Operations guide
How CSE works
A walkthrough for the people who run the show, not the people who built it. Pick a persona below to see what they sign in as, where they go, and what they actually do on a typical day. Same show, same neighbors, same vibe — just phones in place of clipboards.
One sign-in, all roles
There is exactly one place to sign in. Every role — car owner, attendee, gate volunteer, judge, DJ, vendor, organizer — uses the same form with their issued email + password. The system reads the user's role membership and routes them to the right starting page automatically.
- Each persona below shows a
?next=/pathdeep-link so the user lands in the right place after auth. - The
livingston4thsubdomain isn't a separate login — it's how the platform identifies which tenant the user is signing in to. - Today this admin app is un-gated in dev — when auth lands here it will share the same
eventide_sessioncookie, not a separate login.
Pick a persona
Start here. Each persona shows their own login, their walkthrough, and quick links to where they live in the system.
Show-day roles
The seven people who actually use the system on July 4th.
Car owner / participant
Brings a car, gets it judged, hopefully wins a trophy.
Attendee
Walks the show, looks at cars, votes for People's Choice.
Gate volunteer / staff
Greets cars at the entrance. Sticker on, photo, paid, wave through.
Judge
Walks the show, scores cars on a phone with sliders.
DJ
Manages live song requests during the show.
Vendor / sponsor
Sells food / drinks / retail / services at the show.
Event organizer
Runs the whole thing. Sees everything. The "you" of CSE.
Admin & platform
Less frequent, but documented. Tenant admin sets up once a year; platform staff is CSE-internal.
Tenant admin
Owns the tenant. Above the organizer. Used if Livingston runs more than one event.
Platform admin
CSE platform staff. Cross-tenant. Visually distinct (amber accent) so it's obvious you're in god-mode.
Volunteer (non-car-show sub-events)
Check-in scanner for the beer garden, race, kids zone, etc.
Vendor / sponsor
Vendors apply via a public form OR get invited directly by the organizer. Once approved, they get a self-service portal for managing their info, logo, and required documents (insurance, permits).
What this persona can do
- Apply at /vendors/apply — auto-saves to localStorage so the form survives across sessions.
- Or get an emailed invite from the organizer if they already know you.
- Self-service portal: edit business name, logo, description, photos, hours.
- Upload insurance certificate, permit, health cert (if food). Each gets reviewed by the organizer.
- See status banner at the top: "Welcome — finish your booth profile" / "Insurance expires in 12 days" / "You're live on the event page."
- Inline reply to messages from the organizer.
Walkthrough
5 stepsFrom application to live booth
Apply (public)
Open /vendors/apply on a phone. 4 sections in cards: About your business · What you'll sell · Operations · Documents (optional now). Auto-saves on every keystroke. "Send application" submits.
Wait for review
Organizer reviews in /admin/vendors/applications. Approve creates the booth + sends you an invitation email. Reject sends a polite decline. Needs-info sends a message asking for more.
Sign in to the portal
Email link drops you on /vendor. Top banner shows what's left to do. 4 cards stack: Booth at a glance · Documents · Public profile · Messages from organizer.
Upload docs
Insurance and permit are required before the event. Drag-and-drop PDFs. Status pills go from "Needs review" to "Approved" once the organizer signs off.
Day-of
You're listed on the event page — logo, hours, location ("West lot, near stage"). Visitors who tap your booth on the map get a profile card. After the show, you can message the organizer to confirm next year.