Membership Flow

How users become BizTech members, including pricing, payment processing, and what records get created.

What "Membership" Means in the Database

A paid member has records across three tables:

Important rule for implementation:

• User owns profile identity.
• Membership owns yearly membership data.
• Profile owns networking and public profile data.

Membership Pricing

Defined in services/payments/constants.js:

The discount is applied in services/payments/handler.js -> payment() when the user's metadata indicates they are a UBC student.

New Paid Membership Flow

Brand-New User Buying Membership

For a brand-new user buying membership:

1. Stripe checkout completes.
2. The payments webhook receives checkout.session.completed.
3. Create a biztechUsers record with the account fields.
4. Create a biztechMembers2027 record with profileType: "ATTENDEE".
5. Call createProfile(email, "ATTENDEE").
6. createProfile reads membership form data.
7. Create the biztechProfiles profile row.
8. Write the generated profileID to biztechUsers.profileID.

Stripe checkout.session.completed
    |
    v
payments webhook
    |
    +-- create biztechUsers { id: email, ... }
    +-- create biztechMembers2027 { id: email, profileType: "ATTENDEE", ... }
    +-- createProfile(email, "ATTENDEE")
          +-- read membership form data
          +-- create biztechProfiles row
          +-- update biztechUsers.profileID

Existing User Buying 2027 Membership

For an existing user buying 2027 membership:

1. Stripe checkout completes.
2. The payments webhook receives checkout.session.completed.
3. Update the existing biztechUsers row with the latest basic fields.
4. Create a biztechMembers2027 record with profileType: "ATTENDEE".
5. Read biztechUsers.profileID.
6. If profileID exists, update the existing biztechProfiles row with pronouns, major, and year.
7. If profileID does not exist, call createProfile(email, "ATTENDEE").

Stripe checkout.session.completed
    |
    v
payments webhook
    |
    +-- update biztechUsers { latest basic fields, ... }
    +-- create biztechMembers2027 { id: email, profileType: "ATTENDEE", ... }
    +-- read biztechUsers.profileID
          +-- exists: update biztechProfiles pronouns/major/year
          +-- missing: createProfile(email, "ATTENDEE")

Path 3: Admin Grant (No Payment)

Admins can grant membership without payment via POST /members/grant.

Handler: services/members/handler.js -> grantMembership Auth: Cognito (admin-only)

Steps:

1. Creates or updates biztechUsers with the latest basic fields.
2. Creates a yearly row in biztechMembers2027 and sets profileType: "ATTENDEE" unless another profile type is intentionally provided.
3. Reads biztechUsers.profileID.
4. Updates the existing biztechProfiles row if profileID exists.
5. Calls createProfile(email, "ATTENDEE") if profileID is missing.

This is the only membership path that does not go through Stripe.

The createProfile() Helper

All membership paths that need a new profile end with createProfile(email, profileType). This function:

1. Reads the yearly membership form data from biztechMembers2027.
2. Generates a human-readable profileID using the human-id library (for example, SillyPandasDeny).
3. Copies firstName, lastName, pronouns, year, major, and profileType into a profile row.
4. Sets the default viewableMap privacy toggles.
5. Puts a new profile in biztechProfiles with compositeID: PROFILE#<profileID> and type: PROFILE.
6. Updates biztechUsers.profileID with the generated profile ID.

Table Writes

Lookup Rules

Members Table Fields

A record in biztechMembers2027:

Primary key: id

Frontend Integration

The membership purchase flow lives in:

• src/pages/membership.tsx - the membership purchase page
• src/lib/registrationStrategy/registrationStateOld.ts - handles the Stripe redirect

The page collects user data, determines the correct payment path, POSTs to /payments, and redirects to Stripe. After payment, the webhook is responsible for creating or updating biztechUsers, biztechMembers2027, and biztechProfiles.

Related Pages

• User, Member & Profile Relationships - how the three records relate
• Account Creation - how user records are created
• Profile Sync - how profiles are created and linked
• Payment Flow - Stripe session creation and webhook handling
• Members Service - full member service endpoint reference
• Admin Detection - admin payment bypass and admin-only endpoints