ADR-004: Shared Manager Contract for Reader Subscriptions

Context

Authors need subscription plans, but deploying a separate contract per author or per plan would make the UX expensive and operationally heavy.

Decision

useContent uses one SubscriptionManager contract per supported EVM network. Authors register plans inside the shared manager.

Plan identity is represented by a planKey, and backend confirmation validates events against the manager address stored for that chain.

Consequences

• Authors do not deploy their own contracts.
• Backend can track one manager address per chain.
• Plan identity is represented by planKey.
• Reader payments emit events that the backend confirms and mirrors into MongoDB entitlements.
• A single deployment registry record per network is enough for reader subscription confirmation.
• Frontend subscription UI can use the same contract integration shape across authors.

Alternatives considered

Per-author contracts were rejected because they add deployment cost and operational complexity. Pure backend subscriptions were rejected because the product goal includes wallet-native payment proof.