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How to publish your first issue

From a fresh publication to a sent email in five minutes.

What you'll do

Walk through the three-step setup, shape an issue, review it, then publish. The whole thing should take about five minutes if your ESP credentials are already configured.

1. The setup wizard

If your database is fresh, every visit to Today redirects you to /setup. Three focused steps:

  1. Account — setup code, email, and password.
  2. First issue — publication identity, editorial voice, and a working issue title.
  3. Delivery — your normal publishing rhythm, with optional Resend connection and verification.

When you finish, you land on Today with your first issue ready to shape. If you skip Resend, the web archive remains available and Settings shows the delivery setup path.

2. Open the issue

Click the issue title to enter the unified workspace. Overview shows the next operational action; Edit opens the block canvas and inspector; Review is read-only; Preview compiles the final email; Send shows the immutable audience and destination preflight.

3. Add a sponsor (optional)

From Settings → Sponsorship, add sponsor inventory or a campaign. In Edit, add or select a sponsor block and link its placement. Request signoff from the placement; a sponsor cannot clear readiness until that exact placement is approved.

4. Publish

Open Send and clear the five-check readiness floor. Confirm the audience, destination modes, compiled version, and schedule before dispatch. PubOps records each live provider result and never marks an issue sent when every live delivery fails.

5. Read the post-mortem

The sent issue now shows up in Library. Click it to see what you sent, who signed off, and (once webhooks fire) the audience performance chart.

What if something goes wrong?

Every send, dispatch, and webhook is recorded in the Activity & delivery log. If a destination fails, the row shows the error and an eligible retry action. Durable notifications also surface sync, scheduling, and delivery incidents without pretending a manual export was sent.

How to publish your first issue — PubOps