add postmortem (#241)

apps/marketing/next.config.js

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import createMDX from "@next/mdx";
+
 /** @type {import("next").NextConfig} */
 const config = {
   // Use static export in production by default; keep dev server dynamic
@@ -6,6 +8,11 @@ const config = {
     // Required for static export if using images
     unoptimized: true,
   },
+  pageExtensions: ["js", "jsx", "md", "mdx", "ts", "tsx"],
 };
 
-export default config;
+const withMDX = createMDX({
+  extension: /\.(md|mdx)$/,
+});
+
+export default withMDX(config);

apps/marketing/package.json

@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@
     "lint": "eslint . --max-warnings 0"
   },
   "dependencies": {
+    "@mdx-js/loader": "^3.1.1",
+    "@mdx-js/react": "^3.1.1",
+    "@next/mdx": "^15.5.3",
+    "@types/mdx": "^2.0.13",
     "@usesend/email-editor": "workspace:*",
     "@usesend/ui": "workspace:*",
     "iconoir-react": "^7.11.0",

apps/marketing/src/app/update/layout.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+import type { ReactNode } from "react";
+import { SiteFooter } from "~/components/SiteFooter";
+import { TopNav } from "~/components/TopNav";
+
+export default function UpdateLayout({
+  children,
+}: {
+  children: ReactNode;
+}) {
+  return (
+    <main className="min-h-screen bg-background text-foreground">
+      <TopNav />
+      <div className="mx-auto w-full max-w-3xl px-6 py-16">
+        <article className="space-y-8">{children}</article>
+      </div>
+      <SiteFooter />
+    </main>
+  );
+}

apps/marketing/src/app/update/september-outage/page.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+export const metadata = {
+  title: "September Outage Update | useSend",
+  description:
+    "What happened during the September outage, how we responded, and the improvements now in motion.",
+  alternates: {
+    canonical: "https://usesend.com/update/september-outage",
+  },
+  openGraph: {
+    title: "September Outage Update | useSend",
+    description:
+      "What happened during the September outage, how we responded, and the improvements now in motion.",
+    type: "article",
+    url: "https://usesend.com/update/september-outage",
+  },
+  twitter: {
+    card: "summary_large_image",
+    title: "September Outage Update | useSend",
+    description:
+      "What happened during the September outage, how we responded, and the improvements now in motion.",
+  },
+};
+
+# September Outage Postmortem
+
+On September 17, starting at 11:25 UTC, our emails were not being sent and the outage lasted for almost 10 hours until 21:00 UTC. No emails were sent during this time.
+
+## What happened
+
+Our Amazon SES sending was temporarily paused after compliance signals indicated potential spam characteristics. The initial feedback suggested that some marketing emails might not meet common anti-spam standards (for example, missing unsubscribe links).
+
+## Timeline tldr; (UTC)
+
+- **11:25** - Received an email that our account's sending was paused without prior warning.
+- **11:43** - Identified the problematic account, blocked it, and replied to AWS. Paused new signups as well.
+- **13:00** - No reply yet, so created a separate escalated support case to get on a call.
+- **14:00** - Initial response appeared to interpret us as the sender of the flagged emails; sending was not yet resumed.
+- **14:11** - Clarified our product offering again, noting we had blocked the account and paused signups. Shared the useSend site, GitHub, etc.
+- **15:53** - Similar response; only valid point is that some marketing emails lacked an unsubscribe link.
+- **17:40** - Shipped a change making an unsubscribe link mandatory for marketing emails; shared details on the fix and existing rate limits.
+- **18:36** - AWS still not clear with my product and suggestions included adding a CAPTCHA to a form (not applicable to our current flow).
+- **19:18** - Re-explained the product and requested senior review for clearer alignment.
+- **19:45** - AWS informed that the case would be reviewed within 2-3 business days.
+- **19:48** - Requested expedited review due to user impact.
+- **21:00** - Finally a valid response with actual steps to improve the product and resumed the account.
+
+## Why
+
+The pause highlighted areas where we can be more diligent about what gets sent through useSend and ensure alignment with SES guidelines and broader email standards.
+
+## What's done till now
+
+- Added a waitlist on signup; we'll screen users before enabling sending.
+- Made the unsubscribe link mandatory in the marketing email editor.
+- Focusing on users sending transactional and product emails for now.
+
+## Long-term improvements
+
+- More monitoring and pre-send checks (including email screening).
+- Double opt-in for contacts.
+- A backup SES account to improve resilience.
+- Considering a BYO SES option, with useSend managing it for a flat fee.
+- Exploring a move to a self-hosted email server (Hard but will try my best).
+
+## To my users
+
+Thank you for being patient and supporting during this time. I'll do a better job in the future to avoid such issues. If you have any suggestions, please do send them in discord or [koushik@usesend.com](mailto:koushik@usesend.com).

apps/marketing/src/mdx-components.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import type { MDXComponents } from "mdx/types";
+
+const components = {
+  h1: ({ children }) => (
+    <h1 className="text-3xl font-semibold tracking-wide font-sans text-primary">
+      {children}
+    </h1>
+  ),
+  h2: ({ children }) => (
+    <h2 className="text-xl font-semibold tracking-wide font-sans text-primary">
+      {children}
+    </h2>
+  ),
+  h3: ({ children }) => (
+    <h3 className="text-lg font-medium tracking-wide font-sans">{children}</h3>
+  ),
+  p: ({ children }) => (
+    <p className="text-base font-normal tracking-wide leading-relaxed font-sans">
+      {children}
+    </p>
+  ),
+  ul: ({ children }) => (
+    <ul className="list-disc list-inside font-sans pl-4 space-y-1">
+      {children}
+    </ul>
+  ),
+  a: ({ children, href }) => (
+    <a href={href} className=" text-primary-light">
+      {children}
+    </a>
+  ),
+} satisfies MDXComponents;
+
+export function useMDXComponents(): MDXComponents {
+  return components;
+}