herald

herald is a multi-agent product launch pipeline that runs entirely through the Model Context Protocol — PM → Research → Brand → UX → GTM, with mandatory human checkpoints between every stage.

Closed beta. Source is not public. This repo hosts the public landing page and signed binary releases for invited testers.

🌐 Landing page: https://tamish-max.github.io/herald-releases/ 📦 Latest release: https://github.com/tamish-max/herald-releases/releases/latest

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Why is this repo public but empty?

The source code lives in a private repository. This repo exists so that:

1. The landing page can be served via GitHub Pages without paywalling
2. Invited testers can download the binary anonymously
3. Anyone curious can read this README and request access

If you're looking for the source — it isn't here, by design.

How to get access

1. Visit the landing page: https://tamish-max.github.io/herald-releases/
2. Click request early access and fill out the short form
3. You'll receive a license key by email — it looks like HERALD-eyJ…XYZ and is valid for 30 days

The license is a tamper-evident, offline-verified token. No phone-home, no telemetry — the binary just checks the signature locally on startup.

Install (once you have a key)

1. Download the binary for your platform

# macOS Apple Silicon
curl -L -o herald \
  https://github.com/tamish-max/herald-releases/releases/latest/download/herald-darwin-arm64
chmod +x herald && sudo mv herald /usr/local/bin/

# macOS Intel
curl -L -o herald \
  https://github.com/tamish-max/herald-releases/releases/latest/download/herald-darwin-amd64
chmod +x herald && sudo mv herald /usr/local/bin/

# Linux x86_64
curl -L -o herald \
  https://github.com/tamish-max/herald-releases/releases/latest/download/herald-linux-amd64
chmod +x herald && sudo mv herald /usr/local/bin/

# Windows (PowerShell)
Invoke-WebRequest `
  -Uri https://github.com/tamish-max/herald-releases/releases/latest/download/herald-windows-amd64.exe `
  -OutFile $env:USERPROFILE\bin\herald.exe

Verify the SHA-256 — every binary ships a .sha256 next to it.

2. Install your license key

Either set the environment variable (good for one-shot runs):

export HERALD_LICENSE='HERALD-...your-key...'

Or write it to disk (good for persistent setups):

mkdir -p ~/.herald
echo 'HERALD-...your-key...' > ~/.herald/license

The binary checks the env var first, then the file. If neither is found or the key is invalid/expired, you'll get a friendly error pointing you back at the request form.

3. Set your Anthropic API key

The pipeline runs against Claude via the Anthropic API. Bring your own key:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY='sk-ant-...'

4. Wire it into your MCP client

Drop a .mcp.json next to your product_brief.md:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "herald": {
      "command": "herald",
      "env": {
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}",
        "HERALD_LICENSE":     "${HERALD_LICENSE}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code Copilot, GitHub Copilot CLI, and anything else that speaks MCP.

5. Run

In your client's chat:

Use the run_workflow tool with brief_path: "./product_brief.md".

You'll be prompted to approve / iterate / skip at four checkpoints (H1–H4). Final output lands at ./output/final_product_plan.md.

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What testers are agreeing to

• The license is single-user — please don't redistribute the binary or share your key
• This is early-access software — expect rough edges; that's why you're here
• I'd love honest feedback, especially on:
  • the moment something confused you
  • any LLM output that felt off
  • install / config friction
  • anything you wished the pipeline did differently

Reach out via the form or DM.

Privacy

The binary makes exactly two kinds of network calls:

1. To the Anthropic API, using your key, for LLM completions
2. To DuckDuckGo / your search provider during the research stage

That's it. No telemetry, no phone-home, no usage analytics. The license check is purely offline — it verifies a cryptographic signature against an embedded public key.

License of this repo

The contents of this repo (the landing page and this README) are MIT. The binary itself is proprietary and licensed only to the named recipient on the HERALD-... token.