CIROK

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CIROK product roadmap: from Core Alpha to public launch

Not a list of launch dates — a step-by-step plan for how CIROK moves from early testing to a public release.

By Dylan & Hawre — CIROK founders · May 2026

We are sharing our roadmap because people keep asking us the same question: when can I use CIROK?

It is a fair question. CIROK has been in development for a while now. The core platform exists, the first version is being tested, and more people are starting to hear about it through friends, filmmakers, and the Kurdish community around us.

But we are not publicly live yet.

We are not taking payments yet. We are not pretending the product is finished. And we do not want to open CIROK too widely before the basics are ready.

So instead of giving a vague “soon”, we want to explain the path we are following.

This roadmap is not a list of fixed launch dates. It is a step-by-step plan for how CIROK moves from early testing to a public release.

Where we are now0.1 Core Alpha

Right now, CIROK is in 0.1 Core Alpha.

That means we are testing the core streaming experience with a small group of people on our staging environment. These are moderated one-on-one sessions. A tester uses CIROK on their own device, shares their screen, and we watch where the product feels clear and where it still needs work.

At this stage, we are not testing the full commercial side of the platform.

We are testing the basics:

Those questions matter more right now than payments.

Because if people cannot find a film, use subtitles, or understand profiles, then adding a payment flow does not solve the real problem. It only makes the product more complicated.

Inside the alphaWhat Core Alpha is really testing

Core Alpha is about the first real product feeling.

Not the pitch. Not the design in screenshots. Not what we think the platform does.

The actual experience.

Someone opens CIROK. They look around. They search. They click. They get confused or they do not. They find a film or they do not. They press play. They look for subtitles. They decide whether this feels like something they would come back to.

That is what we need to learn.

Some of the things we are watching closely:

That last one is important.

CIROK will not start with a huge library. We know that. So the question is not “do we have everything?” We do not.

The question is whether the films we do have feel carefully chosen and worth watching.

A small catalog can work if it feels focused. It does not work if people leave thinking, “nice idea, but there is nothing here for me yet.”

We need to know which one it is.

Not yet in scopeWhat is not included yet

Some things are intentionally not part of 0.1 Core Alpha.

Payments are not active yet.

The full email verification flow is not being tested yet.

Cancellation, invoices, failed payment handling, and the full subscription lifecycle are not part of this phase.

Kids-profile restrictions are also not part of this round yet.

These things are important. We are not ignoring them. We are simply not mixing them into the first test of the core streaming experience.

There is a reason for that.

If we test everything at once, we learn less. If a tester gets stuck, we need to know whether the problem is the product itself, the account flow, the payment system, the copy, or something else. By testing in phases, we can see the problems more clearly.

First the core experience.

Then the mobile and tablet web experience.

Then the commercial layer.

Then real-world usage.

That is the order.

Next phase0.2 Core Alpha Fix Validation

After the first Alpha sessions, we move into 0.2 Core Alpha Fix Validation.

This is where we take what we learned, fix the most important issues, and test again.

It is not a glamorous phase, but it matters.

If testers struggle with subtitles, we improve subtitles.

If profiles are confusing, we clean up profiles.

If search fails because people use different spellings, we improve search.

If the catalog does not feel strong enough, we look at how it is presented and what kind of content we need next.

This phase is also where we pay more attention to devices and real household situations. People do not all watch the same way. Some use laptops. Some use phones. Some watch with family. Some switch between languages. Some come back later and expect the platform to remember where they stopped.

That is normal streaming behavior. CIROK has to handle it.

The goal of 0.2 is simple: prove that the core MVP is stable enough to build the commercial flows on top of it.

0.3 · Before mobile apps0.3 Mobile & Tablet Web Readiness

Before we even think about native mobile apps, we want CIROK to feel right on a phone or tablet in the browser.

Most early viewers will probably try CIROK on a phone first. If browsing, playback, subtitles or search feel awkward on a smaller screen, the rest of the work does not matter much yet. So this phase focuses on the parts that matter on mobile and tablet:

Native iOS and Android apps are not part of this phase. We see them as something to explore after the web experience has been tested with real viewers — not as a pre-launch dependency.

0.4 · Pre-beta0.4 Commercial Readiness

Once the core experience and the mobile web experience are in a better place, we move into 0.4 Commercial Readiness.

This is the pre-beta phase.

Here we work on the parts that make CIROK ready for real users and, eventually, real payments:

This is where the platform becomes more serious operationally.

It is one thing to let a few testers into a staging environment. It is another thing to invite real users, with real accounts, and later ask them to trust you with payment details.

We want to earn that trust before we ask for it.

0.5 · First real usage0.5 Closed Beta

After Commercial Readiness comes Closed Beta.

This is the first small version of real usage.

Not hundreds of people. Not a public campaign.

A small invited group, probably around 10 to 20 people or households at first, using CIROK at home for a few weeks.

That matters because people behave differently when nobody is sitting next to them.

In a moderated test, someone completes tasks. In Closed Beta, they live with the product a little.

They watch on their own device. They forget their password. They come back two days later. They search for something specific. They show it to someone at home. They notice what is missing. They send a support message. Or they do not come back at all, which is also useful to know.

Closed Beta helps us learn things that Alpha cannot show us.

It also tests our support process. We would rather learn how to support 20 people properly than open the doors too widely and disappoint people.

0.6 · Controlled access0.6 Open / Public Beta

If Closed Beta gives us enough confidence, we move into 0.6 Open or Public Beta.

This is where access opens more broadly.

At this point, the product should be able to handle real onboarding, real subscriptions, support requests, and a larger mix of devices and users.

We will be watching different numbers here:

Open Beta is still not the final launch. It is a controlled step before launch.

The point is to learn at a larger scale without pretending everything is finished.

1.0 · Launch1.0 Public Launch

1.0 is the public launch.

That is the moment CIROK moves from validation to growth.

By then, the core experience should be stable. Billing should work. Support should be reliable. The production setup should be tested. The content roadmap should be clear. The platform should be ready for people who do not know us personally and do not care that we are still figuring things out.

That last part is important.

Early testers are patient. Friends are patient. Community supporters are patient.

The public is less patient.

And that is fair. If we ask people to sign up, subscribe, and spend their evening watching a film on CIROK, the product has to respect their time.

That is the standard we are working toward.

Get involvedHow testers and supporters can help

If you joined the waitlist, you are already on our radar for future testing and beta access.

If you want to help earlier, especially in the Core Alpha phase, you can reply to any CIROK email you have received and tell us you would like to test.

The Alpha sessions take around 45 minutes. You do not need to prepare anything. You just use the platform and tell us honestly what you think while we observe.

If something is confusing, say it.

If something is missing, say it.

If you like the idea but would not pay for it yet, say that too.

That feedback is useful. More useful than politeness.

If you are a filmmaker or distributor and want to talk about bringing your work to CIROK, you can contact us at film@cirok.online. Hawre handles those conversations.

See the full roadmap Every phase side by side — current status and what each one has to prove.
Open the roadmap →

Closing noteWhy we are taking it step by step

CIROK is being built by a small team.

That means we cannot hide behind scale, big budgets, or a huge launch machine. We have to make careful choices.

But there is also an advantage in that.

We can listen closely. We can test with real people. We can fix what is wrong before more people see it. We can build the platform in a way that fits the community instead of forcing the community into a product that was rushed.

Kurdish cinema deserves a proper home online.

That does not mean CIROK has to be huge on day one. It means it has to be trustworthy. It has to feel cared for. It has to work well enough that people want to come back.

That is what this roadmap is for.

Not to make the journey look bigger than it is.

To show the path we are taking, and to be honest about where we are on it.

— Dylan & Hawre