docs: reposition to verifiable web retrieval for AI agents - #6
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Strategy reposition driven by three Q1-Q2 2026 structural shifts that killed the "cheaper Tavily" wedge for indie devs (Anthropic native web_search, Codex CLI first-party search, MCP search vendor saturation) and three regulatory/litigation forces that opened a sharper wedge for regulated AI (Q1 2026 $145K US court sanctions for hallucinated legal citations, Harvey AI 1-in-6 hallucination rate at $8B, EU AI Act Article 12 enforcement Aug 2026). Strategy docs rewritten around verifiable retrieval as the product surface and regulated-AI buyers (legal, medical, finance, insurance, research) as the new ICP. README, feature-matrix, roadmap, landing page, and Mintlify entry follow the same reposition. Five new ADRs (0009-0013) capture the decisions: verifiable retrieval as product surface, Cloudflare Containers GA as origin runtime, WACZ- aligned signed envelope format, MCP-first distribution, ICP shift to regulated AI. New citation-envelope.md specifies the wire format. Stale content removed: empty firecrawl/ orphaned submodule (no .gitmodules), docs/getting-started/next-steps.md (references /root/unsearch/ paths and wrong Stripe pricing from a 2024 setup). Approved 3-week rebuild plan lives at ~/.claude/plans/app-unsearch-dev-is-not-deployed-luminous-wilkinson.md
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Summary
Repositions UnSearch from "open-source Tavily alternative, 10× cheaper" to verifiable web retrieval for AI agents — every result signed, hashed, snapshotted, and replayable months later. Driven by Q1–Q2 2026 market shifts that made the prior wedge unsellable to indie devs (Anthropic native
web_search, Codex CLI first-party search, MCP search vendor saturation, Tavily→Nebius, Brave free-tier kill, Exa price hike) and three regulatory/litigation forces that opened a sharper wedge for regulated AI (Q1 2026 $145K US court sanctions for hallucinated legal citations, Harvey AI 1-in-6 hallucination rate at $8B valuation, EU AI Act Article 12 enforcement August 2026).What changed (30 files, +2241 / -1859)
docs/strategy/{positioning,icp,jtbd,value-prop,market,user-journey,pricing,gtm,sales-playbook,mrr-plan,README}.md. New personas: Priya (ICP-1, regulated-AI startup eng lead), David (ICP-2, regulated-company AI platform director), Anika (ICP-3, citation-integrity research/newsroom). Maya (indie dev) retired — eaten by native LLM search.README.md,docs/README.md,docs/roadmap.md,docs/introduction.mdx,apps/web/app/page.tsxlanding (new ProblemStrip with $145K / 1-in-6 / 40-60% / Aug 2026 stats; MCP-install hero; new pricing tiers including $24K self-host v1).0009-verifiable-retrieval-as-product-surface,0010-cloudflare-containers-as-origin-runtime,0011-wacz-aligned-signed-envelope,0012-mcp-first-distribution,0013-icp-shift-to-regulated-ai. ADR-0003 (Tavily-compat) downgraded to compatibility surface.docs/citation-envelope.md— wire format (HMAC v1, WACZ-Auth-aligned, PKI v2 path).web_search, Codex CLI search, Webrecorder.docs/migration/from-tavily.mdkeeps as compatibility surface with a banner; SDK package name fixed (@unsearch/sdk, classUnSearch).docs/mint.jsondropped 20+ dead navigation references (features/*,api-reference/auth/*, etc.) and added new docs + ADRs.firecrawl/— orphaned git submodule (no.gitmodules), empty in worktree,git rm --cached.docs/getting-started/next-steps.md— referenced/root/unsearch/...paths and wrong Stripe pricing ($29/10K vs actual $19/25K).quickstart.shbanner — "Tavily Alternative" → "Verifiable Retrieval for AI Agents".What this PR does NOT change
~/.claude/plans/app-unsearch-dev-is-not-deployed-luminous-wilkinson.md.nginx/,monitoring/,ecosystem.config.js,scripts/setup-stripe.*,docs/architecture.md,docs/cloudflare-architecture.md,docs/ai-pipeline.md— all still load-bearing for self-host / operations.app/vsapps/backend/duplication,monitoring/vsapps/backend/monitoring/, etc.) is the next session — see follow-up.Test plan
README.mdandapps/web/app/page.tsxfor tone consistency.0009↔0010↔0011↔0012↔0013).docs/strategy/README.mdreading order links land on the right files.pnpm --filter @unsearch/web buildsucceeds on the new landing copy.docs/mint.jsonvalidates against the Mintlify schema.