This page tracks shipped improvements to Vertical itself — the operator core, skills, automations, integrations, and internal tooling behind the business engine.
Tasks got clearer and blockers got more trustworthy
Task dashboards and activity now show assignee avatars and richer people context, so it is easier to scan who owns what without opening extra views.
Website launch work now follows a more structured copy → hero → scaffold → staging workflow, making first-site launches less ad hoc.
Blocked work is easier to trust because Vertical now shows when a blocking task was reopened, not just when it was completed or canceled.
Settings navigation and logout behavior are less brittle, reducing stale state and confusing next-session handoffs.
Chat delivery is safer and more reliable because the runtime worker now stays focused on chat work by default instead of accidentally picking up unrelated background jobs.
File-backed work got easier to review and hand off
Users can now attach files to task comments and actually see/open them in the task activity feed, so review requests, progress updates, and handoffs are much easier to follow.
Vertical chat can now deliver completed replies and conversation files through the newer runtime path, which moves in-app operator chat closer to a production-ready workflow.
Avatar images should now load faster and more reliably across the app instead of getting tripped up by weak caching behavior.
Scheduled task pickup is safer and less noisy: it now uses cleaner task-update hygiene and ignores stale completed blockers after rereading task state, reducing accidental bad handoffs.
File-backed task handoffs are less error-prone because Vertical’s own task automation now verifies that comment attachments really landed before it claims success.
Settings, avatars, and dashboard work got more polished
Added the base settings area for profile and account management.
Avatar uploads now work more like users expect, including cropping, PNG support, saved avatars, and display in the app chrome.
Feature access is easier to control safely, so new product areas can be tested with the right users before broader release.
Dashboard task cards became more useful, with clearer assignees, better task rows, and more visible input-needed work.
Task parent and blocker behavior is safer, reducing bad task hierarchy changes and making stuck work clearer.
Conversation routing was tightened behind the scenes so future agent interactions can land in the right place.
Dashboards and tables got smoother
Added the first business dashboard, with work cards, saved layout, and a more flexible grid.
Task tables now feel smoother during updates: existing rows stay visible while fresh data loads, instead of flashing back to a full loading screen.
Continued polishing the behind-the-scenes in-app chat session foundation while keeping it gated.
Login and session handling became more forgiving, especially around magic links, overlapping sessions, and deep links.
Mobile file previews are easier to read, especially for long markdown or code files.
Subtasks now show blocker indicators, so stuck work is easier to spot at a glance.
In-app chat sessions got stronger under the hood
Added more of the foundation needed for future in-app chat sessions, including history, replies, files, voice notes, and safer message delivery.
Improved how Vertical handles attachments, audio, retries, and failed sends behind the scenes.
Strengthened routing so future chat sessions can reach the right Vertical agent more reliably.
Added analytics and waitlist capture foundations so product usage and errors are easier to understand.
Added the new landing and waitlist pages that support the production domain rollout.
Tasks and files became easier to trust
Related tasks are now easier to see, open, and understand from the task view.
Blocked work is clearer, with better status badges and activity links that show why something is stuck.
Inline files are safer to use: links are cleaner, deleted-file conflicts are handled better, and old broken file references can be found and repaired.
Production upload routing is now checked automatically, reducing the chance that file previews or downloads break after a deploy.
We also laid more groundwork for richer in-product conversations later.
Vertical now opens faster and feels steadier
Business pages now load into a stable app frame faster, with fewer blank screens and awkward loading flashes.
File attachments are more reliable across the app, so opening and sharing work files should feel less fragile.
Task relationships are more dependable, so linked work and blockers are less likely to look stale or incomplete.
The app got small visual polish around navigation, fonts, and loading states, making day-to-day use feel smoother.
Tasks, files, and visual work now stay together
Tasks can hold richer context with files, images, previews, and links directly where the work is happening, so decisions do not get scattered across tabs and tools.
Large workspaces feel faster because task and goal tables load, group, scroll, and navigate more smoothly as projects get more complex.
Navigation feels more natural with keyboard and browser-style movement that makes Vertical feel more like a daily workspace than an admin panel.
Visual work is easier to repeat, with a clearer workflow for creating product mockups, website sections, UI ideas, and reference images.
Uploads are more reliable, reducing broken previews, failed uploads, and confusing asset links.
Added email intake and better task controls
Added AgentMail account support and webhook routing for incoming emails.
Routed incoming email notifications toward worker inbox agents, so Vertical can start reacting to external messages automatically.
Added markdown descriptions, task parent changes, and delete controls for tasks and goals, so users can keep work better organized.
Added goals and version history
Added goals as a real product area, so users can connect tasks to business outcomes.
Added version history for business briefs and goals, so users can review how plans changed over time.
Improved business navigation so users can move between company context, goals, and tasks more easily.
Added planning and status-reporting skills
Added a planning skill so Vertical can turn a new idea into goals, assumptions, and next steps.
Added plan-to-action support so decisions can become concrete tasks instead of staying in chat.
Improved progress check-ins and status reports so users can see what changed, what is blocked, and what happens next.
New ideas now become operating plans faster
Added a dedicated flow for creating new business idea workspaces, so a raw idea can become a focused place to plan, launch, and operate from.
Introduced a planning step that turns early direction into practical next actions instead of leaving the work as an open-ended conversation.
Improved onboarding prompts so Vertical asks for the goal, defaults, and constraints it needs before moving into execution.
Added task-management and user-session review support, making it easier to connect plans to real follow-through and learn from early user runs.
Website work got tighter review loops and better analytics foundations
Improved the website implementation and review loop so launch work moves through clearer stages before it reaches users.
Made website reviews route more naturally, keeping feedback in the right place instead of forcing every review through an admin path.
Moved PostHog analytics into a reusable integration, so future products can add behavior tracking and product learning more consistently.
Improved daily sync behavior so progress can be summarized and reviewed with less manual cleanup.
Website projects became easier to pause and resume
Added a sequenced work-in-progress archive for website planning and launch work.
Made partially completed website drafts, decisions, and launch steps easier to preserve between working sessions.
Reduced the chance that a website project loses context when work is interrupted, reviewed, or picked back up later.
Vertical became easier to start with and collaborate with in Slack
Improved the first-time user flow so Vertical starts by clarifying the idea and the goal before jumping into tasks.
Added clearer Slack formatting and continuity rules, making agent updates easier to read and easier to continue in the right thread.
Introduced lightweight task tracking for agent work, so plans can turn into visible next steps instead of disappearing into chat history.
Simplified the Build with Friends operating flow, making early-user progress easier to follow and review.
Business ideas got a clearer path from concept to launch
Added a leaner shared operating core for Vertical workspaces, making new company work easier to set up and manage.
Introduced a staged website launch workflow with clearer planning, review, and handoff points.
Added website task templates so a new venture can move from concept to concrete launch work faster.
Improved workspace lifecycle setup and recovery, so new business workspaces are more consistent and less fragile.
Vertical moved onto a centralized execution core
Shifted more of Vertical onto a centralized `vertical-core` system, so runtime handling, task execution, and operating logic now run through a more unified backbone instead of being spread across separate layers.
Added a more active event-driven feedback loop across runtime delivery, hooks, and task wakes, so external triggers can turn into live agent execution and follow-up more reliably.
Introduced a dedicated runtime worker plus stale-dispatch recovery, which makes that centralized execution loop more resilient when work gets delayed or stranded.
Made fresh environments easier to spin up by creating a default business during bootstrap, reducing the friction to start a new workspace.
Better lead qualification, stronger execution core
Expanded the core execution stack with stronger runtime and session handling, comments, artifacts, and the OpenClaw bridge/operating layer.
Improved lead qualification by enriching GitHub-sourced leads before scoring and fixing CRM stage mapping so qualified leads land in the right state.
Tightened internal reporting and analytics rules so operational visibility stays cleaner and more reliable.
Vertical’s orchestration layer went live
Added the first real runtime orchestration layer, so queued work can be turned into agent wakes, session routing, and follow-up actions more reliably.
Renamed and aligned the core systems under the `vertical-*` model, with cleaner connections across tasks, goals, CRM, and runtime.
Tightened CRM sync and backfill behavior so operational state carries forward more reliably.
Tasks, goals, and routing got a real structure
Added a standalone task layer and a standalone goals layer, so work and strategy can be tracked more cleanly outside the CRM.
Improved workspace and company routing across the system, making operations more consistent as Vertical manages multiple companies.
Strengthened lead-pipeline batching and auto-deactivation, which makes sourcing and outreach runs safer and easier to operate.
Vertical’s sourcing and outreach pipeline went live
Refactored the main app’s growth pipeline so lead sourcing, cold outreach, and CRM sync now run as separate but connected workflows.
Added dedicated `outreach-pipeline` and `outreach-messaging` skills for campaign execution, natural cold-email drafting, follow-up sequencing, sender/day controls, and optional CRM updates.
Vertical is now actively running 2 lead-sourcing motions and 1 cold-email motion on the new setup.
Announcing "Build with Friends"
"Build with Friends" is a 30-day cohort-based program where 3–5 people build their businesses in parallel using the Vertical agent.
We will roll out Vertical to its first users through this program.
Learn more at `https://startwithvertical.com/friends`.
v1 of Lead Sourcing and Outreach Capabilities
Added a new `lead-pipeline` skill plus a lead registry CLI for agentic sourcing, enrichment, and qualification flows.
Added the `emailfinder` CLI + skill with AnyMailFinder and GetProspect integrations.
Added an AgentMail inbound webhook server, launch scripts, and a processing skill for inbound email handling.
Added a BrowserUse fallback tool for opening websites when the OpenClaw browser fails.
Internal CRM and operator tooling got broader and more reliable
Added a minimal internal CRM integration under `integrations/crm` with CLI, DB, service, and typed records so Vertical can track leads, outreach, replies, status changes, and follow-ups locally.
Added a dedicated `crm` skill so CRM work becomes a repeatable operator workflow instead of ad hoc notes and one-off prompts.
Extended Product Hunt tooling with queued comment jobs, worker mode, cron wrappers, and better job-status visibility for longer-running sync and backfill work.
Tightened Stripe CLI config, types, docs, and test coverage so payment-side operations are more reliable to run and debug.
Product Hunt sourcing got a real queue + worker backbone
Added Product Hunt comment-job queue commands so post syncs can enqueue follow-up comment collection instead of doing everything inline.
Added worker mode plus cron wrappers for draining queued comment jobs and walking day-by-day post backfills with heartbeat and stuck-worker recovery.
Expanded Product Hunt status reporting so pending, running, failed, and completed comment jobs are visible during sync operations.
Reporting, onboarding, and analytics reviews got sharper
Upgraded portfolio-daily-reporting with a stricter Slack-native changelog format, stage-aware operator ownership, and portfolio-friendly block templates.
Expanded demo-conversation so first-touch Open Meet idea threads now run as cleaner multi-message Slack flows with grounded competitor-check guidance.
Tightened the web-analytics reporting path around exact host filters plus default internal-traffic exclusion.
Daily reporting and open-meet intake became first-class workflows
Added portfolio-daily-reporting so portfolio and company daily updates can run from compact cron config instead of one-off prompt logic.
Added demo-conversation for first business-idea exchanges in #companies-open-meet, with the channel-specific override wired into workspace guidance.
The operator toolkit expanded across growth, comms, and deployment
Added Porkbun DNS tooling with account validation and domain API-access checks.
Added Circleback → gbrain sync for meeting and transcript import.
Added AgentMail email management plus a separate Instantly-based email warmup path.
Added new operator skills for business launch lifecycle, validation experiments, web analytics, and Product Hunt outreach sourcing.
Extended deploy-hosting with target-runtime scaffolding and companion-service deploys, and added a blue/green path for the integrations gateway.
Core integrations and deploy tooling came online
Added a Product Hunt CLI with local sync, URL resolution, separate post and comment sync, and better list/show output.
Added a Stripe CLI that supports product and price writes, lookup keys, and tax behavior.
Added a Linear CLI plus task-management skill for issue create/update/list, comments, attachments, uploads, and local task logging.
Added deploy-hosting automation for blue/green deploys, target scaffolding, and config-driven staging → prod promotion.