The client portal

What the portal is

The client portal is a tokenized, case-scoped page where a client sees their engagement with your firm: your firm’s name and logo, where the case stands, what you need from them, documents they may download, balance and payments, signature requests, and intake they can complete. There is no client account or password — the invite link is the credential.

How to invite a client

• Open the case → Questionnaires tab → Client portal access card.
• Click Create portal link. RESO shows the URL exactly once and copies it to your clipboard.
• Optional: check Email link to client to send the portal URL from RESO (requires Resend configured and a client email on the case).
• Send the link through your normal channel (email, text, CRM). The link is scoped to this case only.
• Invites expire after 90 days by default. Revoke stale links and mint a fresh one when an engagement pauses.
• You can keep multiple labeled invites per case (for example, taxpayer and spouse).

End-to-end walkthrough (staff)

A typical Discovery-to-payment flow using everything in the portal:

• 1. Mint a portal link (Questionnaires → Client portal access) and send it with your Discovery delivery email.
• 2. On the Billing tab, add fee line items and request payment (or record a manual payment). With Stripe Connect connected, the client can also pay from the portal.
• 3. Generate the Discovery PDF (Transcripts tab). In Documents, find the Discovery report row and click Publish to portal — internal work product never auto-exposes; you choose when the client sees it.
• 4. After Strategy is ready, publish the Strategy report the same way.
• 5. Send e-sign from Documents → Prepare e-sign. The open envelope appears under What we need from you on the portal.
• 6. Copy a FORMS by RESO client link from Questionnaires, or create a structured form assignment (API today; UI coming). The form appears in the client todo list.
• 7. Ask the client to complete portal questionnaires (433 sections A–H plus consultation). Answers save with a client-entered flag for staff review.

What clients see on the home page

• Where your case stands — the same five phases staff see (Qualification, Discovery, Strategy, Implementation, Work Verification) with client-appropriate status.
• What we need from you — a prioritized queue: sign documents, pay balance or open invoices, complete assigned forms, and jump to intake sections you requested.
• Billing & payments — balance due, fee lines, payment history, and Pay online when Stripe Connect is connected.
• Your documents — client-safe downloads only (see below).
• Your questionnaires — consultation plus 433 intake sections the client can fill in directly.
• Prevention (enrolled cases) — monitoring signals translated for the client, plus a way to report an IRS notice.
• Notice upload — clients can upload a PDF or photo of a letter (Tier client story; your team verifies).
• Quick check-in — structured quarterly heads-up (new notice, income change, etc.).
• Message your firm — a simple portal thread (not live chat).

RESO-sent client emails

When Resend is configured (RESEND_API_KEY and CONTACT_FROM_EMAIL), staff can email portal invites and payment links directly from RESO instead of copying URLs manually. Set PORTAL_CLIENT_EMAIL_ENABLED=false to disable. Emails go to the client email on the case profile.

• Portal invite: Questionnaires → Client portal access → check Email link to client when creating a link.
• Payment request: Billing tab → Request card link → check Email payment link to client.
• Delivery is best-effort and logged on case activity (portal_invite_emailed, portal_payment_email_sent).

Billing and payments in the portal

The portal reads the same billing ledger as the case Billing tab — line items, payments received, and balance due. If your firm has Stripe Connect enabled, clients see a Pay online button that opens Stripe Checkout and returns them to the portal when finished. Successful payments append to the case ledger through the existing webhook path; nothing is keyed in twice.

• Staff: add fees and record payments on the case Billing tab as you do today. Request payment from staff still creates a checkout link; pending links also surface on the portal.
• Clients see amounts and dates — not staff names, processor references, or internal chargeback notes.
• Open formal invoices (case_invoices with status open) appear separately with their own Pay action.
• Invoice PDFs generated from Billing appear under Your documents when present.
• After payment, the client lands on the portal with a confirmation banner; the balance updates once the webhook processes.

Publishing deliverables to the portal

Engagement letters, signed addendums, invoices, cover sheets, and the client’s own completed forms are always visible when current. Discovery and Strategy PDFs are different — they are internal work product until you explicitly publish them.

• Generate the Discovery or Strategy PDF from the case workspace as usual.
• Open Documents. On a Discovery or Strategy report row, click Publish to portal.
• The client sees the document under Your documents and can download it. Click Published to remove it without deleting the file.
• Until you publish, the client never sees transcript diagnostics or strategy reports — even with a valid portal link.

Form assignments

When you send a FORMS by RESO client link, RESO can create a structured assignment automatically. Use the Portal form assignments card on Questionnaires to assign intake sections or form links explicitly. Assignments appear under What we need from you and auto-clear when the client completes the linked section or form.

• Copy client link from Questionnaires → FORMS by RESO — creates a portal assignment with the link.
• Portal form assignments card: assign a 433 section or paste a FORMS link; mark done or revoke when no longer needed.
• Client portal activity card: triage notices, uploads, check-ins, and messages from the portal (Tier client story).

433 intake through the portal

Clients can complete consultation plus 433 sections A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H from the portal questionnaires block. Section F (assets) uses a simplified bank / vehicle / home capture suitable for mobile. Answers persist through the same tables staff intake uses, flagged client_entered — staged for review, never silent overwrite of the financial profile.

E-sign through the portal

When you send a document for signature (default: RESO portal only, no BoldSign email to the client), the open envelope appears in What we need from you with a Review & sign link. Completed signatures land on the case as signed documents, which are client-safe — the client keeps access to what they signed.

Client-safe documents only

The portal uses an explicit allowlist plus staff publish for flagship PDFs. Engagement letters, signed addendums, invoices, retention reports, cover sheets, usage guides, and the client’s own form completions are visible when current. Discovery and Strategy reports require Publish to portal. Fee worksheets, drafts, and operator-only artifacts never cross the boundary.

Practical guidance

• Set firm name and logo in Settings before the first invite — the portal is your brand.
• Bundle portal link + published Discovery + payment request in one delivery email.
• Use What we need from you as your client checklist — if it is empty, you are not waiting on them.
• Revoke and re-issue invites after long pauses.
• Use portal questionnaires for rough numbers on the call; use FORMS by RESO when you need a signed PDF artifact.