Features

Detailed breakdown of Pulse's analytics engine, evolution system, and content management capabilities.

Everything you need. Nothing you don't.


Analytics Engine

Pulse collects first-party analytics without cookies or external services.

Event Collection

  • Page views, scroll depth, time on page, clicks
  • Lightweight JavaScript that doesn't slow your site
  • Events sent to your own /e endpoint

Session Management

  • Privacy-preserving session identification via IP hashing
  • No cookies required for basic tracking
  • Session duration and page flow tracking

Bot Detection

  • User-agent pattern matching for known bots
  • Behavioral analysis for sophisticated scrapers
  • Transparent scoring you can audit and adjust
  • Automatic filtering from metrics

Daily Rollups

  • Raw events aggregated into daily metrics
  • Fast queries for dashboards and reports
  • Configurable retention (default: 90 days for raw events)

Evolution Engine

Claude-powered content analysis that proposes specific improvements.

Engagement Analysis

  • Identifies pages with high bounce rates
  • Finds content that keeps visitors engaged
  • Detects patterns across your site

Specific Proposals

  • Not vague recommendations like "improve your headlines"
  • Actual diffs showing exact text changes
  • Rationale explaining why each change might help

Git Integration

  • Every change tracked in version control
  • Easy rollback via git revert
  • Full audit trail of what changed and when

Safety Rails

  • Only content files can be modified
  • Controllers, models, and config are off-limits
  • Minimum traffic threshold before proposals (50+ sessions)

Content System

Markdown-based content that's easy to edit and version.

File-Based Storage

  • Content lives in content/pages/*.md
  • YAML frontmatter for metadata
  • Git-friendly for collaboration

Markdown Rendering

  • Fenced code blocks with syntax highlighting
  • Tables, strikethrough, autolinks
  • Tailwind Typography for clean presentation

Automatic Sync

  • Markdown files sync to database on boot
  • Enables analytics joins by page
  • No manual database management

Admin Interface

Everything you need to monitor and manage your site.

Dashboard

  • Key metrics at a glance
  • Traffic trends with period comparison
  • Health check for anomaly detection

Analytics Reports

  • Top pages by views
  • Traffic sources breakdown
  • Device type distribution

Evolution Queue

  • Pending proposals waiting for review
  • Side-by-side diff view
  • One-click approve or reject

Content Browser

  • View all pages with metadata
  • Direct editing with conflict detection
  • Git commits for all changes

Technical Specifications

Requirement Specification
Ruby 3.2+
Rails 8.x
Database PostgreSQL or SQLite
Background Jobs Solid Queue
CSS Tailwind CSS 4.x
JavaScript Stimulus 3.x, Import Maps
AI Claude API (Anthropic)
Hosting Any Rails host ($6/mo DigitalOcean droplet works)

What Pulse Is Not

Not a general-purpose CMS. Pulse is opinionated about content structure. If you need complex content types, custom fields, or WYSIWYG editing, look elsewhere.

Not enterprise analytics. If you need cohort analysis, funnel visualization, or real-time dashboards for hundreds of millions of events, Pulse isn't for you.

Not fully autonomous. Every evolution requires human approval. This is a feature, not a limitation. AI makes mistakes.


Ready to Get Started?

Join the early access list and be the first to know when Pulse is available.

Get Early Access | How It Works