What it does
Look up anything about Lost, characters, mysteries, episodes, the timeline, without getting spoiled, whether you are watching for the first time or rewatching.
Currently
Live at /tools/lost and feature-complete on its spoiler-safe wedge: 121 episodes, 47 characters, mystery threads, search, a spoiler-gating system, an audio engine, and community submissions. Browser-only, no signup. The honest reality is that the binding constraint is now distribution, not features: it has near-zero users, no sitemap, and has never properly launched.
Roadmap
/now-next-later-roadmapNow/Next/Later Roadmap- Sitemap + Google Search Console submission
- r/lost launch post (asset drafted)
- Loud safe-mode trust framing on the landing page
- Finish mystery tagging on the last 11 episodes
- Spoiler-leak hardening (blocks the launch)
- Instrument the North Star events to read a baseline
- Related-content surfacing on every page
- No-spoiler SEO landing pages
- Spoiler severity badges
- Progress memory (local-first), the cheap retention foundation
- Progress-aware safe mode (committed retention bet)
- First-timer onboarding (set your spoiler line)
- Episode-by-episode watch companion
- Weekly hook (on this date in Lost)
- Optimized shareable cards (parked, revisit post-launch)
- Theories and annotations space (superfan-only)
Recently shipped
- Jun 15, 2026Re-ran the full 16-step product strategy grounded in the live app, reframing the binding constraint from features to distribution.
- Jun 3, 2026Shipped Phase 3 and 4: collection system, content enrichment, OG images, and accessibility polish.
- Jun 3, 2026Expanded the timeline to 35 events and fixed the smoke cursor-tracking effect.
- Jun 2, 2026Shipped the initial LOST Explorer: an interactive, spoiler-safe reference for Lost.
How I know it's working
live data · last 30 daysA session in which a visitor views 3 or more content pages and spends 2 or more minutes, in either safe or spoiler mode.
lost_landing_axis_clicklost_search_querylost_spoiler_reveallost_cross_linkHow it's built
How I built it
LOST Explorer is the passion project I run the way I would run a client engagement, on a show I have loved for years. The whole app is built around one job no competitor serves: looking something up without getting spoiled. Every other Lost reference is a minefield for a first-time viewer, so spoiler safety here is designed in from the data layer up rather than bolted on.
What the strategy surfaced
A jobs-to-be-done pass made the wedge obvious. The most underserved job, safe lookup for first-timers, is also the one only this app can do well. Priya the first-timer became the persona that owns it, with Danny the rewatcher driving volume and Marcus the collector seeding a community flywheel. The North Star is Weekly Engaged Exploration Sessions, which keeps the focus on whether the content and the cross-linking actually hold someone, not on vanity pageviews.
The honest finding
When I re-grounded the strategy in the live app, the uncomfortable truth was that the product is feature-complete and the real constraint is distribution. It has almost no users, no sitemap, and has never properly launched. So the roadmap leads with the cheapest, highest-leverage discovery work, sitemap, a Reddit launch, loud safe-mode framing, before any new features. The pre-mortem named the two ways this dies: a quiet death where nobody returns, and a trust break where a single leaked spoiler destroys the one thing that makes it special. I have pre-committed to detecting both fast instead of pouring effort into retention for users who do not yet exist.
The strategy behind it
A snapshot of the product process this app was built from. Each artifact comes from a k8 skill you can run yourself. It reflects the original plan, not the live state above.
Jobs to be done
/jtbd-analysisJTBD Analysis| When I… I want to… | Importance | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| When I am watching Lost for the first time and lose track of who someone is or what a hatch was, I want to look it up without stumbling onto a major reveal, so I can stay curious and let the show surprise me. | high | high |
| When I am rewatching Lost or arguing about it, I want to quickly confirm a character arc, episode event, or timeline detail, so I can settle the question without rewatching or wading through a cluttered wiki. | high | high |
| When I finish an episode or season, I want to see how characters, mysteries, and the timeline interrelate, so I can appreciate the structure and catch what I missed. | high | medium |
| When I feel the Lost itch or acquire a piece of memorabilia, I want to browse and contribute in a show-specific space, so I can reconnect with why I loved it and with other fans. | medium | low |
Persona
/persona-createPersona Create- Explore the world (Dharma, the numbers, the others) safely
- Build a mental map without seeing a reveal she has not earned
- Trust that safe mode actually means safe
- There is no safe place: every wiki is a spoiler minefield
- One careless click already burned her on another show
- She wants to be curious but searching feels dangerous
Persona
/persona-createPersona Create- Get fast answers without rewatching an episode
- Look things up without spoiling it for his partner in the room
- Settle who someone is in under 30 seconds from the couch
- Lostpedia is slow and dense on mobile
- He is scared to Google anything with his partner beside him
Persona
/persona-createPersona Create- Read deep-dive content and primary sources
- Contribute artifacts and see them approved
- Connect with fans who care as much as he does
- Most fan sites are shallow or dead
- Nowhere good to catalog a collection in context
Prioritization and risks(the internal detail)
RICE prioritization
/rice-scoreRICE Score| Feature | Reach | Impact | Conf. | Effort | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sitemap + Google Search Console submission | 9 | 2 | 100% | 0.3 | 60 |
| r/lost launch post | 9 | 2 | 80% | 0.3 | 48 |
| Loud safe-mode trust framing on landing | 7 | 2 | 80% | 0.4 | 28 |
| Finish mystery tagging (11 episodes) | 5 | 1 | 100% | 0.3 | 17 |
| Related-content surfacing on every page | 8 | 2 | 80% | 1.2 | 11 |
| Progress-aware safe mode (committed retention bet) | 6 | 3 | 50% | 2.5 | 4 |
Pre-mortem risks
/pre-mortemPre-mortemRetention never materializes: an episodic reference tool is one-and-done, so the committed retention bet fails and weekly engaged sessions stay flat.
highMitigation: Ship the cheap progress-memory foundation before the heavier progress-aware safe mode, and pre-commit a learn-fast signal: if 30-day return is below 8 percent six weeks after launch, pause the heavy retention build.
Discovery flops: the Reddit post is ignored or removed and the site never ranks against Lostpedia, so traffic stays near zero.
mediumMitigation: Follow r/lost rules and frame the launch as a gift, track ten target queries, and lean on long-tail no-spoiler intent where Lostpedia simply does not compete.
A spoiler leaks into a title, OG image, or snippet, and the wedge persona's trust breaks publicly on r/lost.
mediumMitigation: Run a Now-tier hardening audit and add an automated test that page metadata and OG images use only spoiler-safe fields.
Wedge demand was imaginary: first-timers do not actually reach for a tool mid-watch.
mediumMitigation: Validate via launch behavior by segmenting first-timer sessions; if wedge traffic is negligible, repivot to rewatcher volume rather than building deeper for users who are not there.