Projects
Manage milestones, tasks, statuses and track progress automatically.
Overview
A project in Cliento represents a piece of work you deliver to a client. It groups milestones, internal tasks, files and client communication in one place — and generates a shareable portal your client can access without creating an account.
Creating a project
Go to Dashboard → Projects → New project and fill in:
- Client — select an existing client or create one inline.
- Project name — shown in the portal and on invoices.
- Description — optional, displayed in the client portal header.
- Start date — optional, for your internal planning.
- Deadline — optional, shown in the project list and portal.
Note
On the Free plan you can have 1 active project at a time. Solo and Pro plans have no limit.
Project templates Solo / Pro
Templates let you save a project structure — milestones, titles and order — and reuse it whenever you start a similar engagement. No more re-typing the same milestone list every time.
Using a template when creating a project
When creating a new project, click Use a template to pick from your saved templates or the built-in defaults. The template's milestones are pre-filled into the project instantly — you can still rename, reorder or remove them before saving.
Built-in templates
Cliento ships with six ready-to-use templates to get you started:
| Template | Typical use case |
|---|---|
| Site web vitrine | Brochure or marketing website |
| Application web | Custom web app or SaaS product |
| Identité visuelle | Logo and brand identity design |
| Design système | Component library or design system |
| Audit stratégique | Strategic or UX audit |
| Accompagnement digital | Ongoing digital coaching or consulting |
Creating your own template
Go to Dashboard → Templates → New template and:
- Give the template a name.
- Add milestones in order — each with a title and an optional position.
- Save. The template is immediately available when creating a project.
Tip
Create templates from your most common project types to cut project setup time to under a minute.
Managing templates
From Dashboard → Templates you can:
- Edit — update the name or milestones of any template.
- Duplicate — clone a template as a starting point for a new variation.
- Delete — remove a template you no longer need. Deleting a template does not affect projects already created from it.
Warning
Built-in templates cannot be deleted, but they can be duplicated and customised.
Project statuses
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Draft | Not yet shared. The portal exists but the link isn't sent. |
| In progress | Active work. The portal is live and accessible. |
| Awaiting client | You are waiting for client validation or payment. |
| Completed | Project is finished. Archived from the active list. |
Changing status is a single click from the project page. The client portal reflects the status in real time.
Milestones
Milestones are the deliverable checkpoints of your project. Each milestone can be:
- Validated by the client (with or without payment)
- Commented on by both sides
- Linked to a payment (Solo / Pro)
Adding a milestone
Inside a project, click Add milestone and set:
- A title (e.g. "Design mockups", "Development sprint 1")
- An optional due date
- An optional amount if you bill per milestone
Tip
When you convert a quote into a project, its line items become milestones automatically — no manual entry needed.
Milestone statuses
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Pending | Default state — waiting for delivery |
| Waiting validation | You marked it as ready, awaiting client approval |
| Validated | Client approved it |
| Rejected | Client asked for revisions |
Reminding your client Solo / Pro
While a milestone is in Waiting validation, Cliento reminds your client automatically every 3 days, up to 3 times (see Automations). If your client still has not answered, click Remind client on the milestone card to send one more reminder yourself.
Manual reminders are not capped, but you can send only one per 24 hours (all reminders included), so a double click never emails your client twice. The button only appears while the milestone is waiting for validation.
Auto-invoice on validation Solo / Pro
Each milestone has an Auto-invoice option. When enabled, validating the milestone automatically creates a draft invoice for that milestone's amount — no manual step required.
The auto-invoice badge is visible on the milestone card so you can tell at a glance which milestones trigger automatic billing.
See Invoices → for details on how auto-generated invoices work.
Internal tasks
Tasks are your private to-do list inside a project — they are never visible to the client. Use them to track sub-steps within a milestone.
Each task has a title and a checkbox to mark it done.
Progress bar
The progress bar shown in the project list and portal is computed automatically based on validated milestones:
progress = validated milestones / total milestones × 100
Files
ProPro plan users can upload files to a project and share them via the client portal. Clients can download, validate or reject each file.
On Solo and Free plans, files uploaded by a client through the portal are still readable in the dashboard — but freelance-side upload requires Pro.
Sharing the portal
Every project has a unique token URL generated automatically:
https://cliento.dev/portal/[token]
Click Share portal on the project page to copy the link. Send it via email, WhatsApp or any channel you prefer — your client needs no account.
Warning
The portal link never expires. To revoke access, set the project status to Completed.