Demo-mode: swap public bake form for "contact for a demo" CTA

When LEDE_CONTACT_URL is set, the bake section renders a CTA pointing at
that URL (mailto: or https://) instead of the live BakeForm. Used on the
hosted Vercel demo so anonymous visitors don't burn the maintainer's API
budget. Self-hosters that leave it unset keep the form.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: Bambushu

.env.example

@@ -17,9 +17,16 @@ PUBLIC_SITE_URL=
 
 # OPTIONAL: gate the demo behind basic auth.
 # When set, every request requires `Basic <base64(lede:password)>`.
-# Browser prompts once. Send GGI the URL + the password in the same note.
+# Browser prompts once.
 LEDE_DEMO_PASSWORD=
 
+# OPTIONAL: demo-mode CTA. When set, the public bake form is replaced with a
+# "Contact for a demo" CTA pointing at this URL. Use to make a hosted deploy a
+# lead-gen surface instead of letting visitors burn the host's API budget.
+# Accepts any URL (mailto:, https://, etc.). Leave unset for self-host that
+# wants the live form.
+LEDE_CONTACT_URL=
+
 # OPTIONAL: enable local mflux generations (Apple Silicon host only).
 # When unset or "0", the per-tile redo button on local generations is hidden.
 LEDE_LOCAL_AVAILABLE=

README.md

@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ Auto-detected from what you paste; you can also force a kind via the API.
 | `OPENROUTER_BRIEF_MODEL` | `anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6` | Which model writes the brief. |
 | `LEDE_COST_CAP_USD` | `0.75` | Max estimated cost **per single bake** (sanity guard, not a budget). See cost section below. |
 | `LEDE_DEMO_PASSWORD` | (unset) | When set, all routes require `Basic <base64(lede:password)>`. Browser prompts once per session. |
+| `LEDE_CONTACT_URL` | (unset) | When set, the public bake form is swapped for a "Contact for a demo" CTA pointing at this URL (`mailto:` or `https://`). Used on hosted deploys to avoid visitor API-budget drain. |
 | `LEDE_LOCAL_AVAILABLE` | (unset) | Set to `1` when running on a host with `mflux` installed; surfaces the local-redo button. |
 | `LEDE_EPHEMERAL` | auto (true on Vercel) | When true, visitor bakes don't persist. Defaults to true if `VERCEL=1`. |
 | `UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_URL` + `UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_TOKEN` | (unset) | Rate-limit storage. When absent, falls back to in-process memory (dev only). |

src/app/page.tsx

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import Link from 'next/link';
 import { listGrouped } from '@/lib/loader';
 import { BakeForm } from '@/components/bake-form';
+import { ContactCta } from '@/components/contact-cta';
 import { ArticleCard } from '@/components/article-card';
 import { isEphemeral } from '@/lib/runtime-mode';
 
@@ -11,6 +12,12 @@ const REPO_URL = 'https://github.com/Bambushu/lede';
 export default async function Home() {
   const { canonical, userSubmitted } = await listGrouped();
   const showVisitorSection = !isEphemeral();
+  // When LEDE_CONTACT_URL is set, swap the public bake form for a
+  // "contact for a demo" CTA. Used on the hosted demo so anonymous
+  // visitors don't burn the maintainer's API budget. Self-hosters who
+  // leave it unset get the form as usual.
+  const contactUrl = process.env.LEDE_CONTACT_URL;
+  const demoMode = Boolean(contactUrl);
 
   return (
     <div className="min-h-screen">
@@ -115,17 +122,20 @@ export default async function Home() {
       <section id="bake" className="border-b border-rule">
         <div className="max-w-7xl mx-auto px-6 lg:px-12 py-20 grid grid-cols-1 lg:grid-cols-12 gap-12">
           <div className="lg:col-span-4">
-            <span className="eyebrow mb-4">Run one yourself</span>
+            <span className="eyebrow mb-4">
+              {demoMode ? 'See it on your articles' : 'Run one yourself'}
+            </span>
             <h2 className="font-display text-4xl leading-tight tracking-tight font-medium mt-2">
-              Paste a URL, text, or HTML.
+              {demoMode ? 'Want a private demo?' : 'Paste a URL, text, or HTML.'}
             </h2>
             <p className="mt-4 text-ink-soft leading-relaxed">
-              Lede fetches or parses it, writes the brief, and bakes three lead images side by
-              side. Most runs finish inside three minutes.
+              {demoMode
+                ? "Live baking is gated on this hosted demo so the API budget doesn't get drained. Drop me a line and I'll run a private demo against your own articles, or clone the repo for a self-hosted run."
+                : 'Lede fetches or parses it, writes the brief, and bakes three lead images side by side. Most runs finish inside three minutes.'}
             </p>
           </div>
           <div className="lg:col-span-8">
-            <BakeForm />
+            {demoMode ? <ContactCta href={contactUrl!} /> : <BakeForm />}
           </div>
         </div>
       </section>

src/components/contact-cta.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+/**
+ * Demo-mode CTA. Replaces the BakeForm on the public Vercel deploy where
+ * arbitrary visitors shouldn't burn the host's API budget. Activated by the
+ * `LEDE_CONTACT_URL` env var; absent → BakeForm renders as usual.
+ */
+export function ContactCta({ href }: { href: string }) {
+  return (
+    <div className="space-y-6">
+      <p className="text-lg leading-relaxed text-ink-soft max-w-xl">
+        I run private demos against real publisher backlogs — paste a handful
+        of your own article URLs, see the brief synth plus a three-model
+        bakeoff against your actual headlines. Takes about ten minutes.
+      </p>
+      <p className="text-ink-soft leading-relaxed max-w-xl">
+        For a self-hosted run with your own API keys, the source is{' '}
+        <a
+          href="https://github.com/Bambushu/lede"
+          target="_blank"
+          rel="noopener noreferrer"
+          className="text-ink underline-offset-4 hover:underline"
+        >
+          on GitHub
+        </a>{' '}
+        — clone, paste any URL, and you have your own.
+      </p>
+      <div>
+        <a
+          href={href}
+          className="inline-block px-8 py-4 bg-ink text-paper font-mono text-sm uppercase tracking-wider hover:bg-accent transition-colors"
+        >
+          Contact for a demo →
+        </a>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  );
+}