Everything you need to run a flawless client handoff

Go to /register and enter your name, email, and agency name. You'll be asked how many active client projects you typically manage — this determines which plan is recommended, but you can change it at any time.

After registering you'll be taken through a brief onboarding flow to select your subscription plan. A 14-day free trial starts immediately — no credit card required.

Navigate to Settings → Agency Details. Upload your logo (PNG or SVG recommended, square format works best). This logo appears in the top-left of every client portal you create.

If you don't upload a logo, your agency name is displayed as text instead — still branded, just text-based.

In the same Agency Details section, enter your primary brand colour as a hex code (e.g. #1A56DB). This colour is applied throughout the client portal — navigation underlines, active states, badge backgrounds, and button accents.

Your clients will see your agency's colour, not SmoothHandoff's default blue. The effect is subtle but professional — it feels like your own product.

Under Settings → Account, you can update your display name and email at any time. Your email is the address you'll use to log in and receive notification emails when clients message you or take actions in the portal.

Click Add client on the Clients page. You'll enter:

• Name — the company or person's name (shown in the portal header)
• Email — used when sending portal invitations and invoice notifications
• Notes (optional) — internal notes visible only to your agency, never shown to the client

Click any client card to open their detail page. Here you can see all projects linked to that client, edit their details, or create a new project. The client's email is shown as a clickable mailto link so you can contact them instantly.

From a client's detail page, click New project. Enter a project name and an optional description. The description appears on the client portal overview page as context for what the project covers.

Every project has a status that you control from the project overview page. The statuses are:

• In Progress — active work underway
• Awaiting Approval — deliverables submitted, waiting for client sign-off
• Approved — client has signed off on all deliverables
• Complete — project fully wrapped up

Status is visible to the client in their portal — it gives them a clear sense of where things stand without needing to message you.

The project overview page shows a summary card for each section (Credentials, Files, Deliverables, Messages, Outstanding balance, Training). Each card shows a count and links directly into that section. This is your control centre for the project.

The Projects page in the sidebar lists all projects across all clients in one view — sorted by most recently created. Use this when you're managing multiple clients and need to jump between projects without navigating through each client individually.

Navigate to a project, then click Credentials in the project tabs. Click Add credential and fill in:

• Category — Hosting, CMS, Domain, Email, Social, Analytics, Payment, or Other
• Label — a clear name (e.g. "WordPress Admin", "cPanel Login", "Cloudflare API")
• Username — the login username or email
• Password — stored encrypted, never shown in plain text by default
• URL — the login URL so the client can click straight through
• Notes — extra context (e.g. "2FA is enabled on this account — check your email")

When you save a password, it is encrypted client-side using AES-256 before leaving your browser. The encrypted string is stored in the database. When a client requests to reveal a password, the server decrypts it and serves it back over HTTPS — it is never stored or logged in plain text anywhere.

Hover over any credential row to reveal the edit (pencil) and delete (trash) icons. Edits open the same form pre-populated with existing values. Deletes require confirmation and are permanent.

Navigate to Files in the project tabs. Click Upload files to open the upload panel. You can select multiple files at once. Each file shows an upload progress indicator — wait for all files to reach 100% before closing the panel.

When uploading, you can assign files to a folder. Type any folder name — if the folder doesn't exist, it is created automatically. Files in the same folder are grouped together in the client view. Use folder names like "Design Files", "Source Code", "Brand Assets", "Exported Images" to keep things organised.

When a client clicks to download a file, the system generates a short-lived signed URL on the fly. This URL is valid for a limited time and then expires. This means files cannot be bookmarked or shared — each download request is authenticated. Files are never exposed to the public internet.

Hover over a file row to reveal the delete button. Deleting removes both the file from storage and the database record. This action cannot be undone — make sure you have a local copy if needed.

In the Deliverables tab, click Add deliverable. Each deliverable has:

• Title — the name of the item (e.g. "Homepage design", "Logo files", "CMS training video")
• Description (optional) — additional context about what's included
• Due date (optional) — shown to the client as a target date

Add all the deliverables you expect the client to sign off on before the project is considered complete.

Deliverables can be reordered by drag and drop. Grab the drag handle on the left of any row and drag it to the desired position. The order is saved automatically and immediately reflected in the client portal. Present deliverables in a logical sequence — typically top-to-bottom in the order a client would review them.

When the client views their portal, each pending deliverable has an Approve button. Clicking it records an approval with a timestamp and the client's name. The deliverable immediately moves to "Approved" status on both sides. You receive no notification for this (it's a passive action) but you can see the updated status in real time.

If the client isn't happy with a deliverable, they can click Request revision and optionally leave notes explaining what needs to change. The deliverable status changes to Revision Requested and you receive an email notification with their notes. Address the revision and the client can re-approve when you're ready.

The deliverables page shows a progress bar tracking how many items have been approved out of the total. Once all deliverables are approved, a banner prompts you to mark the project as Complete. This is also surfaced on the project overview card and in the dashboard sign-offs count.

In the Messages tab, type your message in the text box and press Send. Messages are timestamped and labelled with the sender's name. Your messages appear on the right; the client's appear on the left. The thread is sorted chronologically, oldest at the top.

Every time you send a message, the client receives an email notification with the message content and a link directly to their portal. They don't need to check the portal regularly — they'll be notified as soon as you write to them. The reverse is also true: when a client sends a message, you receive an email notification.

If the client has unread messages from you, a numeric badge appears on the Messages tab in their portal navigation. This ensures they notice new messages even if they navigate to another section of the portal first.

In the Invoices tab of a project, click Create invoice. Enter:

• Amount — in your currency (supports USD, GBP, EUR, and others)
• Description — what the invoice is for (e.g. "Final project balance", "50% deposit")
• Due date (optional) — shown to the client as the payment deadline

After creating the invoice, click Send to client. This triggers an email to the client with the invoice details and a link to their portal. The invoice status moves from Draft to Pending. The client now sees the invoice with a Pay Now button.

When the client clicks Pay now in the portal, they are redirected to a Stripe Checkout page. This is Stripe's hosted, PCI-compliant payment page — the client enters their card details there, not in your portal. SmoothHandoff never touches card data.

After payment, the client is redirected back to the portal and the invoice status updates to Paid automatically.

Payment confirmation happens via Stripe webhooks — Stripe sends a real-time event to SmoothHandoff the moment a payment clears. The invoice status updates from Pending to Paid without any manual action on your part. You'll also receive an email confirming the payment.

The Invoices page in the sidebar shows all invoices across every project and client — including amount, status (Pending/Paid/Cancelled), due date, and a direct link into the relevant project. Use this to track outstanding payments agency-wide without drilling into each project individually.

In the Training tab, click Add training item. Choose a type:

• Video — paste a URL (Loom, YouTube, Vimeo, or any embeddable video link). The video is embedded inline in the portal — the client watches without leaving the page.
• Document — paste a URL to an external document (Google Doc, Notion page, Dropbox Paper). Displayed as a clickable link.
• Guide — write instructions directly in the text area. Supports plain text with line breaks. Use this for step-by-step written walkthroughs.

Like deliverables, training items can be drag-and-drop reordered. Put the most important or most frequently referenced items at the top. A logical sequence might be: CMS overview → adding pages → updating images → managing blog posts → contact form responses.

Hover over any training item to reveal the edit and delete controls. Edits open the full form pre-populated. Titles and content can be updated without removing and re-adding the item.

From the project overview page, find the Client Portal card at the bottom. Click Invite [client name]. This generates a unique token, creates a secure session, and sends an email to the client's email address containing:

• A personalised message explaining what the portal contains
• A direct link to their portal
• Your agency logo and name

Once the invitation has been sent, the portal card shows the portal URL and a Copy link button. You can paste this link into any other message (Slack, WhatsApp, email) if the client misses the invitation email. The same link works every time.

If the client can't find the original email, click Resend invitation on the portal card. This re-sends the same link to the client's email address. The token does not change — the same URL remains valid.

The portal card shows when the client last accessed the portal. If it shows "Not yet accessed" after a few days, it's a cue to follow up and make sure they received the invitation and know how to access it.

The client's portal has a horizontal navigation bar with tabs for each section:

• Overview — project name, status, and a summary of what's in each section
• Credentials — all logins with masked passwords and reveal-on-click
• Files — all uploaded files grouped by folder with download buttons
• Deliverables — the sign-off checklist with approve/revision controls
• Messages — the shared message thread with your agency
• Invoices — all invoices with Pay Now for outstanding ones
• Training — all training videos, documents, and written guides

• Portal header — shows your logo (or agency name if no logo) on every page
• Navigation active state — underlines and highlights use your brand colour
• Invite email — sent from SmoothHandoff's mail system but shows your agency name and logo
• Invoice email — your agency name in the subject line and body
• Badge colours — unread message and unpaid invoice badges use your brand colour

The Stripe Checkout page is hosted by Stripe and shows your Stripe account name. The SmoothHandoff domain is used for portal URLs unless you are on the Agency plan with a custom domain configured. Email is sent from a SmoothHandoff sending domain.