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Sharing work with clients

Workhouse runs on one rule: everything is internal until you share it. Every task and comment carries a visibility flag — internal or client-visible — and the client portal can only ever read client-visible rows. There's no separate client board to maintain and no risk of a client stumbling into your internal backlog.

Making a task client-visible

Open the task, click the ⋯ menu in the task header, and choose Make client-visible. The same menu has Make internal to pull it back.

Once shared, the task appears on the client's portal board. They can always see the title and status; by default they also see the description and due date. Internal-only details (and anything not in their visible field set) simply don't render for them.

Clients can move shared tasks between To do, In progress, Review, and Done, toggle checklist items, and comment — so share when a task is ready for collaboration, not just observation.

Two comment surfaces on every shared task

This is the part to internalize before your first client logs in:

  • The main thread on a client-visible task is shared space. Comments you post there are visible to the client — it's where the collaboration happens.
  • The Internal panel (the Internal button on the task — "Internal notes — agency team only") is your team's side channel. Threads there never reach the portal, no matter what. Use it for estimates, internal debate, anything you wouldn't say in the room with the client.

If you're ever unsure where a comment will land, check which composer you're in: the Internal panel slides out separately from the main thread.

What's always internal

Some things never reach the portal regardless of task visibility: internal notes, visibility changes themselves, task links/dependencies, and your internal-only fields (priority is hidden from clients by default). Activity on the client's side of a task is filtered to client-appropriate events.

Sharing checklist

Before inviting a client into their portal, a quick pass:

  1. Are the right tasks client-visible — and only those?
  2. Do shared task titles and descriptions read well to an outside audience?
  3. Has the team been told: main thread on shared tasks = client can read it?

A good habit: write the task internally, polish it, then flip it client-visible.