feat: convert anonymous users on the extension new-tab hijacking strip

[tsahimatsliah]

Summary

The /hijacking new-tab override page (served by the browser extension) gets ~70k unique users/day, the bulk of them anonymous. The existing HijackingLoginStrip only offered "Log in to continue" — copy that assumes an existing account and gives anonymous users no reason to register.

This reworks the strip into a signup-first conversion surface:

• Primary CTA "Sign up — it's free" (opens registration), with "Log in" demoted to a secondary action for returning users.
• Concrete value props as a 2×2 benefit grid (feed tuned to your stack, save posts, reading streak, never miss what matters).
• Social proof + reassurance ("Trusted by 1M+ developers", "No credit card. Free forever.").
• Onboarding path preserved for logged-in-but-not-onboarded users.
• Analytics: impression log on mount + split SignupButton/LoginButton click events to measure conversion on this high-traffic surface.

Keeps the existing gradient-border / glow / cat visual language.

Test plan

• pnpm --filter extension exec jest src/newtab/HijackingLoginStrip.spec.tsx
• Strict typecheck + ESLint clean
• Manually verify the new-tab strip for anonymous and not-onboarded users in the built extension

Made with Cursor

Preview domain

https://feat-hijacking-strip-conversion.preview.app.daily.dev

[vercel]

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
daily-webapp	Ready	Preview	Jun 2, 2026 7:51pm

1 Skipped Deployment

Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
storybook	Ignored		Jun 2, 2026 7:51pm

[tsahimatsliah]

@claude review the pr and make sure all green

[claude]

Claude finished @tsahimatsliah's task in 3m 18s —— View job

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PR Review

• Check CI status
• Read changed files
• Verify scope: no unrelated changes
• Provide review feedback

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CI status

Check	Result
ci/circleci: test_extension	✅ pass (all 6 HijackingLoginStrip tests pass)
ci/circleci: typecheck_strict_changed	✅ pass
ci/circleci: lint_shared	✅ pass
ci/circleci: test_shared	✅ pass
ci/circleci: build_extension	✅ pass
ci/circleci: test_webapp	❌ 1 failing test
build (umbrella)	❌ fails because of test_webapp
Vercel preview	✅ deployed

The single failing test is PostPage.tsx › should show source name (searches DOM for Towards Data Science, finds the spotlight search header instead). This file is not touched by this PR (which only modifies packages/extension/src/newtab/HijackingLoginStrip.{tsx,spec.tsx} and packages/shared/src/styles/base.css). It's almost certainly a flaky/timing-related failure unrelated to the change — recommend re-running test_webapp on CircleCI to confirm. If it reproduces deterministically on rebase from main, it's a pre-existing issue, not something this PR needs to fix.

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Code review

🔴 Dead code: the catStage variation is unreachable

signinHeroVariation is hardcoded as a module-level const, not wired to a feature flag or prop:

// packages/extension/src/newtab/HijackingLoginStrip.tsx:38-40
type SigninHeroVariation = 'catStage' | 'onboardingSignup';
const signinHeroVariation: SigninHeroVariation = 'onboardingSignup';

That means everything in the catStage branch is dead code:

• CatStageHero (L109-147) — ~40 lines, never selected
• HeroActionButtons (L81-107) — only used by CatStageHero
• CatHeroImage (L57-67) — only used by CatStageHero
• The SigninHeroVariation type + SigninHeroVariationMap (L37-40, L214-220) — single-entry map of a constant
• cloudinaryReadingReminderCat import (L30) — only referenced from CatHeroImage
• .top-hero-stage in base.css (L1097-1130 added) — 34 lines of unused CSS

CLAUDE.md is explicit: "Delete dead code — Remove unused components, functions, exports, and files. Don't leave code 'for later'". Either:

• Wire this to a real feature flag via useConditionalFeature (matches the A/B framing in the PR description), or
• Delete the catStage branch entirely and inline OnboardingSignupHero as the only signin hero — this is the simpler call given there's no flag scaffolding here today.

Fix this →

🟡 Analytics target type is misleading for two of the three variants

// L278-281
target_type: variant === 'signin' ? TargetType.SignupButton : TargetType.LoginButton,

• For variant === 'onboarding' (logged-in-but-not-onboarded), the only CTA is Continue ➔ to /onboarding. Logging this as LoginButton (both for impression at L279 and click at L341) will conflate it with actual login interactions in your dashboards.
• For variant === 'continue' (sign-back, anonymous), the primary CTA is Continue as {firstName} (a re-login), so LoginButton is correct. But the page also has a secondary "Create an account" link that fires the click with SignupButton (L398, via onSignupClick) — meanwhile the impression for this view is logged as LoginButton. That's defensible, but the funnel report will show signup clicks under "login impression" rows. Consider whether the PR's goal of "measure conversion on this high-traffic surface" needs a third TargetType (or a richer target_id like hijacking_onboarding / hijacking_signin / hijacking_continue) so the three variants don't all collapse into two labels.

🟡 formRef cast loses type safety

// L227-229
const authFormRef = useRef<HTMLFormElement>(
  null,
) as unknown as AuthOptionsProps['formRef'];

The double cast through unknown is a workaround for MutableRefObject<HTMLFormElement> vs RefObject<HTMLFormElement | null> incompatibility. If AuthOptionsProps['formRef'] actually accepts a nullable ref, you can drop the cast; if not, the cleaner fix is useRef<HTMLFormElement | null>(null) and adjust the type, but this is package-API-dependent. Low-priority cleanup, but worth a follow-up.

🟢 Tests

The spec is well-structured and covers all four variant paths (signup hero, impression timing, welcome-back, onboarding-link). The AuthOptions mock cleanly exercises the onAuthStateUpdate callback path. Good coverage for what's behaviorally observable.

🟢 CSS

The new .top-hero-aurora rule reads cleanly and uses theme tokens via color-mix(...) correctly. As noted above, .top-hero-stage should be removed alongside the dead CatStageHero.

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Summary

• ✅ Extension tests, typecheck, lint, build, and shared tests all pass.
• ❌ One test_webapp failure (PostPage.tsx › should show source name) is in a file untouched by this PR — recommend re-running CircleCI to confirm flake.
• 🔴 Main code-level finding: the catStage hero variation is unreachable dead code (component, helpers, import, and CSS). Either gate it on a real feature flag or delete it per CLAUDE.md.
• 🟡 Analytics: the onboarding variant logs LoginButton for what is actually an onboarding-continue CTA — worth clarifying the target type semantics.
  · feat/hijacking-strip-conversion