# Hourbid
 
> Hourbid is a public paid leaderboard at hourbid.lol. Anyone can pay to place a URL or X handle on the board. The board resets every hour, so rank tracks what bidders pay now in the active UTC hour rather than what they once paid.

## Primary Links

- [Board](https://hourbid.lol/): the live leaderboard and the bid form.
- [Rules](https://hourbid.lol/rules): the public ranking contract. Markdown: [rules.md](https://hourbid.lol/rules.md).
- [Live stats](https://hourbid.lol/stats): visitors, live volume, first place, recent settlements.
- [Stats JSON](https://hourbid.lol/api/stats): the same figures as a JSON document.
- [Source](https://github.com/MOONCHILD2403/hourbid): the implementation, MIT licensed.
- [Waitlist](https://hourbid.lol/waitlist): private beta registration.

## How ranking works

- Bids are whole US dollars: $2 minimum, $1 steps. Amounts are stored as integer cents.
- The board resets at the top of every UTC hour. Expired listings from previous hours remain visible at the bottom of the board, sorted by their final bid amount, so the board is never empty.
- Rank is active status (current hour first), then bid amount descending, then whoever settled first, then a stable id.
- Raising a listing within the hour costs the difference between the target and that listing's current amount.
- Only the visitor who first paid a listing in the current hour can raise it before it expires.

## Page-one takeover

- A takeover locks the first page for three hours and sits in front of the ranked list rather than replacing it. Only one runs at a time.
- The price is a Dutch auction. It opens at four times current first place and slides down to 1.2× over 24 hours, then waits there until someone buys.
- A refunded takeover ends its lease early.

## Payments

- Hosted Stripe Checkout, one ad-hoc line item per bid. There is no Stripe Price catalog.
- Opening or cancelling checkout never changes the board. Only a verified, idempotent paid webhook does.
- Refunds are absolute provider snapshots: a refund lowers the listing's balance. A listing refunded to zero leaves the board.

## About

Hourbid runs on TanStack Start and Cloudflare Workers, with D1 as the single authority for
listings, checkout intents, payments, and takeover leases. The product idea and board layout
take cues from outbid.lol; Hourbid is a separate implementation. There is no revenue sharing,
no ad network, and no API key to obtain: the board is the product.