How to share a project with a client
Give a Guest only the project access they need.
Sharing in Trellis is deliberately narrow. A guest is attached to specific projects rather than added to your workspace, so there is nothing to expose by accident.
Invite the client as a Guest
Use the Guest role rather than a normal seat. Guests are external by design, are scoped per project, and are free and unlimited on paid plans, so there is never a reason to share an internal login with a client.
Open Team access
Team access is where people and their shares are managed. Work from here rather than sending the client a link directly, because access needs to be recorded against a person to be revocable later.
Choose the shared project
Select only the projects this client should see. A guest attached to one project cannot reach another, so share the minimum and add more later if the engagement grows.
Select View, Comment, or Approve
View lets them watch progress, Comment lets them respond in context, and Approve lets them make a binding decision. Give Approve only to the person who genuinely holds sign-off. The server enforces this, so a client without Approve cannot approve even if they find the page.
Verify the client portal from the Guest account
Check what the client actually sees before telling them it is ready. This confirms the right projects are shared and, just as importantly, that nothing internal is visible.
What success looks like
- The client opens a branded portal showing only their projects, holds the access level you intended, and no internal boards, teams, or fields are visible to them.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Giving a client a normal seat instead of a Guest role, which is both costly and over-permissive.
- Granting Approve to every client contact, which makes it unclear whose decision counts.
- Never checking the portal from the client side, so a sharing mistake goes unnoticed.
Questions about this workflow
No. Guests are free and unlimited on paid plans and never count as a billable seat.
No. Access is scoped to the specific projects shared with that guest.
Related how-tos
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