Overview
Podium’s Companion API, subscription system, and intelligence layer are designed to support radically different agent experiences on the same infrastructure. These two production apps demonstrate the range — from conversation-first with deep memory to browse-first with creator taste profiles.| Beauty Companion (Sage) | Clone Agents (Familiar) | |
|---|---|---|
| Core experience | Personal skincare agent | Creator-based shopping agent |
| Entry point | Conversational quiz onboarding | Pick a creator, browse their picks |
| Monetization | Subscription (Stripe billing) | Affiliate links (ShopMy, LTK, Amazon) |
| Intelligence | Deep memory + personalization | Creator taste profile seeding |
| Surfaces | Web + Telegram | Web + Telegram |
Beauty Companion (Sage)
A personal skincare agent: quiz onboarding → conversational discovery → personalized recommendations → checkout → subscription monetization.User Journey
Onboarding quiz
New users complete a 4-step conversational quiz that builds their intent profile. Questions are experiential rather than clinical — “How does your skin feel by early afternoon?” instead of “What is your skin type?”Each answer patches the user’s intent profile and awards points.
Conversational discovery
The Conversational Agent uses the profile to deliver personalized recommendations with streaming SSE responses. Users see quick-reply chips for common follow-ups and reason tags explaining why each product was suggested.
Purchase
Two purchase modes depending on the product source:
- Platform products — x402 USDC checkout via concierge orders
- Affiliate products — redirect to retailer with affiliate tracking
Subscription monetization
Free users get 25 messages/month and basic recommendations. Sage+ subscribers get unlimited messages and memory-aware personalization — the agent loads accumulated intelligence into every conversation turn.See Subscriptions for the full billing integration.
Platform Features Used
| Feature | How Sage Uses It |
|---|---|
| Intent Profiles | Stores skin type, concerns, price range, brand preferences, avoidances |
| Conversational Agent | Streaming SSE chat with tool-use, quick-reply chips, reason tags |
| Recommendations | AI-ranked products based on profile + interaction history |
| x402 Payments | USDC checkout for platform products |
| Subscriptions | Sage+ billing with Stripe, memory gating, usage tracking |
| Chat History | Durable conversation history with cursor-based pagination |
| Wallet Integration | Privy embedded wallets, USDC on Base, Apple Pay / Google Pay funding |
| Points Gamification | Points awarded at every touchpoint — quiz steps, interactions, purchases |
Architecture
Key Design: Thin Client
Sage stores almost nothing locally — just a Telegram-to-Podium user mapping. All user data, product data, interactions, orders, and subscription state live in Podium. This makes the companion a thin agentic client that orchestrates the platform API into a coherent experience.Clone Agents (Familiar)
A creator-based shopping agent: pick a creator → browse their curated products → buy what they’d buy. The agent surfaces products through the lens of a creator’s taste rather than the user’s own profile.User Journey
Creator discovery
Users browse active creator personas via the CreatorPersona discovery endpoint. Each persona has a display name, avatar, platform affiliation, and curated product catalog.
Browse creator picks
Selecting a creator loads their resolved product catalog. Products are displayed as swipeable cards with Love, Skip, and Buy actions — each recorded as an interaction.
Profile seeding
When a user selects a creator, the creator’s taste profile (preferred brands, price ranges, product concerns) is merged into the user’s intent profile. User-set fields from a completed onboarding quiz are never overwritten.
Purchase via affiliate
Buy actions redirect to the product’s affiliate URL (ShopMy, Amazon Associates, or LTK). The platform handles URL resolution and tracking.
Platform Features Used
| Feature | How Familiar Uses It |
|---|---|
| CreatorPersona Discovery | Browse active creators with resolved product catalogs |
| Profile Seeding | Merge creator taste data into user profiles |
| Interactions | Love / Skip / Buy tracking with profile page stats |
| Intent Profiles | User preferences seeded from creator data |
| Affiliate URLs | ShopMy, Amazon Associates, LTK link resolution |
| Guest Mode | 5-swipe preview with interaction replay on auth |
Architecture
What This Demonstrates
Both apps share the same Podium infrastructure but deliver radically different experiences:| Dimension | Sage | Familiar |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery model | Conversation-first — the agent suggests products through dialogue | Browse-first — users explore a creator’s curated feed |
| Monetization | Subscription — Sage+ unlocks memory-aware personalization | Affiliate — revenue from retailer redirects |
| Intelligence | Deep memory — extracts preferences, goals, concerns, avoidances across conversations | Creator taste profiles — seeds user preferences from a creator’s curation patterns |
| User model | Same IntentProfile and Interaction models | Same IntentProfile and Interaction models |
Adapting for Your Vertical
To build a companion for a different product domain or experience model:Define your intent profile fields
Replace skin type, concerns, and brand preferences with your domain’s preference dimensions. The profile schema is flexible — use whatever fields describe your user’s preferences.
Choose your discovery model
Conversation-first (like Sage), browse-first (like Familiar), or a hybrid. The same API endpoints support all patterns.
Curate your product catalog
Populate product records with your inventory, or use CreatorPersona to let creators curate for you. Include images, prices, and external URLs.
Pick your monetization
Subscriptions for recurring revenue, affiliate links for commission-based monetization, x402 for direct USDC checkout, or any combination.