improving the UX of a successfully creating an account in the local/dev environment

[runningonsideprojects]

Increasing Access

This feature would reduce confusion about a core feature of the editor (creating an account) in the local/dev environment.

Feature request details

I was creating an account on my local dev environment and after pressing the the Sign Up button, the cursor was still set at not-allowed and there was no indication whether the request was processing or if it was successful. Compared to prod, it does not redirect to the home page with the new account logged in. There is no redirect at all.

I realized my account was made, but the UX makes it seem like the account was not able to be created. I would propose replicating the UX closer to prod so there is a more explicit indication that the account was successfully created. There may be an issue like this already?? If so I can take this one down haha.

Condensed bullet points list of issues I'm seeing

• not-allowed cursor when pressing "Sign Up" button
• no redirect to home page with the new account logged in (which is what prod does)
• when you log in manually, it redirects to the "Create Account" page. should ideally direct to home page.

Dev experience:

Screen.Recording.2026-02-16.at.7.50.45.PM.mov

Prod experience:

Screen.Recording.2026-02-16.at.8.46.06.PM.mov

[Nixxx19]

@runningonsideprojects Agreed! I've experienced this same friction locally. The not-allowed cursor and lack of redirect make it feel like the process stalled, which is definitely confusing for a developer. Replicating the production flow would provide a much smoother experience.

Thanks for the side-by-side videos!

Hi @raclim! I'd love to take a crack at fixing this.

[Nixxx19]

hey @runningonsideprojects @raclim,

I figured out the root issue.

On dev, many contributors (and local setups) don’t put Mailgun config in .env, while in prod it’s already set. So in dev the verification email send fails → server returns 500 → no redirect and the not-allowed cursor, even though the account was created. Nothing’s broken; it’s just that success is tied to the email actually sending.

Fix (dev-only, prod unchanged): In non-production (e.g. dev/local), when the verification email fails to send, we still return 200 + user so the client can redirect and log the user in. Prod keeps current behavior (mail failure → 500). Implemented on a branch; happy to open a PR.

I’ve attached a video of it working on dev after applying the fix, do let me know your thoughts.

Screen.Recording.2026-02-17.at.12.00.24.PM.mov