
+  const opacity = Math.max(0, Math.min(fadeIn, 1 - fadeOut))
+  if (opacity <= 0) return null
+
+  const PAD = 6
+
+  return (
+    <svg
+      viewBox={`0 0 ${css.width} ${css.height}`}
+      style={{position: 'absolute', inset: 0, width: '100%', height: '100%', opacity}}
+    >
+      <defs>
+        <mask id="spotlight-mask">
+          <rect x="0" y="0" width={css.width} height={css.height} fill="white" />
+          {highlights.map((h, i) => (
+            <rect
+              key={i}
+              x={h.x - PAD}
+              y={h.y - PAD}
+              width={h.w + PAD * 2}
+              height={h.h + PAD * 2}
+              rx="9"
+              fill="black"
+            />
+          ))}
+        </mask>
+      </defs>
+
+      {/* One scrim with the matched fields punched out of it, rather than a box drawn over each —
+          the point is that everything else recedes, not that these get decorated. */}
+      <rect
+        x="0"
+        y="0"
+        width={css.width}
+        height={css.height}
+        fill="rgba(22,17,11,0.55)"
+        mask="url(#spotlight-mask)"
+      />
+
+      {highlights.map((h, i) => {
+        // Staggered, so the eye is walked through the matches one at a time rather than handed all
+        // of them at once. Each circle takes about a third of a second to draw.
+        const at = Math.max(0, Math.min(1, (since - 8 - i * 11) / 11))
+        if (at <= 0) return null
+
+        // An ellipse round the field, drawn on rather than appearing — the gesture someone makes with
+        // a pen when they are checking items off a list, which is exactly what the viewer is doing.
+        // No caption: the criteria were just read out in the email a beat earlier, and repeating them
+        // here crowded the fields they were pointing at.
+        const rx = h.w / 2 + PAD + 5
+        const ry = h.h / 2 + PAD + 3
+        // Ramanujan's approximation — close enough to run the dash offset off, and cheap.
+        const perimeter = Math.PI * (3 * (rx + ry) - Math.sqrt((3 * rx + ry) * (rx + 3 * ry)))
+
+        return (
+          <ellipse
+            key={i}
+            cx={h.x + h.w / 2}
+            cy={h.y + h.h / 2}
+            rx={rx}
+            ry={ry}
+            fill="none"
+            stroke={ACCENT}
+            strokeWidth="3"
+            strokeLinecap="round"
+            strokeDasharray={perimeter}
+            // Slightly past a full turn, so the stroke overshoots its start the way a hand-drawn ring
+            // does instead of closing on a seam.
+            strokeDashoffset={perimeter * (1 - at) - perimeter * 0.04 * at}
+            // A degree or two off-axis keeps it from reading as a UI element the app drew.
+            transform={`rotate(${i % 2 === 0 ? -2.2 : 1.8} ${h.x + h.w / 2} ${h.y + h.h / 2})`}
+          />
+        )
+      })}
+    </svg>
+  )
+}
+
+export type SearchAlertProps = Record<string, unknown> & {
+  manifest: SearchManifest | null
+  theme: 'light' | 'dark'
+}
+
+/**
+ * The interstitial: the last app frame pushed back and dimmed, with days ticking over it.
+ *
+ * Drawn on top of the outgoing screenshot rather than on a flat colour, so the clip never fully cuts
+ * away — the phone is still there, just receding, which is what makes it read as elapsed time on the
+ * same screen rather than as a scene change.
+ */
+/** The scrim the interstitial lays over the app. Shared, because the email dissolves in over exactly
+ *  this — see the note in the component below. */
+const veilOf = (theme: 'light' | 'dark') =>
+  theme === 'dark' ? 'rgba(12,10,8,0.86)' : 'rgba(24,19,12,0.80)'
+
+const TimeGap: React.FC<{since: number; hold: number; theme: 'light' | 'dark'}> = ({
+  since,
+  hold,
+  theme,
+}) => {
+  const t = Math.min(1, since / 12)
+  // The dots and caption fade at the end; the scrim itself does not. It used to, and that was a bug
+  // you could see: the veil lifted, the saved-search screen came back at full strength for a few
+  // frames, and only then did the email start dissolving in — so the clip appeared to return to where
+  // it had just been. The scrim now holds until the email takes over on top of it.
+  const out = Math.max(0, (since - (hold - 14)) / 14)
+  // Light in both themes. The veil is dark either way — it has to be, or the app screenshot behind it
+  // still reads as the live screen — so taking the ink from the theme put dark brown text on a dark
+  // scrim in light mode and the caption nearly disappeared.
+  const ink = '#F7F2EA'
+  const veil = veilOf(theme)
+
+  return (
+    <div
+      style={{
+        position: 'absolute',
+        inset: 0,
+        background: veil,
+        backdropFilter: 'blur(6px)',
+        display: 'flex',
+        flexDirection: 'column',
+        alignItems: 'center',
+        justifyContent: 'center',
+        gap: 34,
+        opacity: t,
+      }}
+    >
+      <div
+        style={{
+          display: 'flex',
+          flexDirection: 'column',
+          alignItems: 'center',
+          gap: 34,
+          opacity: 1 - out,
+        }}
+      >
+        <div style={{display: 'flex', gap: 22}}>
+          {Array.from({length: GAP_DAYS}).map((_, i) => {
+            // Each day lights in turn across the middle of the beat, so the count is something you
+            // watch happen rather than read.
+            const at = 0.18 + i * 0.22
+            const lit = Math.max(0, Math.min(1, (since / hold - at) * 9))
+            return (
+              <div
+                key={i}
+                style={{
+                  width: 26,
+                  height: 26,
+                  borderRadius: '50%',
+                  border: `3px solid ${theme === 'dark' ? '#5A4A33' : '#C7B49A'}`,
+                  background: `rgba(193,127,62,${lit})`,
+                  transform: `scale(${0.82 + lit * 0.18})`,
+                }}
+              />
+            )
+          })}
+        </div>
+        <div
+          style={{
+            color: ink,
+            fontFamily: 'Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif',
+            fontSize: 46,
+            letterSpacing: '0.01em',
+            opacity: Math.min(1, Math.max(0, (since / hold - 0.34) * 4)),
+          }}
+        >
+          3 days later
+        </div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  )
+}
+
+export const SearchAlert: React.FC<SearchAlertProps> = ({manifest, theme}) => {
+  const frame = useCurrentFrame()
+  const backdrop = theme === 'dark' ? '#1A1713' : '#EDE8E0'
+  if (!manifest) return <AbsoluteFill style={{backgroundColor: backdrop}} />
+
+  const {shot, since} = shotAt(manifest, frame)
+  const css = manifest.cssViewport ?? manifest.viewport
+  const index = manifest.frames.indexOf(shot)
+  const previous = index > 0 ? manifest.frames[index - 1] : null
+
+  // While a `fadeIn` shot is dissolving in, the previous shot is still painted underneath it.
+  const dissolving = shot.fadeIn && since < GAP_FADE
+  const opacity = dissolving ? since / GAP_FADE : 1
+
+  const first = manifest.frames[0]
+  const fadeStart = manifest.durationInFrames - GAP_FADE
+  const loopOpacity = frame < fadeStart ? 0 : (frame - fadeStart) / GAP_FADE
+
+  const img = (name: string, style: React.CSSProperties = {}) => (
+    <Img
+      src={staticFile(`alert/${theme}/${name}`)}
+      style={{
+        // Children of AbsoluteFill are in normal flow — it positions only itself — so anything meant
+        // to stack has to say so explicitly or it lays out below the frame above it and never shows.
+        position: 'absolute',
+        inset: 0,
+        width: '100%',
+        height: '100%',
+        objectFit: 'cover',
+        ...style,
+      }}
+    />
+  )
+
+  // The synthetic gap beat carries no screenshot of its own — it holds the previous frame and draws
+  // the day counter over it.
+  if (shot.gap) {
+    return (
+      <AbsoluteFill style={{backgroundColor: backdrop}}>
+        {previous ? img(previous.name) : null}
+        <TimeGap since={since} hold={shot.hold} theme={theme} />
+      </AbsoluteFill>
+    )
+  }
+
+  return (
+    <AbsoluteFill style={{backgroundColor: backdrop}}>
+      {dissolving && previous ? (
+        previous.gap ? (
+          // Coming out of the interstitial: underlay the pre-gap shot *with the scrim still on it*, so
+          // the email fades up from exactly the state the gap ended in. Underlaying the bare
+          // screenshot is what let the saved-search screen flash back for a fraction of a second.
+          <>
+            {img(manifest.frames[index - 2].name)}
+            <div style={{position: 'absolute', inset: 0, background: veilOf(theme)}} />
+          </>
+        ) : (
+          img(previous.name)
+        )
+      ) : null}
+      {img(shot.name, {opacity})}
+      {/* Suppressed mid-dissolve: a press indicator over a half-faded frame reads as a glitch, and
+          the shot being dissolved into is an arrival, not something anybody tapped. */}
+      {shot.tap && !dissolving && (
+        <TapIndicator tap={shot.tap} css={css} since={since} hold={shot.hold} />
+      )}
+      {shot.highlights?.length && !dissolving ? (
+        <Spotlight highlights={shot.highlights} css={css} since={since} hold={shot.hold} />
+      ) : null}
+      {loopOpacity > 0 && first ? img(first.name, {opacity: loopOpacity}) : null}
+    </AbsoluteFill>
+  )
+}
+
+/**
+ * Sizes the composition from the capture manifest — canvas and duration both — so re-capturing with a
+ * different filter set or an extra beat needs no edit here.
+ *
+ * public/alert/ is gitignored and regenerated by the capture script, so a missing manifest is the
+ * ordinary "not captured yet" state. Fail with the command that fixes it rather than rendering blank.
+ */
+export const calculateSearchAlertMetadata = async ({props}: {props: SearchAlertProps}) => {
+  const theme = props.theme ?? 'light'
+  const path = `alert/${theme}/manifest.json`
+  const res = await fetch(staticFile(path))
+  if (!res.ok) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `public/${path} is missing (HTTP ${res.status}). Run: npm run capture:alert` +
+        (theme === 'dark' ? ':dark' : ''),
+    )
+  }
+  const raw: SearchManifest = await res.json()
+
+  // Insert the time-passing beat immediately before the email, rather than asking the capture script
+  // to emit a placeholder frame for something it cannot photograph. The manifest stays a pure record
+  // of what was captured; this is presentation.
+  const frames: SearchFrame[] = []
+  for (const f of raw.frames) {
+    if (f.fadeIn && f.kind === 'email') {
+      frames.push({name: '', kind: 'time-gap', hold: GAP_HOLD, gap: true})
+    }
+    frames.push(f)
+  }
+  const manifest: SearchManifest = {
+    ...raw,
+    frames,
+    durationInFrames: frames.reduce((sum, f) => sum + f.hold, 0),
+  }
+
+  return {
+    durationInFrames: manifest.durationInFrames,
+    width: manifest.viewport.width,
+    height: manifest.viewport.height,
+    props: {...props, manifest},
+  }
+}
diff --git a/media-creator/src/scenes/SearchDemo.tsx b/media-creator/src/scenes/SearchDemo.tsx
index 277f54e8..d58857c7 100644
--- a/media-creator/src/scenes/SearchDemo.tsx
+++ b/media-creator/src/scenes/SearchDemo.tsx
@@ -23,6 +23,27 @@ export interface SearchFrame {
   hold: number
   /** Viewport position in CSS px of the control that produced this shot, when it came from a tap. */
   tap?: {x: number; y: number}
+  /**
+   * Dissolve into this shot from the one before it instead of cutting.
+   *
+   * Only honoured by the SearchAlert scene, where it marks the point at which the clip stops being one
+   * continuous session — the email arrives days later, in another app, and a hard cut there reads as a
+   * mistake rather than as elapsed time.
+   */
+  fadeIn?: boolean
+  /**
+   * A synthetic beat with no screenshot behind it, injected by the SearchAlert scene rather than
+   * captured. Marks the "days later" interstitial, which is the one moment in that clip the product
+   * does not render and so cannot be photographed.
+   */
+  gap?: boolean
+  /**
+   * Regions of this shot to spotlight, in CSS px, each with the search facet it satisfies.
+   *
+   * Measured by the capture script off the live DOM — same mechanism as `tap` — so they track the real
+   * layout instead of being hand-placed against a screenshot that will move on the next restyle.
+   */
+  highlights?: {x: number; y: number; w: number; h: number; label: string}[]
 }
 
 export interface SearchManifest {
@@ -73,7 +94,7 @@ const TAP_FRAMES = 14
  *
  * Positioned in percentages of the CSS viewport so it lands correctly whatever the capture scale.
  */
-const TapIndicator: React.FC<{
+export const TapIndicator: React.FC<{
   tap: {x: number; y: number}
   css: {width: number; height: number}
   since: number
diff --git a/media-creator/src/theme.ts b/media-creator/src/theme.ts
index c8dc93a1..6db006cb 100644
--- a/media-creator/src/theme.ts
+++ b/media-creator/src/theme.ts
@@ -17,14 +17,13 @@ export const colors = {
   // Accents pulled straight from the compass logo
   logoBlue: '#1D384B',
   logoRed: '#E94734',
-} as const;
+} as const
 
 // System-font stack only — no network fetch at render time, so renders are reproducible offline.
 export const fonts = {
-  display:
-    '"Segoe UI", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif',
+  display: '"Segoe UI", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif',
   serif: 'Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif',
-} as const;
+} as const
 
 // Output formats. Same scenes, different canvas — layouts adapt via useVideoConfig().
 //  - post:  4:5 portrait, the tallest ratio Instagram allows in-feed (primary).
@@ -32,8 +31,8 @@ export const fonts = {
 export const FORMATS = {
   post: {width: 1080, height: 1350, fps: 30},
   story: {width: 1080, height: 1920, fps: 30},
-} as const;
+} as const
 
 // Design reference height (the story format). Scenes are tuned against this;
 // the shorter post format compacts where needed.
-export const DESIGN_HEIGHT = FORMATS.story.height;
+export const DESIGN_HEIGHT = FORMATS.story.height
diff --git a/scripts/generate-showcase-portraits.ts b/scripts/generate-showcase-portraits.ts
index 7585fa92..920a42e1 100644
--- a/scripts/generate-showcase-portraits.ts
+++ b/scripts/generate-showcase-portraits.ts
@@ -171,6 +171,18 @@ const PORTRAITS: Record<string, PortraitSpec> = {
       'reading in a park on a bench, book propped on one knee, city noise implied, sunlight through leaves',
     ],
   },
+  juliensarr: {
+    appearance:
+      // Alpine fieldwork cues drag the apparent age up the way the coastal ones do for sofiacosta, so
+      // the early thirties are asserted rather than left to the scene: no grey, no weathering.
+      '32-year-old French-Senegalese man, dark brown skin, short black hair, neatly kept short beard ' +
+      'with no grey, tall and lean, unlined early-thirties face, warm and unhurried expression',
+    scenes: [
+      'standing in deep snow on an Alpine slope above Grenoble in a well-used shell jacket, a snow depth probe planted beside him, mountains behind, looking straight at the camera',
+      'cooking in a small bright flat kitchen, chopping herbs on a crowded board with pans and jars around him, sleeves pushed up, absorbed in the work',
+      'crouched beside a fast mountain stream in summer lowering a sensor into the water, notebook open on the rock next to him',
+    ],
+  },
 }
 
 // ─── API ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
diff --git a/tests/e2e/utils/seed-showcase.ts b/tests/e2e/utils/seed-showcase.ts
index b1afc874..defd843e 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/utils/seed-showcase.ts
+++ b/tests/e2e/utils/seed-showcase.ts
@@ -221,16 +221,49 @@ async function seedShowcaseProfile(profile: ShowcaseProfile, userId: string) {
   })
 }
 
+/**
+ * Personas to delete and then not re-create, as a comma-separated list of slugs.
+ *
+ * Two uses, and the second is the reason it deletes rather than merely skipping:
+ *
+ *  - The A4 alert clip is captured in two passes (docs/marketing-visuals.md). Its first half has to be
+ *    shot against a database where the match does not exist yet, because the story is "nobody fits this
+ *    search — tell me when someone does". Skipping alone would not do it: an already-seeded row would
+ *    simply stay.
+ *  - Re-seeding is otherwise a no-op for anyone who already exists, so edits to a persona — or portraits
+ *    generated *after* the first seed, which is easy to do in that order — never take effect. Deleting
+ *    and re-running is the way to pick them up.
+ *
+ * `users` cascades to `profiles`, `private_users` and the join tables, so removal is clean.
+ *
+ *   SHOWCASE_SKIP=juliensarr SHOWCASE=1 ./scripts/dev_db_seed.sh   # remove, then seed the rest
+ *   SHOWCASE=1 ./scripts/dev_db_seed.sh                            # put them back, fresh
+ */
+const SKIPPED = (process.env.SHOWCASE_SKIP ?? '')
+  .split(',')
+  .map((s) => s.trim())
+  .filter(Boolean)
+
 /** Seeds every showcase persona. Returns how many were newly created. */
 export async function seedShowcaseUsers() {
+  if (SKIPPED.length) {
+    const pg = createSupabaseDirectClient()
+    for (const slug of SKIPPED) {
+      await pg.none(`delete from users where username = $1`, [slug])
+    }
+    console.log(`[showcase] removed and skipping: ${SKIPPED.join(', ')}`)
+  }
+
+  const wanted = SHOWCASE_PROFILES.filter((p) => !SKIPPED.includes(p.slug))
+
   let created = 0
-  for (const profile of SHOWCASE_PROFILES) {
+  for (const profile of wanted) {
     if (await seedShowcaseProfile(profile, showcaseUserId(profile.slug))) {
       created++
       debug('Showcase profile created:', profile.slug)
     }
   }
-  console.log(`[showcase] ${created}/${SHOWCASE_PROFILES.length} personas created`)
+  console.log(`[showcase] ${created}/${wanted.length} personas created`)
 
   await seedShowcaseViewer()
   return created
diff --git a/tests/e2e/utils/showcase-profiles.ts b/tests/e2e/utils/showcase-profiles.ts
index 956da2c4..3ead8418 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/utils/showcase-profiles.ts
+++ b/tests/e2e/utils/showcase-profiles.ts
@@ -693,4 +693,74 @@ export const SHOWCASE_PROFILES: ShowcaseProfile[] = [
     },
     photoCount: 2,
   },
+  /**
+   * The search-alert persona (A4 in docs/marketing-visuals.md).
+   *
+   * Every field here is chosen so that he is the *only* profile matching the saved search the alert
+   * clip demonstrates — man, 24–40, atheist, vegan, wants kids, near Grenoble. Before he exists that
+   * search returns nothing, which is exactly the situation saved searches are for, and is the story
+   * the clip tells: you search, nobody fits yet, you ask to be told when someone does.
+   *
+   * Check before editing anyone above: making another man vegan *and* atheist *and* 24–40 would give
+   * the clip two results and cost it its point.
+   *
+   * Grenoble deliberately — the viewer persona (`SHOWCASE_VIEWER`) lives there, so any radius the
+   * location filter is set to includes him and the beat cannot fail on a slider position.
+   */
+  {
+    slug: 'juliensarr',
+    name: 'Julien Sarr',
+    email: 'julien.sarr@compass.showcase',
+    age: 32,
+    gender: 'male',
+    orientation: ['straight'],
+    headline: 'Hydrologist, vegan cook, wants a family and says so on the first date',
+    bio: [
+      'I model snowmelt for a living, which means I spend half the year in the Alps with instruments and the other half explaining to people why the numbers matter. Climate work is not abstract to me — I watch it in a dataset every winter.',
+      'I cook properly, all of it vegan, and I will feed anyone who lets me. Not evangelical about it; I just stopped being able to justify the alternative and the cooking got better. Ask me about lentils at your own risk.',
+      'I want kids. I would rather say that early than discover in year three that we wanted different lives. Beyond that I am fairly easy: long walks, bad films taken seriously, and someone who argues with me properly.',
+    ],
+    keywords: ['hydrology', 'sustainable living', 'vegan cooking', 'mountaineering'],
+    city: 'Grenoble',
+    region_code: 'ARA',
+    country: 'France',
+    city_latitude: 45.1885,
+    city_longitude: 5.7245,
+    born_in_location: 'Senegal',
+    occupation_title: 'Hydrologist',
+    company: 'Institut des Géosciences',
+    university: 'Université Grenoble Alpes',
+    education_level: 'doctorate',
+    languages: ['french', 'english', 'wolof'],
+    ethnicity: ['african'],
+    height_in_inches: 73,
+    religion: ['atheist'],
+    political_beliefs: ['green'],
+    diet: ['vegan'],
+    mbti: 'infj',
+    big5: {
+      openness: 81,
+      conscientiousness: 76,
+      extraversion: 44,
+      agreeableness: 79,
+      neuroticism: 31,
+    },
+    relationship_status: ['single'],
+    pref_relation_styles: ['relationship'],
+    pref_romantic_styles: ['mono'],
+    pref_gender: ['female'],
+    pref_age_min: 27,
+    pref_age_max: 40,
+    has_kids: 0,
+    // The point of the persona: the saved search filters on wanting children, so this has to be
+    // unambiguous rather than merely open to it.
+    wants_kids_strength: 3,
+    is_smoker: false,
+    drinks_per_month: 3,
+    interests: ['Mountaineering', 'Vegan cooking', 'Climate science', 'Trail running'],
+    causes: ['Climate', 'Animal welfare'],
+    work: ['Science', 'Research'],
+    links: {site: 'juliensarr.fr', github: 'jsarr'},
+    photoCount: 3,
+  },
 ]
diff --git a/web/components/about/platform-stats.tsx b/web/components/about/platform-stats.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e7586795
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/components/about/platform-stats.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+import clsx from 'clsx'
+import {ReactNode} from 'react'
+import {eyebrow} from 'web/components/widgets/surface'
+import {useAPIGetter} from 'web/hooks/use-api-getter'
+import {useT} from 'web/lib/locale'
+
+/**
+ * The live number band at the top of the about page (A5 in docs/marketing-visuals.md).
+ *
+ * It opens the page with something that is not a card — ten of the page's blocks are the same bordered
+ * tile, which is what made it read as flat.
+ *
+ * The country breakdown that used to sit beside it now lives on /stats
+ * (`widgets/country-spread.tsx`): it is a distribution readout for someone who came to read numbers,
+ * and this page only needed one claim about reach, which the member count already makes.
+ *
+ * **Never hardcoded.** Same reasoning as `MemberGrowth`: a number that quietly goes stale on a page
+ * arguing for transparency is the failure worth engineering against. And for the same reason it
+ * renders *nothing* on an empty or failed response rather than a zero or a skeleton — an empty frame
+ * claims more than it shows.
+ *
+ * Deliberately kept away from the vote tally further down the page. Twelve voters next to a large
+ * member count is the turnout tension A1 was placed on this page to manage, not to advertise.
+ */
+
+function formatCount(n: number) {
+  return n >= 10000 ? `${Math.floor(n / 1000)}k` : n.toLocaleString('en-US')
+}
+
+function Stat({value, label}: {value: ReactNode; label: string}) {
+  return (
+    <div className="flex-1 min-w-[110px]">
+      <div className="font-heading text-[clamp(30px,4vw,46px)] font-bold text-ink-900 leading-none tracking-tight tabular-nums">
+        {value}
+      </div>
+      <div className={clsx(eyebrow, 'text-ink-700 mt-2.5')}>{label}</div>
+    </div>
+  )
+}
+
+/**
+ * A rule-bounded band rather than a row of cards. The point is to break the card rhythm, so borrowing
+ * the card treatment would defeat it.
+ */
+export function StatBand() {
+  const t = useT()
+  const {data} = useAPIGetter('stats', {})
+
+  if (!data?.profiles) return null
+
+  return (
+    <div className="border-y border-canvas-200 py-8 flex flex-wrap gap-x-10 gap-y-7">
+      <Stat value={formatCount(data.profiles)} label={t('about.stat.members', 'Members')} />
+      {data.countryCount > 1 && (
+        <Stat
+          value={formatCount(data.countryCount)}
+          label={t('about.stat.countries', 'Countries')}
+        />
+      )}
+      {data.conversations > 0 && (
+        <Stat
+          value={formatCount(data.conversations)}
+          label={t('about.stat.conversations', 'Conversations')}
+        />
+      )}
+      {/* Not a queried number, and deliberately so: it is the one claim here that is a policy rather
+          than a measurement, and it is the whole argument of the "Completely Free" card. */}
+      <Stat
+        value={t('about.stat.price_value', '$0')}
+        label={t('about.stat.price', 'Cost to use')}
+      />
+    </div>
+  )
+}
diff --git a/web/components/about/repo-activity.tsx b/web/components/about/repo-activity.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..90908b48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/components/about/repo-activity.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+import {CodeBracketIcon, StarIcon, UserGroupIcon} from '@heroicons/react/24/outline'
+import clsx from 'clsx'
+import {githubRepo} from 'common/constants'
+import {ComponentType, ReactNode, SVGProps} from 'react'
+import {SectionLabel} from 'web/components/about/section'
+import {Reveal} from 'web/components/widgets/reveal'
+import {Section, surface} from 'web/components/widgets/surface'
+import {useAPIGetter} from 'web/hooks/use-api-getter'
+import {useT} from 'web/lib/locale'
+
+/**
+ * Open-source activity as evidence for "Community Owned / no VC" (A6 in docs/marketing-visuals.md).
+ *
+ * A2 — a genuine photo of the people behind the project — is the better version of this claim and is
+ * still open, because it needs consent only Martin can collect. This is the half that needs nobody's
+ * consent: the repo is public, so its contributor count, stars and commit recency are already facts a
+ * reader can check, and they say the thing the card asserts.
+ *
+ * **Our components, not a screenshot of GitHub.** H2 rejected embedding a third-party contributor
+ * graph for two reasons that still hold: it is stale the moment it is captured, and it is not Compass
+ * pixels on a page whose other visuals are. Rendering live numbers in our own type also survives a
+ * restyle and translates properly.
+ *
+ * **Proxied through our API** (`repo-stats`), not fetched from the browser. Unauthenticated GitHub
+ * allows 60 requests/hour per IP; a public page calling it directly would spend that budget on its
+ * own visitors and start rendering nothing. The endpoint caches for six hours.
+ *
+ * Renders nothing when the upstream call fails, and each number is independently omitted when only
+ * that one is missing — a fabricated or zeroed count would undercut the exact claim being made.
+ */
+
+type IconType = ComponentType<SVGProps<SVGSVGElement>>
+
+function Metric({icon: Icon, value, label}: {icon: IconType; value: ReactNode; label: string}) {
+  return (
+    <div className="flex items-center gap-3.5">
+      <div className="w-10 h-10 rounded-xl bg-primary-100 ring-1 ring-primary-200 flex items-center justify-center shrink-0">
+        <Icon className="w-[18px] h-[18px] text-primary-600" strokeWidth={1.8} />
+      </div>
+      <div className="min-w-0">
+        <div className="font-heading text-xl font-bold text-ink-900 leading-tight tabular-nums">
+          {value}
+        </div>
+        <div className="text-xs text-ink-600 truncate">{label}</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  )
+}
+
+/** "3 days ago" / "today" — enough to show the project is alive without implying more precision. */
+function daysAgoLabel(date: Date, t: ReturnType<typeof useT>) {
+  const days = Math.floor((Date.now() - date.getTime()) / (24 * 60 * 60 * 1000))
+  if (days <= 0) return t('about.repo.today', 'today')
+  if (days === 1) return t('about.repo.yesterday', 'yesterday')
+  return t('about.repo.days_ago', '{count} days ago', {count: days})
+}
+
+export function RepoActivity() {
+  const t = useT()
+  const {data} = useAPIGetter('repo-stats', {})
+
+  if (!data) return null
+
+  // The Date survives the wire as a Date via the schema's Zod serialization, but a cached response
+  // rehydrated from a string would not — normalise rather than trust it.
+  const lastCommit = data.lastCommitTime ? new Date(data.lastCommitTime) : null
+  const hasAny =
+    data.contributors !== null ||
+    data.stars !== null ||
+    (lastCommit && !isNaN(lastCommit.getTime()))
+  if (!hasAny) return null
+
+  return (
+    <Section>
+      {/* Section and label live in here rather than in the page, so that a failed GitHub call takes
+          the whole section with it instead of leaving a heading over nothing. */}
+      <SectionLabel>{t('about.repo.label', 'Built in the open')}</SectionLabel>
+      <Reveal className={clsx(surface, 'p-6 sm:p-8')}>
+        <p className="font-heading text-ink-900 text-xl sm:text-2xl leading-snug tracking-tight mb-3 max-w-2xl text-balance">
+          {t(
+            'about.repo.claim',
+            'Community owned. No investors, no acquisition, nothing to sell you.',
+          )}
+        </p>
+        <p className="text-sm text-ink-600 leading-relaxed mb-7 max-w-2xl">
+          {t(
+            'about.repo.intro',
+            'The whole thing is built in public — every line of code, every change, open to read and to challenge:',
+          )}
+        </p>
+
+        <div className="grid grid-cols-1 sm:grid-cols-3 gap-5">
+          {data.contributors !== null && (
+            <Metric
+              icon={UserGroupIcon}
+              value={data.contributors}
+              label={t('about.repo.contributors', 'Contributors')}
+            />
+          )}
+          {data.stars !== null && (
+            <Metric
+              icon={StarIcon}
+              value={data.stars}
+              label={t('about.repo.stars', 'GitHub stars')}
+            />
+          )}
+          {lastCommit && !isNaN(lastCommit.getTime()) && (
+            <Metric
+              icon={CodeBracketIcon}
+              value={daysAgoLabel(lastCommit, t)}
+              label={t('about.repo.last_commit', 'Last change')}
+            />
+          )}
+        </div>
+
+        <p className="text-sm leading-relaxed mt-7">
+          <a
+            href={githubRepo}
+            target="_blank"
+            rel="noopener noreferrer"
+            className="font-medium text-primary-700 hover:underline"
+          >
+            {t('about.repo.link', 'Read the source →')}
+          </a>
+        </p>
+      </Reveal>
+    </Section>
+  )
+}
diff --git a/web/components/about/search-alert-demo.tsx b/web/components/about/search-alert-demo.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1468cfe2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/components/about/search-alert-demo.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,197 @@
+import clsx from 'clsx'
+import Image from 'next/image'
+import {useEffect, useState} from 'react'
+import {useT} from 'web/lib/locale'
+
+/**
+ * The saved-search alert clip on the about page (A4 in docs/marketing-visuals.md).
+ *
+ * "Get Notified About Searches" is the most distinctive claim the page makes and the hardest to prove
+ * with a still, because the whole point of it happens *later*: you search for something specific, find
+ * nobody, ask to be told when someone turns up, and days afterwards the platform tells you. Only a clip
+ * can show elapsed time.
+ *
+ * It renders as a card *inside* "What makes us different", in the column beside the three cards it is
+ * evidence for ("Keyword Search the Database", "Get Notified About Searches", "Personality-Centered"),
+ * rather than as a section of its own further down. The claim and its proof were a full screen apart,
+ * which is the one arrangement that stops the clip from doing any work.
+ *
+ * Generated from the live app plus the real email template — see
+ * `media-creator/scripts/capture-alert.mjs`; regenerate with `npm run capture:alert` then
+ * `npm run render:alert` / `npm run still:alert`.
+ *
+ * Loading shape mirrors the home hero (`components/home/search-demo.tsx`, which carries the longer
+ * note): CSS picks the poster so the first paint is never the wrong theme, the <video> mounts only
+ * after `load`, and reduced-motion visitors keep the poster and get no video at all.
+ *
+ * Unlike the hero clip this one is **English-only**, and unavoidably so: its middle beat is a
+ * screenshot of an email, and the email's text is baked into the image. The surrounding caption is
+ * translated normally, so the point still lands in every locale — same trade-off as the vote card.
+ */
+
+const MEDIA_BASE = (process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_MEDIA_BASE_URL ?? '').replace(/\/$/, '')
+const videoUrl = (name: string) => `${MEDIA_BASE}/videos/${name}`
+
+const ASSETS = {
+  light: {
+    poster: '/images/search-alert-poster-light.jpg',
+    video: videoUrl('search-alert-light.mp4'),
+  },
+  dark: {
+    poster: '/images/search-alert-poster-dark.jpg',
+    video: videoUrl('search-alert-dark.mp4'),
+  },
+} as const
+
+// The capture canvas from capture-alert.mjs (390x844 CSS at DPR 2).
+const WIDTH = 780
+const HEIGHT = 1688
+
+/**
+ * Tracks the app's resolved theme via the `dark` class on <html>, which `use-theme.ts` sets from both
+ * the system preference and the manual toggle. Only the <video> uses it; the poster is chosen in CSS
+ * because it is the first paint.
+ */
+function useIsDarkTheme() {
+  const [isDark, setIsDark] = useState(false)
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const root = document.documentElement
+    const read = () => setIsDark(root.classList.contains('dark'))
+    read()
+
+    const observer = new MutationObserver(read)
+    observer.observe(root, {attributes: true, attributeFilter: ['class']})
+    return () => observer.disconnect()
+  }, [])
+
+  return isDark
+}
+
+function useShouldPlay() {
+  const [shouldPlay, setShouldPlay] = useState(false)
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (window.matchMedia('(prefers-reduced-motion: reduce)').matches) return
+
+    const start = () => setShouldPlay(true)
+    if (document.readyState === 'complete') {
+      start()
+      return
+    }
+    window.addEventListener('load', start)
+    return () => window.removeEventListener('load', start)
+  }, [])
+
+  return shouldPlay
+}
+
+function Poster({src, alt, className}: {src: string; alt: string; className: string}) {
+  return (
+    <Image
+      src={src}
+      alt={alt}
+      width={WIDTH}
+      height={HEIGHT}
+      // Not `priority`: this sits well below the fold on the about page, unlike the home hero where
+      // the equivalent poster *is* the LCP element.
+      sizes="280px"
+      className={clsx('absolute inset-0 w-full h-full object-cover', className)}
+    />
+  )
+}
+
+export function AlertDemo({
+  width = 'min(280px, 72vw)',
+  className,
+}: {
+  /** CSS width of the device frame. The frame is 780x1688, so height follows at ~2.16x this. */
+  width?: string
+  className?: string
+} = {}) {
+  const t = useT()
+
+  const label = t(
+    'about.alert.alt',
+    'Filtering Compass to a vegan atheist man aged 24 to 40 near Grenoble, finding nobody, saving the search, then receiving the email days later when someone matching it joins',
+  )
+
+  const shouldPlay = useShouldPlay()
+  const isDark = useIsDarkTheme()
+  const {poster, video} = ASSETS[isDark ? 'dark' : 'light']
+
+  return (
+    <div className={clsx('flex-1 flex items-center justify-center', className)}>
+      {/* Deeper, more offset shadow than the surrounding cards on purpose: this is a physical object
+          sitting on the panel, not another panel. It is the one place on the page where a heavy shadow
+          is doing representational work rather than signalling elevation. */}
+      <div
+        className="
+            relative rounded-[2.25rem] p-2
+            bg-canvas-100 ring-1 ring-canvas-200
+            shadow-[0_8px_16px_-8px_rgb(44_36_22/0.25),0_40px_80px_-32px_rgb(44_36_22/0.45)]
+          "
+        style={{width}}
+      >
+        <div
+          className="relative overflow-hidden rounded-[1.75rem] bg-canvas-50"
+          style={{aspectRatio: `${WIDTH} / ${HEIGHT}`}}
+        >
+          {/* Both posters ship and CSS picks one — `init-theme.js` sets the `dark` class before
+                first paint, so resolving the theme in JS here would paint the light one first and
+                visibly swap. `display: none` keeps the hidden one out of the accessibility tree, so
+                the shared alt text is announced once. */}
+          <Poster src={ASSETS.light.poster} alt={label} className="dark:hidden" />
+          <Poster src={ASSETS.dark.poster} alt={label} className="hidden dark:block" />
+          {shouldPlay && (
+            <video
+              key={video}
+              src={video}
+              poster={poster}
+              autoPlay
+              muted
+              loop
+              playsInline
+              aria-hidden
+              className="absolute inset-0 w-full h-full object-cover"
+            />
+          )}
+        </div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  )
+}
+
+export function SearchAlertDemo() {
+  const t = useT()
+
+  return (
+    <figure
+      className="
+        h-full flex flex-col
+        bg-canvas-50 border-[1.5px] border-canvas-200 rounded-2xl p-5 sm:p-7
+      "
+    >
+      <h3 className="font-bold text-ink-900 mb-2.5">
+        {t('about.alert.title', 'What happens after you search')}
+      </h3>
+      {/*<p className="text-sm text-ink-500 leading-relaxed mb-5">*/}
+      {/*  {t(*/}
+      {/*    'about.alert.claim',*/}
+      {/*    'Search for something specific enough that nobody matches it yet — and be told the day somebody does.',*/}
+      {/*  )}*/}
+      {/*</p>*/}
+
+      {/* Grows to fill the column so the phone centres against the stack of cards beside it rather
+          than pinning to the top of a taller card. */}
+      <AlertDemo />
+
+      {/*<figcaption className="text-sm text-ink-500 leading-relaxed mt-5">*/}
+      {/*  {t(*/}
+      {/*    'about.alert.caption',*/}
+      {/*    'The email is the real one, sent to people with saved searches. Daily at most, and only when somebody new actually matches.',*/}
+      {/*  )}*/}
+      {/*</figcaption>*/}
+    </figure>
+  )
+}
diff --git a/web/components/about/section.tsx b/web/components/about/section.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0082b330
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/components/about/section.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+import clsx from 'clsx'
+import {ReactNode} from 'react'
+import {eyebrow} from 'web/components/widgets/surface'
+
+/**
+ * Section chrome for the about page, extracted so that blocks which may render nothing can own their
+ * own heading.
+ *
+ * That is the whole reason this is not still inline in `pages/about.tsx`: several blocks on that page
+ * are live-queried and return null when the data is missing (`MemberGrowth`, `StatBand`,
+ * `RepoActivity`). A heading and a divider left behind by an absent block is worse
+ * than no section at all, so the label has to be inside the thing that decides whether to render.
+ *
+ * The surface/rhythm tokens this used to own now live in `widgets/surface.tsx`, because `/home` uses
+ * them too. What is left here is the chrome specific to the about page's left-aligned, rule-trailing
+ * section headings.
+ */
+
+export function SectionLabel({children}: {children: ReactNode}) {
+  return (
+    <div className="flex items-center gap-3 mb-5">
+      <span className={clsx(eyebrow, 'text-ink-700 shrink-0')}>{children}</span>
+      <div className="flex-1 h-px bg-gradient-to-r from-canvas-200 to-transparent" />
+    </div>
+  )
+}
+
+export function Divider() {
+  return (
+    <div className="h-px bg-gradient-to-r from-transparent via-canvas-200 to-transparent my-10" />
+  )
+}
diff --git a/web/components/about/vote-evidence.tsx b/web/components/about/vote-evidence.tsx
index e5d4b219..bcd1bd31 100644
--- a/web/components/about/vote-evidence.tsx
+++ b/web/components/about/vote-evidence.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import clsx from 'clsx'
 import Link from 'next/link'
+import {surface} from 'web/components/widgets/surface'
 import {useT} from 'web/lib/locale'
 
 /**
@@ -81,12 +82,12 @@ export function VoteEvidence() {
   )
 
   return (
-    <figure className="bg-canvas-50 border-[1.5px] border-canvas-200 rounded-2xl p-5 sm:p-7">
+    <figure className={clsx(surface, 'p-6 sm:p-8')}>
       {/* This was the "Democratic" feature card, moved down here verbatim. Asserting it one screen
           above its own evidence read as a duplicate; stated immediately before the vote that proves
           it, the claim and the proof are one thought. The translation keys are unchanged from the
           card, so the existing fr/de strings apply as they are. */}
-      <p className="text-base text-ink-900 leading-relaxed mb-3">
+      <p className="font-heading text-ink-900 text-xl sm:text-2xl leading-snug tracking-tight mb-3 max-w-2xl text-balance">
         {t('about.block.democratic.prefix', 'Governed and ')}
         {t('about.block.democratic.link_voted', 'voted')}
         {t(
@@ -99,7 +100,7 @@ export function VoteEvidence() {
         {t('about.block.democratic.suffix', '.')}
       </p>
 
-      <p className="text-sm text-ink-600 leading-relaxed mb-5">
+      <p className="text-sm text-ink-600 leading-relaxed mb-7 max-w-2xl">
         {t(
           'about.vote.intro',
           'Members propose changes, everyone votes, and the result is binding. This one added a step to signing up:',
@@ -113,12 +114,12 @@ export function VoteEvidence() {
         <Shot theme="dark" alt={alt} className="hidden dark:block" />
       </div>
 
-      <figcaption className="text-sm text-ink-500 leading-relaxed mt-4">
+      <figcaption className="text-sm text-ink-600 leading-relaxed mt-5">
         {t(
           'about.vote.caption',
           'Every proposal and tally is public — including the ones that lost. ',
         )}
-        <Link href="/vote" className="text-primary-500 hover:underline">
+        <Link href="/vote" className="font-medium text-primary-700 hover:underline">
           {t('about.vote.link', 'See all proposals →')}
         </Link>
       </figcaption>
diff --git a/web/components/auth/auth-form.tsx b/web/components/auth/auth-form.tsx
index 047116c3..7206dbb0 100644
--- a/web/components/auth/auth-form.tsx
+++ b/web/components/auth/auth-form.tsx
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ export function AuthSubmitButton({
       type="submit"
       disabled={isLoading}
       className={clsx(
-        'group relative w-full flex justify-center py-3.5 px-4 text-[15px] font-bold rounded-xl text-white bg-primary-500 shadow-[0_4px_16px_rgba(193,127,62,0.35)] transition-all duration-150 hover:bg-primary-600 hover:-translate-y-0.5 hover:shadow-[0_8px_24px_rgba(193,127,62,0.4)] focus:outline-none focus:ring-2 focus:ring-offset-2 focus:ring-primary-500',
+        'group relative w-full flex justify-center py-3.5 px-4 text-[15px] font-bold rounded-xl text-white bg-cta shadow-[0_4px_16px_rgba(193,127,62,0.35)] transition-all duration-150 hover:bg-cta-hover hover:-translate-y-0.5 hover:shadow-[0_8px_24px_rgba(193,127,62,0.4)] focus:outline-none focus:ring-2 focus:ring-offset-2 focus:ring-primary-500',
         isLoading && 'opacity-70 cursor-not-allowed hover:translate-y-0',
       )}
     >
diff --git a/web/components/buttons/button.tsx b/web/components/buttons/button.tsx
index a8e8f1b3..4fcf0a20 100644
--- a/web/components/buttons/button.tsx
+++ b/web/components/buttons/button.tsx
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ export type ColorType =
   | 'gold'
   | 'none'
   | 'primary'
+  | 'cta'
 
 const sizeClasses = {
   '2xs': 'px-2 py-1 text-xs',
@@ -53,12 +54,21 @@ export function buttonClass(size: SizeType, color: ColorType) {
     color === 'yellow-outline' && [outline, 'text-yellow-500 hover:bg-yellow-500'],
     color === 'blue' && [solid, 'bg-blue-400 hover:bg-blue-500'],
     color === 'sky-outline' && [outline, 'text-sky-500 hover:bg-sky-500'],
-    color === 'indigo' && [solid, 'bg-primary-500 hover:bg-primary-600'],
+    color === 'indigo' && [solid, 'bg-cta hover:bg-cta-hover'],
+    // The conversion CTA (sign-up). Distinct from 'primary', which is the *tinted* secondary
+    // (amber-on-tan) and is used as such in three other places — the sign-up button was borrowing it
+    // and so rendered as a low-emphasis pill. It also hardcodes `px-4 py-2 text-sm`, which silently
+    // fought the `size="xl"` its callers were passing.
+    color === 'cta' && [
+      solid,
+      '!rounded-xl bg-cta hover:bg-cta-hover shadow-[0_6px_20px_-8px_rgb(var(--color-cta)/0.75)]',
+    ],
     color === 'indigo-outline' && [outline, 'text-primary-500 hover:bg-primary-500'],
     color === 'gray' &&
       'bg-canvas-200 text-ink-900 disabled:bg-ink-200 disabled:text-ink-500 hover:bg-canvas-300 hover:text-ink-1000',
-    color === 'gray-outline' && [outline, 'text-ink-600 hover:bg-canvas-25'],
-    color === 'gradient' && [gradient, 'from-primary-500 to-primary-800'],
+    // ink-600 on the page canvas is 4.2:1 at 14px, just under AA; ink-700 clears it.
+    color === 'gray-outline' && [outline, 'text-ink-700 hover:bg-canvas-25'],
+    color === 'gradient' && [gradient, 'from-cta to-cta-deep'],
     color === 'gradient-pink' && [gradient, 'from-primary-500 to-fuchsia-500'],
     color === 'gray-white' &&
       'text-ink-500 hover:text-ink-900 disabled:text-ink-300 disabled:bg-transparent',
diff --git a/web/components/buttons/sign-up-button.tsx b/web/components/buttons/sign-up-button.tsx
index 96180a1b..c50db4e1 100644
--- a/web/components/buttons/sign-up-button.tsx
+++ b/web/components/buttons/sign-up-button.tsx
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ export const SidebarSignUpButton = (props: {className?: string}) => {
 
   return (
     <Col className={clsx('mt-4', className)}>
-      <Button color="gradient" size="xl" onClick={firebaseLogin} className="w-full">
+      <Button size="xl" onClick={firebaseLogin} className="w-full">
         Sign up
       </Button>
     </Col>
diff --git a/web/components/editor/sticky-format-menu.tsx b/web/components/editor/sticky-format-menu.tsx
index 0a285b3d..107e5d39 100644
--- a/web/components/editor/sticky-format-menu.tsx
+++ b/web/components/editor/sticky-format-menu.tsx
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ export function StickyFormatMenu(props: {
   const [iframeOpen, setIframeOpen] = useState(false)
 
   return (
-    <Row className="text-ink-600 h-8 items-center">
+    <Row className="text-ink-700 h-9 shrink-0 items-center border-t border-canvas-200 bg-canvas-50 px-1">
       <UploadButton key={'upload-button'} upload={upload} />
       {!hideEmbed && (
         <ToolbarButton
diff --git a/web/components/events/create-event-modal.tsx b/web/components/events/create-event-modal.tsx
index 4ba3cc89..8eb78dae 100644
--- a/web/components/events/create-event-modal.tsx
+++ b/web/components/events/create-event-modal.tsx
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ export function CreateEventModal(props: {
             <button
               type="submit"
               disabled={loading}
-              className="bg-primary-500 hover:bg-primary-600 text-white rounded-md px-4 py-2 text-sm font-medium disabled:opacity-50"
+              className="bg-cta hover:bg-cta-hover text-white rounded-md px-4 py-2 text-sm font-medium disabled:opacity-50"
             >
               {loading
                 ? isEditing
diff --git a/web/components/events/event-card.tsx b/web/components/events/event-card.tsx
index c10370cf..e67f6707 100644
--- a/web/components/events/event-card.tsx
+++ b/web/components/events/event-card.tsx
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ export function EventCard(props: {
               {!isRsvped && (
                 <button
                   onClick={() => onRsvp?.(event.id, 'going')}
-                  className="bg-primary-500 hover:bg-primary-600 text-white rounded-md px-3 py-1.5 text-sm font-medium"
+                  className="bg-cta hover:bg-cta-hover text-white rounded-md px-3 py-1.5 text-sm font-medium"
                 >
                   {t('events.going', 'Going')}
                 </button>
diff --git a/web/components/filters/search.tsx b/web/components/filters/search.tsx
index 47ca562d..73f432e7 100644
--- a/web/components/filters/search.tsx
+++ b/web/components/filters/search.tsx
@@ -234,9 +234,7 @@ export const Search = forwardRef<
             }}
             // size={'xs'}
             color={'none'}
-            className={
-              'text-white bg-primary-500 hover:bg-primary-400 rounded-xl text-xs transition-colors'
-            }
+            className={'text-white bg-cta hover:bg-cta-hover rounded-xl text-xs transition-colors'}
           >
             <Bell className="h-4 w-4 mr-1 hidden sm:flex" />{' '}
             {bookmarked
diff --git a/web/components/home/home.tsx b/web/components/home/home.tsx
index e4f52bb7..a13eb225 100644
--- a/web/components/home/home.tsx
+++ b/web/components/home/home.tsx
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
 import {AdjustmentsHorizontalIcon, EyeIcon, UsersIcon} from '@heroicons/react/24/outline'
+import clsx from 'clsx'
 import {discordLink, githubRepo} from 'common/constants'
 import Link from 'next/link'
 import {ComponentType, ReactNode, SVGProps, useEffect, useRef} from 'react'
 import {FaDiscord, FaGithub} from 'react-icons/fa'
 import {SearchDemo} from 'web/components/home/search-demo'
-import {Col} from 'web/components/layout/col'
 import {Row} from 'web/components/layout/row'
 import {SignUpButton} from 'web/components/nav/sidebar'
+import {Reveal} from 'web/components/widgets/reveal'
+import {eyebrow, Section, surface, surfaceHover} from 'web/components/widgets/surface'
 import {useUser} from 'web/hooks/use-user'
 import {useT} from 'web/lib/locale'
 
@@ -29,7 +31,7 @@ interface SocialAvatarProps {
 
 function EyebrowBadge({children}: {children: React.ReactNode}) {
   return (
-    <div className="inline-flex items-center gap-2 bg-canvas-200 text-primary-700 border border-primary-300 rounded-full px-4 py-1.5 text-sm font-semibold mb-8 animate-fade-up">
+    <div className="inline-flex items-center gap-2 bg-canvas-200 text-primary-700 ring-1 ring-primary-300 rounded-full px-4 py-1.5 text-sm font-semibold mb-8 animate-fade-up">
       {/*<span className="w-2 h-2 rounded-full bg-[#6B8F71] inline-block" />*/}
       {children}
     </div>
@@ -38,15 +40,8 @@ function EyebrowBadge({children}: {children: React.ReactNode}) {
 
 function FeatureCard({icon: Icon, title, text}: FeatureCardProps) {
   return (
-    <div
-      className="
-      group relative overflow-hidden
-      bg-canvas-50 border-[1.5px] border-canvas-200 rounded-2xl p-7
-      transition-all duration-200
-      hover:-translate-y-1 hover:shadow-[0_12px_32px_rgba(44,36,22,0.10)] hover:border-primary-500
-    "
-    >
-      <div className="w-11 h-11 rounded-xl bg-primary-100 border border-primary-200 flex items-center justify-center mb-5">
+    <div className={clsx(surface, surfaceHover, 'h-full p-6 sm:p-7')}>
+      <div className="w-11 h-11 rounded-xl bg-primary-100 ring-1 ring-primary-200 flex items-center justify-center mb-5">
         <Icon className="w-5 h-5 text-primary-600" strokeWidth={1.8} />
       </div>
       <h3 className="font-bold text-ink-1000 mb-2.5">{title}</h3>
@@ -90,18 +85,37 @@ function SocialProof({label}: {label: React.ReactNode}) {
   )
 }
 
+/**
+ * The manifesto line, promoted to the page's one statement block.
+ *
+ * It was a 16px italic paragraph in a card the same weight as the three feature tiles above it, which
+ * is an odd way to treat the sentence that states what the project is *for*. It is now the only body
+ * copy on the page set at display size, on the only tinted surface — the same role "One Mission" plays
+ * on /about, and deliberately the same treatment so the two pages read as one product.
+ */
 function QuoteBlock({children}: {children: React.ReactNode}) {
   return (
-    <div className="relative bg-canvas-50 border-[1.5px] border-canvas-200 rounded-2xl px-10 py-9 text-center max-w-2xl mx-auto mb-14">
+    <div
+      className={clsx(
+        'relative overflow-hidden rounded-2xl px-8 py-10 sm:px-14 sm:py-14',
+        'bg-gradient-to-br from-primary-100 via-canvas-50 to-canvas-50',
+        'dark:from-primary-900/25 dark:via-canvas-50 dark:to-canvas-50',
+        'ring-1 ring-primary-200',
+        'shadow-[0_1px_2px_rgb(44_36_22/0.04),0_16px_40px_-24px_rgb(44_36_22/0.35)]',
+        'dark:shadow-[inset_0_1px_0_rgb(255_255_255/0.05)]',
+      )}
+    >
       <svg
         aria-hidden
         viewBox="0 0 24 24"
         fill="currentColor"
-        className="absolute top-2 left-3 w-9 h-9 text-primary-500/30 select-none"
+        className="absolute -top-2 left-4 w-20 h-20 text-primary-500/15 select-none"
       >
         <path d="M9.5 5C6.46 5 4 7.46 4 10.5c0 2.9 2.24 5.27 5.08 5.48-.34 1.2-1.2 2.3-2.58 3.02a.6.6 0 0 0 .3 1.13c3.9-.5 6.7-3.78 6.7-8.13V10.5C13.5 7.46 11.04 5 9.5 5Zm9 0C15.46 5 13 7.46 13 10.5c0 2.9 2.24 5.27 5.08 5.48-.34 1.2-1.2 2.3-2.58 3.02a.6.6 0 0 0 .3 1.13c3.9-.5 6.7-3.78 6.7-8.13V10.5C22.5 7.46 20.04 5 18.5 5Z" />
       </svg>
-      <p className="relative z-10 text-base text-ink-600 italic leading-relaxed">{children}</p>
+      <p className="relative z-10 font-heading text-ink-900 text-[clamp(20px,2.6vw,32px)] leading-[1.3] tracking-tight max-w-3xl text-balance">
+        {children}
+      </p>
     </div>
   )
 }
@@ -116,30 +130,40 @@ function OpenSourceStrip({
   badges: {label: string; url: string; primary?: boolean; icon?: ReactNode}[]
 }) {
   return (
-    <div className="w-full max-w-3xl bg-canvas-950 dark:bg-canvas-300 rounded-2xl px-10 py-8 flex items-center justify-between gap-6 flex-wrap">
-      <div>
-        <h3 className="text-white text-xl font-bold mb-1.5">{title}</h3>
-        <p className="text-white/55 text-sm leading-relaxed">{description}</p>
-      </div>
-      <Row className="flex flex-wrap gap-4">
-        {badges.map((b) => (
-          <Link
-            href={b.url}
-            key={b.label}
-            className={`
-              inline-flex items-center gap-2 px-4 py-2 rounded-lg text-sm font-semibold border transition-all duration-150
-              ${
+    // `bg-canvas-950` in both themes rather than the old `dark:bg-canvas-300`. Inverting it made the
+    // closing block a *pale* slab on a dark page — the one element meant to read as the page's ending
+    // instead read as a hole punched in it. Espresso-on-cream and near-black-on-dark both land as the
+    // same gesture. Matches the closing strip on /about.
+    <div className="relative overflow-hidden w-full bg-canvas-950 rounded-3xl px-7 py-10 sm:px-12 sm:py-14">
+      <div
+        aria-hidden
+        className="pointer-events-none absolute -top-32 -right-20 w-[440px] h-[440px] rounded-full bg-primary-500/20 blur-3xl"
+      />
+      <div className="relative flex items-center justify-between gap-8 flex-wrap">
+        <div className="max-w-[520px]">
+          <h3 className="font-heading text-white text-[clamp(22px,2.4vw,32px)] font-bold leading-tight tracking-tight mb-3 text-balance">
+            {title}
+          </h3>
+          <p className="text-white/70 text-base leading-relaxed">{description}</p>
+        </div>
+        <Row className="flex flex-wrap gap-3">
+          {badges.map((b) => (
+            <Link
+              href={b.url}
+              key={b.label}
+              className={clsx(
+                'inline-flex items-center gap-2 px-5 py-2.5 rounded-xl text-sm font-semibold border transition-all duration-200 ease-out',
                 b.primary
-                  ? 'bg-primary-500 text-white border-primary-500 hover:bg-primary-600'
-                  : 'bg-primary-500/30 text-white/75 border-primary-500/30 hover:bg-primary-500/50'
-              }
-            `}
-          >
-            {b.icon}
-            {b.label}
-          </Link>
-        ))}
-      </Row>
+                  ? 'bg-cta text-white border-cta hover:bg-cta-hover shadow-[0_6px_20px_-6px_rgba(193,127,62,0.6)]'
+                  : 'bg-white/[0.06] text-white/70 border-white/10 hover:bg-white/[0.12] hover:text-white',
+              )}
+            >
+              {b.icon}
+              {b.label}
+            </Link>
+          ))}
+        </Row>
+      </div>
     </div>
   )
 }
@@ -247,14 +271,18 @@ export function LoggedOutHome() {
 
   return (
     <>
-      {/* Mobile sign-up CTA */}
+      {/* Mobile sign-up CTA.
+          The fixed positioning now lives on a wrapper rather than on the button itself. Previously the
+          button carried `w-full left-0 right-0 px-4`, so it spanned edge to edge and the `px-4` became
+          padding *inside* it instead of a gutter — a full-bleed slab with its corners cut off by the
+          viewport. The wrapper owns the gutter, the button keeps its radius.
+          The gradient backdrop fades page content out behind the bar as it scrolls under; it is
+          `pointer-events-none` so the transparent upper half does not swallow taps, with the button
+          itself opting back in. */}
       {user === null && (
-        <Col className="mb-4 gap-2 lg:hidden">
-          <SignUpButton
-            className="mt-4 flex-1 fixed bottom-[calc(55px+env(safe-area-inset-bottom))] w-full left-0 right-0 z-10 mx-auto px-4"
-            size="xl"
-          />
-        </Col>
+        <div className="lg:hidden fixed left-0 right-0 bottom-[calc(55px+env(safe-area-inset-bottom))] z-20 px-4 pb-3 pt-8 pointer-events-none bg-gradient-to-t from-canvas-100 via-canvas-100/90 to-transparent">
+          <SignUpButton className="pointer-events-auto" size="xl" />
+        </div>
       )}
 
       <div className="flex flex-col items-center w-full px-4 pb-16">
@@ -286,7 +314,11 @@ export function LoggedOutHome() {
               // <div>, so the global h1–h6 rule does not reach it — without this the two lines render in
               // different faces.
 
-              className="animate-fade-up font-heading font-semibold text-[clamp(52px,8vw,96px)] lg:text-[clamp(44px,5.4vw,84px)] leading-none tracking-tight text-primary-500 mb-9 flex items-center justify-center lg:justify-start min-h-[1.1em]"
+              // primary-600, not -500: at 69px this counts as large text, which needs 3:1, and the
+              // brand base measured 2.70:1 on the light canvas. One step down clears it at 3.71:1,
+              // and because the ramp inverts, the dark theme gets a *brighter* amber here (6.8:1)
+              // rather than a dimmer one.
+              className="animate-fade-up font-heading font-semibold text-[clamp(52px,8vw,96px)] lg:text-[clamp(44px,5.4vw,84px)] leading-none tracking-tight text-primary-600 mb-9 flex items-center justify-center lg:justify-start min-h-[1.1em]"
               style={{animationDelay: '80ms'}}
             >
               <span ref={typewriterRef} />
@@ -316,14 +348,18 @@ export function LoggedOutHome() {
               {user === null && (
                 <Link
                   href={'/register'}
-                  className="hidden sm:inline-flex items-center justify-center px-8 py-3.5 rounded-xl bg-primary-500 text-white font-bold text-[15px] shadow-[0_4px_16px_rgba(193,127,62,0.35)] hover:bg-primary-600 hover:-translate-y-0.5 hover:shadow-[0_8px_24px_rgba(193,127,62,0.4)] transition-all duration-150"
+                  className="hidden sm:inline-flex items-center justify-center px-8 py-3.5 rounded-xl bg-cta text-white font-bold text-[15px] shadow-[0_4px_16px_rgba(193,127,62,0.35)] hover:bg-cta-hover hover:-translate-y-0.5 hover:shadow-[0_8px_24px_rgba(193,127,62,0.4)] transition-all duration-150"
                 >
                   {t('home.cta.primary', 'Get started — free')}
                 </Link>
               )}
+              {/* Was a hardcoded `text-[#8B5E3C]`, which is a light-mode value: on the dark theme it
+                  rendered dark-brown-on-dark and all but disappeared (2.7:1). `ink-900` rather than a
+                  `primary-*` step because the ink ramp inverts reliably between themes, and it matches
+                  the outline buttons on /about. The accent stays on the border and the hover. */}
               <Link
                 href={'/about'}
-                className="px-7 py-3.5 rounded-xl bg-transparent text-[#8B5E3C] font-semibold text-[15px] border-2 border-canvas-200 hover:border-primary-500 hover:text-primary-500 hover:-translate-y-0.5 transition-all duration-150"
+                className="px-7 py-3.5 rounded-xl bg-transparent text-ink-900 font-semibold text-[15px] border-2 border-canvas-200 hover:border-primary-500 hover:text-primary-500 hover:-translate-y-0.5 transition-all duration-200 ease-out"
               >
                 {t('home.cta.secondary', 'Learn how it works')}
               </Link>
@@ -348,47 +384,63 @@ export function LoggedOutHome() {
           <SearchDemo />
         </section>
 
-        {/* Divider */}
-        <div className="w-full max-w-3xl h-px bg-gradient-to-r from-transparent via-[#D8D0C4] to-transparent mb-14" />
+        {/* Every section below the hero shares the hero's container instead of stepping through
+            max-w-3xl / 4xl / 2xl / 3xl as it used to. Those four different widths gave the page a
+            ragged left and right edge all the way down; the measure is now capped on the text inside
+            each block rather than on the blocks themselves. The gradient divider that used to sit here
+            is gone with it — `Section`'s rhythm separates them without a drawn rule. */}
+        <div className="w-full max-w-6xl">
+          {/* ── Features ── */}
+          <Section>
+            <p className={clsx(eyebrow, 'text-center text-primary-700 mb-3')}>
+              {t('home.features.label', 'Why Compass')}
+            </p>
+            <h2 className="text-center text-[clamp(26px,3.4vw,40px)] text-ink-1000 tracking-tight mb-12 text-balance">
+              {t('home.features.title', 'Built different. On purpose.')}
+            </h2>
+            <div className="grid md:grid-cols-3 gap-4 sm:gap-5">
+              {features.map((f, i) => (
+                <Reveal key={f.title} delay={i * 70}>
+                  <FeatureCard {...f} />
+                </Reveal>
+              ))}
+            </div>
+          </Section>
 
-        {/* ── Features ── */}
-        <section className="w-full max-w-4xl mb-14">
-          <p className="text-center text-xs font-bold tracking-[1.5px] uppercase text-primary-500 mb-3">
-            {t('home.features.label', 'Why Compass')}
-          </p>
-          <h2 className="text-center text-[clamp(24px,3vw,32px)] text-ink-1000 tracking-tight mb-10">
-            {t('home.features.title', 'Built different. On purpose.')}
-          </h2>
-          <div className="grid md:grid-cols-3 gap-5">
-            {features.map((f) => (
-              <FeatureCard key={f.title} {...f} />
-            ))}
-          </div>
-        </section>
+          {/* ── Quote ── */}
+          <Section>
+            <Reveal>
+              <QuoteBlock>
+                {t('home.quote.prefix', 'Compass is to human connection what ')}
+                <strong className="text-primary-700">{t('home.quote.linux', 'Linux')}</strong>
+                {t('home.quote.linux_suffix', ' is to software, ')}
+                <strong className="text-primary-700">
+                  {t('home.quote.wikipedia', 'Wikipedia')}
+                </strong>
+                {t('home.quote.wikipedia_suffix', ' is to knowledge, and ')}
+                <strong className="text-primary-700">{t('home.quote.firefox', 'Firefox')}</strong>
+                {t('home.quote.end', ' is to browsing — a public digital good designed to ')}
+                <strong className="text-primary-700">
+                  {t('home.quote.mission', 'serve people, not profit.')}
+                </strong>
+              </QuoteBlock>
+            </Reveal>
+          </Section>
 
-        {/* ── Quote ── */}
-        <QuoteBlock>
-          {t('home.quote.prefix', 'Compass is to human connection what ')}
-          <strong className="text-ink-900">{t('home.quote.linux', 'Linux')}</strong>
-          {t('home.quote.linux_suffix', ' is to software, ')}
-          <strong className="text-ink-900">{t('home.quote.wikipedia', 'Wikipedia')}</strong>
-          {t('home.quote.wikipedia_suffix', ' is to knowledge, and ')}
-          <strong className="text-ink-900">{t('home.quote.firefox', 'Firefox')}</strong>
-          {t('home.quote.end', ' is to browsing — a public digital good designed to ')}
-          <strong className="text-ink-900">
-            {t('home.quote.mission', 'serve people, not profit.')}
-          </strong>
-        </QuoteBlock>
-
-        {/* ── Open source strip ── */}
-        <OpenSourceStrip
-          title={t('home.strip.title', 'Open Source & Free Forever')}
-          description={t(
-            'home.strip.description',
-            'No venture capital. No ads. No subscription fees. Built transparently by the community, for the community.',
-          )}
-          badges={openSourceBadges}
-        />
+          {/* ── Open source strip ── */}
+          <Section>
+            <Reveal>
+              <OpenSourceStrip
+                title={t('home.strip.title', 'Open Source & Free Forever')}
+                description={t(
+                  'home.strip.description',
+                  'No venture capital. No ads. No subscription fees. Built transparently by the community, for the community.',
+                )}
+                badges={openSourceBadges}
+              />
+            </Reveal>
+          </Section>
+        </div>
       </div>
 
       {/* Mobile bottom spacing */}
diff --git a/web/components/messaging/send-message-button.tsx b/web/components/messaging/send-message-button.tsx
index 8b054d3a..bf0694f0 100644
--- a/web/components/messaging/send-message-button.tsx
+++ b/web/components/messaging/send-message-button.tsx
@@ -263,122 +263,147 @@ export const SendMessageButton = (props: {
             why the top of a long message and the image/emoji toolbar became unreachable. Keeping
             children at their natural height makes the panel itself overflow, which `overflow-y-auto`
             then scrolls. */}
-        <Col
-          ref={scrollRef}
-          className={clsx(MODAL_CLASS, '!h-auto max-h-[85vh] overflow-y-auto pb-5 [&>*]:shrink-0')}
-        >
-          {/* Header. Follows the Compose Modal design: portrait, an uppercase "writing to" eyebrow,
+        <Col className={clsx(MODAL_CLASS, '!h-auto max-h-[85vh] overflow-hidden pb-5 !gap-0')}>
+          {/* Split into a scrolling region and a pinned footer.
+              Everything used to live in one scrolling column, so the progress bar and the send button
+              — the two things telling you whether you may send yet — drifted off the bottom as soon as
+              the message got long. They are now outside the scroller entirely and cannot move.
+              `min-h-0` on the scroller is load-bearing: a flex child's default `min-height: auto`
+              refuses to shrink below its content, so without it the region would grow past the panel
+              and push the footer out again — the same class of bug as the `[&>*]:shrink-0` note. */}
+          <Col
+            ref={scrollRef}
+            className={'w-full flex-1 min-h-0 overflow-y-auto gap-4 [&>*]:shrink-0'}
+          >
+            {/* Header. Follows the Compose Modal design: portrait, an uppercase "writing to" eyebrow,
               then the serif title and a hairline. The earlier full-bleed gradient band competed with
               the content it was introducing. */}
-          <Col className={'w-full'}>
-            <Row className={'items-center gap-3.5 mb-6'}>
-              {profile.pinned_url && (
-                <img
-                  src={profile.pinned_url}
-                  alt=""
-                  className={'h-13 w-13 rounded-full object-cover border border-canvas-200'}
-                  style={{width: 52, height: 52}}
-                />
-              )}
-              <Col className={'gap-0.5'}>
-                <span
-                  className={
-                    'text-primary-600 text-[11px] font-semibold uppercase tracking-[0.09em]'
-                  }
-                >
-                  {t('send_message.writing_to', 'Writing to')}
-                </span>
-                <span className={'text-ink-900 text-[17px] font-semibold leading-tight'}>
-                  {toUser.name}
-                </span>
-              </Col>
-            </Row>
+            <Col className={'w-full'}>
+              <Row className={'items-center gap-3.5 mb-6'}>
+                {profile.pinned_url && (
+                  <img
+                    src={profile.pinned_url}
+                    alt=""
+                    className={'h-13 w-13 rounded-full object-cover border border-canvas-200'}
+                    style={{width: 52, height: 52}}
+                  />
+                )}
+                <Col className={'gap-0.5'}>
+                  <span
+                    className={
+                      'text-primary-600 text-[11px] font-semibold uppercase tracking-[0.09em]'
+                    }
+                  >
+                    {t('send_message.writing_to', 'Writing to')}
+                  </span>
+                  <span className={'text-ink-900 text-[17px] font-semibold leading-tight'}>
+                    {toUser.name}
+                  </span>
+                </Col>
+              </Row>
 
-            <h2
-              className={
-                'font-heading text-[32px] font-medium leading-[1.15] text-ink-1000 !mt-0 mb-3'
-              }
-            >
-              {t('send_message.title', 'Start a meaningful conversation')}
-            </h2>
-            <p className={'text-ink-500 text-[15px] leading-[1.55] max-w-[92%]'}>
-              {t(
-                'send_message.guidance',
-                'Compass is about depth. Take a moment to write something genuine.',
-              )}
-            </p>
-            <div className={'h-px bg-canvas-200 mt-6'} />
-          </Col>
+              <h2
+                className={
+                  'font-heading text-[32px] font-medium leading-[1.15] text-ink-1000 !mt-0 mb-3'
+                }
+              >
+                {t('send_message.title', 'Start a meaningful conversation')}
+              </h2>
+              <p className={'text-ink-500 text-[15px] leading-[1.55] max-w-[92%]'}>
+                {t(
+                  'send_message.guidance',
+                  'Compass is about depth. Take a moment to write something genuine.',
+                )}
+              </p>
+              <div className={'h-px bg-canvas-200 mt-6'} />
+            </Col>
 
-          {/* skipEmailVerification is dev-only and cannot be enabled in a production build; the API
+            {/* skipEmailVerification is dev-only and cannot be enabled in a production build; the API
               still rejects unverified senders. See web/lib/dev-flags.ts. */}
-          {firebaseUser?.emailVerified || skipEmailVerification ? (
-            <>
-              {/* Topics box: a 40% tint rather than solid canvas-100. At full strength the fill sat a
+            {firebaseUser?.emailVerified || skipEmailVerification ? (
+              <>
+                {/* Topics box: a 40% tint rather than solid canvas-100. At full strength the fill sat a
                   whole step away from the modal's canvas-50 surface and read as a separate panel. The
                   border is what defines the box; the fill only needs to hint at it. Works in both
                   themes, since canvas-100 sits on the far side of canvas-50 either way. */}
-              {!!profile.keywords?.length && (
-                <div
-                  className={
-                    'w-full bg-canvas-100/80 border border-canvas-200 rounded-2xl p-[18px]'
-                  }
-                >
-                  <p className={'text-primary-600 mb-3 text-[12.5px] font-semibold'}>
-                    {t('send_message.keywords_hint', `Insert some of {name}'s topics`, {
-                      name: firstName,
-                    })}
-                  </p>
-                  <div className={'flex flex-wrap gap-[9px]'}>
-                    {profile.keywords.map((k) => (
-                      <button
-                        key={k}
-                        type={'button'}
-                        onClick={() => toggleChip(k)}
-                        // Same chip language as the filter rail, so selecting a topic here reads the
-                        // same as narrowing a search there.
-                        className={clsx(
-                          'inline-flex items-center gap-1.5 text-[13.5px] font-medium px-[15px] py-2 rounded-full border transition-colors duration-150 whitespace-nowrap',
-                          insertedChips.includes(k)
-                            ? 'bg-primary-500 border-primary-500 text-white'
-                            : 'bg-canvas-0 border-canvas-300 text-ink-700 hover:bg-primary-50 hover:border-primary-400',
-                        )}
-                      >
-                        {insertedChips.includes(k) && (
-                          <CheckIcon className={'h-3 w-3'} strokeWidth={3} />
-                        )}
-                        {k}
-                      </button>
-                    ))}
+                {!!profile.keywords?.length && (
+                  <div
+                    className={
+                      'w-full bg-canvas-100/80 border border-canvas-200 rounded-2xl p-[18px]'
+                    }
+                  >
+                    <p className={'text-primary-600 mb-3 text-[12.5px] font-semibold'}>
+                      {t('send_message.keywords_hint', `Insert some of {name}'s topics`, {
+                        name: firstName,
+                      })}
+                    </p>
+                    <div className={'flex flex-wrap gap-[9px]'}>
+                      {profile.keywords.map((k) => (
+                        <button
+                          key={k}
+                          type={'button'}
+                          onClick={() => toggleChip(k)}
+                          // Same chip language as the filter rail, so selecting a topic here reads the
+                          // same as narrowing a search there.
+                          className={clsx(
+                            'inline-flex items-center gap-1.5 text-[13.5px] font-medium px-[15px] py-2 rounded-full border transition-colors duration-150 whitespace-nowrap',
+                            insertedChips.includes(k)
+                              ? 'bg-cta border-cta text-white'
+                              : 'bg-canvas-0 border-canvas-300 text-ink-700 hover:bg-primary-50 hover:border-primary-400',
+                          )}
+                        >
+                          {insertedChips.includes(k) && (
+                            <CheckIcon className={'h-3 w-3'} strokeWidth={3} />
+                          )}
+                          {k}
+                        </button>
+                      ))}
+                    </div>
                   </div>
-                </div>
-              )}
-              {/* No wrapper here. TextEditor already draws its own bordered shell
+                )}
+                {/* No wrapper here. TextEditor already draws its own bordered shell
                   (`border-ink-300 ... rounded-lg` in editor.tsx), so adding one produced two nested
                   outlines. Restyle that single shell instead — `!` because clsx just concatenates and
                   the base classes would otherwise win by stylesheet order. */}
-              {/* Plain wrapper purely so the effect above has something whose height it can observe;
+                {/* Plain wrapper purely so the effect above has something whose height it can observe;
                   it stretches like any flex child, so it doesn't change the layout. */}
-              <div ref={editorWrapRef} className={'w-full'}>
-                <CommentInputTextArea
-                  editor={editor}
-                  user={currentUser}
-                  submit={sendMessage}
-                  isSubmitting={!editor || submitting}
-                  isDisabled={charCount < MIN_CHARS}
-                  hideSubmitButton
-                  submitOnEnter={false}
-                  // max-h-none: let the editor grow and let the *modal* do the scrolling instead of
-                  // trapping the message in a ~25vh inner scroller. That inner box made it awkward to
-                  // scroll back to the top of a long message, and pushed the image/emoji toolbar —
-                  // which sits below it — out of reach on shorter windows.
-                  maxHeight={'max-h-none'}
-                  className={
-                    '!rounded-2xl !border-[1.5px] !border-canvas-200 !bg-canvas-0/50 !shadow-none focus-within:!border-primary-400 focus-within:!ring-0'
-                  }
-                />
-              </div>
+                <div ref={editorWrapRef} className={'w-full'}>
+                  <CommentInputTextArea
+                    editor={editor}
+                    user={currentUser}
+                    submit={sendMessage}
+                    isSubmitting={!editor || submitting}
+                    isDisabled={charCount < MIN_CHARS}
+                    hideSubmitButton
+                    submitOnEnter={false}
+                    // max-h-none: let the editor grow and let the *modal* do the scrolling instead of
+                    // trapping the message in a ~25vh inner scroller. That inner box made it awkward to
+                    // scroll back to the top of a long message, and pushed the image/emoji toolbar —
+                    // which sits below it — out of reach on shorter windows.
+                    maxHeight={'max-h-none'}
+                    className={
+                      '!rounded-2xl !border-[1.5px] !border-canvas-200 !bg-canvas-0/50 !shadow-none focus-within:!border-primary-400 focus-within:!ring-0'
+                    }
+                  />
+                </div>
+              </>
+            ) : (
+              <EmailVerificationPrompt t={t} className="max-w-xl" />
+            )}
+            {error && (
+              <span
+                className={
+                  'text-red-600 bg-red-50 border border-red-200 rounded-lg px-3 py-2 text-sm mt-2'
+                }
+              >
+                {error}
+              </span>
+            )}
+          </Col>
 
+          {/* Pinned footer — outside the scroller, so it is visible no matter how long the message is. */}
+          {(firebaseUser?.emailVerified || skipEmailVerification) && (
+            <Col className={'w-full shrink-0 gap-3.5 pt-4'}>
               {/* Progress toward the minimum length, with the count beside it. */}
               <div className={'w-full flex items-center gap-3.5'}>
                 <div className={'h-[5px] flex-1 rounded-full bg-canvas-200 overflow-hidden'}>
@@ -409,18 +434,7 @@ export const SendMessageButton = (props: {
                       count: MIN_CHARS - charCount,
                     })}
               </button>
-            </>
-          ) : (
-            <EmailVerificationPrompt t={t} className="max-w-xl" />
-          )}
-          {error && (
-            <span
-              className={
-                'text-red-600 bg-red-50 border border-red-200 rounded-lg px-3 py-2 text-sm mt-2'
-              }
-            >
-              {error}
-            </span>
+            </Col>
           )}
         </Col>
       </Modal>
diff --git a/web/components/multi-checkbox.tsx b/web/components/multi-checkbox.tsx
index 00a678c2..bce5bbb2 100644
--- a/web/components/multi-checkbox.tsx
+++ b/web/components/multi-checkbox.tsx
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ function OptionChip(props: {
         'focus-within:ring-2 focus-within:ring-primary-400 focus-within:ring-offset-1 focus-within:ring-offset-canvas-50',
         disabled && 'cursor-not-allowed opacity-50',
         checked
-          ? 'border-primary-500 bg-primary-500 text-white shadow-[0_2px_8px_rgba(193,127,62,0.28)]'
+          ? 'border-cta bg-cta text-white shadow-[0_2px_8px_rgba(193,127,62,0.28)]'
           : 'border-canvas-300 bg-canvas-0 text-ink-600 hover:border-primary-400 hover:text-primary-700',
       )}
     >
diff --git a/web/components/nav/sidebar.tsx b/web/components/nav/sidebar.tsx
index c62ed7ca..f51a9b0d 100644
--- a/web/components/nav/sidebar.tsx
+++ b/web/components/nav/sidebar.tsx
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ export const SignUpButton = (props: {
 
   return (
     <Button
-      color={color ?? 'gradient'}
+      color={color ?? 'cta'}
       size={size ?? 'xl'}
       onClick={startSignup}
       className={clsx('w-full', className)}
diff --git a/web/components/optional-profile-form.tsx b/web/components/optional-profile-form.tsx
index bb18453d..24002640 100644
--- a/web/components/optional-profile-form.tsx
+++ b/web/components/optional-profile-form.tsx
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import {InformationCircleIcon} from '@heroicons/react/24/outline'
 import * as Sentry from '@sentry/node'
 import {Editor} from '@tiptap/react'
 import clsx from 'clsx'
@@ -60,6 +61,14 @@ import {AddPhotosWidget} from './widgets/add-photos'
 
 const DEFAULT_PREF_GENDER_VALUES = ['female', 'male']
 
+const BIG5_KEYS = [
+  'big5_openness',
+  'big5_conscientiousness',
+  'big5_extraversion',
+  'big5_agreeableness',
+  'big5_neuroticism',
+] as const
+
 function PrefGenderCheckbox(props: {
   profile: ProfileWithoutUser
   setProfile: <K extends keyof ProfileWithoutUser>(key: K, value: ProfileWithoutUser[K]) => void
@@ -87,7 +96,7 @@ function PrefGenderCheckbox(props: {
       {!showAll && (
         <button
           type="button"
-          className="text-primary-600 mt-1 text-sm"
+          className="text-primary-700 mt-1 text-sm font-medium hover:underline"
           onClick={() => setShowAll(true)}
         >
           {t('profile.gender.show_more', 'Show more options')}
@@ -134,6 +143,9 @@ export const OptionalProfileUserForm = (props: {
   const heightInches =
     typeof profile.height_in_inches === 'number' ? profile.height_in_inches % 12 : undefined
 
+  const anyBig5Set = BIG5_KEYS.some((k) => typeof profile[k] === 'number')
+  const resetBig5 = () => BIG5_KEYS.forEach((k) => setProfile(k, null))
+
   const [isExtracting, setIsExtracting] = useState(false)
   const [parsingEditor, setParsingEditor] = useState<any>(null)
   const [extractionProgress, setExtractionProgress] = useState(0)
@@ -358,13 +370,26 @@ export const OptionalProfileUserForm = (props: {
 
   return (
     <>
-      <Col className={'gap-8 max-w-3xl'}>
-        <p className={'guidance'}>
-          {t(
-            'profile.optional.subtitle',
-            'Although all the fields below are optional, they will help people better understand you and connect with you.',
-          )}
-        </p>
+      {/* `pb-32`: the bio editor is the last element on the page, so when it is focused there is
+          nothing below it to scroll into — the document simply ends, and no amount of
+          `scrollIntoView` can lift its toolbar off the bottom edge. This reserves scrollable room
+          below the form so the toolbar can clear the viewport edge (and the floating submit button). */}
+      <Col className={'gap-8 max-w-3xl pb-32'}>
+        {/* This sentence is the single most abandonment-reducing thing on the page — it tells you the
+            eighteen sections below are all skippable. It was rendered in `.guidance`: 14px at 70%
+            opacity, i.e. styled like fine print, which is exactly backwards. */}
+        <div className="flex items-start gap-3 rounded-xl bg-primary-100/60 ring-1 ring-primary-200 p-4">
+          <InformationCircleIcon
+            className="w-5 h-5 text-primary-700 shrink-0 mt-0.5"
+            strokeWidth={1.8}
+          />
+          <p className="text-sm text-ink-700 leading-relaxed">
+            {t(
+              'profile.optional.subtitle',
+              'Although all the fields below are optional, they will help people better understand you and connect with you.',
+            )}
+          </p>
+        </div>
         <Category title={t('profile.llm.extract.title', 'Auto-fill')} className={'mt-0'} />
         <LLMExtractSection
           parsingEditor={parsingEditor}
@@ -379,8 +404,8 @@ export const OptionalProfileUserForm = (props: {
             {extractionError}
           </p>
         )}
-        <hr className="border border-b my-4" />
-
+        {/* The rule that used to sit here (`border border-b`, which draws two) is now owned by
+            `Category` itself, so every section boundary is drawn the same way. */}
         <Category
           title={t('profile.optional.category.personal_info', 'Personal Information')}
           className={'mt-0'}
@@ -437,7 +462,7 @@ export const OptionalProfileUserForm = (props: {
             {!showAllGenders && (
               <button
                 type="button"
-                className="text-primary-600 mt-1 text-sm"
+                className="text-primary-700 mt-1 text-sm font-medium hover:underline"
                 onClick={() => setShowAllGenders(true)}
               >
                 {t('profile.gender.show_more', 'Show more options')}
@@ -797,7 +822,7 @@ export const OptionalProfileUserForm = (props: {
                 {!showAllOrientations && (
                   <button
                     type="button"
-                    className="text-primary-600 mt-1 text-sm"
+                    className="text-primary-700 mt-1 text-sm font-medium hover:underline"
                     onClick={() => setShowAllOrientations(true)}
                   >
                     {t('profile.orientation.show_more', 'Show more options')}
@@ -1038,15 +1063,36 @@ export const OptionalProfileUserForm = (props: {
 
         {/* Big Five personality traits (0–100) */}
         <Col className={clsx(colClassName)}>
-          <label className={clsx(labelClassName)}>
-            {t('profile.big5', 'Big Five Personality Traits')}
-          </label>
+          <Row className="w-full items-center justify-between gap-3">
+            <label className={clsx(labelClassName)}>
+              {t('profile.big5', 'Big Five Personality Traits')}
+            </label>
+            {/* A slider cannot express "unset": drag one and there is no gesture that puts it back,
+                so before this the first accidental touch permanently committed a score. Clearing
+                writes `null` rather than `undefined` on purpose — the edit path
+                (`pages/profile.tsx`) strips undefined but persists null, so undefined would silently
+                leave the old value in the database. Signup strips both, which is also correct there:
+                an unset trait should not be sent at all. */}
+            {anyBig5Set && (
+              <button
+                type="button"
+                onClick={resetBig5}
+                className="text-sm font-medium text-primary-700 hover:underline shrink-0"
+              >
+                {t('profile.big5_reset', 'Reset')}
+              </button>
+            )}
+          </Row>
           <p className="guidance custom-link">
             {t(
               'profile.big5_guidance',
               'The Big Five personality trait model is a scientific model that groups variation in personality into five separate factors (',
             )}
-            <CustomLink href={'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits'}>
+            {/* CustomLink ships no colour of its own, so this inherited a 2.70:1 amber. */}
+            <CustomLink
+              href={'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits'}
+              className="text-primary-700 font-medium hover:underline"
+            >
               {t('profile.big5_wikipedia_link', 'Wikipedia article')}
             </CustomLink>
             {t(
@@ -1062,30 +1108,35 @@ export const OptionalProfileUserForm = (props: {
             <Big5Slider
               label={t('profile.big5_openness', 'Openness')}
               value={profile.big5_openness ?? 50}
+              isSet={typeof profile.big5_openness === 'number'}
               onChange={(v) => setProfile('big5_openness', v)}
             />
             <Big5Slider
               label={t('profile.big5_conscientiousness', 'Conscientiousness')}
               value={profile.big5_conscientiousness ?? 50}
+              isSet={typeof profile.big5_conscientiousness === 'number'}
               onChange={(v) => setProfile('big5_conscientiousness', v)}
             />
             <Big5Slider
               label={t('profile.big5_extraversion', 'Extraversion')}
               value={profile.big5_extraversion ?? 50}
+              isSet={typeof profile.big5_extraversion === 'number'}
               onChange={(v) => setProfile('big5_extraversion', v)}
             />
             <Big5Slider
               label={t('profile.big5_agreeableness', 'Agreeableness')}
               value={profile.big5_agreeableness ?? 50}
+              isSet={typeof profile.big5_agreeableness === 'number'}
               onChange={(v) => setProfile('big5_agreeableness', v)}
             />
             <Big5Slider
               label={t('profile.big5_neuroticism', 'Neuroticism')}
               value={profile.big5_neuroticism ?? 50}
+              isSet={typeof profile.big5_neuroticism === 'number'}
               onChange={(v) => setProfile('big5_neuroticism', v)}
             />
           </div>
-          <p className="text-sm text-ink-500">
+          <p className="text-sm text-ink-700">
             {t(
               'profile.big5_hint',
               'Drag each slider to set where you see yourself on these traits (0 = low, 100 = high).',
@@ -1305,7 +1356,10 @@ export const OptionalProfileUserForm = (props: {
             loading={isSubmitting}
             onClick={handleSubmit}
             size={'xl'}
-            color={'primary'}
+            // Was `primary` — the *tinted secondary* variant. This is the button that actually
+            // creates the account at the end of a 7,500px form; it should not be the quietest
+            // control on screen.
+            color={'cta'}
           >
             {buttonLabel ?? t('common.next', 'Next')}
           </Button>
@@ -1360,18 +1414,56 @@ const CitySearchBox = (props: {onCitySelected: (city: City | undefined) => void}
   )
 }
 
+/**
+ * Section header for the long optional-profile form.
+ *
+ * This form is ~7,500px of a single flat column holding eighteen of these. Previously each was a bare
+ * `text-xl` heading pulled *closer* to its fields by a `mb-[-8px]` hack, so there was no visual
+ * boundary between one section and the next — "Work" ended and "Political beliefs" began with nothing
+ * between them but a slightly bolder line of text, and a filler had no way to see how the form was
+ * organised or where they were in it.
+ *
+ * A rule plus real leading space does the grouping without restructuring 1,300 lines of field markup:
+ * the header now closes the previous section as much as it opens its own. The negative margin is gone
+ * — the parent `Col` already supplies `gap-8`, which is the spacing this was fighting.
+ */
 function Category({title, className}: {title: string; className?: string}) {
-  return <h3 className={clsx('text-xl font-semibold mb-[-8px]', className)}>{title}</h3>
+  return (
+    // `mt-6` on top of the parent's `gap-8`, against `pt-5` below: the rule has to sit closer to the
+    // heading it introduces than to the section it closes, or it reads as a trailing underline for the
+    // previous block. Even spacing on both sides is the default mistake here.
+    <div className={clsx('w-full border-t border-canvas-200 mt-6 pt-5', className)}>
+      {/* `!mt-0`: the global h1–h6 rule puts a 24px margin on this, which silently doubled the space
+          below the rule and made the spacing symmetric again. It is also what the old `mb-[-8px]` on
+          this component was compensating for. */}
+      <h3 className="font-heading text-2xl font-bold tracking-tight text-ink-900 !mt-0">{title}</h3>
+    </div>
+  )
 }
 
-const Big5Slider = (props: {label: string; value: number; onChange: (v: number) => void}) => {
-  const {label, value, onChange} = props
+/**
+ * `isSet` distinguishes "I am a 50" from "I have not answered this".
+ *
+ * The slider has no null position — an untouched trait has to render *somewhere*, and it renders at
+ * the midpoint. Without a readout that says otherwise, an untouched form looks like five deliberate
+ * 50s, and submitting it would claim five personality scores the user never gave.
+ */
+const Big5Slider = (props: {
+  label: string
+  value: number
+  isSet: boolean
+  onChange: (v: number) => void
+}) => {
+  const {label, value, isSet, onChange} = props
   return (
     <div>
-      <div className="mb-1 flex items-center justify-between text-sm text-ink-600">
+      <div className="mb-1 flex items-center justify-between text-sm text-ink-700">
         <span>{label}</span>
-        <span className="font-semibold text-ink-700" data-testid={`${label.toLowerCase()}-value`}>
-          {Math.round(value)}
+        <span
+          className={clsx('font-semibold', isSet ? 'text-ink-700' : 'text-ink-600')}
+          data-testid={`${label.toLowerCase()}-value`}
+        >
+          {isSet ? Math.round(value) : '–'}
         </span>
       </div>
       <Slider
diff --git a/web/components/widgets/choices-toggle-group.tsx b/web/components/widgets/choices-toggle-group.tsx
index 9a64a2e7..346f280b 100644
--- a/web/components/widgets/choices-toggle-group.tsx
+++ b/web/components/widgets/choices-toggle-group.tsx
@@ -5,10 +5,10 @@ import {useT} from 'web/lib/locale'
 
 const colorClasses = {
   'indigo-dark':
-    'text-ink-500 hover:bg-primary-100 hover:text-ink-700 aria-checked:bg-primary-500 aria-checked:text-white',
-  indigo: 'text-ink-500 hover:bg-ink-50 aria-checked:bg-primary-100 aria-checked:text-primary-900',
-  green: 'text-ink-500 hover:bg-ink-50 aria-checked:bg-teal-500 aria-checked:text-ink-0',
-  red: 'text-ink-500 hover:bg-ink-50 aria-checked:bg-scarlet-500 aria-checked:text-ink-0',
+    'text-ink-700 hover:bg-primary-100 hover:text-ink-700 aria-checked:bg-cta aria-checked:text-white',
+  indigo: 'text-ink-700 hover:bg-ink-50 aria-checked:bg-primary-100 aria-checked:text-primary-900',
+  green: 'text-ink-700 hover:bg-ink-50 aria-checked:bg-teal-500 aria-checked:text-ink-0',
+  red: 'text-ink-700 hover:bg-ink-50 aria-checked:bg-scarlet-500 aria-checked:text-ink-0',
 }
 
 export type ColorType = keyof typeof colorClasses
diff --git a/web/components/widgets/country-spread.tsx b/web/components/widgets/country-spread.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..150e68d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/components/widgets/country-spread.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+import {CountryCount} from 'common/stats'
+import {useAPIGetter} from 'web/hooks/use-api-getter'
+import {useT} from 'web/lib/locale'
+
+/**
+ * Where members are, as a ranked bar list (A5 in docs/marketing-visuals.md).
+ *
+ * Lives in `widgets/` rather than `components/about/` because it is used from `/stats`, which is where
+ * it ended up: it is a distribution readout for someone who came to read numbers, and the about page
+ * only needed one claim about reach, which the member count already carries.
+ *
+ * Takes its data as props when the caller already has it — `/stats` fetches the whole `stats` payload
+ * for the page — and falls back to fetching for standalone use. Passing `undefined` props to
+ * `useAPIGetter` makes it skip the request rather than firing a duplicate.
+ *
+ * Renders **nothing** below a handful of countries, and nothing at all when the data is missing: an
+ * empty frame claims more than it shows.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Below this there is not enough of a spread to be worth drawing bars for. Exported because a caller
+ * that puts this in a column of its own has to know whether the column will be empty *before* laying
+ * it out — a hidden child still leaves the grid track behind.
+ */
+export const MIN_COUNTRIES = 3
+
+function CountryBar({row, max}: {row: CountryCount; max: number}) {
+  // Widths are relative to the largest country, not to the total. Against the total the long tail
+  // collapses into slivers of identical apparent length and the ranking stops being readable.
+  const pct = Math.max(2, Math.round((row.count / max) * 100))
+  return (
+    <div className="flex items-center gap-3">
+      <div className="w-28 shrink-0 text-sm text-ink-600 truncate" title={row.country}>
+        {row.country}
+      </div>
+      <div className="flex-1 h-2 rounded-full bg-canvas-200 overflow-hidden">
+        <div className="h-full rounded-full bg-primary-500" style={{width: `${pct}%`}} />
+      </div>
+      <div className="w-10 shrink-0 text-right text-sm text-ink-500 tabular-nums">{row.count}</div>
+    </div>
+  )
+}
+
+export function CountrySpread(props: {countries?: CountryCount[]; countryCount?: number}) {
+  const t = useT()
+  // Skips the request entirely when the caller supplied the data — `useAPIGetter` bails on undefined
+  // props — so /stats, which already fetches the whole payload, does not fetch it twice.
+  const {data} = useAPIGetter('stats', props.countries ? undefined : {})
+
+  const countries = props.countries ?? data?.countries ?? []
+  const total = props.countryCount ?? data?.countryCount ?? 0
+  if (countries.length < MIN_COUNTRIES) return null
+
+  const max = countries[0].count
+  const remaining = total - countries.length
+
+  return (
+    <div>
+      <h3 className="text-sm font-bold text-ink-900 mb-1">
+        {t('stats.countries.title', 'Where members are')}
+      </h3>
+      <p className="text-sm text-ink-500 leading-relaxed mb-4">
+        {t('stats.countries.subtitle', 'Compass is not tied to one city or one country.')}
+      </p>
+      <div className="flex flex-col gap-2.5">
+        {countries.map((row) => (
+          <CountryBar key={row.country} row={row} max={max} />
+        ))}
+      </div>
+      {remaining > 0 && (
+        <p className="text-xs text-ink-500 mt-3">
+          {t('stats.countries.remaining', '+ {count} more countries', {count: remaining})}
+        </p>
+      )}
+    </div>
+  )
+}
diff --git a/web/components/widgets/editor.tsx b/web/components/widgets/editor.tsx
index 0f836f66..181eb8a4 100644
--- a/web/components/widgets/editor.tsx
+++ b/web/components/widgets/editor.tsx
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import {richTextToString} from 'common/util/parse'
 import Iframe from 'common/util/tiptap-iframe'
 import {debounce} from 'lodash'
 import Image from 'next/image'
-import {createElement, ReactNode, useCallback, useEffect, useMemo, useState} from 'react'
+import {createElement, ReactNode, useCallback, useEffect, useMemo, useRef, useState} from 'react'
 import {Modal, MODAL_CLASS} from 'web/components/layout/modal'
 import {CustomLink} from 'web/components/links'
 import {usePersistentLocalState} from 'web/hooks/use-persistent-local-state'
@@ -214,6 +214,53 @@ export function useTextEditor(props: {
 const getImages = (data: DataTransfer | null) =>
   Array.from(data?.files ?? []).filter((file) => file.type.startsWith('image'))
 
+/** Breathing room left below the format toolbar when we scroll it back into view. */
+const TOOLBAR_VIEWPORT_GAP = 16
+
+/**
+ * The lowest y coordinate that is actually *visible*, which is not the same as the viewport bottom.
+ *
+ * On mobile the bottom nav bar is `fixed inset-x-0 bottom-0 z-50`, so it sits on top of the page —
+ * scrolling something to `innerHeight - gap` parks it underneath the nav, which is exactly as hidden
+ * as being off-screen. Measuring the obstruction rather than hardcoding its height keeps this correct
+ * on the pages that render no bottom nav (signup), across the `lg` breakpoint where it disappears, and
+ * over the safe-area inset on notched devices.
+ *
+ * `nav` covers the bottom bar; `[data-bottom-overlay]` is an opt-in for any other fixed bottom
+ * furniture that gets added later. Both are cheap to query on each keystroke.
+ */
+function getUsableViewportBottom(): number {
+  const viewportBottom = window.visualViewport?.height ?? window.innerHeight
+  let usable = viewportBottom
+  document.querySelectorAll<HTMLElement>('nav, [data-bottom-overlay]').forEach((el) => {
+    if (getComputedStyle(el).position !== 'fixed') return
+    const r = el.getBoundingClientRect()
+    if (r.height === 0 || r.width === 0) return // `lg:hidden` etc.
+    // Anchored to the bottom edge and covering it.
+    if (r.bottom >= viewportBottom - 2 && r.top < usable) usable = r.top
+  })
+  return usable
+}
+
+/**
+ * Nearest ancestor that actually scrolls vertically, or null when the page itself is the scroller.
+ *
+ * Needed because this editor is used both inline on a page and inside a modal, and a modal is its own
+ * scroll container with the page behind it locked — so scrolling the window there does nothing at all.
+ * The editor's own content area is a *sibling* of the toolbar, not an ancestor, so it is never picked
+ * up by this walk.
+ */
+function getScrollParent(el: HTMLElement | null): HTMLElement | null {
+  let node = el?.parentElement ?? null
+  while (node && node !== document.body && node !== document.documentElement) {
+    const {overflowY} = getComputedStyle(node)
+    const scrolls = overflowY === 'auto' || overflowY === 'scroll' || overflowY === 'overlay'
+    if (scrolls && node.scrollHeight > node.clientHeight) return node
+    node = node.parentElement
+  }
+  return null
+}
+
 export function TextEditor(props: {
   editor: Editor | null
   simple?: boolean // show heading in toolbar
@@ -232,9 +279,70 @@ export function TextEditor(props: {
     className,
     onBlur,
     onChange,
-    maxHeight = 'max-h-[69vh]',
+    // The content area scrolls internally once it hits this; below it, the box just grows. At the
+    // previous 69vh the box could become two-thirds of the viewport tall before anything scrolled,
+    // which pushed the format toolbar (image / embed / emoji) off the bottom of the screen as soon as
+    // you typed a few lines — the toolbar sits *after* the content in flow, so its position is
+    // whatever the content height puts it at. Capping lower means new lines scroll within the box
+    // instead of growing it, and the toolbar stays a fixed ~32px below wherever you are typing.
+    maxHeight = 'max-h-[60vh]',
   } = props
 
+  const toolbarRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)
+
+  /**
+   * Keep the format toolbar on screen while typing.
+   *
+   * Capping the content area's height is not sufficient on its own: the box grows *downwards*, so an
+   * editor that starts near the bottom of the viewport pushes its toolbar past the bottom edge long
+   * before the content ever reaches the height cap. The bio editor at the end of the signup form is
+   * the worst case — it is the last thing on the page, so it always starts there.
+   *
+   * `scrollIntoView({block: 'nearest'})` on the toolbar scrolls by the minimum needed and does nothing
+   * when it is already visible, so it neither fights the user's own scrolling nor jumps the page. It
+   * also walks whatever scrollable ancestor actually exists rather than assuming the window scrolls.
+   *
+   * Guarded on `isFocused` so that programmatic content changes (loading an existing bio, the
+   * auto-fill extraction writing its result) cannot yank the page around while the user is elsewhere.
+   */
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!editor) return
+    const keepToolbarInView = () => {
+      if (!editor.isFocused) return
+      const el = toolbarRef.current
+      if (!el) return
+
+      // Explicit rather than `scrollIntoView({block: 'nearest'})`. 'nearest' considers an element
+      // that is flush with the edge to be already visible and does nothing — and in that no-op case
+      // Chrome does not apply `scroll-margin` either, so the toolbar ends up hard against the bottom
+      // edge with its border clipped. Computing the overshoot ourselves guarantees the gap.
+
+      // The containing scroller first (a modal body, say). Inside a modal this is the only thing that
+      // moves: the page behind it is locked, so the window branch below is a no-op there.
+      const scroller = getScrollParent(el)
+      if (scroller) {
+        const overshoot =
+          el.getBoundingClientRect().bottom +
+          TOOLBAR_VIEWPORT_GAP -
+          scroller.getBoundingClientRect().bottom
+        if (overshoot > 0) scroller.scrollTop += overshoot
+      }
+
+      // Then the window, for the inline case — and for a modal that is itself taller than the screen.
+      // Re-measure: the scroller above may already have moved it.
+      const rect = el.getBoundingClientRect()
+      const overshoot = rect.bottom + TOOLBAR_VIEWPORT_GAP - getUsableViewportBottom()
+      if (overshoot > 0) window.scrollBy(0, overshoot)
+      else if (rect.top < 0) el.scrollIntoView({block: 'nearest'})
+    }
+    editor.on('update', keepToolbarInView)
+    editor.on('selectionUpdate', keepToolbarInView)
+    return () => {
+      editor.off('update', keepToolbarInView)
+      editor.off('selectionUpdate', keepToolbarInView)
+    }
+  }, [editor])
+
   return (
     // matches input styling
     <div
@@ -248,9 +356,11 @@ export function TextEditor(props: {
         <EditorContent editor={editor} onBlur={onBlur} onChange={onChange} />
       </div>
 
-      <StickyFormatMenu editor={editor} hideEmbed={hideEmbed}>
-        {children}
-      </StickyFormatMenu>
+      <div ref={toolbarRef}>
+        <StickyFormatMenu editor={editor} hideEmbed={hideEmbed}>
+          {children}
+        </StickyFormatMenu>
+      </div>
     </div>
   )
 }
diff --git a/web/components/widgets/reveal.tsx b/web/components/widgets/reveal.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..387e185a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/components/widgets/reveal.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+import clsx from 'clsx'
+import {ReactNode, useEffect, useRef, useState} from 'react'
+import {useSafeLayoutEffect} from 'web/hooks/use-safe-layout-effect'
+
+/**
+ * Fades and lifts its children into place the first time they scroll into view.
+ *
+ * **Why not `useIsVisible`.** That hook exists and is the first thing to reach for, but its threshold
+ * semantics are wrong for a reveal: it fires at 90% visibility for anything shorter than the viewport,
+ * so a card would finish scrolling into place before it started animating. A reveal wants the opposite —
+ * fire as soon as the top edge crosses in. Hence a local observer with `rootMargin` instead of a second
+ * general-purpose visibility hook.
+ *
+ * **Degrades to visible, never to blank.** The hidden state is applied by `armed`, which is set in a
+ * layout effect — so the server-rendered HTML and any no-JS client render the content plainly visible,
+ * and the arm happens before first paint on the client, so there is no flash of the un-hidden state.
+ * Getting this backwards (hiding by default, revealing in JS) is how a reveal turns into an invisible
+ * page when the observer never runs.
+ *
+ * Reduced-motion visitors never arm it at all, so they get the content with no transition rather than a
+ * transition we merely shortened.
+ */
+export function Reveal({
+  children,
+  className,
+  delay = 0,
+}: {
+  children: ReactNode
+  className?: string
+  /** Stagger, in ms, for siblings revealed as a group. Keep under ~150ms — beyond that it reads as lag. */
+  delay?: number
+}) {
+  const ref = useRef<HTMLDivElement | null>(null)
+  const [armed, setArmed] = useState(false)
+  const [shown, setShown] = useState(false)
+
+  useSafeLayoutEffect(() => {
+    if (window.matchMedia('(prefers-reduced-motion: reduce)').matches) return
+    setArmed(true)
+  }, [])
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const el = ref.current
+    if (!armed || !el) return
+
+    const observer = new IntersectionObserver(
+      ([entry]) => {
+        if (!entry.isIntersecting) return
+        setShown(true)
+        observer.disconnect()
+      },
+      // Negative bottom margin so the reveal starts a little after the element enters, rather than
+      // the instant its first pixel does — that reads as intentional instead of twitchy.
+      {rootMargin: '0px 0px -10% 0px', threshold: 0.01},
+    )
+    observer.observe(el)
+    return () => observer.disconnect()
+  }, [armed])
+
+  const hidden = armed && !shown
+
+  return (
+    <div
+      ref={ref}
+      style={delay && armed ? {transitionDelay: `${delay}ms`} : undefined}
+      className={clsx(
+        'transition-[opacity,transform] duration-500 ease-out',
+        hidden ? 'opacity-0 translate-y-4' : 'opacity-100 translate-y-0',
+        className,
+      )}
+    >
+      {children}
+    </div>
+  )
+}
diff --git a/web/components/widgets/step-progress.tsx b/web/components/widgets/step-progress.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dd517a9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/components/widgets/step-progress.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+import clsx from 'clsx'
+import {ReactNode} from 'react'
+import {eyebrow} from 'web/components/widgets/surface'
+
+/**
+ * Segmented progress for the multi-step flows (`/onboarding`, `/signup`).
+ *
+ * Both flows previously showed no progress at all: three onboarding screens and a two-step signup
+ * that each looked exactly like the last, so the only way to know how much was left was to keep
+ * clicking. That is the single biggest reason a signup flow gets abandoned midway, and it costs one
+ * component to fix.
+ *
+ * Segments rather than a continuous bar because the step count is small and known — discrete marks
+ * answer "how many more" directly, where a 66%-filled bar only implies it.
+ *
+ * `bg-cta` for the filled segments rather than `primary-500`: this is a small, purely decorative mark
+ * against `canvas-200`, and using the CTA token keeps every "this is the active/committed thing"
+ * signal on one colour across the flow.
+ */
+export function StepProgress({
+  current,
+  total,
+  label,
+  className,
+}: {
+  /** 1-based. */
+  current: number
+  total: number
+  /** Already-translated, e.g. t('common.step_progress', 'Step {current} of {total}', {...}). */
+  label?: ReactNode
+  className?: string
+}) {
+  return (
+    <div className={clsx('w-full', className)}>
+      <div
+        className="flex items-center gap-1.5"
+        role="progressbar"
+        aria-valuemin={1}
+        aria-valuemax={total}
+        aria-valuenow={current}
+        // The visible label is decorative text; the bar needs its own accessible name because a
+        // progressbar's contents are not announced.
+        aria-valuetext={typeof label === 'string' ? label : `${current} / ${total}`}
+      >
+        {Array.from({length: total}, (_, i) => (
+          <div
+            key={i}
+            className={clsx(
+              'h-1 flex-1 rounded-full transition-colors duration-300 ease-out',
+              i < current ? 'bg-cta' : 'bg-canvas-200',
+            )}
+          />
+        ))}
+      </div>
+      {label && <p className={clsx(eyebrow, 'text-ink-700 mt-3')}>{label}</p>}
+    </div>
+  )
+}
diff --git a/web/components/widgets/surface.tsx b/web/components/widgets/surface.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f68f6612
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/components/widgets/surface.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+import clsx from 'clsx'
+import {ReactNode} from 'react'
+
+/**
+ * The shared surface vocabulary for the marketing pages (`/about`, `/home`).
+ *
+ * It lives in `widgets/` rather than beside either page because both use it, and a landing page
+ * importing its card treatment from `components/about/` would be the kind of dependency that quietly
+ * becomes load-bearing.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * The one card treatment.
+ *
+ * Every block used to be `border-[1.5px] border-canvas-200` and nothing else, which is why these pages
+ * read as a flat sheet: a hairline is the only depth cue, so a run of identical rectangles all sit at
+ * exactly the same elevation and nothing can be more important than anything else. The border is now a
+ * `ring` at lower opacity — so it defines the edge without drawing it — and the elevation comes from a
+ * two-layer shadow: a tight 1px contact shadow plus a wide, heavily-offset ambient one.
+ *
+ * Dark mode gets an inset top highlight instead. Drop shadows do essentially nothing on a near-black
+ * surface, whereas a 1px light edge along the top reads as a lit surface and costs nothing.
+ */
+export const surface = clsx(
+  'rounded-2xl bg-canvas-50 ring-1 ring-canvas-200/60',
+  'shadow-[0_1px_2px_rgb(44_36_22/0.04),0_12px_32px_-20px_rgb(44_36_22/0.30)]',
+  'dark:ring-canvas-200 dark:shadow-[inset_0_1px_0_rgb(255_255_255/0.04)]',
+)
+
+/**
+ * Hover for cards that are themselves links or contain one.
+ *
+ * The old hover lit the entire perimeter `primary-500`, which on an otherwise calm surface reads as an
+ * alert rather than an affordance. Depth does the same job quietly: lift 2px, deepen the ambient shadow,
+ * and let only a hint of warmth into the ring. Also `ease-out`, not `ease-in` — `ease-in` starts slow,
+ * which on a 200ms hover feels like the page is lagging behind the cursor.
+ */
+export const surfaceHover = clsx(
+  'transition-[transform,box-shadow,--tw-ring-color] duration-200 ease-out',
+  'hover:-translate-y-0.5 hover:ring-primary-500/40',
+  'hover:shadow-[0_2px_4px_rgb(44_36_22/0.05),0_22px_48px_-24px_rgb(44_36_22/0.45)]',
+  'dark:hover:shadow-[inset_0_1px_0_rgb(255_255_255/0.06)]',
+)
+
+/** The one spec for the small uppercase labels. There used to be several, at 11/11/12px and
+ *  1.1/1.2/1.5px tracking, which is close enough to look like a mistake rather than a distinction.
+ *  Pair it with `text-ink-700` or `text-primary-700` — at 11px the lighter ramp steps fail AA. */
+export const eyebrow = 'text-[11px] font-bold uppercase tracking-[1.2px]'
+
+/**
+ * Vertical rhythm between sections.
+ *
+ * These pages used to run `gap-4` inside blocks against `my-10`/`mb-14` between sections — a 2.5x
+ * ratio, which is not enough separation for the eye to group anything, so the whole page read as one
+ * undifferentiated run of cards. At `py-14`/`py-20` against a 16-20px inner gap the ratio is 5-6x and
+ * the sections separate on their own, which is also why the gradient dividers are no longer needed
+ * between them.
+ */
+export function Section({children, className}: {children: ReactNode; className?: string}) {
+  return <section className={clsx('py-14 sm:py-20 first:pt-0', className)}>{children}</section>
+}
diff --git a/web/pages/about.tsx b/web/pages/about.tsx
index 1990f03c..4061f627 100644
--- a/web/pages/about.tsx
+++ b/web/pages/about.tsx
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ import clsx from 'clsx'
 import {discordLink, formLink, githubRepo} from 'common/constants'
 import {DEPLOYED_WEB_URL} from 'common/envs/constants'
 import {ComponentType, ReactNode, SVGProps} from 'react'
+import {StatBand} from 'web/components/about/platform-stats'
+import {RepoActivity} from 'web/components/about/repo-activity'
+import {AlertDemo} from 'web/components/about/search-alert-demo'
+import {SectionLabel} from 'web/components/about/section'
 import {VoteEvidence} from 'web/components/about/vote-evidence'
 import {CopyLinkOrShareButton, ShareProfileOnXButton} from 'web/components/buttons/copy-link-button'
 import {GeneralButton} from 'web/components/buttons/general-button'
@@ -22,6 +26,8 @@ import {Row} from 'web/components/layout/row'
 import {PageBase} from 'web/components/page-base'
 import {SEO} from 'web/components/SEO'
 import {MemberGrowth} from 'web/components/widgets/charts'
+import {Reveal} from 'web/components/widgets/reveal'
+import {eyebrow, Section, surface, surfaceHover} from 'web/components/widgets/surface'
 import {useT} from 'web/lib/locale'
 
 // ─── Types ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -44,92 +50,164 @@ interface HelpCardProps {
   id?: string
 }
 
-// ─── Feature Card ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+// ─── Icon chip ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
-function FeatureCard({icon: Icon, title, text}: FeatureCardProps) {
+/**
+ * Shared so the hero blocks and the ordinary cards can differ in *size* while staying the same object.
+ * Ten identically-sized chips down the page was a large part of why nothing read as more important than
+ * anything else.
+ */
+function IconChip({icon: Icon, large}: {icon: IconType; large?: boolean}) {
   return (
     <div
-      className="
-        group relative overflow-hidden
-        bg-canvas-50 border-[1.5px] border-canvas-200 rounded-2xl p-7
-        transition-all duration-[120ms] ease-in
-        hover:shadow-[0_10px_30px_rgba(44,36,22,0.09)]
-        hover:border-primary-500
-      "
+      className={clsx(
+        'rounded-xl bg-primary-100 ring-1 ring-primary-200 flex items-center justify-center flex-shrink-0',
+        large ? 'w-14 h-14' : 'w-11 h-11',
+      )}
     >
-      <div className="w-11 h-11 rounded-xl bg-primary-100 border border-primary-200 flex items-center justify-center mb-5 flex-shrink-0">
-        <Icon className="w-5 h-5 text-primary-600" strokeWidth={1.8} />
+      <Icon className={clsx('text-primary-600', large ? 'w-7 h-7' : 'w-5 h-5')} strokeWidth={1.8} />
+    </div>
+  )
+}
+
+// ─── Feature Card ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+function FeatureCard({icon, title, text}: FeatureCardProps) {
+  return (
+    <div className={clsx(surface, surfaceHover, 'h-full p-6 sm:p-7')}>
+      <div className="mb-5">
+        <IconChip icon={icon} />
       </div>
       <h3 className="font-bold text-ink-900 mb-2.5">{title}</h3>
-      <p className="text-sm text-ink-500 leading-relaxed">{text}</p>
+      <p className="text-sm text-ink-600 leading-relaxed">{text}</p>
     </div>
   )
 }
 
 // ─── Full-width Feature Card ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
-function FeatureCardWide({icon: Icon, title, text}: FeatureCardProps) {
+function FeatureCardWide({icon, title, text}: FeatureCardProps) {
   return (
     <div
-      className="
-        group relative overflow-hidden col-span-1 md:col-span-2
-        bg-canvas-50 border-[1.5px] border-canvas-200 rounded-2xl p-7
-        flex flex-col sm:flex-row items-start sm:items-center gap-0 sm:gap-6
-        transition-all duration-[120ms] ease-in
-        hover:shadow-[0_10px_30px_rgba(44,36,22,0.09)]
-        hover:border-primary-500
-      "
+      className={clsx(
+        surface,
+        surfaceHover,
+        'col-span-1 md:col-span-2 p-6 sm:p-7',
+        'flex flex-col sm:flex-row items-start sm:items-center gap-5 sm:gap-6',
+      )}
     >
-      <div className="w-11 h-11 rounded-xl bg-primary-100 border border-primary-200 flex items-center justify-center flex-shrink-0">
-        <Icon className="w-5 h-5 text-primary-600" strokeWidth={1.8} />
-      </div>
-      <div className={'min-w-0'}>
+      <IconChip icon={icon} />
+      <div className="min-w-0">
         <h3 className="font-bold text-ink-900 mb-2">{title}</h3>
-        <p className="text-sm text-ink-500 leading-relaxed">{text}</p>
+        {/* Capped: the card is full-width, so without this the line runs to ~800px at desktop, well
+            past a readable measure. The wider page container buys layout room, not longer lines. */}
+        <p className="text-sm text-ink-600 leading-relaxed max-w-3xl">{text}</p>
       </div>
     </div>
   )
 }
 
+// ─── Spotlight: "Get Notified About Searches" ─────────────────────────────────
+
+/**
+ * The lead block of the page.
+ *
+ * This is the most distinctive claim Compass makes and the one with an actual recording behind it, so it
+ * gets the room: the claim at display size on the left, the clip that proves it at full height on the
+ * right. Previously it was one of three identical tiles stacked beside the phone, which meant the single
+ * strongest thing on the page was styled exactly like "Completely Free".
+ *
+ * The warm radial behind the phone is the only gradient on a content block. It exists to stop the device
+ * from floating in dead space at wide viewports — at 1900px the old fixed-width column left roughly half
+ * the screen empty beside it.
+ */
+function NotifySpotlight({title, text, note}: {title: string; text: string; note: string}) {
+  return (
+    <div className={clsx(surface, 'relative overflow-hidden p-6 sm:p-10')}>
+      <div
+        aria-hidden
+        className="pointer-events-none absolute -right-24 top-1/2 -translate-y-1/2 w-[520px] h-[520px] rounded-full bg-primary-500/[0.07] blur-3xl"
+      />
+      <div className="relative grid grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-[1fr_auto] gap-10 md:gap-14 items-center">
+        <div className="min-w-0">
+          <IconChip icon={BellIcon} large />
+          <h3 className="font-heading font-bold text-ink-900 text-[clamp(26px,3vw,38px)] leading-[1.15] tracking-tight mt-6 mb-4 text-balance">
+            {title}
+          </h3>
+          <p className="text-base sm:text-lg text-ink-600 leading-relaxed max-w-lg">{text}</p>
+          <p className="text-sm text-ink-600 leading-relaxed max-w-lg mt-4">{note}</p>
+        </div>
+        {/* The device is 2.16x as tall as it is wide, so at any width that keeps its UI legible it is
+            far taller than the text beside it — centring it just produced ~200px of dead panel above
+            and below the copy. Instead it bottom-bleeds past the panel edge (clipped by the panel's
+            own `overflow-hidden`), which is both the conventional device-showcase treatment and the
+            one that makes the height mismatch disappear. Only from `md` up: stacked on mobile the
+            phone is the whole point of its own row and must not be cropped. */}
+        <AlertDemo width="min(270px, 68vw)" className="md:self-end md:-mb-24" />
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  )
+}
+
+// ─── Statement: "One Mission" ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+/**
+ * The page's thesis, given the weight of a thesis.
+ *
+ * It is the only block set on a tinted surface and the only body copy on the page at display size — both
+ * deliberately unique, because the point of promoting it is that a reader who skims the whole page
+ * should still land on this. Repeating this treatment anywhere else would cost it exactly the emphasis
+ * it was promoted to have.
+ */
+function MissionStatement({title, text}: {title: string; text: string}) {
+  return (
+    <div
+      className={clsx(
+        'relative overflow-hidden rounded-2xl p-8 sm:p-12',
+        'bg-gradient-to-br from-primary-100 via-canvas-50 to-canvas-50',
+        'dark:from-primary-900/25 dark:via-canvas-50 dark:to-canvas-50',
+        'ring-1 ring-primary-200',
+        'shadow-[0_1px_2px_rgb(44_36_22/0.04),0_16px_40px_-24px_rgb(44_36_22/0.35)]',
+        'dark:shadow-[inset_0_1px_0_rgb(255_255_255/0.05)]',
+      )}
+    >
+      <IconChip icon={FlagIcon} large />
+      <h3 className={clsx(eyebrow, 'text-primary-700 mt-6 mb-3')}>{title}</h3>
+      <p className="font-heading text-ink-900 text-[clamp(22px,3vw,36px)] leading-[1.25] tracking-tight max-w-3xl text-balance">
+        {text}
+      </p>
+    </div>
+  )
+}
+
 // ─── Help Card ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
-function HelpCard({
-  icon: Icon,
-  title,
-  text,
-  buttonLabel,
-  buttonUrl,
-  buttonPrimary,
-  id,
-}: HelpCardProps) {
+function HelpCard({icon, title, text, buttonLabel, buttonUrl, buttonPrimary, id}: HelpCardProps) {
   return (
     <div
-      className="
-        group relative overflow-hidden
-        bg-canvas-50 border-[1.5px] border-canvas-200 rounded-2xl p-7
-        transition-all duration-[120ms] ease-in
-        hover:shadow-[0_10px_30px_rgba(44,36,22,0.09)]
-        hover:border-primary-500
-      "
+      className={clsx(surface, surfaceHover, 'h-full flex flex-col p-6 sm:p-7')}
       // NOTE: Abandoned the left accent bar due to a known Firefox rendering bug.
       // Firefox fails to correctly apply overflow-hidden on rounded containers with borders,
       // causing the absolute/flex-item to bleed past the corner radius.
       // Removed for cross-browser consistency.
     >
-      <div className="w-10 h-10 rounded-xl bg-primary-100 border border-primary-200 flex items-center justify-center mb-4 flex-shrink-0">
-        <Icon className="w-[18px] h-[18px] text-primary-600" strokeWidth={1.8} />
+      <div className="mb-4">
+        <IconChip icon={icon} />
       </div>
       <h3 id={id} className="font-bold text-ink-900 mb-2">
         {title}
       </h3>
-      <p className="text-sm text-ink-500 leading-relaxed flex-1 mb-5">{text}</p>
-      <div>
+      <p className="text-sm text-ink-600 leading-relaxed mb-5">{text}</p>
+      {/* `mt-auto` on the button rather than `flex-1` on the paragraph, and the parent is now actually
+          `flex flex-col`. It was not, so the old `flex-1` did nothing and the four buttons in this grid
+          sat wherever their card's text happened to end — measured 20-23px out of line with each other. */}
+      <div className="mt-auto -ml-3 -mb-3">
         <GeneralButton
           url={buttonUrl}
           content={buttonLabel}
           color={
             buttonPrimary
-              ? 'bg-primary-500 hover:bg-primary-600 text-white border-primary-500 shadow-[0_3px_12px_rgba(193,127,62,0.3)]'
+              ? 'bg-cta hover:bg-cta-hover text-white border-cta shadow-[0_3px_12px_rgba(193,127,62,0.3)]'
               : 'bg-canvas-100 hover:border-primary-600 hover:text-primary-600 border-canvas-300 text-ink-900'
           }
         />
@@ -138,72 +216,75 @@ function HelpCard({
   )
 }
 
-// ─── Section Label ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
-function SectionLabel({children}: {children: ReactNode}) {
-  return (
-    <div className="flex items-center gap-3 mb-4">
-      <span className="text-[11px] font-bold tracking-[1.2px] uppercase text-ink-500">
-        {children}
-      </span>
-      <div className="flex-1 h-px bg-canvas-200" />
-    </div>
-  )
-}
-
 // ─── Share Strip ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
+/**
+ * The closing ask, and the page's visual climax.
+ *
+ * It is the only dark block, which is what makes it land — so it is also the reason the "One Mission"
+ * statement above is tinted-light rather than dark. Two dark full-width panels on one page would read as
+ * a repeating band and neither would be the ending.
+ */
 function ShareStrip({title, text}: {title: string; text: string}) {
   const t = useT()
   return (
-    <div className="bg-canvas-950 rounded-2xl px-9 py-8 flex items-center justify-between gap-6 flex-wrap">
-      <div className={'max-w-[450px]'}>
-        <h3 className="text-white text-lg font-bold mb-1.5 flex items-center gap-2.5">
-          <MegaphoneIcon className="w-5 h-5 text-primary-500 flex-shrink-0" strokeWidth={1.8} />
-          {title}
-        </h3>
-        <p className="text-primary-500 text-sm leading-relaxed">{text}</p>
+    <div className="relative overflow-hidden bg-canvas-950 rounded-3xl px-7 py-10 sm:px-12 sm:py-14">
+      <div
+        aria-hidden
+        className="pointer-events-none absolute -top-32 -right-20 w-[440px] h-[440px] rounded-full bg-primary-500/20 blur-3xl"
+      />
+      <div className="relative flex items-center justify-between gap-8 flex-wrap">
+        <div className="max-w-[520px]">
+          <div className="flex items-center gap-2.5 mb-3">
+            <MegaphoneIcon className="w-5 h-5 text-primary-500 flex-shrink-0" strokeWidth={1.8} />
+            <span className={clsx(eyebrow, 'text-primary-500')}>
+              {t('about.final.label', 'Spread the word')}
+            </span>
+          </div>
+          <h3 className="font-heading text-white text-[clamp(22px,2.4vw,32px)] font-bold leading-tight tracking-tight mb-3 text-balance">
+            {title}
+          </h3>
+          {/* Was `text-primary-500` — amber body copy on espresso. The accent belongs on the eyebrow
+              and the icon; the sentence itself reads better in plain warm white. */}
+          <p className="text-white/70 text-base leading-relaxed">{text}</p>
+        </div>
+        <Row className="flex gap-2 flex-wrap">
+          {/*//     */}
+          {/*//     ${*/}
+          {/*//       primary*/}
+          {/*//         ? 'bg-primary-500 text-white border-primary-500 hover:bg-primary-600'*/}
+          {/*//         : 'bg-white/[0.06] text-canvas-200 border-white/10 hover:bg-white/[0.12] hover:text-canvas-50'*/}
+          {/*//     }*/}
+          <ShareProfileOnXButton
+            className={clsx(
+              'px-5 py-2.5 rounded-xl text-sm font-semibold border transition-all duration-200 ease-out',
+              'bg-white/[0.06] !text-white/70 border-white/10 hover:bg-white/[0.12] hover:text-white',
+            )}
+          />
+          <CopyLinkOrShareButton
+            url={DEPLOYED_WEB_URL}
+            children={t('about.copy_link', ' Copy Link')}
+            className={clsx(
+              'px-5 py-2.5 rounded-xl text-sm font-semibold border transition-all duration-200 ease-out',
+              'bg-cta text-white hover:text-white border-cta hover:bg-cta-hover',
+              'shadow-[0_6px_20px_-6px_rgba(193,127,62,0.6)]',
+            )}
+          />
+        </Row>
       </div>
-      <Row className="flex gap-2 flex-wrap">
-        {/*//     */}
-        {/*//     ${*/}
-        {/*//       primary*/}
-        {/*//         ? 'bg-primary-500 text-white border-primary-500 hover:bg-primary-600'*/}
-        {/*//         : 'bg-white/[0.06] text-canvas-200 border-white/10 hover:bg-white/[0.12] hover:text-canvas-50'*/}
-        {/*//     }*/}
-        <ShareProfileOnXButton
-          className={clsx(
-            'px-4 py-2 rounded-xl text-sm font-semibold border transition-all duration-150',
-            'bg-white/[0.06] !text-white/60 border-white/10 hover:bg-white/[0.12] hover:text-white',
-          )}
-        />
-        <CopyLinkOrShareButton
-          url={DEPLOYED_WEB_URL}
-          children={t('about.copy_link', ' Copy Link')}
-          className={clsx(
-            'px-4 py-2 rounded-xl text-sm font-semibold border transition-all duration-150',
-            'bg-primary-500 text-white hover:text-white border-primary-500 hover:bg-primary-600',
-          )}
-        />
-      </Row>
     </div>
   )
 }
 
-// ─── Divider ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
-function Divider() {
-  return (
-    <div className="h-px bg-gradient-to-r from-transparent via-canvas-200 to-transparent my-10" />
-  )
-}
-
 // ─── Page ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 export default function About() {
   const t = useT()
 
-  const features: (FeatureCardProps & {wide?: boolean})[] = [
+  // The two cards that support the spotlight claim above them. "Get Notified About Searches" used to be
+  // the middle of these three; it is now the spotlight block, so what is left is the pair that sets it
+  // up (you can search for anything) and the one that follows from it (what we match on).
+  const searchFeatures: FeatureCardProps[] = [
     {
       icon: MagnifyingGlassIcon,
       title: t('about.block.keyword.title', 'Keyword Search the Database'),
@@ -212,14 +293,6 @@ export default function About() {
         '"Meditation", "Hiking", "Neuroscience", "Nietzsche". Access any profile and get niche.',
       ),
     },
-    {
-      icon: BellIcon,
-      title: t('about.block.notify.title', 'Get Notified About Searches'),
-      text: t(
-        'about.block.notify.text',
-        "No need to constantly check the app! We'll contact you when new users fit your searches.",
-      ),
-    },
     {
       icon: SparklesIcon,
       title: t('about.block.personality.title', 'Personality-Centered'),
@@ -230,29 +303,16 @@ export default function About() {
       title: t('about.block.free.title', 'Completely Free'),
       text: t('about.block.free.text', 'Subscription-free. Paywall-free. Ad-free.'),
     },
-    // The "Democratic" card used to sit here. Its claim now opens the "How a decision gets made"
-    // section below, next to the vote that proves it — a card asserting the same thing one screen
-    // above its own evidence was reading as a duplicate. Same translation keys, moved verbatim, so
-    // the fr/de strings carry over. See docs/marketing-visuals.md (A1).
-    {
-      icon: FlagIcon,
-      title: t('about.block.mission.title', 'One Mission'),
-      text: t(
-        'about.block.mission.text',
-        'Our only mission is to create more genuine human connections, and every decision must serve that goal.',
-      ),
-    },
-    {
-      icon: GlobeAltIcon,
-      title: t('about.block.vision.title', 'Vision'),
-      text: t(
-        'about.block.vision.text',
-        'Compass is to human connection what Linux, Wikipedia, and Firefox are to software and knowledge: a public good built by the people who use it, for the benefit of everyone.',
-      ),
-      wide: true,
-    },
   ]
 
+  // The "Democratic" card used to sit here. Its claim now opens the "How a decision gets made"
+  // section below, next to the vote that proves it — a card asserting the same thing one screen
+  // above its own evidence was reading as a duplicate. Same translation keys, moved verbatim, so
+  // the fr/de strings carry over. See docs/marketing-visuals.md (A1).
+  //
+  // "One Mission" has likewise been promoted out of this grid into the statement block below, leaving
+  // "Vision" to support it rather than to sit alongside it as an equal.
+
   const helpCards: HelpCardProps[] = [
     {
       icon: LightBulbIcon,
@@ -309,16 +369,19 @@ export default function About() {
         url="/about"
       />
 
-      <div className="max-w-4xl mx-auto px-6 py-12 pb-20">
+      {/* `max-w-6xl` rather than `max-w-4xl`: at 1900px the old column filled about half the available
+          area and left the rest empty beige. Prose inside is still capped at a reading measure, so the
+          wider container buys layout room without producing 1100px-long lines. */}
+      <div className="max-w-6xl mx-auto px-5 sm:px-8 pt-12 pb-24">
         {/* ── Page header ── */}
-        <div className="mb-10">
-          <p className="text-xs font-bold tracking-[1.5px] uppercase text-primary-500 mb-3">
+        <div className="mb-12">
+          <p className={clsx(eyebrow, 'text-primary-700 mb-4')}>
             {t('about.eyebrow', 'About Compass')}
           </p>
-          <h1 className="text-[clamp(28px,4vw,40px)] text-ink-900 tracking-tight leading-tight mb-3">
+          <h1 className="text-[clamp(34px,5vw,56px)] text-ink-900 tracking-tight leading-[1.08] mb-5 max-w-3xl text-balance">
             {t('about.title', 'Why Choose Compass?')}
           </h1>
-          <p className="text-lg text-ink-500 max-w-lg leading-relaxed">
+          <p className="text-lg sm:text-xl text-ink-700 max-w-xl leading-relaxed">
             {t(
               'about.subtitle',
               'To find your people with ease — based on who they are, not how they look.',
@@ -326,54 +389,115 @@ export default function About() {
           </p>
         </div>
 
+        {/* Opens the page with something that is not a card — the run of identical bordered tiles
+            below is what made this page read as flat. Renders nothing if the stats call comes back
+            empty, in which case the header simply meets the feature grid as it did before. */}
+        <StatBand />
+
         {/* ── Features ── */}
-        <SectionLabel>{t('about.features.label', 'What makes us different')}</SectionLabel>
+        <Section>
+          <SectionLabel>{t('about.features.label', 'What makes us different')}</SectionLabel>
 
-        <div className="grid grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2 gap-4 mb-4">
-          {features.map((f) =>
-            f.wide ? (
-              <FeatureCardWide key={f.title} icon={f.icon} title={f.title} text={f.text} />
-            ) : (
-              <FeatureCard key={f.title} icon={f.icon} title={f.title} text={f.text} />
-            ),
-          )}
-        </div>
+          {/* The claim and the recording that proves it are now the same block (A4). They used to be a
+              full screen apart, which is the one arrangement that stops the clip from doing any work;
+              then they shared a row as equals, which still styled the strongest claim on the page as one
+              tile of three. The clip and posters are not in the repo; web/scripts/fetch-media.mjs pulls
+              them from R2 at build time, so a deploy without them fails loudly rather than shipping an
+              empty frame. */}
+          <Reveal>
+            <NotifySpotlight
+              title={t('about.block.notify.title', 'Get Notified About Searches')}
+              text={t(
+                'about.block.notify.text',
+                "No need to constantly check the app! We'll contact you when new users fit your searches.",
+              )}
+              note={t(
+                'about.alert.caption',
+                'The email is the real one, sent to people with saved searches. Daily at most, and only when somebody new actually matches.',
+              )}
+            />
+          </Reveal>
 
-        <Divider />
+          <div className="grid grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-3 gap-4 sm:gap-5 mt-4 sm:mt-5">
+            {searchFeatures.map((f, i) => (
+              <Reveal key={f.title} delay={i * 70}>
+                <FeatureCard icon={f.icon} title={f.title} text={f.text} />
+              </Reveal>
+            ))}
+          </div>
+        </Section>
+
+        {/* ── Mission ── */}
+        <Section>
+          <SectionLabel>{t('about.mission.label', 'Why we exist')}</SectionLabel>
+          <Reveal>
+            <MissionStatement
+              title={t('about.block.mission.title', 'One Mission')}
+              text={t(
+                'about.block.mission.text',
+                'Our only mission is to create more genuine human connections, and every decision must serve that goal.',
+              )}
+            />
+          </Reveal>
+          {/* Standalone rather than a grid cell: it is the only card in this section now that "One
+              Mission" has been promoted, and a one-item grid is just an indirection. */}
+          <Reveal className="mt-4 sm:mt-5">
+            <FeatureCardWide
+              icon={GlobeAltIcon}
+              title={t('about.block.vision.title', 'Vision')}
+              text={t(
+                'about.block.vision.text',
+                'Compass is to human connection what Linux, Wikipedia, and Firefox are to software and knowledge: a public good built by the people who use it, for the benefit of everyone.',
+              )}
+            />
+          </Reveal>
+        </Section>
 
         {/* ── How a decision gets made ── */}
-        <SectionLabel>{t('about.vote.label', 'How a decision gets made')}</SectionLabel>
-        <div className="mb-4">
-          <VoteEvidence />
-        </div>
+        <Section>
+          <SectionLabel>{t('about.vote.label', 'How a decision gets made')}</SectionLabel>
+          <Reveal>
+            <VoteEvidence />
+          </Reveal>
+        </Section>
 
-        <Divider />
+        {/* Owns its own heading, because it renders nothing when GitHub is unreachable and a label with
+            nothing under it is worse than no section. */}
+        <RepoActivity />
 
         {/* ── Help ── */}
-        <SectionLabel>{t('about.help.label', 'Help Compass grow')}</SectionLabel>
+        <Section>
+          <SectionLabel>{t('about.help.label', 'Help Compass grow')}</SectionLabel>
 
-        {/* Sits inside the Help section rather than getting a heading of its own: it renders nothing
-            when the query comes back empty, and a section label with nothing under it is worse than
-            no section. It also reads as the setup for the cards below — this is what you would be
-            helping grow. */}
-        <div className="mb-4">
-          <MemberGrowth />
-        </div>
+          {/* Sits inside the Help section rather than getting a heading of its own: it renders nothing
+              when the query comes back empty, and a section label with nothing under it is worse than
+              no section. It also reads as the setup for the cards below — this is what you would be
+              helping grow. The country spread that used to sit beside it now lives on /stats: it is a
+              distribution readout for someone who came to read numbers, and this page already makes its
+              one claim about reach in the stat band up top. */}
+          <div className="mb-5">
+            <MemberGrowth />
+          </div>
 
-        {/* ── Share strip ── */}
-        <ShareStrip
-          title={t('about.final.title', 'Tell Your Friends and Family')}
-          text={t(
-            'about.final.text',
-            'The best way to grow Compass is word of mouth. Thank you for supporting our mission.',
-          )}
-        />
+          {/* ── Share strip ── */}
+          <Reveal>
+            <ShareStrip
+              title={t('about.final.title', 'Tell Your Friends and Family')}
+              text={t(
+                'about.final.text',
+                'The best way to grow Compass is word of mouth. Thank you for supporting our mission.',
+              )}
+            />
+          </Reveal>
 
-        <div className="grid grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2 gap-4 mt-4">
-          {helpCards.map((card) => (
-            <HelpCard key={card.id} {...card} />
-          ))}
-        </div>
+          <div className="grid grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2 gap-4 sm:gap-5 mt-5">
+            {helpCards.map((card, i) => (
+              <Reveal key={card.id} delay={(i % 2) * 70}>
+                <HelpCard {...card} />
+              </Reveal>
+            ))}
+          </div>
+        </Section>
       </div>
     </PageBase>
   )
diff --git a/web/pages/onboarding/index.tsx b/web/pages/onboarding/index.tsx
index f920632b..d9736eca 100644
--- a/web/pages/onboarding/index.tsx
+++ b/web/pages/onboarding/index.tsx
@@ -1,16 +1,23 @@
+import {CheckIcon} from '@heroicons/react/24/outline'
+import clsx from 'clsx'
 import Router from 'next/router'
 import {useEffect, useState} from 'react'
 import {Button} from 'web/components/buttons/button'
 import {Col} from 'web/components/layout/col'
 import {CompassLoadingIndicator} from 'web/components/widgets/loading-indicator'
+import {StepProgress} from 'web/components/widgets/step-progress'
+import {surface} from 'web/components/widgets/surface'
 import {useT} from 'web/lib/locale'
 
+const TOTAL_STEPS = 3
+
 interface OnboardingStepProps {
   onNext: () => void
   onSkip: () => void
 }
 
 interface OnboardingScreenProps {
+  step: number
   title: string
   content: React.ReactNode
   footerText?: string
@@ -21,7 +28,41 @@ interface OnboardingScreenProps {
   welcomeTitle?: string
 }
 
+/**
+ * Bulleted list for the onboarding screens.
+ *
+ * The steps used to render bare `<li>`s inside a `space-y-2` `<ul>` with the browser's list markers
+ * suppressed by the CSS reset — so they read as loose unrelated sentences rather than a list. A ticked
+ * marker also says something the plain text does not: these are things you get, not things you must do.
+ */
+function Bullets({items}: {items: string[]}) {
+  return (
+    <ul className="space-y-3">
+      {items.map((item) => (
+        <li key={item} className="flex items-start gap-3">
+          <span className="mt-0.5 w-5 h-5 rounded-full bg-primary-100 ring-1 ring-primary-200 flex items-center justify-center flex-shrink-0">
+            <CheckIcon className="w-3 h-3 text-primary-700" strokeWidth={2.5} />
+          </span>
+          <span className="text-ink-700">{item}</span>
+        </li>
+      ))}
+    </ul>
+  )
+}
+
+/**
+ * The shell every onboarding step renders into.
+ *
+ * **Left-aligned body, centred nothing.** Every screen here is multi-line paragraphs plus a list, and
+ * the old layout centred the paragraphs while left-aligning the lists inside them — so the text block
+ * changed alignment mid-screen. Centred ragged-both-edges copy at this length is hard to read anyway;
+ * left-aligning all of it resolves the inconsistency in the direction that reads better.
+ *
+ * The screen is now a `surface` card on the page background rather than bare text floating in the
+ * viewport, which gives the flow the same material as /home and /about.
+ */
 function OnboardingScreen({
+  step,
   title,
   content,
   footerText,
@@ -44,41 +85,73 @@ function OnboardingScreen({
   }, [welcomeTitle])
 
   return (
-    <Col className="max-w-2xl mx-auto text-center px-6 sm:py-12 py-2">
-      {onBack && (
-        <div className="self-start mb-0">
-          <button onClick={onBack} className="text-ink-500 hover:text-ink-700 text-sm">
-            ← {t('common.back', 'Back')}
-          </button>
-        </div>
-      )}
+    <div className={clsx(surface, 'w-full max-w-2xl p-6 sm:p-10')}>
+      <StepProgress
+        current={step}
+        total={TOTAL_STEPS}
+        label={t('common.step_progress', 'Step {current} of {total}', {
+          current: step,
+          total: TOTAL_STEPS,
+        })}
+        className="mb-8"
+      />
 
+      {/* Keyed on the swap so the welcome-to-title change animates rather than snapping. */}
       <h1
-        className={`text-4xl font-bold mb-4 mt-2 transition-all duration-500 ${showWelcome ? 'text-5xl text-gray-500' : 'text-ink-900'}`}
+        key={showWelcome ? 'welcome' : 'title'}
+        className={clsx(
+          'animate-fade-up font-bold tracking-tight text-balance mb-5',
+          showWelcome
+            ? 'text-[clamp(30px,5vw,44px)] text-primary-700'
+            : 'text-[clamp(26px,4vw,36px)] text-ink-900',
+        )}
       >
         {showWelcome && welcomeTitle ? welcomeTitle : title}
       </h1>
 
-      <div className="text-lg text-ink-700 leading-relaxed mb-4">{content}</div>
+      <div className="text-base sm:text-lg text-ink-700 leading-relaxed space-y-4">{content}</div>
 
-      {footerText && <p className="text-sm text-ink-500 italic mb-8">{footerText}</p>}
+      {footerText && (
+        // Was `italic text-ink-500` — 3.5:1, and italic at 14px is the least legible thing on the
+        // screen. Now a bounded aside that reads as a footnote through position and rule, not slant.
+        <p className="mt-7 pl-4 border-l-2 border-primary-200 text-sm text-ink-600 leading-relaxed">
+          {footerText}
+        </p>
+      )}
 
-      <Col className="gap-4">
-        <Button onClick={onNext} size="lg" className="w-full max-w-xs mx-auto">
+      <Col className="gap-4 mt-9">
+        <Button onClick={onNext} size="lg" className="w-full">
           {continueText ?? t('common.continue', 'Continue')}
         </Button>
-        <button onClick={onSkip} className="text-sm text-ink-500 hover:text-ink-700 underline">
-          {t('onboarding.skip', 'Skip onboarding')}
-        </button>
+        <div className="flex items-center justify-between gap-4">
+          {/* Back moved down here beside Skip. It used to sit alone above the title, where it read as
+              page chrome rather than as one of this screen's two secondary actions. */}
+          {onBack ? (
+            <button
+              onClick={onBack}
+              className="text-sm font-medium text-ink-700 hover:text-ink-900 transition-colors"
+            >
+              ← {t('common.back', 'Back')}
+            </button>
+          ) : (
+            <span />
+          )}
+          <button
+            onClick={onSkip}
+            className="text-sm font-medium text-ink-700 hover:text-ink-900 underline underline-offset-4 transition-colors"
+          >
+            {t('onboarding.skip', 'Skip onboarding')}
+          </button>
+        </div>
       </Col>
-    </Col>
+    </div>
   )
 }
 
 function Step1NoHiddenAlgorithms({onNext, onSkip}: OnboardingStepProps) {
   const t = useT()
   const content = (
-    <div className="space-y-4">
+    <>
       <p>{t('onboarding.step1.body1', 'Compass does not decide who you should see.')}</p>
       <p>
         {t(
@@ -86,14 +159,15 @@ function Step1NoHiddenAlgorithms({onNext, onSkip}: OnboardingStepProps) {
           'There is no engagement algorithm, no swipe-ranking, no boosted profiles, and no attention optimization. You can browse the full database, apply your own filters, and see exactly why someone matches with you.',
         )}
       </p>
-      <p className="font-semibold">
+      <p className="font-semibold text-ink-900">
         {t('onboarding.step1.body3', 'You stay in control of discovery. Always.')}
       </p>
-    </div>
+    </>
   )
 
   return (
     <OnboardingScreen
+      step={1}
       title={t('onboarding.step1.title', 'No black box. No manipulation.')}
       content={content}
       footerText={t('onboarding.step1.footer', 'Transparency is a core principle, not a feature.')}
@@ -111,33 +185,34 @@ function Step2SearchBeatsSwiping({
 }: OnboardingStepProps & {onBack: () => void}) {
   const t = useT()
   const content = (
-    <div className="space-y-4">
+    <>
       <p>
         {t(
           'onboarding.step2.body1',
           'Instead of endless swiping, Compass lets you search intentionally.',
         )}
       </p>
-      <p className="text-left max-w-md mx-auto">
-        {t('onboarding.step2.body2', 'Look for people by:')}
-      </p>
-      <ul className="text-left max-w-md mx-auto space-y-2">
-        <li>{t('onboarding.step2.item1', 'Interests and keywords')}</li>
-        <li>{t('onboarding.step2.item2', 'Values and ideas')}</li>
-        <li>{t('onboarding.step2.item3', 'Compatibility answers')}</li>
-        <li>{t('onboarding.step2.item4', 'Location and intent')}</li>
-      </ul>
+      <p>{t('onboarding.step2.body2', 'Look for people by:')}</p>
+      <Bullets
+        items={[
+          t('onboarding.step2.item1', 'Interests and keywords'),
+          t('onboarding.step2.item2', 'Values and ideas'),
+          t('onboarding.step2.item3', 'Compatibility answers'),
+          t('onboarding.step2.item4', 'Location and intent'),
+        ]}
+      />
       <p>
         {t(
           'onboarding.step2.body3',
           'You can save searches and get notified when new people match them. No need to check the app every day.',
         )}
       </p>
-    </div>
+    </>
   )
 
   return (
     <OnboardingScreen
+      step={2}
       title={t('onboarding.step2.title', "Search, don't scroll.")}
       content={content}
       footerText={t('onboarding.step2.footer', 'Less noise. More signal.')}
@@ -155,27 +230,30 @@ function Step3CompatibilityInspect({
 }: OnboardingStepProps & {onBack: () => void}) {
   const t = useT()
   const content = (
-    <div className="space-y-4">
+    <>
       <p>{t('onboarding.step3.body1', "Matches aren't magic or mysterious.")}</p>
       <p>
         {t('onboarding.step3.body2', 'Your compatibility score comes from explicit questions:')}
       </p>
-      <ul className="text-left max-w-md mx-auto space-y-2">
-        <li>{t('onboarding.step3.item1', 'Your answer')}</li>
-        <li>{t('onboarding.step3.item2', 'What answers you accept from others')}</li>
-        <li>{t('onboarding.step3.item3', 'How important each question is to you')}</li>
-      </ul>
+      <Bullets
+        items={[
+          t('onboarding.step3.item1', 'Your answer'),
+          t('onboarding.step3.item2', 'What answers you accept from others'),
+          t('onboarding.step3.item3', 'How important each question is to you'),
+        ]}
+      />
       <p>
         {t(
           'onboarding.step3.body3',
           'You can inspect, question, and improve the system. The full math is open source.',
         )}
       </p>
-    </div>
+    </>
   )
 
   return (
     <OnboardingScreen
+      step={3}
       title={t('onboarding.step3.title', 'Compatibility you can understand.')}
       content={content}
       footerText={t(
@@ -239,7 +317,13 @@ export default function OnboardingPage() {
     //     title="Welcome to Compass - Onboarding"
     //     description="Get started with Compass - transparent dating without algorithms"
     //   />
-    <Col className="min-h-screen items-center justify-center">{renderStep()}</Col>
+    <Col className="min-h-screen items-center justify-center px-5 py-10">
+      {/* Keyed on the step so each screen enters rather than swapping in place — the three screens are
+          near-identical in shape, and without the transition a click reads as "nothing happened". */}
+      <div key={currentStep} className="animate-fade-up w-full flex justify-center">
+        {renderStep()}
+      </div>
+    </Col>
     // </PageBase>
   )
 }
diff --git a/web/pages/onboarding/soft-gate.tsx b/web/pages/onboarding/soft-gate.tsx
index 0da8cefd..6bf83d84 100644
--- a/web/pages/onboarding/soft-gate.tsx
+++ b/web/pages/onboarding/soft-gate.tsx
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import {CheckIcon} from '@heroicons/react/24/outline'
+import clsx from 'clsx'
 import Router from 'next/router'
 import {Button} from 'web/components/buttons/button'
 import {Col} from 'web/components/layout/col'
@@ -5,10 +7,27 @@ import {PageBase} from 'web/components/page-base'
 import {ProfileCardViewer} from 'web/components/profile-card-viewer'
 import {SEO} from 'web/components/SEO'
 import {ShareProfileButtons} from 'web/components/widgets/share-profile-button'
+import {surface} from 'web/components/widgets/surface'
 import {useProfile} from 'web/hooks/use-profile'
 import {useUser} from 'web/hooks/use-user'
 import {useT} from 'web/lib/locale'
 
+/** Same marker treatment as the onboarding steps, so the end of the flow matches its start. */
+function Bullets({items}: {items: string[]}) {
+  return (
+    <ul className="space-y-3">
+      {items.map((item) => (
+        <li key={item} className="flex items-start gap-3">
+          <span className="mt-0.5 w-5 h-5 rounded-full bg-primary-100 ring-1 ring-primary-200 flex items-center justify-center flex-shrink-0">
+            <CheckIcon className="w-3 h-3 text-primary-700" strokeWidth={2.5} />
+          </span>
+          <span className="text-ink-700">{item}</span>
+        </li>
+      ))}
+    </ul>
+  )
+}
+
 export default function SoftGatePage() {
   const user = useUser()
   const t = useT()
@@ -31,16 +50,16 @@ export default function SoftGatePage() {
           'Get started with Compass - transparent connections without algorithms',
         )}
       />
-      <Col className="min-h-screen items-center justify-center p-6">
-        <Col className="max-w-xl w-full gap-6 text-center">
-          <h1 className="text-4xl font-semibold text-ink-900">
+      <Col className="min-h-screen items-center justify-center px-5 py-10">
+        <div className={clsx(surface, 'w-full max-w-xl p-6 sm:p-10')}>
+          <h1 className="text-[clamp(26px,4vw,36px)] font-bold tracking-tight text-ink-900 text-balance mb-6">
             {t('onboarding.soft-gate.title', "You're ready to explore")}
           </h1>
 
           {profile && user && (
-            <Col className="gap-4 text-ink-700 items-center">
+            <Col className="gap-4 items-center mb-7">
               <ProfileCardViewer user={user} profile={profile} />
-              <p>
+              <p className="text-base text-ink-700 leading-relaxed">
                 {t(
                   'onboarding.soft-gate.profile_card',
                   'You created a public profile card and values-based profile. Share them to attract people who think like you. Shared profiles are discovered much more often.',
@@ -50,53 +69,47 @@ export default function SoftGatePage() {
             </Col>
           )}
 
-          <Col className="gap-4 text-ink-700">
+          <Col className="gap-4 text-base text-ink-700 leading-relaxed">
             <p>
               {t(
                 'onboarding.soft-gate.intro',
                 "You've answered your first compatibility questions and shared your top interests.",
               )}
             </p>
-            <p className="text-left space-y-2 text-ink-600">
-              {t('onboarding.soft-gate.what_it_means', "Here's what that means for you:")}
-            </p>
+            <p>{t('onboarding.soft-gate.what_it_means', "Here's what that means for you:")}</p>
 
-            <ul className="text-left mx-auto space-y-2">
-              {/*<li>*/}
-              {/*  {t("onboarding.soft-gate.bullet1", "Compatibility scores now reflect your values and preferences")}*/}
-              {/*</li>*/}
-              <li>
-                <span>
-                  {t(
-                    'onboarding.soft-gate.bullet2',
-                    "You'll see match percentages that align closely with what you care about",
-                  )}
-                </span>
-              </li>
-              <li>
-                <span>
-                  {t(
-                    'onboarding.soft-gate.bullet3',
-                    'You can update your profile anytime to increase the chances of the right people reaching out.',
-                  )}
-                </span>
-              </li>
-            </ul>
+            {/*<li>*/}
+            {/*  {t("onboarding.soft-gate.bullet1", "Compatibility scores now reflect your values and preferences")}*/}
+            {/*</li>*/}
+            <Bullets
+              items={[
+                t(
+                  'onboarding.soft-gate.bullet2',
+                  "You'll see match percentages that align closely with what you care about",
+                ),
+                t(
+                  'onboarding.soft-gate.bullet3',
+                  'You can update your profile anytime to increase the chances of the right people reaching out.',
+                ),
+              ]}
+            />
           </Col>
 
-          <Col className="gap-3 items-center">
-            <Button onClick={handleExplore} size="lg">
+          <Col className="gap-4 mt-9">
+            <Button onClick={handleExplore} size="lg" className="w-full">
               {t('onboarding.soft-gate.explore_button', 'Explore Profiles Now')}
             </Button>
 
+            {/* Was `text-ink-500` at 3.5:1. This is the escape hatch from a screen whose primary
+                action sends you away from your own profile, so it has to be legible. */}
             <button
               onClick={handleRefine}
-              className="text-sm text-ink-500 hover:text-ink-700 transition-colors"
+              className="text-sm font-medium text-ink-700 hover:text-ink-900 underline underline-offset-4 transition-colors"
             >
               {t('onboarding.soft-gate.refine_button', 'Refine Profile')}
             </button>
           </Col>
-        </Col>
+        </div>
       </Col>
     </PageBase>
   )
diff --git a/web/pages/organization.tsx b/web/pages/organization.tsx
index 8d534934..89e7ed59 100644
--- a/web/pages/organization.tsx
+++ b/web/pages/organization.tsx
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ function SectionCard({icon: Icon, title, description, links}: SectionCardProps)
             content={label}
             color={
               primary
-                ? 'bg-primary-500 hover:bg-primary-600 text-white border-primary-500 shadow-[0_3px_12px_rgba(193,127,62,0.3)] text-sm'
+                ? 'bg-cta hover:bg-cta-hover text-white border-cta shadow-[0_3px_12px_rgba(193,127,62,0.3)] text-sm'
                 : 'bg-canvas-100 border-canvas-300 text-ink-900 hover:border-primary-500 hover:text-primary-500 text-sm'
             }
           />
diff --git a/web/pages/signup.tsx b/web/pages/signup.tsx
index ec41726f..c79c2e93 100644
--- a/web/pages/signup.tsx
+++ b/web/pages/signup.tsx
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import {Col} from 'web/components/layout/col'
 import {OptionalProfileUserForm} from 'web/components/optional-profile-form'
 import {initialRequiredState, RequiredProfileUserForm} from 'web/components/required-profile-form'
 import {CompassLoadingIndicator} from 'web/components/widgets/loading-indicator'
+import {StepProgress} from 'web/components/widgets/step-progress'
 import {useTracking} from 'web/hooks/use-tracking'
 import {api} from 'web/lib/api'
 import {auth, CACHED_REFERRAL_USERNAME_KEY} from 'web/lib/firebase/users'
@@ -123,19 +124,35 @@ export default function SignupPage() {
     }
   }
 
+  const TOTAL_STEPS = 2
+
   return (
     <Col className="items-center">
       <Toaster position={'top-center'} containerClassName="!bottom-[70px]" />
       {isSubmitting ? (
         <Col className="flex-1 items-center justify-center py-20">
           <CompassLoadingIndicator />
-          <div className="mt-4 text-gray-500">
+          {/* Was `text-gray-500`, an off-palette literal that does not flip with the theme. */}
+          <div className="mt-4 text-base text-ink-700">
             {t('signup.creating_profile', 'Creating your profile...')}
           </div>
         </Col>
       ) : (
         <Col className={'w-full max-w-4xl px-6 py-4'}>
           <BackButton className="-ml-2 mb-2 self-start" />
+          {/* The flow had no progress indicator at all: two substantial form steps that looked alike,
+              so the only way to learn there were two was to finish the first. The bar is deliberately
+              the same component as /onboarding — those three screens lead directly here, and a reader
+              who has just watched a 3-segment bar fill should recognise this as the next one. */}
+          <StepProgress
+            current={step + 1}
+            total={TOTAL_STEPS}
+            label={t('common.step_progress', 'Step {current} of {total}', {
+              current: step + 1,
+              total: TOTAL_STEPS,
+            })}
+            className="mb-7"
+          />
           {step === 0 ? (
             <RequiredProfileUserForm
               data={baseUser}
@@ -161,8 +178,12 @@ export default function SignupPage() {
   )
 }
 
-export const colClassName = 'items-start gap-2'
-export const labelClassName = 'font-semibold text-md'
+// Field-group and label classes shared with `optional-profile-form.tsx`.
+// `gap-1.5` rather than `gap-2`: the label, its help text and the input are one unit, and at gap-2
+// they sat as far apart from each other as consecutive fields did. The vertical rhythm between
+// fields comes from the parent `Col`'s `gap-8`, not from here.
+export const colClassName = 'items-start gap-1.5 w-full'
+export const labelClassName = 'font-semibold text-md text-ink-900'
 
 function getInitialBaseUser() {
   const emailName = auth.currentUser?.email?.replace(/@.*$/, '')
diff --git a/web/pages/social.tsx b/web/pages/social.tsx
index 9ec97bc3..8a0f4e7b 100644
--- a/web/pages/social.tsx
+++ b/web/pages/social.tsx
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ function SocialLinkButton({url, label, icon, primary}: SocialLink) {
         hover:-translate-y-0.5
         ${
           primary
-            ? 'bg-primary-500 border-primary-500 text-white hover:bg-primary-600 shadow-[0_3px_12px_rgba(193,127,62,0.3)]'
+            ? 'bg-cta border-cta text-white hover:bg-cta-hover shadow-[0_3px_12px_rgba(193,127,62,0.3)]'
             : 'bg-canvas-100 border-canvas-300 text-ink-900 hover:border-primary-500 hover:text-primary-500'
         }
       `}
diff --git a/web/pages/stats.tsx b/web/pages/stats.tsx
index 78abf76f..d018dc01 100644
--- a/web/pages/stats.tsx
+++ b/web/pages/stats.tsx
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import {ComponentType, ReactNode, SVGProps, useEffect, useState} from 'react'
 import {PageBase} from 'web/components/page-base'
 import {SEO} from 'web/components/SEO'
 import ChartMembers from 'web/components/widgets/charts'
+import {CountrySpread, MIN_COUNTRIES} from 'web/components/widgets/country-spread'
 import {api} from 'web/lib/api'
 import {useT} from 'web/lib/locale'
 import {getCount} from 'web/lib/supabase/users'
@@ -40,6 +41,8 @@ interface StatCardProps {
 interface StatGroupProps {
   icon: IconType
   title: string
+  /** Optional block sharing the group's row — the right column on large screens. */
+  aside?: ReactNode
   children: ReactNode
 }
 
@@ -99,7 +102,7 @@ function StatCard({value, label, icon: Icon, accent = 'amber', large}: StatCardP
 
 // ─── Stat Group ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
-function StatGroup({icon: Icon, title, children}: StatGroupProps) {
+function StatGroup({icon: Icon, title, aside, children}: StatGroupProps) {
   return (
     <div className="mb-10">
       <div className="flex items-center gap-3 mb-4">
@@ -109,7 +112,20 @@ function StatGroup({icon: Icon, title, children}: StatGroupProps) {
         </span>
         <div className="flex-1 h-px bg-canvas-200" />
       </div>
-      <div className="grid grid-cols-2 md:grid-cols-3 lg:grid-cols-4 gap-3">{children}</div>
+      {/* With an `aside`, the cards give up half the width and drop to a 2×2 block beside it on large
+          screens; without one they keep the full-width 4-up row. The aside stacks underneath below
+          `lg` rather than squeezing — its country bars need the horizontal room. */}
+      <div className={clsx('grid gap-3', aside && 'lg:grid-cols-2 items-start')}>
+        <div
+          className={clsx(
+            'grid grid-cols-2 gap-3',
+            aside ? 'md:grid-cols-2' : 'md:grid-cols-3 lg:grid-cols-4',
+          )}
+        >
+          {children}
+        </div>
+        {aside}
+      </div>
     </div>
   )
 }
@@ -260,6 +276,8 @@ export default function Stats() {
     void load()
   }, [])
 
+  const hasCountrySpread = (statsData?.countries?.length ?? 0) >= MIN_COUNTRIES
+
   const genderRatioLabel = statsData?.genderRatio
     ? `${statsData.genderRatio.male ?? 0} / ${statsData.genderRatio.female ?? 0}`
     : null
@@ -321,7 +339,31 @@ export default function Stats() {
             <ChartCard />
 
             {/* ── Community ── */}
-            <StatGroup icon={UsersIcon} title={t('stats.group.community', 'Community')}>
+            {/* "Where members are" moved here from the about page, and sits inside Community rather
+                than in a section of its own: it answers "who are the members" like the four numbers
+                beside it, just split by place instead of counted. Fed from the payload this page
+                already fetched, so it does not fire a second `stats` request. Gated on the same
+                threshold the component uses: dropping the aside gives the four cards the full width
+                back, where merely hiding it would leave half the row blank. */}
+            <StatGroup
+              icon={UsersIcon}
+              title={t('stats.group.community', 'Community')}
+              aside={
+                hasCountrySpread && (
+                  <div
+                    className="
+                      bg-canvas-50 border-[1.5px] border-canvas-200 rounded-2xl p-6
+                      shadow-[0_2px_8px_rgba(44,36,22,0.05)]
+                    "
+                  >
+                    <CountrySpread
+                      countries={statsData?.countries}
+                      countryCount={statsData?.countryCount}
+                    />
+                  </div>
+                )
+              }
+            >
               <StatCard
                 value={data.profiles}
                 label={t('stats.members', 'Members')}
diff --git a/web/scripts/fetch-media.mjs b/web/scripts/fetch-media.mjs
index 16d1b489..a75df924 100644
--- a/web/scripts/fetch-media.mjs
+++ b/web/scripts/fetch-media.mjs
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ const ASSETS = [
   {key: 'videos/search-demo-dark.mp4', dest: 'videos/search-demo-dark.mp4'},
   {key: 'images/search-demo-poster-light.jpg', dest: 'images/search-demo-poster-light.jpg'},
   {key: 'images/search-demo-poster-dark.jpg', dest: 'images/search-demo-poster-dark.jpg'},
+  {key: 'videos/search-alert-light.mp4', dest: 'videos/search-alert-light.mp4'},
+  {key: 'videos/search-alert-dark.mp4', dest: 'videos/search-alert-dark.mp4'},
+  {key: 'images/search-alert-poster-light.jpg', dest: 'images/search-alert-poster-light.jpg'},
+  {key: 'images/search-alert-poster-dark.jpg', dest: 'images/search-alert-poster-dark.jpg'},
   {key: 'images/vote-tally-light.webp', dest: 'images/vote-tally-light.webp'},
   {key: 'images/vote-tally-dark.webp', dest: 'images/vote-tally-dark.webp'},
   {key: 'images/vote-tally-light-narrow.webp', dest: 'images/vote-tally-light-narrow.webp'},
diff --git a/web/styles/globals.css b/web/styles/globals.css
index 6cbd3d4c..690530e7 100644
--- a/web/styles/globals.css
+++ b/web/styles/globals.css
@@ -134,6 +134,19 @@
     --color-primary-900: 71 39 16; /* #472710 */
     --color-primary-950: 43 21 8; /* #2B1508 */
 
+    /* Filled-button background — the amber a *white label* is allowed to sit on.
+       The brand base (primary-500, #C17F3E) carries white at only 3.30:1, below the 4.5:1 AA needs
+       for normal-size text, and it is the background of every primary CTA in the app. This is one
+       ramp step down (#A6682E) at 4.52:1.
+       It is a token of its own rather than "just use primary-600" because the primary ramp *inverts*
+       between themes — in dark mode 600 is a step *lighter*, so `bg-primary-600` would clear AA in
+       light and drop dark to 2.64:1. Both themes therefore pin the same value here: a solid brand
+       block does not need to shift with the theme, and white has to stay legible on it either way.
+       Hover goes darker (not lighter) in both themes for the same reason. */
+    --color-cta: 166 104 46; /* #A6682E — white on this: 4.52:1 */
+    --color-cta-hover: 133 80 34; /* #855022 — white on this: 6.29:1 */
+    --color-cta-deep: 101 58 24; /* #653A18 — the far stop of the gradient CTA, ~9:1 */
+
     --color-ink-0: 255 255 255; /* white */
     --color-ink-50: 255 255 255;
     --color-ink-100: 255 255 255;
@@ -270,6 +283,15 @@
     --color-primary-900: 243 228 206; /* Near-Cream Tint */
     --color-primary-950: 250 243 233; /* Glow Tint */
 
+    /* Same values as the light theme — see the note there. The ramp inverts in dark mode, so the
+       token cannot be expressed as a ramp step that works in both; white legibility is the
+       constraint, and it does not care which theme is active. */
+    --color-cta: 166 104 46; /* = primary-400 in this (dark) ramp */
+    --color-cta-hover: 133 80 34; /* = primary-300 in this (dark) ramp */
+    --color-cta-deep: 101 58 24; /* pinned dark: the gradient's far stop used to be primary-800,
+                                    which in this ramp is near-cream (232 201 157) — white text ran
+                                    off the end of it at about 1.3:1. */
+
     --color-no-950: 255 255 255; /* white */
     --color-no-900: 242 242 242;
     --color-no-800: 217 217 217;
@@ -463,16 +485,20 @@ ul {
   margin-top: 0.5rem;
 }
 
+/* `primary-700`, not the raw #c17f3e brand base: that hex is 3.30:1 on the canvas and this rule
+   beats any `text-*` utility on the anchor (0,2,0 vs 0,1,0 specificity), so call sites could not
+   opt out of it. As a var it also flips with the theme instead of being a light-mode literal
+   duplicated into the .dark block below. */
 .custom-link a,
 .custom-link button {
-  color: #c17f3e;
+  color: rgb(var(--color-primary-700));
   text-decoration: none;
   font-family: var(--font-main), serif;
 }
 
 .dark .custom-link a,
 .dark .custom-link button {
-  color: #c17f3e;
+  color: rgb(var(--color-primary-700));
   text-decoration: none;
   font-family: var(--font-main), serif;
 }
@@ -589,8 +615,11 @@ ol > li::marker {
   }
 }
 
+/* Was `opacity: 0.7`, which dimmed whatever it inherited to roughly 3.2:1 — and dimmed any link
+   inside it along with the text. A real colour token hits the same "secondary" register while
+   staying legible, and leaves nested links at their own contrast. */
 .guidance {
-  opacity: 0.7;
+  color: rgb(var(--color-ink-700));
   font-size: 14px;
 }
 
diff --git a/web/tailwind.config.js b/web/tailwind.config.js
index 47e92857..9da6803d 100644
--- a/web/tailwind.config.js
+++ b/web/tailwind.config.js
@@ -351,6 +351,14 @@ module.exports = {
           900: 'rgb(var(--color-primary-900) / <alpha-value>)',
           950: 'rgb(var(--color-primary-950) / <alpha-value>)',
         },
+        // Filled-button background. Use `bg-cta hover:bg-cta-hover text-white` for any solid amber
+        // button — `bg-primary-500 text-white` is 3.30:1 and fails AA. See globals.css for why this
+        // is a token rather than a ramp step.
+        cta: {
+          DEFAULT: 'rgb(var(--color-cta) / <alpha-value>)',
+          hover: 'rgb(var(--color-cta-hover) / <alpha-value>)',
+          deep: 'rgb(var(--color-cta-deep) / <alpha-value>)',
+        },
         gray: {
           50: 'hsl(0, 0%, 95%)',
           100: 'hsl(0, 0%, 90%)',