What Are Programs? (One Gate, One Audience, One Join Page)

This article is about the Proxi admin app at app.proxi.co.

A Program bundles your maps, directories, and event series behind one front door. You pick who can get in — everyone, people who share their email, people with a password, or paying members — and everything inside opens with a single join. Think of it like a season pass: someone joins Riverbend Sips once, and the tasting map, the member-deals directory, and the tasting-events calendar all unlock together, on their phone and their laptop, without signing up three separate times.

Programs replace the old one-off "paywall" and "email gate" tools. Instead of locking each map on its own, you set up access once and point as much content at it as you like.

The Pieces

The join page. Every program gets its own shareable page (at a /p/your-program web address) with your cover photo, logo, description, a "What's Inside" list, and the join button. This one link is what goes on posters, QR codes, newsletters, and social — you never have to share anything else.
One gate. A program has exactly one way in — Open, Email Required, Password, or Paid Membership. Joining once clears that gate for everything members-only inside.
What's included. Add maps, directories, and event groups, plus simple Link, Info, and Member Benefit cards (a coupon code, a "how to claim" note, a link to a members-only form). Each item is Free (everyone sees it) or Members (hidden until someone joins). Drag to set the order they appear on the join page.
Your audience, automatically. Everyone who joins lands in your contacts and in the program's own audience, ready to message. A paid member who later cancels keeps their contact card — they just lose access to the members items.
Registration questions. Ask for more than an email (a name, a favorite drink, a business name) and the answers save onto that person's contact.

The Four Ways In

The gate you pick decides who gets access and what they do to get it:

Open — nothing is locked. Everything shows to everyone. Handy when you just want one tidy page that gathers a map, a directory, and a calendar together. You can still turn on a join button purely to collect emails.
Email Required — people type their email and everything opens. First-timers confirm with a quick one-time code we email them (that also signs them in), so the address is real. Great for building a mailing list in exchange for access.
Password — you set one shared password (say, printed on a paper passport or given out at an event). Visitors enter the password plus their email, and they're in. You still collect the email for your audience.
Paid Membership — people pay to join, either a one-time payment or a recurring subscription. They confirm their email, pay through secure checkout, and land back already signed in and unlocked. Paid gates need a connected payout account — see Set Up Payments: Connect Stripe and Get Paid Through Proxi.

What Joining Actually Looks Like

Say someone opens your join page from an Instagram link. They see your cover photo and everything that's inside, with little locks on the members-only items. They tap Join, enter their email, and — if it's their first time — get a six-digit code by email to confirm it's really them. That code signs them in, so the locks fall away right on the page. A few seconds later a branded "You're in" email lands in their inbox with a button back to the program. Paid programs are the same, with a checkout step in the middle. Behind the scenes, you get a note that a new member joined, and they show up in your contacts.

Because the "who's a member" record lives with us (not just a cookie in their browser), they can come back later on a different device, enter the same email, and they're recognized — no duplicate signup, no second charge.

Where People Hit the Gate

Members-only content is protected everywhere it appears — the map link, the directory page, the events calendar, calendar feeds, and anything you've embedded on your own website. A visitor who lands directly on a locked map (not through the join page) sees which program it belongs to and a clear way in. Someone who already joined just signs back in with their email. Free items in a program are never locked, so a "parking map" or a teaser can be seen by anyone while the good stuff stays for members.

Members, Payments & Fees

A recurring membership can be cancelled by the member themselves, right from the join page ("Manage Membership"). Access continues until the end of the period they already paid for.
No refunds run through Proxi — cancelling stops the next charge; it doesn't claw back the current one.
You choose whether buyers cover the processing fee or you absorb it (in Settings → Payments). Either way it's spelled out at checkout.

Good to Know

A map, directory, or event group can belong to one program at a time.
Email, password, and paid gates come with the Premium plan; open programs work on any plan.
A program stays a private draft until you publish it — only your team can see the page until then, so you can build and preview in peace.
When you're signed in as your own workspace, you see everything on the join page (including members items) with a banner reminding you visitors see less.