Portal Onboarding Gate
How Website-Day clients are guided through intake and delivery before they reach the full portal
What the Onboarding Gate Does
The onboarding gate keeps new Website-Day clients from landing in a portal that looks unfinished or empty. Instead of dropping them into the full dashboard right away, the portal shows the next step they actually need.
In simple terms, the gate answers one question:
Should this client see intake, delivery status, or the full portal?
Main Gate States
| State | What the client sees | When it happens |
|---|---|---|
none | Full portal access | The order is delivered or there is no active Website-Day gate |
intake_required | Intake flow only | The order is paid but intake is not complete |
awaiting_delivery | Build progress or delivery status view | Intake is done, but the site is not yet delivered |
Typical flow:
signup -> intake_required -> awaiting_delivery -> none
Why This Matters
This gate solves two common problems:
- clients seeing a blank portal before anything useful is ready
- clients skipping the intake details the build team needs
It keeps the experience focused and helps the agency move the order forward in the right order.
How the Gate Resolves
At a high level:
- The client signs up or places the Website-Day order.
- The portal checks their current order state on load.
- If intake is still missing, the client is routed into intake.
- If intake is done but delivery is not ready, the client sees the waiting or status experience.
- Once delivery reaches the unlock state, the full portal opens.
Statuses That Unlock the Full Portal
These states count as delivered enough to remove the gate:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
MVP_COMPLETE | The first live version is ready |
DNS_PENDING | Delivery is far enough along that full portal access can open |
DNS_COMPLETE | DNS work is complete |
States That Do Not Unlock It
These states do not open the full portal:
| Status | Why the full portal stays locked |
|---|---|
PAYMENT_PENDING | The order is not fully started |
INTAKE_ABANDONED | Intake was started but not finished |
BUILD_FAILED | The job needs internal attention first |
WAITLISTED | The work is not in the active build flow yet |
CANCELLED | The order is no longer active |
Email Fallback Logic
Sometimes account linking lags behind the order record. In those cases, the gate can fall back to matching the order by email so the right client still lands in the correct onboarding step.
This helps cover timing gaps between:
- order creation
- membership creation
- portal login readiness
Multi-Client Users
If one person belongs to more than one client account, the portal uses the most restrictive gate that still applies.
Priority order:
intake_required > awaiting_delivery > none
This keeps the user on the next required step instead of letting one ready account hide a different account that still needs onboarding work.
Admin Notes
Agency admins are not blocked by the onboarding gate in the same way client users are. That lets the team inspect the account, update order state, and help unstick onboarding when needed.
If a client needs to be manually unlocked, review the related Website-Day order and confirm the status is at the correct delivery stage.
Operator Advice
If a client says the portal looks wrong, check the order status before anything else. Most onboarding-gate confusion comes from the order state, not the portal UI itself.