Opal: where she's been, where she is, where she's going

We’re building MemberPress.ai in public. Field Notes is where we’ll share where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going, starting with Opal.

Opal is the MemberPress.ai assistant: the one you talk to about your membership site. This post is the vision we’re building toward. Each section below is marked Vision or Today, and the last one lists what’s real right now, what we’re building, and what comes next. Where you see Illustration, the screen is a mock-up, not real data.

Why “Opal”

Vision. An opal forms slowly, and no two are alike. That’s the assistant we’re building: one that takes shape around your site instead of being configured once and left alone.

• Formed over time. Her picture of your business builds up: your members, your offers, what works and what doesn’t.
• Colours that shift with the light. The same Opal shows a different side depending on what you need: a strategist one day, a careful eye on renewal day, a cheerleader when you hit a goal.
• One of a kind. Every owner’s Opal is shaped by their own site.

Today, Opal answers from your site’s own numbers and the goals you’ve set.

You say what matters. She turns it into work.

Vision. You talk to Opal in plain words, and she turns that into goals, a working list and progress you can see.

• “Grow annual members 10%.” She builds the plan, works it, and reports against it.
• “This week: fix failed payments.” It goes to the top of her list.

A new owner shouldn’t face a blank page, so we plan for Opal to start with a few sensible goals already on, like recovering failed payments and welcoming new members.

Meet Pip: Opal thinks, the Pips go do it

Pip isn’t one helper. Pips are Opal’s crew. Opal plans and talks with you; the Pips go and do the work.

Today, when Opal writes something for your site, a Pip puts it there as an unpublished draft for you to publish, and tells you plainly how it went: a draft saved, a live page left unchanged, or that he couldn’t save it, with the error code when there is one. Opal keeps the charts and the answers; the Pips do the work on your site.

Vision. Pips will:

• Watch for trouble, like a spike in failed payments or a site that stopped syncing.
• Show you before it happens. Every change previews first, with the buttons to go ahead, edit or cancel.
• Work side by side. When several jobs run at once, each gets its own Pip.

What it will look like

Illustration: a mock-up of the planned chat, not real data.

You: Renewals look soft this month. Can you help?

Opal · Opal v0.x (Illustration): Yes. Some of your annual members renew in the next 30 days, and a few had a failed payment this year. I’ll check who’s at risk and draft a renewal post you can share.

Pip is pulling the renewal report · Done

Pip is checking cards that expire before renewal · Working…

Pip has a post ready for you: “What’s coming for members next month.” Publish · Edit · Cancel

In that picture, every reply is signed by Opal and her version, each job on your site gets its own Pip line, and anything about to change shows a preview first. When a job finishes you get a link to the real thing, and a failure shows the real error, never a fake success.

You’re in charge

Vision. For each kind of action, you choose how much Opal does on her own: just do it, ask me first, or never.

Illustration: example settings, not anyone’s real choices.

Action	Example setting
Draft a blog post	Just do it
Publish a post	Ask me first
Welcome a new member	Just do it
Change a member’s plan	Ask me first
Refund a payment	Ask me first
Delete a member	Never

Everything she does goes in an activity feed, and you can undo the changes that can be undone. Money always asks twice: once by your setting, and once more to confirm. And she keeps to a rhythm: one task per check-in, quiet hours, and a daily spending cap.

The gemstone takes shape

Vision. How we picture Opal growing with an owner:

• Week 1: she gets to know you. She reads the site, members and sales, starts the first goals, and takes small, safe wins.
• Month 1: she knows your patterns. She learns when members join and leave and which content keeps them, and she suggests the next goal herself.
• Month 3: she runs the routine. She handles the recurring work you’ve allowed and flags only what needs you. Your time goes to the business, not the admin.

She plays well with others

Today, if you already use Claude or ChatGPT, you can connect it to your MemberPress.ai account. Claude also connects to your site, and ChatGPT can once your site allows it. You can revoke each connection at any time.

Vision. More of the AI assistants owners already use will connect the same way, including Codex, Grok and Meta’s Muse, once each connection is proven. Every outside assistant gets only the permissions you grant.

For the builders

Vision. For owners who choose an advanced site whose code lives in GitHub: ask Opal for a change, and she opens a pull request on the site’s code. You, or your own tools, review and merge it, and the site updates a few minutes later.

Where it stands

Today

• The in-app assistant drafts content, and publishing a draft takes your confirmation, page by page.
• Your assistant can read your site and change it, through your site’s own connection. A change to your memberships, members or rules previews as a dry run first, new content arrives as an unpublished draft for you to publish, and refunds and subscription changes ask a second time.
• Claude and ChatGPT connect today; ChatGPT reaches your site once your site allows it.
• Opal’s gemstone bio, with Pip as her crew, on her profile.

Being built now

• Opal’s avatar and version on her replies.
• Pip on the action steps in chat.
• Goals and task lists you set by talking to Opal.
• Choosing, per kind of action, how much she does on her own.

Next

• A pilot with a handful of real sites.
• More connections: Codex, Grok and Muse, once each one is proven.
• Advanced sites with their code in GitHub.
• A skill builder for Opal.
• An Opal video.

We’ll keep these notes honest: when something moves from “next” to “today”, it moves here first.