Alby brand family map — which Alby is which
Context
The word "Alby" appears across 5+ Aspire products with overlapping but distinct purposes. New agents (and humans) consistently confuse them, especially:
- "Alby Studio" (the new dev platform we built) vs "alby-place" (the OLD folder name now renamed)
- "Alby Place" (current WordPress storefront) vs "Alby Studio" (current Next.js storefront builder)
- "Alby Travel" (travel listings) vs "Alby Partner Portal" (partner-facing)
This concept page is the canonical map.
Detail
The 5 Alby products
| Product | URL | Purpose | Stack | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alby Place | place.myalby.com.au | WordPress + WooCommerce + Elementor storefront — Shopify competitor for Albany merchants | WordPress Multisite + Woo + Elementor | LIVE |
| Alby Studio | store.myalby.com.au | Wix/Elementor + Dokan replacement — multi-vendor storefront builder | Next.js + Prisma + Postgres + Stripe Connect + MinIO | LIVE (Stripe Sandbox; live-mode keys pending) |
| Alby Travel | alby.com.au? | Travel/tourism brand for Albany region | (legacy WP) | LIVE |
| Alby Partner Portal | (extracted folder, see local) | Partner-facing dashboard | Next.js | LIVE? |
| Alby Affiliate Platform | (separate code repo) | Affiliate tracking + payouts | Next.js | LIVE? |
| Alby WooCommerce Bulk Import | — | Internal tool for bulk-importing products into WP storefronts | Next.js | LIVE? |
Critical distinction: Studio vs Place
| Feature | Alby Studio | Alby Place |
|---|---|---|
| Stack | Next.js (Aspire-engineered) | WordPress + WooCommerce + Elementor |
| Multi-vendor? | YES — each merchant gets a sub-section | YES — WP Multisite |
| Storefront customization | Puck-based block builder | Elementor page builder |
| Payment | Stripe Connect Express | Direct Stripe (no Connect) |
| Onboarding | Self-serve via web | Manual + admin support |
| Built when | 2026-05 (LIVE 2026-05-04) | Earlier WP work |
| Target audience | Hospitality merchants, modern e-commerce | Local Albany merchants comfortable with WP |
Folder naming alert: ~/Desktop/Claude/projects/alby-place/ used to be the dev folder for Alby Studio. It was renamed 2026-04-25 to ~/Desktop/Claude/projects/alby-studio/. The current alby-place/ folder is a DIFFERENT WordPress project. Don't grep across the two folders assuming they're the same codebase.
How they relate
Alby Brand (umbrella, Albany WA market focus)
├── Alby Travel — tourism/travel listings (oldest)
├── Alby Place — WP storefront (existing merchants)
├── Alby Studio — Next.js storefront (new merchants, multi-vendor)
├── Alby Partner Portal — partners' admin view
├── Alby Affiliate — affiliate tracking
└── Alby WooCommerce Bulk Import — internal ops toolWho owns what
All 5 are Aspire-engineered under the Alby brand. Day-to-day vendor support is currently manual; future plan is Aspire Hub-integrated admin (per aspire-hub).
Engineering ownership
- Alby Studio has its own
_STATUS.md, audit (see graphify-audit-2026-05-21 + graphify-audit-resolutions-2026-05-21) - Other Alby products' status lives in their respective project folders
Related
- aspire-brand-architecture — top-level brand map
- graphify-audit-2026-05-21 — alby-studio code audit
- stripe-connect-marketplace-default — why Alby Studio uses Connect
- minio-storage-per-app — alby-studio's dedicated MinIO
🔗 Relationships
graph LR
alby_brand_family_map["alby-brand-family-map"]:::self
alby_brand_family_map --> aspire_hub["aspire-hub"]
alby_brand_family_map --> graphify_audit_2026_05_21["graphify-audit-2026-05-21"]
alby_brand_family_map --> graphify_audit_resolutions_2026_05_21["graphify-audit-resolutions-2026-05-21"]
alby_brand_family_map --> aspire_brand_architecture["aspire-brand-architecture"]
alby_brand_family_map --> stripe_connect_marketplace_default["stripe-connect-marketplace-default"]
alby_brand_family_map --> minio_storage_per_app["minio-storage-per-app"]
classDef self fill:#715EE3,color:#fff,stroke:#291F50;