# ivfjourney.guide

Site grounding for agents without the ivfjourney.guide repository: its seven charter files, unchanged except that headings sit two levels lower and every term id the pinned version defines, in the frontmatter blocks too, is followed by its label from the pinned version. The YAML blocks are therefore for reading, not parsing; the repo files are the source.

- Domain: ivfjourney.guide
- Pins: editorial-charter@1.3.1, portfolio-icp@1.0.0
- Repo: 91ef66d9fdaa8bfb65718a5430b30309e9fec4cb (committed 2026-10-03T14:26:06-07:00)
- Built 2026-10-05T03:25:29+00:00
- Pages: https://taxonomy.tfw.bz/sites/ivfjourney.guide/

## BRAND.md

Version 1.0.1 · status draft · sha256 d0d12f70b508f1861087686f02b6c60c05325a987633ecf01974c28992db92a6

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.0.1
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: ivfjourney.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
archetype: charter:brand-archetype-caregiver (caregiver)
secondary_archetype: charter:brand-archetype-sage (sage)
claims:
  - id: c1
    text: The site is not a clinic and does not give medical advice. Its content is background for the reader's own conversations with a fertility specialist.
    basis: charter:claim-basis-documented (documented)
    source: about.manifest.json copy.summary150; PRODUCT.md purpose and audience
  - id: c2
    text: The site is not affiliated with any clinic, provider or agency, and takes no clinic, lender or egg-bank money.
    basis: charter:claim-basis-documented (documented)
    source: about.manifest.json copy.summary150; briefs/strategy.md monetization option a
  - id: c3
    text: Success rates come from patient registries (SART, HFEA, ESHRE) with the year and age band, and law notes are dated per country.
    basis: charter:claim-basis-documented (documented)
    source: briefs/site.md site-specific rules; VOICE.md section 6 citation posture
```

### BRAND

#### Name and entity
IVF Journey Guide (ivfjourney.guide), an independent patient guide launched in 2026. Founder and editor: Thomas Prommer. Entity home: https://ivfjourney.guide/en/about/ (`about.manifest.json`, About copy in `content/about.md`).

#### Promise
You understand the step of IVF you are in right now, in plain words with a dated source, and you know when to call your clinic.

#### Personality
The caregiver, with a sage's care for sources. It sounds like a calm person sitting next to you with your clinic printout, explaining it one line at a time (VOICE.md). It normalises before it lists, separates drug effects from signs, and ends on what to do next. It never promises an outcome or implies clinical authority.

#### Visual pointers
Locked "Pebbles" direction: warm cream, pastel shapes, Fredoka headings and Nunito prose. Tokens: `design/tokens.json`. Rationale and rules: `DESIGN.md` and `design/DIRECTION.md`.

#### Do / Don't
Do: answer first, then explain, then give the "call your clinic if" line on any symptom page. Do: give every success figure with its denominator, year and age band. Do: date every law note per country.
Don't: rank clinics or invent a clinician, endorsement or lived experience. Don't: use forum or clinic-marketing language such as "baby dust" or "world-class success rates". Don't: let the soft visuals make the words cute.

## VOICE.md

Version 1.0.1 · status draft · sha256 1745b5387f842b64e70a0bf66892c197c6492e4b0a8d6ab604603eb775e440f7

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.0.1
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: ivfjourney.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
register: charter:voice-register-practitioner (practitioner)
person: charter:voice-person-second (second person)
languages: [en, de, es, fr, it, pt]
addresses: [in-cycle-patients, cost-planners]
essence: "A calm person sitting next to you with your clinic printout, explaining it one line at a time."
```

<!-- APPROVED by Tom, 2026-09-25: Calm Companion profile retained as written. -->

### VOICE - IVF Journey (ivfjourney.guide)

> Loaded by /humanizer (Step 0) and the content publishing gate (drafting Step 1
> + humanizer Step 3). If absent, both fall back to generic mode.

#### 1. Identity & Register
- Voice owner / who speaks: the site, speaking as 'we' for the editorial team and 'you' to the reader. No named individual voice until a real reviewer is signed.
- Register: practitioner (patient education)
- Language/locale: en (plus de, es, fr, it, pt translations)
- One-line essence: "A calm person sitting next to you with your clinic printout, explaining it one line at a time."

#### 2. Audience
- Primary audience: beginner (people starting or in their first IVF cycles)
- Reader's job-to-be-done: understand the step they are in right now and know what to do or when to call the clinic
- Assume they know that they are doing IVF and the name of their clinic; always explain every abbreviation on first use, every drug by what it does, and which symptoms need a call

#### 3. Tone Axes  (mark where this voice sits)
- Formal   ────●──  Casual
- Authority ──●────  Peer
- Serious  ──●─────  Playful
- Concise  ──●────  Expansive
- Default editorial_track: factual

#### 4. Person, POV & Cadence
- Person: second person ('you') for the reader, 'we' for the site. Never 'I'.
- Sentence rhythm: short to medium sentences, one idea each. No fragments.
- Paragraph length: 2 to 4 sentences.
- Keep: answer first, then the explanation, then a 'call your clinic if' line on any symptom page. Normalise before listing ("this is common").
- Avoid: exclamation marks, rhetorical questions, emoji, 'journey' as filler (the domain uses it, the copy should not repeat it).

#### 5. Lexicon
- Preferred terms: egg retrieval (then 'retrieval'), embryo transfer, frozen embryo transfer (FET), two-week wait, live birth rate, blastocyst, 'your clinic', 'your care team'.
- Banned phrases: baby dust, sticky vibes, miracle, guaranteed, boost your chances, fertility warrior, 'don't worry', 'stay positive', 'everything happens for a reason', 'just relax'.
- Capitalization & spelling: IVF, ICSI, IUI, PGT-A, FET, hCG, AMH, SART, HFEA, ESHRE. US spelling in en (estrogen) but keep lab report labels as the lab writes them.
- Domain-jargon level: low. Introduce each term once with a plain-words clause, then use it.

#### 6. E-E-A-T / Experience Claims  (anchors gate Step 7)
- Authentic experience this voice can claim: none yet. The site has no named clinician or patient author. Do not write "as a fertility nurse", "when I went through IVF" or any lived-experience line until a real person is named and has approved it.
- Named author + bio source: TBD. Every page is review_required: true; a named reviewer (reproductive endocrinologist, embryologist or fertility nurse) must be recorded before a page goes indexable.
- Quantified credential for bios: TBD, from the real reviewer (board certification, years in practice, cycles or embryology cases). Never invented.
- Citation posture: Registry numbers (SART, HFEA, ESHRE, CDC) with year and age band in the sentence; guidelines from ASRM, ESHRE, NICE. Link the primary source, not news. Medical claims link to guidance or trials, never to clinic blogs. Never present a success figure without its denominator (per cycle started, per retrieval, per transfer).
- Original-data hooks this voice owns: the IVF cost, success and due-date/timeline calculators, with their inputs and formulas shown; registry tables (SART, HFEA, ESHRE) re-cut by age band with year labelled; a per-country law table dated per row.
- "What I got wrong" angle: The common misreadings patients make: treating an embryo grade as a pregnancy prediction, reading symptoms during the two-week wait as results, comparing clinic success rates with different denominators. Name the misreading kindly and correct it.

#### 7. Gold-Standard Examples  (few-shot anchor - highest leverage)
No pages are published yet. These are drafted anchors, replace with real published paragraphs once pages pass the gate.
- Example A (drafted for /en/embryo-grading/): "A grade like 4AA describes a day 5 or day 6 blastocyst in three parts. The number, 1 to 6, is how far the embryo has expanded and hatched. The first letter grades the inner cell mass, the cluster that becomes the baby. The second letter grades the trophectoderm, the outer layer that becomes the placenta. A is best, C is weakest. Grades describe how an embryo looks under a microscope on one day. They do not tell you whether its chromosomes are normal, and lower-graded embryos still lead to healthy births. If your report lists a grade you do not recognise, ask your embryologist which system your lab uses."
  - Why on-voice: answers the grade question first, defines each part in plain words, reassures with a fact, ends on an action.
- Example B (drafted for /en/embryo-transfer/after-embryo-transfer-day-by-day/): "Day 3 after a day 5 transfer is usually when the embryo would be attaching, and that is also when many people feel mild cramping or notice light spotting. Both are common, and neither tells you the result. Progesterone, which almost every clinic prescribes after transfer, causes breast tenderness, bloating and tiredness by itself. So a symptom is not a sign, and no symptom is not a bad sign. Call your clinic the same day if you have bleeding like a period, strong one-sided pain, a fever, or shortness of breath."
  - Why on-voice: normalises, separates drug effects from signs, and closes with exact call-the-clinic triggers.

#### 8. Anti-References  (do NOT sound like)
- Forum and influencer tone: baby dust, symptom spotting, 'this worked for me'.
- Clinic marketing: 'world-class success rates', 'leading clinic', add-ons sold as hope.
- Clinical textbook coldness with no next step.
- Generic AI listicle openers ('Embarking on your IVF journey can be overwhelming').
- Cute or childish copy that the pebble visuals might tempt; the design is soft, the words are adult.

#### Other languages
Voice is authored in English. DeepL translations inherit it, then a native pass fixes register.
- de: Sie throughout. Calm, precise, no Denglisch where a German term is standard (Eizellentnahme, Embryotransfer, Kinderwunschbehandlung). Legal notes cite the Embryonenschutzgesetz by name and date.
- es: tú, warm but not chatty. Use the terms Spanish clinics use (transferencia embrionaria, punción ovárica, ovodonación). Spain law notes cite Ley 14/2006.
- fr: vous throughout. FIV, ponction ovocytaire, transfert d'embryon. France-specific rules (PMA pour toutes, 2021 bioethics law) are dated.
- it: tu, warm, as Italian patient sites commonly use. PMA, fecondazione in vitro, transfer embrionale. Italy law notes cite Legge 40/2004 and are dated per update, since rules have changed by court rulings.
- pt: você (pt-BR default). FIV, punção ovariana, transferência de embriões. Brazil rules cite CFM resolutions with number and year.

## STRATEGY.md

Version 1.0.1 · status draft · sha256 85831b17f4316e66c0ffd9db3722be372f4b8d7d1f579dd1a2308e2f5bc85e1a

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.0.1
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: ivfjourney.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
mission_shape: charter:mission-shape-serve-x-to-achieve-y (serve X to achieve Y)
horizon: charter:horizon-12m (12 months)
positioning:
  primary: charter:positioning-axis-authority-depth (authority depth)
  secondary: [charter:positioning-axis-speed-of-answer (speed of answer)]
audiences:
  - kind: charter:audience-kind-consumer (consumer)
    name: In-cycle patients
    segment: in-cycle-patients
    job_to_be_done: Understand the next step of the cycle, read the embryo report and know which symptoms need a call to the clinic.
  - kind: charter:audience-kind-consumer (consumer)
    name: Cost planners
    segment: cost-planners
    job_to_be_done: Work out what IVF will cost at home or abroad and what the registry numbers say before committing.
profile_required: true
```

### STRATEGY

#### Mission
We help people starting or going through IVF, and the people supporting them, understand each step in plain words so they can bring better questions to their clinic.

#### Positioning
Authority depth first: registry numbers with year and age band, guidelines from ASRM, ESHRE and NICE, and law notes dated per country, where forums mix anecdote with fact and clinic blogs sell. Speed of answer second: the answer comes before the explanation, because readers often arrive late in the evening straight from a clinic portal message. We concede clinical authority to the reader's care team, and we concede clinic comparison, because the site ranks no clinic.

#### Audiences
In-cycle patients are a person or couple booked into or partway through a cycle. A new moment brings them here: a stimulation protocol, an embryo report with grades, a transfer date, a cramp during the two-week wait. Partners and family supporting them read the same pages.

Cost planners are deciding whether and where to start. They compare the cost of treatment at home and abroad, financing and what success rates mean for their age band.

#### Competitors
Clinic portals and apps answer some in-cycle questions and are improving. Forums and influencer accounts answer the rest with anecdotes. Clinic marketing pages own many cost and success queries (briefs/strategy.md risks, VOICE.md section 8).

#### What we will not do
No clinic ranking, fake clinician, invented endorsement or lived-experience claim (PRODUCT.md). No clinic, lender or egg-bank money of any kind (briefs/strategy.md). No ads inside calculators or on symptom pages, and no calculator input passed to an ad or analytics tag. No page goes indexable before a named reviewer is recorded (VOICE.md section 6). No public opening or indexing action from this file.

#### Bets for the horizon
1. Own the in-cycle moments: embryo grading, transfer day by day, the two-week wait (moves gsc_clicks).
2. Make the cost, success and due-date calculators the reason to come back during a cycle (moves content_engaged).
3. Ship the emailed two-week-wait companion with explicit consent (moves newsletter_subscribed).

## AUDIENCE.md

Version 1.1.2 · status draft · sha256 8d78a01eaea9f6bd54397ed898be4fdbf6e4647fc4364de983f8994014402f31

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.1.2
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: ivfjourney.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
segments:
  - slug: in-cycle-patients
    name: In-cycle patients
    kind: charter:audience-kind-consumer (consumer)
    archetype: icp:unmapped (Unmapped)
    priority: charter:segment-priority-primary (primary)
    job_to_be_done: Understand the next step of the cycle, read the embryo report and know which symptoms need a call to the clinic.
    funnel_stages: [charter:funnel-stage-consideration (consideration), charter:funnel-stage-retention (retention)]
    languages: [en, de, es, fr, it, pt]
    regions: [US, GB, DE, ES, FR, IT, BR]
    pains:
      - Clinic communication is short and arrives at the wrong time.
      - Forums mix anecdotes with facts.
      - Abbreviations such as ET, FET, ICSI and PGT-A are used without explanation.
    channels: [charter:channel-organic-search (organic search), charter:channel-newsletter (newsletter)]
    entry_paths: ["/*/embryo-grading/*", "/*/embryo-transfer/*", "/*/ivf-process/*"]
    size_signal: {metric: monthly_searches, value: 29550, unit: count}
    evidence:
      default: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-researched (researched), source: "PRODUCT.md purpose and audience (adults starting or undergoing IVF, and people supporting them) and briefs/strategy.md ICP a", as_of: 2026-10-03}
      size_signal: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-assumed (assumed), source: "briefs/strategy.md (29,550 monthly searches: ivf-process 11,620, embryo-grading 11,700, embryo-transfer 6,230; English pages only)", as_of: 2026-09-17}
      regions: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-researched (researched), source: "src/data/utility-copy.json locales and content/ (en, de, es, fr, it, pt drafted); pt pages cite Brazilian sources, it and es pages cite Italian and Spanish law (briefs/site.md); no traffic data", as_of: 2026-10-03}
  - slug: cost-planners
    name: Cost planners
    kind: charter:audience-kind-consumer (consumer)
    archetype: icp:self-pay-medical-planner (Self-pay medical planner)
    priority: charter:segment-priority-secondary (secondary)
    job_to_be_done: Work out what IVF will cost at home or abroad and what the registry numbers say before committing.
    funnel_stages: [charter:funnel-stage-awareness (awareness), charter:funnel-stage-consideration (consideration)]
    languages: [en, de, es, fr, it, pt]
    regions: [US, GB, DE, ES, FR, IT, BR]
    channels: [charter:channel-organic-search (organic search)]
    entry_paths: ["/*/ivf-cost/*", "/*/ivf-abroad/*"]
    evidence:
      default: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-researched (researched), source: "briefs/strategy.md ICP alternative b and the drafted content/en/ivf-cost and content/en/ivf-abroad clusters (about.manifest.json copy.summary150 lists costs, financing and IVF abroad)", as_of: 2026-10-03}
```

### AUDIENCE

#### In-cycle patients
A person or couple booked into or partway through an IVF cycle, and the partners and family supporting them. They arrive at a new moment in the cycle, often late in the evening on a phone, and want to know what happens next and when to call the clinic. Source: briefs/strategy.md ICP a, PRODUCT.md.

#### Cost planners
People deciding whether and where to start treatment. They compare cost at home and abroad, financing and what registry success rates mean for their age band. Source: briefs/strategy.md alternative b, briefs/site.md.

#### Excluded audiences
Not written for: anyone looking for a clinic ranking or a recommendation to a specific clinic, readers seeking individual medical advice in place of their care team, and clinics, lenders or egg banks looking to buy placement. Source: PRODUCT.md, briefs/strategy.md monetization option a.

## MONETIZATION.md

Version 1.1.2 · status draft · sha256 8825160aa8fbca552a9d4537dd0b076bec616bedf37f38f26c5de6163565d5ad

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.1.2
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: ivfjourney.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
revenue_lines:
  - slug: display-ads-explainers
    name: Display ads on explainer pages
    type: charter:revenue-type-display-ads (display ads)
    network: Mediavine Journey
    commission_model: charter:commission-model-rpm (RPM)
    placements: [charter:placement-type-display-slot (display slot)]
    segments: [in-cycle-patients, cost-planners]
    kpi_key: ad_revenue_recorded
    status: charter:revenue-status-idea (idea)
    share_band: charter:revenue-share-band-core (core)
    start_trigger: Tom confirms the monetization choice, a named reviewer is recorded, the site opens for indexing and traffic reaches the network minimum
    evidence:
      default: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-assumed (assumed), source: "agent draft 2026-10-03 from briefs/strategy.md monetization option a (revenue relies on ads and tools; network requirements not re-read in this run)", as_of: 2026-10-03}
  - slug: printable-cycle-planner
    name: Paid printable cycle planner
    type: charter:revenue-type-own-digital-product (own digital product)
    commission_model: charter:commission-model-unknown (unknown)
    placements: [charter:placement-type-dedicated-page (dedicated page)]
    segments: [in-cycle-patients]
    kpi_key: null
    status: charter:revenue-status-idea (idea)
    share_band: charter:revenue-share-band-marginal (marginal)
    start_trigger: Tom approves a paid product, a named reviewer is recorded and the free cycle calendar is live
    evidence:
      default: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-assumed (assumed), source: "briefs/strategy.md monetization option a ('later a paid printable planner is possible'); the brief is an assumed default, no decision", as_of: 2026-10-03}
```

### MONETIZATION

#### Revenue model
The assumed default in briefs/strategy.md is display ads on process, embryo, transfer and abroad explainer pages, plus free owned tools: the cost, success, timeline and due-date calculators and an emailed two-week-wait sequence. A paid printable planner is named in the brief as a later possibility and is written as a marginal idea. Ads are marked core because the brief names them as the main revenue line; neither line has a dated decision, so both stay ideas. Nothing goes live until Tom confirms.

#### Disclosure rules
No affiliate links, so no endorsement disclosure is needed. Ad network consent and cookie rules apply, including GDPR for the de, fr, es, it and pt audiences. Email capture needs explicit consent and no sharing. Reproductive health is a sensitive ad category: no calculator input or health data reaches an ad or analytics tag.

#### Not monetised
No clinic, lender or egg-bank payments, sponsorships or lead referrals of any kind. No ads inside calculators or on symptom pages. No affiliate links for trackers or tests. Block fertility clinic, supplement and "miracle" ad categories at the network level.

#### Display ads on explainer pages
Mediavine Journey once the site passes its entry bar, later Raptive or full Mediavine. Expect lower yield than traffic suggests, because health pages draw fewer eligible advertisers.

#### Paid printable cycle planner
A paid printable version of the free cycle calendar, named in briefs/strategy.md as a later possibility. No price, format or platform is chosen.

## KPI.md

Version 1.0.1 · status draft · sha256 c6071f0670a9336ccde540dae66ac2b37d9e009f4539b4286e32cabf9839dae2

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.0.1
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: ivfjourney.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
template: charter:kpi-template-editorial-traffic (editorial traffic)
template_override: ""
kpis:
  - {key: pageview_recorded, role: charter:kpi-role-primary (primary)}
  - {key: gsc_clicks, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: gsc_impressions, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: avg_position, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: content_engaged, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: newsletter_subscribed, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: affiliate_clicked, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: crawl_errors, role: charter:kpi-role-guardrail (guardrail)}
  - {key: pages_indexed, role: charter:kpi-role-guardrail (guardrail)}
catalog_sha: 4304fc97e9ac457725bdc25dcbb724c36257a707cbb3c237b69cd3e7ba04ac39
```

### KPI

#### Why these metrics
pageview_recorded is the number the site is run on: in-cycle readers return several times per cycle and display ads are the assumed revenue line. gsc_clicks, gsc_impressions and avg_position show whether the in-cycle explainers earn visibility against forums and clinic pages once the site is indexed. content_engaged shows whether readers use the cost, success and due-date calculators. newsletter_subscribed measures the consented two-week-wait email companion. affiliate_clicked is kept only because the template requires it; the site plans no affiliate links, so it should stay at zero. crawl_errors and pages_indexed are the guardrails: errors must not rise and indexed pages must follow the six-language plan once indexing opens.

#### Reading guide
Read pageview_recorded weekly against the target in kpi-mgmt once one is entered; none exists yet. The site is restricted and noindex today, so every key stays near zero until a named reviewer is recorded and indexing opens. After that, read pageviews per cluster: in-cycle pages should lead, cost pages follow.

#### Review cadence
Quarterly, with the 12-month bets in STRATEGY.md.

## taxonomy/binding.yaml

Version 1.0.1 · status draft · sha256 1ebdfcd7785f2172aa3c96ef43f8e60afb343992fb62ebbee5cb325060eb3620

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.0.1
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: ivfjourney.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
iab_content: ["iab:286", "iab:186"]
icp_profile: portfolio-icp@1.0.0
content_profile: null
languages: [en, de, es, fr, it, pt]
regions: [US, GB, DE, ES, FR, IT, BR]
```