Creative Agency Task Hub with Client-Facing Portal

Problem and target customer

Why this exists

Customer problem

Small creative agencies juggle client deliverables across generic tools, spreadsheets, and email threads. Approvals get buried in inboxes, time per deliverable goes untracked, and clients lack a single place to see project progress.

Who pays

Indie creative agency operators and small studio owners managing 5-30 concurrent client projects who need structured task tracking and a professional client-facing experience without enterprise software overhead.

Business model

Monthly subscription with a paid workspace tier for agencies managing multiple concurrent client projects.

Editorial note

Creative agencies lose billable hours when approvals scatter across email and task status lives in a tool clients never see. This hub keeps internal kanban work and client-facing progress in one system, so an operator can move a task to Review and know the client will see it without a follow-up message.

The MVP deliberately excludes invoicing, Gantt charts, and team chat. Those features pull scope into a full agency management platform. The first version proves that a narrow, workflow-specific tracker with a branded client portal reduces approval friction and gives agencies a professional surface to share with clients.

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What do you need next?

Evaluate the operating tradeoffs quickly, or inspect how to build the MVP.

Evaluate this ideaSee the cost and deployment preview

Compare the three operating paths at the default workload before opening the full calculator.

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Review MVP scope, workflow, states, data rules, architecture, and acceptance criteria.

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Evaluation preview

What would it take to run?

Directional infrastructure estimates for the current 1,000 generated outputs assumption. Open the full calculator when you are ready to change it.

Open full cost and deployment

ManagedSelected

$30-$90/ month

Managed app hosting, database, backups, and basic observability for the ai-generation workflow.

Lowest operating effort

Lean self-hosted

$13-$53/ month

One small VPS running the app, database, media volume, and backup job.

Lowest baseline cost

More control

$50-$150/ month

Separate app, data, storage, and worker capacity for cleaner operations.

Most separation and control

Build blueprint

Build the first paid use case

Product goal

Who it serves and what it must change

Target user: Indie creative agency operator managing 5-30 concurrent client projects with a small team
Problem: Client deliverable tracking is split across generic tools and email, causing lost approvals, untracked time, and no professional client-facing progress surface.
Measurable outcome: An agency can onboard a new client project in under 5 minutes, and a client can approve a deliverable through the portal without an email exchange.

MVP scope

What ships now and what waits

Included

Internal kanban board with drag-and-drop task stages
Client-facing portal with shareable link and approval actions
Per-task time tracking with start/stop timer
Activity log with timestamped status and approval events
Branded workspace with agency logo in portal header

Excluded

Invoicing and payment processing
Gantt charts and resource forecasting
Internal team chat or messaging
File versioning and annotation tools
White-label multi-agency customization

UX and user flow

Screens, actions, and states

Project Onboarding Wizard

Guide the operator through creating a client project with name, deliverables, and team assignments in under 5 minutes.

Enter client and project detailsAdd deliverable tasksAssign team membersGenerate portal link

Internal Kanban Board

Display all project tasks as draggable cards across stages so the team can manage work visually.

Drag cards between stagesStart and stop task timersEdit task details and due datesMark task Ready for Approval

Client Portal View

Show clients a read-only progress timeline with deliverable statuses and approval buttons without requiring an account.

View project progressReview deliverable detailsApprove or Request ChangesSee activity history

Task Detail Panel

Provide a side panel or modal with full task information including time entries, assignee, and approval history.

View logged timeRead activity logEdit task descriptionAttach files

Primary flow

Operator creates client project via onboarding wizard
Operator populates kanban board with deliverable tasks
Team tracks time and moves tasks through stages
Operator marks task Ready for Approval and shares portal link
Client reviews and approves or requests changes in portal
System logs decision and notifies operator via email

Loading, empty, and error states

Briefed - task created with requirements
In Progress - team actively working with timer running
Ready for Approval - task shared to client portal for review
Approved - client clicked Approve in portal
Changes Requested - client clicked Request Changes
Delivered - task closed after approval

Core entity outline

Entities and business rules

Workspace

Represents an agency workspace containing projects, team members, and branding settings.

Fields: id, name, logo_url, created_at
Relations: has many Projects, has many Users

Project

Represents a single client engagement with a set of deliverable tasks and a portal link.

Fields: id, workspace_id, client_name, title, portal_token, status
Relations: belongs to Workspace, has many Tasks

Task

Represents an individual deliverable tracked on the kanban board with time entries and approval state.

Fields: id, project_id, title, description, stage, assignee_id, due_date, total_minutes
Relations: belongs to Project, has one ClientApproval, has many ActivityLogs

ClientApproval

Records a client decision made through the portal for a specific task.

Fields: id, task_id, decision, client_note, submitted_at
Relations: belongs to Task

ActivityLog

Timestamped record of all status changes, time entries, and approval events for audit and progress display.

Fields: id, task_id, event_type, actor, metadata, created_at
Relations: belongs to Task

Business rules

A task cannot be moved to Ready for Approval without a title and assignee.
Only tasks in Ready for Approval stage appear in the client portal.
Client portal access requires a valid portal_token in the URL; no login required.
When a client approves a task, the system automatically moves it to Approved and then Delivered.
Time entries cannot be negative and total_minutes is the sum of all completed timer sessions.

Architecture and data flow

Components, integrations, and controls

Kanban Board UI

Render task cards in stage columns with drag-and-drop reordering and inline timer controls.

Client Portal Renderer

Serve a read-only project view using a portal token, displaying progress and approval buttons.

Approval Service

Process client approval or change-request submissions and update task stage and activity log.

Notification Dispatcher

Trigger transactional emails to operators and clients when task stages change or approvals are submitted.

Integrations

Transactional email via Make webhook for approval and status notifications
Supabase Storage for agency logo and deliverable file uploads
Supabase Auth for agency team member authentication

Data flow

Operator creates project in Lovable UI, data persists to Supabase Postgres.
Task stage changes update the tasks table and insert an ActivityLog row.
Client portal reads project and task data via portal_token without auth.
Client approval writes a ClientApproval row and triggers a Supabase webhook.
Make scenario receives webhook and sends transactional email to operator.

Failure handling

If the email webhook fails, the approval still persists in the database and the operator sees it in the activity log.
If a client submits an approval for a task no longer in Ready for Approval, the system rejects the submission with a stale-state message.
If Supabase Storage is unavailable, task creation still succeeds without attachments and the operator can retry the upload.

Security

Row-level security on Supabase tables ensures clients can only read projects matching their portal_token.
Agency team members authenticate via Supabase Auth with workspace-scoped access.
Portal tokens are unguessable random strings with no sequential pattern.

Rate limits

Portal approval submissions limited to 10 per task per hour to prevent accidental spam.
Time tracking timer starts limited to one active timer per user per workspace.

Deliverables and acceptance

Definition of done for the MVP

Deliverables

Lovable app with internal kanban board and client portal views
Supabase schema for Workspace, Project, Task, ClientApproval, and ActivityLog
Make scenario for approval and status-change email notifications
Railway deployment with Postgres and any serverless functions

Acceptance criteria

An operator can create a new client project with at least 3 deliverable tasks in under 5 minutes from the onboarding wizard.
Dragging a task card to Ready for Approval makes it visible in the client portal at the shared link within 2 seconds.
A client clicking Approve in the portal moves the task to Delivered and creates an ActivityLog entry within 3 seconds.
Starting and stopping a task timer accumulates total_minutes correctly and persists across page reloads.
The agency logo uploaded in workspace settings appears in the top-left of the client portal header.

Recommended stack

Enough technology for the first version

Frontend app

Lovable

Rapidly build the dual-view interface with kanban interactions and client portal pages using a visual builder with Supabase integration.

Database and auth

Supabase (via Railway)

Relational storage for projects, tasks, approvals, and activity logs with row-level security separating agency and client data access.

Automation glue

Make

Route approval notifications and status-change emails without embedding email infrastructure in the core app.

Backend hosting

Railway

Host any serverless functions for portal link generation and webhook handlers alongside the database with simple deployment.

Object storage

Supabase Storage

Store agency logos and deliverable attachments referenced by task cards and the client portal.

Why this is sufficient

Lovable handles the dual-view UI complexity with built-in Supabase bindings, while Railway provides reliable backend hosting for any edge functions. Make acts as bounded glue for email notifications triggered by approval events, keeping the core app focused on task and portal logic.

Not required for the MVP

Separate analytics platform beyond the activity logCustom domain management for client portalsSSO or enterprise identity provider integrationMobile native app

Next stepTurn the blueprint into an execution plan

Copy the build prompt, model the operating cost, and choose where to deploy.

Build and ship

Execution

Build, price, and deploy the MVP

Once the blueprint is clear, use the prompt, cost model, and deployment options to start building.

Build prompt

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Lovable

Build prompt

Your build prompt is ready

Open the prompt pack whenever you are ready to take this blueprint into your builder.

Based on the blueprintReady for your builderFollow-up steps included

Cost calculator

Model the MVP operating cost

A technical run-cost estimate for the first production version. Team, acquisition, payment fees, and business COGS are excluded.

Estimated monthly total$30-$90

$15-$45 per 500 generated outputs

Generated outputs / month1,000 generated outputs

Selected pathEasiest

Pricing checkedAug 2, 2026

Cost breakdown

$30-$90 per month

Low and high values allow for usage variance and plan headroom.

Managed infrastructure

Managed app hosting, database, backups, and basic observability for the ai-generation workflow.

50K generated outputs included, then $8-$20 per 100K generated outputs

$25-$65

Transactional email

Transactional email is implied by the source workflow or feature list.

3K generated outputs included

Object storage

Object storage is implied by the source workflow or feature list.

Monthly allowance from this idea's operating profile

$5-$25

Included

Application hosting
Relational database
Basic backups
work items, delivery signals, and cycle outcomes state
Transactional email
Object storage

Not included

Paid acquisition
Founder or team time
Tax or legal review
Custom enterprise procurement

Pricing basis

The estimate combines the selected infrastructure path, required operating modules, selected optional modules, and usage above included monthly allowances. Taxes and regional uplifts are excluded.

Managed app baseline Resend pricing Amazon S3 pricing

Deployment options

Pick the operational tradeoff

Choose based on operating preference, not only the headline price.

EasiestRecommended

Railway

Fast Docker deployment for the app, database, worker, and preview workflow without managing a VPS.

$15-90/month before usage-heavy add-ons

Good fit

Fast setup
Low starting cost
Good preview workflow

Limitation

Usage billing needs active monitoring as traffic and jobs grow.

Open Railway

Cheapest

Vultr

Run the app, worker, and database on one small Vultr VPS with Docker Compose and explicit backups.

$8-60/month before managed add-ons

Good fit

Predictable baseline
Portable setup
Room for workers

Limitation

You own patching, backups, monitoring, and incident response.

Deploy on Vultr View the lean VPS guide

More control

DigitalOcean

Separate application, worker, data, storage, and backup responsibilities as the workload grows.

$10-120/month before managed add-ons

Good fit

Cloud VPS control
Global regions
Room for workers

Limitation

You own server setup, patching, backups, and operational monitoring.

Explore DigitalOcean View the separated cloud guide

Start building

Prototype, automate, then deploy

Recommended route

01Vibe-coding builderBuild dual-view kanban and client portal

Create the internal kanban board with drag-and-drop stages, task cards with time tracking, and the client-facing portal with read-only progress and approval buttons. Wire both views to Supabase tables with row-level security policies separating agency and client access.

Open Lovable 02AutomationAutomate approval and status notifications

Set up Make scenarios that listen for task status changes and client approval events from Supabase webhooks, then send transactional emails to agency operators and clients via an email provider.

Open Make 03DeployHost backend functions and database

Deploy Supabase or a Postgres instance on Railway for relational storage of projects, tasks, approvals, and activity logs. Host any serverless functions for portal link generation and webhook signature verification.

Open Railway

Creative Agency Task Hub with Client-Facing Portal

Is this worth validating?

Build this if

Avoid this if

Validate first

Why this exists

Customer problem

Who pays

Business model

What do you need next?

What would it take to run?

Build the first paid use case

Who it serves and what it must change

What ships now and what waits

Included

Excluded

Screens, actions, and states

Primary flow

Loading, empty, and error states

Entities and business rules

Business rules

Components, integrations, and controls

Integrations

Data flow

Failure handling

Security

Rate limits

Definition of done for the MVP

Deliverables

Acceptance criteria

Enough technology for the first version

Lovable

Supabase (via Railway)

Make

Railway

Supabase Storage

Why this is sufficient

Not required for the MVP

Build, price, and deploy the MVP

Copy this into a builder

Your build prompt is ready

Model the MVP operating cost

Usage assumptions

$30-$90 per month

Included

Not included

Pricing basis

Pick the operational tradeoff

Railway

Good fit

Limitation

Vultr

Good fit

Limitation

DigitalOcean

Good fit

Limitation

Prototype, automate, then deploy

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