Agency Client Portal & Billing Platform

It is a white-label client portal for agencies - one self-hosted application where an agency sells services, onboards clients, runs projects, collects approvals, and gets paid, all under its own brand.

It replaces the usual pile of disconnected tools agencies stitch together (a proposal tool, a project manager, a file-sharing link, an invoicing app, a review-request email) with a single portal that looks like the agency built it themselves.

WHAT PROBLEM IT SOLVES

Agencies - design studios, dev shops, marketing teams, and other productized service businesses - typically run client work through scattered email threads, spreadsheets for tracking status, a separate e-signature tool for proposals, a separate invoicing tool for billing, and a separate file-sharing link for deliverables. Clients have no single place to log in and see what's happening. Feedback and approvals happen in email, so there's no record of what was actually signed off.

Calvero puts all of it behind one login: the agency's own branded portal, where a client can log in once and see their projects, pay an invoice, approve a design, or share a password securely - and the agency can see every client, every project, and every dollar in one dashboard.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Digital agencies, design studios, dev shops - get a branded client portal they can sell projects and retainers through, without building software themselves.

Marketing teams and consultants running retainer clients - get a request queue and billing system built for ongoing monthly work, not just one-off projects.

Freelancers and small productized-service businesses - get a 24/7 self-serve storefront that takes orders and payments without a sales call.

Their clients - get a single, simple, branded place to onboard, approve work, pay invoices, and talk to the team, with no account needed on five different tools.

It is built as one agency per deployment: each agency runs its own copy, with its own branding, domain, and data, rather than many agencies sharing one multi-tenant platform.

CORE FEATURES

White-label branding and access

Agency logo, favicon, brand color, login background, and custom domain. Light, dark, and system theme. Passwordless magic-link login, plus one-time codes and optional email/password. Clients can invite their own colleagues with granular permissions (view only, approve deliverables, pay invoices, upload files).

Service catalog and self-serve checkout

A public storefront listing one-time packages and monthly retainers, with pricing tiers and add-ons. Cart, promo codes, order bumps, and checkout that creates the project automatically on payment. Custom proposals with a scope/pricing builder and a digital e-signature (typed or drawn) that converts into an invoice and project on acceptance.

Client onboarding

Drag-and-drop intake form builder, linked to specific services. A guided welcome checklist with a progress bar (watch a video, fill a brief, upload assets, book a call). An encrypted credentials vault for clients to share hosting/domain logins safely, with access logging and revocation.

Projects, tasks and retainers

Kanban and list boards with an "internal task" toggle so clients only see clean, high-level status. A visual milestone roadmap with automated status notifications. A retainer request queue with an enforced active-task limit and one-click pause.

Deliverables and approvals

A centralized file hub with embedded previews (Figma, Google Docs, Loom, staging sites). Formal "Approve" / "Request changes" workflow with a tracked revision counter and a timestamped approval log. Locked final files that show a watermarked preview and unlock automatically once the final invoice is paid.

Communication

Threaded comments on every task and deliverable, with mentions, reactions, and file/video attachments. A private "internal note" mode invisible to clients. Reply-by-email: replying to a notification email posts straight into the portal thread.

Billing

One-time, split-deposit, and recurring invoices with tax, automatic reminders, and PDF receipts. Stripe, PayPal, and bank transfer (with proof upload), all configured from Settings with built-in setup guides. A self-serve client billing tab: payment history, saved card, active retainers.

Growth and operations

A team workload dashboard (active tasks vs. capacity, overdue work, time tracking). An automatic review request when a project completes, with smart routing (high ratings prompt the client to post publicly; low ratings route privately to the owner). A client referral program with a unique link, click/signup tracking, and automatic credit.

HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS

Calvero is self-hosted, with one agency per deployment: the agency (or whoever deploys it on their behalf) runs it on their own server, so there is no shared multi-tenant SaaS and no per-seat fees to a third party.

The application is built on Next.js (App Router) with React on the frontend and server-rendered logic on the backend, using MongoDB as the primary database, Redis for caching, rate limiting, background jobs, and real-time pub/sub, and MinIO for private file and image storage (S3-compatible). A separate background worker process handles emails, payment reminders, recurring invoices, and notification digests, so the main web application stays fast and responsive. Caddy sits in front of everything as a reverse proxy, automatically issuing and renewing HTTPS certificates.

The whole stack (web app, worker, database, cache, file storage, reverse proxy) is deployed together with Docker Compose, so it can be brought up with a single command on any VPS or server. On first run, a setup wizard walks the agency owner through branding, currency, and initial configuration, with no manual config file editing required.

Security is handled throughout rather than only in the interface: every action is re-checked for authorization on the server, not just hidden in the UI; money is handled in integer minor units to avoid rounding errors; and sensitive values such as payment gateway keys and vault secrets are encrypted at rest.