About
palaestral is booking, payments and client records for an independent instructor who sells their own time — surf, yoga, running, strength.
Who it is for
One instructor is a complete customer. The product works with nobody else on it: no marketplace, no directory, no other instructors to be ranked against. An instructor publishes a page, clients book on it, and the money goes to them.
What it does
- A public page clients book from, at an address the instructor chooses.
- Sessions on a schedule, one-off or recurring, with a seat limit per session.
- Payment at booking, and lesson packs a client buys once and draws down.
- Waivers signed at booking, including a guardian's signature for a minor.
- Client history — what they booked, what they paid, what to remember next time.
- A record of what was earned, in a form an accountant accepts.
How payments work
The instructor is the merchant of record for their own sessions. Money moves from the client to the instructor through Stripe and never sits in a balance held here, so there is never a payout owed. Refunds come out of the instructor's own balance, which is also why the instructor decides the cancellation terms.
Why the data outlives the features
The intent is to be the instructor's system of record rather than a booking widget. Client history, session plans, waivers and tax records are the part that is worth having in one place, and the part that is tedious to be trusted with — which is why the rules about who can see what and how long it is kept are enforced in the database rather than in a screen.
What that means in practice is on the privacy page, with the actual retention periods.
Where it operates
Built in San Diego, California. Sessions cap at three clients, which keeps every session under the local group-activity threshold.