Sending status reports
Status reports answer the question every client asks — "what's happening with our work?" — without anyone writing a Friday email from scratch. Reports are drafted from real activity, edited by you, and published to the client's portal.
Generating a draft
On the project page, find the status reports panel and click Generate status report. Workhouse assembles a draft from the period's activity — completions, progress, what's in review.
By default the draft is AI-written. If your AI gateway isn't configured, you'll see "AI gateway not configured — drafts will use a deterministic template," and you get a structured non-AI draft instead — same flow, just more editing. (Admins can pick the model under Workspace settings → AI model.)
Editing
A generated report is a draft — nothing reaches the client yet. Open it to edit:
- Title — what the client sees in their reports list
- Body — markdown, with a live Preview card alongside
Treat the generated text as a first pass: check the emphasis, add the context only you know, cut anything that reads like a changelog. Save draft as you go, or Delete draft to scrap it.
Sending
When it reads right, click Send to client. As the helper text says: sending makes the report visible on the client portal — it appears in their "Status reports" card and notifies contacts who have status-report notifications on.
The report flips from the amber Draft badge to the green Sent badge with the send date. Sent reports are the permanent record of what you told the client and when.
A cadence that works
- Weekly or biweekly beats "when something big happens" — the quiet weeks are exactly when clients wonder what's going on
- Generate at the end of the period, send the same day — the draft is built from activity, so the fresher the better
- Keep the period honest — the date range shows on the report; clients notice gaps