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SermonWise AI Overview

AI Sermon Outlines Aligned to Your Tradition Spend less time on the outline, more time in the Word.

SermonWise AI is an AI-powered sermon preparation SaaS that generates doctrinally faithful sermon outlines tailored to 17 theological traditions. Unlike generic AI tools, SermonWise ensures output matches the pastor's church doctrine, drawing from 327K+ curated theological resources via RAG.

Product Identity

Field	Value
Brand	SermonWise AI
Domain	sermonwise.ai
Tagline	AI Sermon Outlines Aligned to Your Tradition
Codebase	churchwiseai-web (shared Next.js 16 app)
Deploy branch	`main` (Vercel)
Status	Live, fully functional, 0 paying SermonWise customers
Target audience	Pastors, associate pastors, lay preachers, seminary students

Architecture: Hostname Rewrite

SermonWise AI does not have its own codebase. It lives inside churchwiseai-web and is served via a Next.js middleware hostname rewrite. The middleware intercepts all requests to sermonwise.ai and maps them into the /sermons route tree.

Middleware location: churchwiseai-web/src/middleware.ts (lines 64-80)

Rewrite Rules

sermonwise.ai/              -->  /sermons
sermonwise.ai/pricing       -->  /sermons/pricing
sermonwise.ai/app           -->  /sermons/app
sermonwise.ai/app/*         -->  /sermons/app/*
sermonwise.ai/login         -->  /sermons/login
sermonwise.ai/signup        -->  /sermons/signup
sermonwise.ai/_next/*       -->  pass through (static assets)
sermonwise.ai/api/*         -->  pass through (API routes)

PKCE Auth Flow

User visits sermonwise.ai/login
  --> Supabase Auth (email/password or Google OAuth)
  --> PKCE callback
  --> Redirect to /sermons/app after successful login

Middleware protects all /sermons/app/* routes, redirecting unauthenticated users to /sermons/login.

Key Differentiator: Theological Traditions

The core differentiator is doctrinal alignment. Generic AI (ChatGPT, Gemini) produces theologically flat output that may contradict a church's beliefs. SermonWise enforces tradition-specific vocabulary, hermeneutics, and application styles.

17 Supported Traditions

#	Tradition	Source Table
1	Reformed / Calvinist	`sai_theological_lenses`
2	Baptist (SBC / General)	`sai_theological_lenses`
3	Methodist / Wesleyan	`sai_theological_lenses`
4	Lutheran	`sai_theological_lenses`
5	Anglican / Episcopal	`sai_theological_lenses`
6	Pentecostal / Charismatic	`sai_theological_lenses`
7	Roman Catholic	`sai_theological_lenses`
8	Eastern Orthodox	`sai_theological_lenses`
9	Non-Denominational Evangelical	`sai_theological_lenses`
10	Presbyterian (PCA / PCUSA)	`sai_theological_lenses`
11	Church of Christ / Restoration	`sai_theological_lenses`
12	Assemblies of God	`sai_theological_lenses`
13	Seventh-Day Adventist	`sai_theological_lenses`
14	African Methodist Episcopal	`sai_theological_lenses`
15	Mennonite / Anabaptist	`sai_theological_lenses`
16	Christian & Missionary Alliance	`sai_theological_lenses`
17	Universalist (broad evangelical)	`sai_theological_lenses`

Each tradition row in sai_theological_lenses contains vocabulary mappings, hermeneutic principles, and application style guidance that are injected into the generation prompt.

RAG Content Pipeline

Sermon generation draws from unified_rag_content (290,000+ records). Content types relevant to SermonWise include:

Sermon illustrations (from IllustrateTheWord corpus)
Commentary excerpts (tagged by book/chapter)
Theological vocabulary (per-tradition terminology)
Application patterns (per-audience, per-tradition)

The RAG fetch in sermon-prompt.ts selects content matching the requested scripture passage, theological tradition, and sermon method, then injects it as context for the LLM.

Pricing

Defined in churchwiseai-web/src/lib/sermon-pricing.ts.

Tier	Monthly	Annual	Savings	Sermon Limit	LLM
Free	$0	--	--	2/month	gpt-4o-mini
Pro	$19.95	$199.50/yr	~17%	15/month	Higher-tier model

Stripe Price IDs (Live Mode)

Billing	Price ID	Notes
Monthly	`price_1T99RtFaoK5IPzNoDWkdDMnA`
Annual (USD)	`price_1TM4lUFaoK5IPzNoCXxFPUnr`	Canonical — on `prod_U7OEapCdCn42eJ`
Annual (CAD)	`price_1TWJiKFaoK5IPzNowVp6FyJF`	$249/yr

Archived: price_1T99SiFaoK5IPzNoWXDIJVsE was the annual price on the old split product (prod_U7OF3hRQYrSpar, archived 2026-05-12 per FA-002 closeout). Do not use in new code — both archived product and price have been superseded by the canonical product above.

Billing Rules

Free tier: 2 sermons/month, no credit card required
Pro: 14-day free trial, monthly or annual billing
Annual = pay for 10 months, get 12 (~17% savings)
Usage resets on the 1st of each month (keyed by month_year in sermon_generation_usage)

Authentication

Method	Details
Provider	Supabase Auth
Email/password	Standard signup with email confirmation
Google OAuth	One-click sign-in
Session	Supabase session cookie, validated by middleware
Route protection	Middleware redirects unauthenticated users from `/sermons/app/*` to `/sermons/login`
Subscription tier	Stored in `profiles.subscription_tier` (`free` or `sermon_pro`). Realtime UPDATE subscription enabled — dashboard + header listen for live tier flips via `useProfileTierRealtime` hook (`src/hooks/useProfileTierRealtime.ts`).
First-app-visit tracking	`profiles.first_app_visit_at` (timestamptz, NULL until user's first `/sermons/app` load). Set via `POST /api/sermons/log-first-visit` (atomic UPDATE-WHERE-NULL). Gates the PostHog `first_app_visit` funnel event. Replaces broken localStorage gate.

Upgrade Flow (Free → Pro)

User clicks "Upgrade to Pro" anywhere — DerivativePanel paywall, SermonUpgradeButton (header/dashboard/wizard), SermonUpgradeNudge (post-generation when remaining=0). All four paths fire PostHog upgrade_clicked.
POST /api/sermons/checkout creates Stripe Checkout session with allow_promotion_codes: true (loyalty customers get an auto-applied family discount instead — both can't be set per Stripe rules).
User completes checkout → Stripe redirects to /sermons/app?upgraded=1.
Webhook fast-path: /api/stripe/webhook enqueues to stripe_webhook_inbox + immediately schedules processStripeEvent() via Promise microtask (Vercel Node.js keeps container alive until it settles). Drops typical processing lag from 30+ sec (cron-only) to ~1 sec.
Webhook fallback: /api/cron/process-stripe-webhooks (every 60 sec) re-claims any inbox row not yet succeeded. Both paths idempotent via stripe_event_id unique constraint on stripe_webhook_inbox.
Webhook side effects (in src/app/api/stripe/webhook/route.ts, sermon_pro branch):
- Upserts user_subscriptions + sets profiles.subscription_tier='sermon_pro'
- Resets sermon_generation_usage.generation_count = 0 for current month if wasFreeTier (PR #382 — free-tier sermons should NOT count against new Pro allowance per founder policy)
- Fires sendSermonProWelcomeEmail() to customer (idempotent via user_metadata.pro_welcome_email_sent_at)
- Fires sendNewSermonProSaleNotification() to FOUNDER_EMAIL (subject distinguishes coupon vs paid)
- Captures PostHog upgrade_completed event — guarded by posthog_event_dedup table (atomic INSERT-then-fire) to prevent double-counting from inline + cron paths both running
Realtime UI flip: useProfileTierRealtime hook on dashboard + header subscribes to postgres_changes UPDATE on profiles row (filter id=eq.<userId>). When tier flips to 'sermon_pro', both components refetch usage and re-render to show "15 of 15 left" within ~1 sec.
B2C reconciliation cron exclusion: /api/cron/stripe-supabase-reconciliation skips B2C products (sermon_pro, social, ai_starter_kit, ShareWise variants) — they don't use premium_churches by design. Without this filter the cron fires false-positive P0 orphan alerts for every legit SermonWise customer.

PostHog Funnel Events

The 6 funnel events tracked end-to-end. Full architecture: knowledge/products/sermonwise/posthog-funnel.md. Canonical test: e2e/contracts/sermonwise-posthog-funnel.contract.spec.ts.

#	Event	Where it fires	Side
1	`signup_form_submitted`	`SignupForm.tsx` on form submit	Client
2	`signup_email_confirmed`	`auth/callback/route.ts` after successful PKCE exchange — server-side as of 2026-05-11 (client-side useEffect dropped event due to URL replacement)	Server
3	`first_app_visit`	`/sermons/app` page on first ever visit per user — server-side gated via `POST /api/sermons/log-first-visit`	Client (gated)
4	`first_sermon_generated`	`/api/sermons/generate` after successful generation	Server
5	`upgrade_clicked`	All 4 upgrade entry points (SermonUpgradeButton, SermonUpgradeNudge, SermonWizard limit-gate, DerivativePanel paywall)	Client
6	`upgrade_completed`	`/api/stripe/webhook` after sermon_pro activation completes — deduped via `posthog_event_dedup`	Server

Sitemap

Marketing (public, indexed): /sermons (homepage), /sermons/pricing, /sermons/templates, /sermons/community, /sermons/showcase, /sermons/compare, /sermons/privacy, /sermons/terms

Auth-aware chrome (as of 2026-05-11): /sermons/titles, /sermons/templates, /sermons/community (and /sermons/community/[id] via the community layout) perform a server-side Supabase auth check on every render. Anonymous visitors receive the standard <SermonNav /> + marketing hero + sign-up CTA + <SermonFooter />. Signed-in users receive <CrossPromoBanner /> + <SermonAppHeader /> with no marketing hero, no sign-up CTA, and no footer — matching the /sermons/app/* app chrome. The tool content (TitleGeneratorTool, template grid, community feed) is rendered for both states. Shared auth helper: churchwiseai-web/src/lib/sermon-page-auth.ts.

Auth (noindex): /sermons/login, /sermons/signup, /sermons/forgot-password, /sermons/update-password

App (noindex, no-cache, authenticated): /sermons/app (dashboard), /sermons/app/new (wizard), /sermons/app/[id] (view/edit), /sermons/app/moderate (founder queue), /sermons/app/onboarding

Brand Configuration

Defined in churchwiseai-web/src/lib/sermon-brand.ts:

domain:    sermonwise.ai
name:      SermonWise AI
tagline:   AI Sermon Outlines Aligned to Your Tradition
colors:    primary (#4F46E5 indigo), accent, background
nav:       Features, Pricing, Templates, Community
footer:    Links to privacy, terms, ChurchWiseAI parent brand

Current State

Metric	Value
Paying customers	0
Registered users	Founder test accounts only
Sermons generated	Test data only
Stripe products	Created in both test and live modes
Build status	Passing (Vercel, main branch)
Known issues	None blocking launch

Database Tables

Table	Role
`sermons`	All generated sermons (JSONB content, metadata, sharing status)
`sermon_generation_usage`	Monthly quota tracking (user_id + month_year composite PK)
`profiles`	User tier (`free` / `sermon_pro`), free tier limit
`sai_theological_lenses`	17 traditions + 1 universal lens (18 rows)
`sai_sermon_methods`	12 sermon methods with per-lens adaptation
`unified_rag_content`	290K+ RAG resources for context injection

Product Identity​

Architecture: Hostname Rewrite​

Rewrite Rules​

PKCE Auth Flow​

Key Differentiator: Theological Traditions​

17 Supported Traditions​

RAG Content Pipeline​

Pricing​

Stripe Price IDs (Live Mode)​

Billing Rules​

Authentication​

Upgrade Flow (Free → Pro)​

PostHog Funnel Events​

Sitemap​

Brand Configuration​

Current State​

Database Tables​

See Also​