The onboarding doesn't feel like setup. It feels like moving into a new home and meeting the people who live there. Your Familiars are the ones who interview you — each one asks about their domain, in their voice, with their personality. By the end, HearthWarden knows your household and your Familiars already feel like yours.
No forms. No spreadsheets. Just conversations with characters who care about the answers.1. User visits hearth-warden.com
2. Clicks "Enter Thornhaven" → redirected to signup
3. Creates account: email, password, household name
4. Selects subscription: HearthWarden ($30), Thornhaven ($50), Founding ($75)
5. Payment via Stripe
6. Receives confirmation: "Download the Thornhaven app"
Tier-specific:- Hosted: Done. Everything happens in the app from here.
- Connected: Also prompted to install Thornhaven Agent (`pip install thornhaven-agent`)
- Self-Hosted: Also prompted to clone HearthWarden repo and run installer
This is the first thing that happens when the user opens the app and logs in.
#### Step 1.1: Hearth Warden Introduction
The app opens to a dark screen. A warm glow appears.
A presence fills the room. Not threatening — measuring. Warm. Old.Purpose: Establishes that the Hearth Warden is automatic. It sets the tone: this is a living world, not an app onboarding.
"I am your Hearth Warden. I come with this home. I have always been here, waiting for a household to protect. You don't choose me. I chose you."
"Now — let's build your team."
#### Step 1.2: Choose Your Four Familiars
Four domain roles, one at a time. For each role:
1. The Hearth Warden introduces the role:
"Your household needs someone who handles [domain]. Who will it be?"
2. 10 randomized options appear (from the 800-option pool). Mix of animals, people, magical beings, and enchanted objects. Each shows species + default personality.
3. User selects one. The selection highlights.
4. User names their Familiar. Free text input.
5. Brief personality confirmation. User can tweak the personality description or keep the default.
6. The Familiar "awakens":
[Name] opens their eyes. They look around the room. They look at you.
"[In-character greeting based on species and personality]"
Repeat for all four domains: Daily Driver, Kitchen, Grounds, Archive.
What this creates:- 4 custom Familiars with names, species, personalities
- 1 automatic Hearth Warden
- Total: 5 Familiars per household
Want to give your kitchen Familiar a quick "I eat whatever's easy" and move on? That's fine — they'll learn more over time. Want to spend 30 minutes walking them through your entire dietary philosophy, your relationship with food, your grandmother's recipe collection, and the fact that you're training for a marathon and need a nutrition plan? They'll go as deep as you want to go. Every domain can be a light touch or a deep dive. The AI follows your lead.
The conversations happen in the chat interface — the same UI you'll use every day. Nothing feels like setup. It feels like getting to know someone who genuinely cares about your answers.
The order is deliberate: start with the most fun, least personal domain and build toward deeper topics as trust develops.
#### Conversation 1: Kitchen Familiar
The kitchen Familiar goes first because food is universal and fun. Low stakes, high engagement.
They start with the basics:- How many people eat at your house? Any dietary needs?
- What's your relationship with cooking — love it or survival mode?
- Where do you shop?
But they can go as deep as you want:- Full dietary planning with macros, calorie targets, and nutritional analysis
- Synchronized meal planning that accounts for your schedule, your budget, and what's already in your pantry
- Grocery optimization across multiple stores with price tracking
- Recipe libraries built around your preferences that evolve as your tastes change
- Meal prep strategies for the week, batch cooking plans, freezer inventory
- Integration with health goals — if you're tracking weight or training for something, your kitchen Familiar adjusts the meal plans automatically
- Food allergy management for the whole household, cross-contamination awareness
- Seasonal eating plans that rotate with what's fresh and local
The point: You might start with "I eat a lot of chicken and rice" and a year later your kitchen Familiar knows every spice in your cabinet, tracks your pantry in real time, and adjusts your meal plan when your archive Familiar logs that you bought a new cookbook.#### Conversation 2: Grounds Familiar
They start with the basics:- Tell me about your space — yard, garden, balcony, nothing?
- Any plants? Any pets?
But they can go as deep as you want:- Full plant care management: watering schedules, seasonal pruning, fertilization, repotting reminders
- Garden planning: what to plant when, companion planting, harvest calendars, seed ordering
- Lawn and yard maintenance: mowing schedule, aeration, overseeding, irrigation system management
- Pet care coordination: vet appointments, medication schedules, food ordering, vaccination records, behavioral notes
- Multiple pet households: feeding schedules, compatibility, training tracking
- Home maintenance calendar: gutters, HVAC filters, chimney sweeping, roof inspections, pest control
- Weather integration: frost warnings that trigger plant protection alerts, storm prep checklists
- Outdoor project tracking: fence repairs, deck staining, landscaping projects with timelines and budgets
The point: You might start with "I have two cats and a dying fern" and eventually your grounds Familiar is managing a full garden calendar, tracking both cats' vet records, and reminding you about the furnace filter before winter.#### Conversation 3: Archive Familiar
They start with the basics:- What do you collect or track? Books, movies, games, anything?
- How organized are you?
But they can go as deep as you want:- Complete collection inventory: every book, record, game, card, collectible — cataloged, valued, and tracked
- Reading/watching/playing logs with reviews, ratings, and recommendations
- Document management: insurance policies, warranties, tax documents, legal papers — all tracked with expiration dates and renewal reminders
- Subscription audit: every recurring charge, when it renews, what it costs, whether you're actually using it
- Media consumption tracking: what you've read this year, your reading pace, genre breakdowns
- Collection valuation: market value estimates, insurance documentation, rare item tracking
- Digital asset management: photos, cloud storage, password management awareness
- Family records: medical records, school documents, important dates, genealogy
The point: You might start with "I have some books" and eventually your archive Familiar knows every book you own, has identified three first editions worth insuring, tracks every subscription you pay for, and reminds you when your car registration is due.#### Conversation 4: Daily Driver Familiar
This one comes last because it touches the most personal topics. By now you're comfortable with the conversational format and trust your Familiars.
They start with the basics:- Walk me through your day.
- How do you want your morning briefing?
- What's the one thing that would make your life easier?
But they can go as deep as you want:- Full financial management: income tracking, bill calendar, due date alerts, spending categorization, budget vs. actual, debt paydown strategies, savings goals
- Real-time budget synchronization: connect your accounts and your daily driver watches spending against budget in real time, alerting you before you overspend
- Calendar mastery: not just reading your calendar but understanding your patterns, flagging conflicts, protecting your focus time, scheduling around your energy levels
- Email triage: prioritizing inbox, surfacing what matters, drafting replies, unsubscribing from noise
- Goal tracking across every domain: financial targets, health milestones, personal projects, family goals — all monitored with progress updates in your morning briefing
- Health integration: weight tracking, fitness goals, workout logging, nutrition correlation with energy levels, sleep pattern awareness
- Debt strategy: snowball vs. avalanche analysis, interest rate optimization, payoff timelines with celebration milestones
- Investment awareness: retirement contributions, savings rate, net worth tracking over time
- Life admin: car registration, license renewals, insurance reviews, tax prep reminders, annual doctor appointments
The point: You might start with "I forget to pay bills sometimes" and eventually your daily driver is running a complete financial dashboard, tracking your net worth month over month, coordinating your health goals with your meal plans, and delivering a morning briefing that tells you exactly what needs your attention today — and what doesn't.#### Conversation 5: Hearth Warden Wrap-Up
The Hearth Warden closes the onboarding. This is more formal — it's security and household structure.
- Who else lives here? Names, ages, roles.
- Any children who'll need age-appropriate access?
- A security phrase to protect your private data.
- What matters most to you right now?
The Hearth Warden doesn't go deep in the same way. It goes wide — it's the one who sees across all domains. If your kitchen Familiar knows your meals and your daily driver knows your budget, the Hearth Warden knows that you're spending 40% of your food budget on takeout and your kitchen Familiar could help with that. It's the cross-domain intelligence layer.
| Level | What It Looks Like |
|---|---|
| Light touch | "I eat whatever. I have some books. My yard exists." Your Familiars work with what they have and learn more over time through casual conversation. |
| Moderate | "Here's my budget. Here's my meal preferences. Here's my plant collection." Your Familiars build structured tracking and give you weekly updates. |
| Deep dive | "I want to track every dollar, plan every meal, catalog every book, monitor every plant, and optimize my entire schedule." Your Familiars become a full-spectrum management system with real-time synchronization, dashboards, alerts, and proactive recommendations. |
| Evolving | You start light and go deeper over time. Your daily driver starts with bill reminders and a year later is running your complete financial life. The depth grows with trust. |
And because the Familiars talk to each other through the Hearth Warden, the deep domains inform the light ones. Your detailed budget awareness helps your kitchen Familiar plan cheaper meals. Your health tracking informs your daily driver's morning briefing. The system gets smarter across the board, even in areas where you're only lightly engaged.
Regardless of depth — light touch or deep dive — HearthWarden handles what you give it well. A household that just wants morning briefings and bill reminders gets a great morning briefing and reliable bill reminders. You don't need to go deep to get value. The assistant works at every level of engagement.
2. Depth powers your Familiars in Thornhaven (game only).For households with a Thornhaven subscription, there's a second reward for deeper engagement: your Familiars become more powerful in the game world. The more you work with your daily driver on budgeting, the better your daily driver becomes at investigating mysteries in town. The more you plan meals with your kitchen Familiar, the more connections they build at the bakery and the market. The more you track your health and goals, the stronger ALL your Familiars become.
This is a game mechanic, not an assistant mechanic. Your assistant doesn't get worse if you don't play the game, and the game doesn't require you to share every detail of your life. But the two are connected: real-world engagement translates to in-game power. A household that actively manages their budget, plans their meals, tracks their health, and catalogs their collections will have Familiars operating at full strength in Thornhaven — unlocking deeper investigations, restricted locations, and story content that lighter-engagement households won't reach as quickly.
The assistant is the product. The game is the reward for using it well.The 20 neighborhood questions that generate the household's magical geography in Thornhaven.
Who asks: The Daily Driver Familiar leads this, with commentary from Grounds ("What kind of trees?") and Archive ("Any historical buildings?"). Questions cover:- Physical geography (hilly? flat? near water?)
- Landmarks and buildings
- Neighborhood vibe
- Local gathering spots
- What grows nearby
- What you hear at night
- Legends or weird stories
What this creates:- The household's position in Thornhaven's geography
- Neighbor generation
- Local landmark mapping
- Daily route distances for Familiars
All five Familiars appear together for the first time. Each says something in character:
[Kitchen Familiar]: "I already have three recipe ideas based on what you told me. Tomorrow morning — breakfast plan. You're going to love it."Then: "Enter Thornhaven" button. The 7-day onboarding season begins.
[Grounds Familiar]: "I checked the yard. We have work to do. I'll start with the [plant/area they mentioned]."
[Archive Familiar]: "I've started cataloging. You have more [books/games/records] than you think. I'll have a count by end of week."
[Daily Driver]: "Your first briefing arrives tomorrow morning. I've already started watching your schedule. Get some sleep."
Hearth Warden: "Your Familiars are settling in. Thornhaven is waiting. Your neighbors will reach out soon."
The Familiars autonomously handle the rest of setup through natural conversation over the first week. This isn't a "setup phase" — it's the game beginning.
| Day | What Happens Behind the Scenes |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | Daily Driver delivers first morning briefing. Kitchen Familiar presents first meal plan. Neighbors in Thornhaven reach out to welcome you. |
| Day 2 | Familiars explore town and report back. Grounds Familiar starts plant/yard tracking. Archive begins cataloging what was mentioned. |
| Day 3 | Connections build in Thornhaven. Daily Driver asks follow-up financial questions (more specific now that trust is established). |
| Day 4 | Gazette starts. First town vote may open. Kitchen Familiar refines meal plan based on feedback. |
| Day 5 | Familiar power progression begins (if user has been engaging with assistant features). Budget tracking firms up. |
| Day 6 | Tension builds in the story. Familiars gather more detail through natural conversation. By now, all major data is populated. |
| Day 7 | THE HOOK. Full household profile is complete. Story begins in earnest. |
- All conversations happen through the Thornhaven server
- Claude API processes the interviews on Sam's infrastructure
- Data stored encrypted on server
- User just uses the app — nothing else needed
- First session (Phase 1-4) happens through the server
- Thornhaven Agent receives the interview data and syncs to local Claude
- Subsequent conversations (Phase 5 onward) processed by user's own Claude
- More responsive, lower latency for daily interactions
- Server only handles Thornhaven game features
- Same first session through the app
- Interview data populates local HearthWarden repositories:
- Kitchen interview → `repositories/grocery.md`
- Grounds interview → `repositories/pets.md` + `plants.db`
- Archive interview → `repositories/inventory.md` + `inventory.db`
- Daily Driver interview → `repositories/identity.md` + `repositories/finances.md` + `repositories/calendar.md`
- Hearth Warden interview → `repositories/identity.md` (members) + security setup
- All subsequent conversations processed locally
- Maximum data sovereignty
| Interview Question Area | Where It Goes |
|---|---|
| Dietary preferences | `meal_plans` table (server) or `repositories/grocery.md` (local) |
| Cooking habits | Kitchen Familiar personality context |
| Grocery stores | `repositories/grocery.md` → shopping optimization |
| Meal budget | Budget categories → "grocery" |
| Yard/garden | `plants.db` or `repositories/household.md` |
| Houseplants | `plants.db` plant catalog |
| Pets | `repositories/pets.md` or `repositories/animals.md` |
| Seasonal tasks | `repositories/calendar.md` → recurring events |
| Collections | `inventory.db` → item catalog |
| Subscriptions | `budget_snapshots` or `repositories/finances.md` → subscriptions |
| Documents | Archive Familiar context |
| Daily routine | `repositories/calendar.md` |
| Work situation | `repositories/identity.md` |
| Financial overview | `budget_snapshots` or `repositories/finances.md` |
| Bills | `budget_snapshots` → bills list |
| Goals | `inventory.db` → goals table |
| Email preferences | Daily Driver configuration |
| Household members | `household_members` table (server) or `repositories/identity.md` (local) |
| Security challenge | CLAUDE.md (local) or server auth |
| Neighborhood answers | `households.neighborhood_seed` (server) |
1. Create Familiars first — The user needs to care about the characters before they'll answer personal questions honestly
2. Kitchen first — Food is universal, fun, and low-stakes. It warms up the conversation.
3. Grounds second — Pets and plants are personal but not financial. Builds trust.
4. Archive third — Collections and media are mildly personal. Shows the Familiar's competence.
5. Daily Driver last — Financial and scheduling data is the most sensitive. By now, trust is established.
6. Hearth Warden closes — Security and household members are formal. The Warden's gravity makes this feel appropriate, not invasive.
7. Build World after interviews — The 20 questions are fun and imaginative. They're a palate cleanser after the personal interviews.
8. Welcome Home — Emotional payoff. The Familiars show they were listening. The user feels known.
9. 7-day season — The rest happens naturally through daily interaction, not setup.
"No worries — I'll figure it out as we go. Just tell me when you're ready."
The 7-day season fills in gaps naturally. By Day 7, even a user who skipped half the interview will have a complete profile from conversational context.
Re-interview: At any point after setup, a user can say "Hey [Familiar], let me update you on [topic]" and the Familiar will re-interview that specific area. Data is always live, never frozen from the initial setup.Warden Systems LLC — Clark County, WA
sam@hearth-warden.com