Experience Configuration (Administrator Checklist)

Experiences ship as generic behaviour plus configuration: the code never hard-codes your programme's vocabulary, fields, or workflow states. This checklist takes a deployment from zero to a working, publishable camp programme. The user-facing guide is Experiences; the general config mechanics are in Holons and classes and Additional fields.

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1. Verify or choose the Experience class per camp class

The base camp class ships allowing the generic experience class in its allowed_child_class_slugs. A contextual camp class (for one event) may override the list with its own experience subclass — or several, when that distinction is genuinely needed:

• one allowed class → the create form shows no class picker
• several → the form shows a picker using their configured labels
• none → creation shows a configuration error and creates nothing

Create contextual experience subclasses (class-tree parent: experience) only when an event's experiences need their own fields or journeys.

2. Define the Experience fields

On the experience class (or subclass), configure info_field_groups with the descriptors your programme will actually display or filter by — topics, format, venue, access, and so on. Keep keys consistent across contextual subclasses so public filters merge cleanly. Select options may carry icons:

{"value": "mind", "label": "Mind", "icon": "brain"}

Fields marked public_visible: true appear on public pages; public select fields additionally become filters on the public Gathering programme page, automatically.

3. Create the programme journey

Attach exactly one holon journey carrying the config flag

{"experience-programme": true}

to each creatable experience class's journey catalogue. This flag only selects which journey new experiences start on — its name, steps, and transitions are yours to design. Creation fails with a visible error when zero or several flagged journeys resolve, and the new experience starts on the journey's first active step.

4. Configure publication

Mark the step (or the whole journey) that should publish an experience with

{"public-visible": true}

This is the same rule used everywhere on the public site: an experience appears on public programme pages exactly when its camp-programme relationship sits on a public-visible step or journey. There is no separate publish button or publisher role — moving the relationship through its journey is publishing.

5. Configure people and related-holon journeys

Person journeys in the experience class's catalogue label the People groups on the experience page (their journey names are the displayed group titles — no hard-coded roles). Holon journeys do the same for related organisations, camps, and other holons.

6. Configure artwork libraries

Add a private slideshow info field with the key experience_backgrounds (public_visible: false) to the Gathering, Camp, and Experience classes. This is an editor-only artwork source library, not content for the public holon page. Its individual image URLs may still be used by public programme cards.

• Gathering editors upload the default background library
• Camp editors may upload a camp override (a non-empty library replaces the Gathering's; an empty one inherits)
• Experience editors may upload an experience-specific pool instead of setting the single image

Resolution order, checked fresh on every render:

1. the experience's own uploaded image — always wins, if set
2. otherwise, one background assigned once from the nearest non-empty library (own → camp → Gathering), persisted so it stays stable across page loads
3. otherwise, a branded colour treatment — never a broken tile

The background assignment itself happens at two points only, never at render time:

• on creation, drawing at random from whichever library (own/camp/ Gathering) is nearest and non-empty
• when the experience's own library is edited — the current pick is kept if it's still in the (new) nearest pool, redrawn if it fell out, and cleared/refilled from the Camp/Gathering pool if the experience's own library was emptied

Editing a Camp's or Gathering's library never touches existing experiences — only new ones drawn against it afterwards. This is why an experience's background can look "stuck" after a parent library changes: that's by design, not a bug.

On experience editing surfaces, label the standard holon image Image (not Logo) and the slideshow Background image options, with help text explaining that leaving both empty inherits the Camp/Gathering library.

Once this field is switched on, non-technical organisers can fill the libraries themselves by clicking through the pages — that walkthrough is Giving experiences nice images.

7. Configure links

Set link_fields on the experience class for the link inputs experiences should offer, marking the public ones public_visible.

8. Verify end to end

1. As a camp team member, use Add Experience on a camp page: the camp is preselected and locked, the form shows your configured fields.
2. Confirm the new experience appears in the camp's Experiences block, the Experiences list, and its own detail page — but not on any public page.
3. Move its programme relationship to the public-visible step.
4. Confirm it now appears on the public camp page preview, the camp programme, the Gathering programme (with filters working from the URL), and its own shareable detail page — with artwork, people, and related holons rendering.
5. Confirm API discovery: GET /api/v1/holons?class=experience&sort=latest.

Worked example

A minimal working configuration for one event:

• camp class camp_pt2026: allowed_child_class_slugs: ["experience"]
• experience class experience with one field group: dimension (select: mind/heart/body with icons, public_visible: true) and venue (text-line, public_visible: true)
• journey “Programme” on the experience catalogue with {"experience-programme": true} and steps Idea → In preparation → Published, where Published carries {"public-visible": true}
• person journey “Hosts” in the experience catalogue for the team section
• experience_backgrounds slideshow on the Gathering class with 6–10 images

With exactly this, camps enter experiences through a two-field form plus two selects, and publishing is dragging the programme card to Published.