[New] Monetization: No gift / gift-a-membership or gift-a-course flow despite gifting existing for file downloads

Area: Monetization (audit p10) · Surface: /gate/checkout, /learn/enrol/{slug} · Dimension: competitor-gap · Severity: minor

Teachable, Thinkific and Mighty Networks support gifting a course or membership (the buyer pays, the recipient gets enrolled via an email claim). It's a meaningful seasonal revenue channel and a viral acquisition loop. We already prove the concept with credit-gifted file downloads, but the two paid-cash surfaces that matter most (memberships and courses) can't be gifted.

Evidence

Credit-funded gifting exists for files (FileController.php:386 gift(), CreditLedger::giftDownload). But GateController::checkout (GateController.php:28-88) only subscribes the current user; there is no recipient field. CourseCatalogController checkout/enrol (CourseCatalogController.php:103-160) buys for buyer_email = the purchaser, with no 'buy for someone else' path. grep for 'gift' in src/Controllers/Gate*/Course* and Gate models returns nothing.

Suggested fix. Add a 'gift to' recipient email option on gate checkout and course enrol; on payment, create a redeemable enrollment/subscription claim sent to the recipient (reuse the guest-purchase claim flow already sketched in CourseCatalogController M7-2).

Filed by the automated tenant-app audit and adversarially evidence-verified. Status: verified. Open — not yet actioned.