Customer Journey
Status: PUBLIC_CONTRACT_DRAFT. This page maps the conceptual customer journey through Zen Mesh. Individual steps carry their own status. It is not a production-live availability claim. See How Zen Works for the complete mental model.
What Zen Mesh Is
Zen Mesh is a declarative event delivery platform. Its name means Zero-Effort Networks — webhook and event delivery to private networks without opening firewall ports, VPNs, or kernel modules.
The platform is built around a single idea: every operation should be representable as a Configuration Contract. The UI, CLI, API, MCP, and Git are different control surfaces over the same contract.
The Customer Chain
Template → Blueprint → Flow → Traffic → Evidence
| Step | What it means | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Template | A reusable source configuration (Stripe, GitHub, Custom) | WIRED_SANDBOX |
| Blueprint | A validated template instantiation with defaults | WIRED_SANDBOX |
| Flow | A declarative contract linking endpoint → target | WIRED_SANDBOX |
| Traffic | Live event delivery, attempts, DLQ, retry, replay | WIRED_SANDBOX |
| Evidence | Cryptographic proof of delivery and trace integrity | WIRED_SANDBOX |
Core Objects
| Object | Definition | Doc |
|---|---|---|
| Endpoint | A webhook source receiver — where events arrive | Endpoints API |
| Target | A delivery destination — where events are sent | Targets API |
| Flow | A declarative contract connecting endpoint to target with filters, transforms, retry policy | Flows API |
| Attempt | One execution of delivery to a target | Delivery Attempts API |
| DLQ | Failed delivery attempts, preserved for recovery | DLQ API |
| Trace | Delivery and evidence spine — not full distributed tracing | Traces API |
| Saved Payload | Reusable test/template payload — not production retained history | Saved Payloads API |
| Evidence | Evidence-integrity delivery receipts | Evidence API |
Control Surfaces
| Surface | Audience | Reads | Writes | Maturity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UI (Dashboard) | Operators, evaluators | Yes | Yes (app-scoped) | INTERNAL_ONLY |
| Customer API | Developers, CI/CD | Yes | Permissioned, scoped | WIRED_SANDBOX |
| MCP | AI agents, operators | Yes (default-on) | Disabled by default | PUBLIC_CONTRACT_DRAFT |
| CLI | Administrators | Yes | Yes | WIRED_SANDBOX |
| Git (Contract) | GitOps workflows | Planned | Planned | PLANNED |
Customer API and MCP are not globally read-only. Write status is endpoint/tool-group level.
See Control Surfaces for details.
First Successful Path
- Choose a control surface — UI for interactive, API for programmatic, MCP for AI
- Configure an endpoint — define where events arrive
- Configure a target — define where events are delivered
- Define a flow — connect endpoint to target with policy
- Send or inspect a test event — validate the path works
- Inspect delivery attempts — see the result
- Review DLQ — if delivery failed
- Retry or replay — recover from failure
- Inspect traces — view the delivery/evidence spine
- Review evidence — verify delivery integrity
What Is Available Now
- Endpoint/target/flow CRUD (WIRED_SANDBOX)
- Delivery attempt inspection with filtering (WIRED_SANDBOX)
- DLQ as failed delivery query (WIRED_SANDBOX)
- Single and batch retry (WIRED_SANDBOX)
- Delivery/evidence trace spine (WIRED_SANDBOX)
- Evidence with inclusion verification (WIRED_SANDBOX)
- Saved payload templates (WIRED_SANDBOX)
- Logs with pagination (WIRED_SANDBOX)
- API key management (WIRED_SANDBOX)
What Is Draft or Planned
- Customer API GA contract (PLANNED)
- MCP write tools (PUBLIC_CONTRACT_DRAFT, disabled by default)
- Replay (WIRED_SANDBOX, gated by retained payload availability)
- Production retained payload retention (plan-based)
- GitOps surface (PLANNED, V1.1)
Non-Claims
- This guide describes the conceptual journey, not every step's current availability
- API docs are not production-live proof
- Local/sandbox proof is not production cloud proof
- Billing/Stripe live is not claimed
- Provider production validation is not claimed
- No SLA or uptime guarantee
Where to Go Next
| Goal | Path |
|---|---|
| Start evaluating in 15 minutes | First 15 Minutes |
| Understand core concepts | Zen Mesh Concepts |
| Explore the API | API Quickstart |
| View UI-to-API mapping | UI/API Map |
| Learn about traffic lifecycle | Traffic Lifecycle |
| Review evidence and trust | Evidence and Trust |
| Current status and non-claims | Current Status |