Build a client portal

A client portal is the app everyone wants and nobody enjoys building: sign-in, per-client data, files, status updates, and a front door you'd be happy to put your logo on. The hard part isn't any one of those — it's that getting the access rules wrong is the kind of mistake your customers find for you.

Describe the portal and who logs in

Start by naming the two sides of the app and what each sees:

Build a client portal. Each client logs in and sees only their own projects, documents and invoices. My team can see all clients and post updates.

Vorx plans a data model with clients, projects, documents and invoices, links them together, and builds a client-facing dashboard plus an internal admin area. Sign-in and the rule that clients see only their own records are part of the shape from the start, not an afterthought.

Model the core objects

Think in the nouns your business already uses. A typical portal has:

• Clients — the accounts that log in
• Projects — work in progress, each with a status and owner
• Documents — files shared with a specific client
• Invoices — amount, due date, paid or unpaid
• Updates — short notes your team posts to a project

Miss one and you add it later: "Add a support requests object so clients can raise and track issues." Vorx creates the table, the screens and the links to the right client.

Get the access rules exactly right

The whole point of a portal is that clients never see each other's data. Be explicit:

A client can only view and download their own documents and invoices. They can't see other clients or any admin pages.

Vorx enforces that scoping in the database itself, so it holds even if someone edits a URL. Files follow the same rule as the record they're attached to, which is what stops one client's contract being reachable by another.

Then test it properly. Create two client accounts under Settings → Cloud → Users, put documents under each, sign in as one and try to reach the other's. That five-minute check is the single most valuable thing in this guide.

Make it feel like your brand

A portal represents your company, so give it your look:

Use our brand colours, add our logo to the header, and make the client dashboard clean and calm with cards for projects, recent documents and outstanding invoices.

Keep refining by describing it — tighter spacing, a different accent, simpler navigation. See design systems for how the styling holds together across screens.

Clients judge you on the portal's polish. Spend a few prompts on how it feels, not only what it does.

Keep clients in the loop

Most portals need to reach beyond themselves — an email when an invoice is posted, a reminder when one is overdue. Ask for the notifications you need, and for recurring ones, Vorx can run them on a schedule under Settings → Cloud → Jobs rather than waiting for someone to remember.

Updates your team posts appear on the client's dashboard in realtime, and anything edited offline syncs as soon as the connection returns.

Ship it to one client first

When the flows work end to end, publish and invite a single friendly client before the rest. One real user finds more than any amount of clicking through it yourself.

In the docs: Authentication and Files and storage.