---
id: S01
parent: M009
milestone: M009
provides:
  - Homepage hero section with tagline, value prop, how-it-works, CTA — S03 builds on this layout for featured content
requires:
  []
affects:
  - S03
key_files:
  - frontend/src/pages/Home.tsx
  - frontend/src/App.css
key_decisions:
  - Used cyan accent numbered circles for how-it-works steps to match existing design language
  - Used uppercase secondary-text heading for Popular Topics to differentiate from primary content hierarchy
  - Popular topics pills link to /search?q={topic}&scope=topics rather than a dedicated topic detail page
patterns_established:
  - Homepage content sections use BEM naming under .home- prefix (home-hero__title, home-how-it-works__step, home-popular-topics)
  - Optional data-driven sections (popular topics) silently hide on API error — no error UI for non-critical homepage enrichment
observability_surfaces:
  - none
drill_down_paths:
  - .gsd/milestones/M009/slices/S01/tasks/T01-SUMMARY.md
  - .gsd/milestones/M009/slices/S01/tasks/T02-SUMMARY.md
duration: ""
verification_result: passed
completed_at: 2026-03-31T05:38:05.139Z
blocker_discovered: false
---

# S01: Homepage Hero & Value Proposition

**Homepage now shows tagline, value proposition, 3-step how-it-works grid, Start Exploring CTA, and popular topic quick-links — all above the fold.**

## What Happened

The homepage previously had an empty h1 and only a subtitle with search bar. Two tasks transformed it into a proper landing experience:

**T01** added the hero tagline "Production Knowledge, Distilled", a value proposition paragraph explaining what Chrysopedia does, a 3-column how-it-works grid (Creators Share Techniques → AI Extracts Key Moments → You Find Answers Fast) with cyan accent numbered circles, and a prominent "Start Exploring" CTA button linking to /topics. All styling uses existing CSS custom properties. Responsive stacking at 640px.

**T02** added a Popular Topics section that fetches from the existing topics API, flattens all sub_topics across categories, sorts by technique_count descending, takes the top 8, and renders them as clickable pill links navigating to /search?q={topic}&scope=topics. Section is hidden when no data or API error — graceful degradation. CSS uses the existing pill token system with bordered hover state.

Both tasks touched only Home.tsx and App.css. No new dependencies, no API changes, no backend work required.

## Verification

Frontend build passes with zero errors (46 modules transformed, 52KB CSS, 224KB JS). Verified all planned elements present in source: h1 tagline, value-prop paragraph, how-it-works grid with 3 steps, CTA link to /topics, popularTopics state/fetch/render, pill links with search scope. CSS classes confirmed present for all new components including responsive rules.

## Requirements Advanced

None.

## Requirements Validated

None.

## New Requirements Surfaced

None.

## Requirements Invalidated or Re-scoped

None.

## Deviations

T02 removed an unused TopicCategory type import that caused TS6133 — minor cleanup, no functional impact.

## Known Limitations

Popular topics section fetches the full topics list and filters client-side. Fine for current dataset size but would benefit from a dedicated API endpoint if topic count grows significantly.

## Follow-ups

None.

## Files Created/Modified

- `frontend/src/pages/Home.tsx` — Added hero tagline, value proposition, how-it-works grid, CTA button, and popular topics pill section with API fetch
- `frontend/src/App.css` — Added styles for value-prop, how-it-works grid, CTA button, popular topics pills, and responsive breakpoints
