Expert membership now opens as a real route, but it still stays honest about manual review.
The expert platform now has a live membership-application route. It captures the applicant draft, shows the manual-review approval preview, and keeps the later master-upgrade lane explicit without pretending the admin queue already runs automatically.
The approval matrix is visible on the route instead of hiding inside future reviewer tooling.
These cards keep the three-step ladder visible on one route: who can apply, what gets created, and which capabilities remain locked or unlocked at each state.
Expert application submission
expert_application_submission
The first submission never grants member-only access. It only creates the `expert_pending` identity state and waits for reviewer action.
Expert membership approval
expert_membership_approval
The approved `expert_member` lane unlocks the future academy, network, and store surfaces only after manual admin review.
Expert master upgrade
expert_master_upgrade
The `expert_master` tier is not a self-serve badge. It stays on a later completion-and-review lane even after membership approval.
Create the pending-review expert application draft.
Guests and patients can submit the first expert-membership application here. The route normalizes the created `expert_pending` role and keeps the applicant on a manual-review lane instead of pretending approval is instant.
The current policy allows applications from `guest` and `patient` only. Both produce the same `expert_pending` role and wait for manual review.
Submission and review previews already share the same contract version.
The server helper normalizes application drafts, approval previews, and master-upgrade previews against the shared auth-policy matrix.
- Review mailbox
- mailto:membership-review@sart-society.invalid?subject=SART%20Society%20Membership%20Review
- Review mailbox mode
- Configured mailbox
- Applicant entry role
- Guest applicantPatient applicant
The expert route now owns the whole membership ladder without claiming instant approval.
The role ladder is locked to the shared policy matrix: first application, then admin-reviewed membership approval, then a reviewed master-upgrade lane.
Application creates expert_pending
The first submission never grants member-only access. It only creates the `expert_pending` identity state and waits for reviewer action.
Membership approval is admin-reviewed
The approved `expert_member` lane unlocks the future academy, network, and store surfaces only after manual admin review.
Master upgrade is a second reviewed lane
The `expert_master` tier is not a self-serve badge. It stays on a later completion-and-review lane even after membership approval.
The expert route now owns the whole membership ladder without claiming instant approval.
The role ladder is locked to the shared policy matrix: first application, then admin-reviewed membership approval, then a reviewed master-upgrade lane.
Preview the manual approval lane before the real admin queue exists.
This preview shows how an admin-reviewed approval would move a submitted applicant from `expert_pending` into the approved `expert_member` lane once credential review is complete.
Preview the reviewed master-upgrade lane without faking automatic elevation.
This preview shows how an approved `expert_member` later enters the manual-review master-upgrade lane and what evidence must be present before the role can elevate.
This route is intentionally review-first. It proves the application and upgrade contracts now, while the real admin queue, persistence, and role mutation remain future work.