positioning + dual-link + Vercel: one URL in, two links out; Pimcore center

[ninan-versioning]

Four moves, one branch

1. Drop Shopify from the positioning wording

Shoploop is positioned as full-funnel positionless AI marketing for tabletop products — full stop. No "on Shopify" tail. connectors/shopify/ code untouched; Shopify is now one of many optional secondary connects.

2. The only intake is an existing web page link

No catalog upload, no OAuth wizard, no CSV, no SKU form. Paste a URL → parser emits product_twin.usda + brand_rules.json + variant sets. Everything downstream triggers off that twin. Anchored to the NVIDIA OpenUSD product-configurator reference architecture.

3. One URL in, two links out

Same intake fans out into two products that share the same Pimcore-managed twin:

• 🎯 Operator link — shoploop.studio/op/{slug} — Grip-clone Studio for operators, artists, marketers.
• 🛍️ Configurator link — shoploop.studio/{slug} — premium 3D PDP replacement for shoppers. Reference behavior: Gatorade's Adobe Firefly customizable squeeze bottles.

Pimcore (PXM) sits in the middle. Both links read/write the same product record. The Operator link needs the Configurator link to close its funnel — that's why they ship in one repo.

4. Cloud rule (locked)

Frontends → Vercel (sole frontend deployment partner). Everything else — GPUs, Omniverse streaming, Kit containers, Pimcore, Postgres, agents, Postiz workers, Nango — → AWS. Never Vercel for GPU. Never AWS for frontends.

Files changed

Positioning surfaces

• README.md — full rewrite around dual offering + Pimcore + Vercel/AWS split.
• POSITIONING.md — new Intake — one URL, nothing else section; positionless-full-funnel now starts at "customer pastes one URL".
• agent.md — locked Intake rule; decision gate rule 6 rejects non-URL intake; Houston → Seattle.
• soul.md — checkout platform-neutral; URL is the anchor.
• AGENTS.md — URL paste on shoploop.studio replaces Shopify App Store as primary distribution; architecture loop leads with Existing Web Page URL.
• LOOP_SPEC.md — Loop 1 rewritten as URL Intake (Page → Twin) with full 9-primitive spec; connector ingest demoted to Loop 1b; Loop 6 rewritten as Web Page Update (PR-first); scheduling re-gated on URL paste, not connector enrollment.
• design.md — description + hero one-liner drop "on Shopify".

Vercel wiring (fixes broken deploys)

• vercel.json (new, root) — pnpm --filter shoploop-studio-site build + ignoreCommand skipping deploys for docs/, connectors/, infra/, skills/, non-frontend *.md changes.
• apps/shoploop-studio-site/vercel.json (new) — per-app config for Root Directory setup.
• apps/shoploop-studio-site/next.config.mjs — dropped output: 'export' (dynamic /{slug} and /op/{slug} routes need SSR/ISR); added remotePatterns for arbitrary product URLs; transpilePackages for shared workspace packages.
• Deleted apps/shoploop-studio-site/package-lock.json (npm lockfile conflicting with root pnpm workspace).
• .npmrc (new) — pinning pnpm behavior.
• .vercelignore (new) — excludes infra/, docs/, connectors/, skills/.
• docs/vercel.md (new) — runbook: env vars, common failures, subdomain map, first-time setup.

Architecture assets

• docs/images/nvidia-kit-app-template-streaming.jpeg — NVIDIA reference (our target).
• docs/images/grip-openusd-digital-twin-factory.jpeg — grip.tools implementation on Azure (the target).

Repo strategy — one repo, don't split

Two links = two apps under apps/, not two repos. Shared twin, shared brand_rules, shared Pimcore integration, one PR queue, one AGPL-3.0 license. Revisit at v0.2 only if the two apps develop truly independent release cadences.

Milestone housekeeping

• Milestone M2: Build budget AI orchestration layer — campaign spend routing by SKU + channel #2 renamed: "v0.2 Shopify App Store Launch" → "v0.2 Dual-Link Public Beta" (URL-paste public beta of Operator link + Configurator link).

Follow-up issues opened

• M1: shoploop.studio/{url} — URL-paste 3D configurator on Omniverse+OpenUSD (grip.tools attack) #31 — M1: shoploop.studio/{url} — URL-paste 3D configurator on Omniverse+OpenUSD (grip.tools attack). Now scoped as the Configurator link side of the dual offering.
• #TBD — M1: Operator link — Grip-clone Studio (Polotno + R3F + Postiz + Nango + PostHog).
• #TBD — M1: Landing page — shoploop.studio dual-offering pitch with Pimcore at the center.

Verification

$ grep -c -i "shopify" README.md POSITIONING.md agent.md soul.md AGENTS.md LOOP_SPEC.md design.md

Only deliberate mentions remain: branch name, historical rename notes, and Shopify listed as one of many storefront templates in the regression matrix.

Perplexity project side

The Perplexity project description + system prompt have been updated to mirror this PR (dual-link framing, Pimcore center, Vercel/AWS split, monorepo lock).