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HOL-D068Story implementation: In progress

Upgrade my existing account to paid membership

membership · Proposed launch phase 1

Start from Home

Review as Registered user

User story

As a registered user, I want to upgrade from my account or a member-only feature without re-entering my identity so I can unlock the benefit and keep all of my existing Backcountry activity.

Draft requirements for review · Updated 2026-10-19

What the app should do

  • An already registered Member upgrades as the same named account, preserving supported activity and original destination. Keep this distinct from the explicit Visitor-first new-member scenario and the already-paid sample shortcut.
  • Keep benefits and plans public; no membership trial or temporary premium unlock.
  • Use genuine isolated local account registration, password sign-in and captured email verification. Checkout is an explicit no-charge local test; collect no payment card.
  • Upgrade an already signed-in free account through the same plan and local checkout service, with no second identity or repeated onboarding.
  • Preserve the same account, chosen plan, safe original destination and supported profile/public-save data across verification, a new confirmation tab and return sessions.
  • Distinguish account verification, checkout review, pending membership intent and trusted active access. Failure or cancellation keeps free access and supported account data.
  • Only the trusted local backend outcome supplies membership entitlement. A selected plan, role, browser flag or success URL cannot activate access.

What to check in the demo

Follow these steps from the role’s landing page through navigation and feature checks.

Review as

Registered user

Start here: Home

Begin on the free Member Home. For a local example use Sign in → Try a demo account → Alex Morgan → Open account, then choose Member in the account/workspace menu if a remembered workspace opens. This is a genuine local account; no paid access is supplied.

Navigation from sign-in

  1. 01Open the fictional Registered user account through the connected sign-in service. Seeded Home review opens directly. Real HOL staff access and protected actions require an authenticator check.
  2. 02Begin on signed-in free Member Home; choose Member in the account/workspace menu if necessary.
  3. 03Select Explore membership, or open The Long Way In → Explore your upgrade. Feature starts at Connected digital or Print + connected digital for this existing account.

Feature checks start here

Upgrade an existing verified free account without repeated registration or loss of supported account data.

October19 scoped dummy-account fixes are available in dev. Named Home/reload and truthful profile checks pass; exact no-preference Professional browser coverage awaits a suitable account. Full-story acceptance remains separate. Connected in dev; full acceptance remains In progress. Pending, failure, cancellation, retry and exact-plan completion were exercised with the existing account retained. Concurrent/replayed and abandoned-browser edge checks remain open.

  1. 04Use the named free Member account, begin upgrade and verify unchanged identity/owned data and exact plan. The existing paid Casey Bennett sample is for reviewing an already-paid account, not proof of conversion.
  2. 05Choose Connected digital or Print + connected digital and confirm that the existing authenticated account is used without another account-registration form.
  3. 06Select Continue to checkout review. Pending access stays free. Exercise Test payment failure or Cancel checkout and confirm that account data is retained.
  4. 07Select Try checkout again; the plan remains selected and a new local attempt is recorded. Choose Confirm successful test payment.
  5. 08Select Continue to Backcountry and check the original paid destination, exact plan, unchanged identity, supported profile and saved public work.
  6. 09Reload or sign out/in and inspect the same actual membership state. Repeated or another-account requests must not create duplicate or transferred access; remaining concurrency/error cases are tracked separately.

Backend work for this feature

Backend development authorized · Dev only

What needs to be supported

  • An already registered Member upgrades as the same named account, preserving supported activity and original destination. Keep this distinct from the explicit Visitor-first new-member scenario and the already-paid sample shortcut.
  • Use D058 for authenticated identity/verification, safe return context and the selected owner-scoped persistence slice; do not implement another authentication system per path.
  • Use D069 for a validated account/plan-bound intent, trusted test-only activation, idempotent result and server-enforced free/paid access; client role/success URLs cannot grant real authority.
  • Upgrade an existing verified free account without repeated registration or loss of supported account data. Preserve account continuity and supported data across session interruption, duplicate completion, cancellation, failed and pending activation.
  • Prepare owner/other-user/signed-out tests and explicit recovery behavior in an isolated synthetic environment; use actual isolated local auth/intent/entitlement, with no real payment/email or hosted migration/connection.

How to verify in dev

  1. Use the named free Member account, begin upgrade and verify unchanged identity/owned data and exact plan. The existing paid Casey Bennett sample is for reviewing an already-paid account, not proof of conversion.
  2. Execute this exact role path against D058/D069 and compare owner/account/plan/return identity before and after activation.
  3. Exercise cancel/fail/pending/expired-session and repeated/forged/cross-account completion; verify retained free data and no unauthorized paid grant.

Before this can work

  • Begin on the free Member Home. For a local example use Sign in → Try a demo account → Alex Morgan → Open account, then choose Member in the account/workspace menu if a remembered workspace opens. This is a genuine local account; no paid access is supplied.
  • Use a new synthetic account for a fresh Visitor path or your own verified free demo account for upgrade. Existing records remain intact.
  • Keep local test checkout separate from real payment. Full security and edge-case acceptance stays linked to D058, D085, D089 and D069.

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