> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.getatelier.design/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Clients

> The people you bill. One client, several contacts, several projects.

A client is the entity you invoice — a couple, a family, a developer, a
hotel group. Projects hang off clients, so the client comes first.

## Create one

**Add client** takes a name, an email and a phone number. That is the
minimum; you can fill in the rest later.

## Several contacts

Most residential jobs have more than one person in them: two partners with
different opinions, a house manager, an assistant who handles scheduling.
Commercial jobs have more.

Add each as a **contact** on the client record, with their role. It keeps
the addressing right and means nobody has to remember which email address
the approvals go to.

## Several projects

One client can have many projects — the apartment, then the country house,
then the office. Keeping them under one client means:

* **One relationship, one history** — Everything you have done for them is
  in one place.
* **Invoices roll up** — You can see what a client owes across all their
  jobs.
* **Contacts stay put** — Entered once, used by every project.

## What the client sees

Clients do not log in to Atelier. They receive links:

* **Shared pinboards** — where they comment and approve.
* **Shared schedules** — what was specified, what it costs, where it is.
* **Proposals and invoices** — the commercial documents.

Only pinboards talk back: a comment or approval there lands in your
**Inbox**. Schedules are read-only for the client, and accepting a
proposal or invoice doesn't notify anyone — check **Finance** for those.

<Warning>
  Before sharing a schedule, hide vendor cost and markup.
</Warning>