Introduction
What YourDesk is, what ships in the package, how the work flows through it, what your clients see, and where to start reading.
3 min readUpdated Oct 17, 2026Applies to YourDesk 1.0.0
On this page
YourDesk is a self-hosted studio operating system for freelancers, agencies and small creative teams. It puts clients, proposals, projects, tasks, time, invoices and client portals in one web app, laid out in the order work happens: win the work, deliver it, get paid, keep clients close.
You can run it for your own studio, or offer it to other studios on one deployment with the included plans, checkout and Ops console.
Tip
Want to see it first? The live demo at www.yourdesk.cc has a Log in to demo account button on its sign-in page. The demo desk is shared with other visitors and read-only, so you can click through everything but not change it. Its proposal, invoice and portal links still accept client actions, so do not type anything private into them.
What is in the package
| Area | What you get |
|---|---|
| Win work | Discover (turn a pasted brief into a lead with questions and notes) and Proposals (seven-page documents in eight looks, a public link the client can accept and sign, PDF download) |
| Deliver | Projects with a four-lane task board, subtasks, comments and files; a weekly Planner with .ics import and export; Time with timers, manual entries and approval |
| Get paid | Invoices with a live preview, 20 looks, tax, deposits, multiple currencies, a public view link, PDF download and overdue tracking |
| Keep clients close | Clients, a no-login client portal per client, and Client updates with an optional connected IMAP/SMTP mailbox |
| AI | The Agent, a helper on xAI models with 42 tools, approvals for risky actions and an audit trail; AI drafting for research and letters |
| Running it as a product | The Ops console: users, workspaces, product settings, plans, Stripe and PayPal checkout, a system checklist and an activity log |
| Source and tooling | Full TypeScript source, plain SQL migrations, a migration runner, unit tests, a Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml and vercel.json |
It is built with React 19, TanStack Start (server-side rendering), Tailwind CSS 4, Better Auth and Postgres. With no database configured it runs on an embedded Postgres (PGLite), so a first look needs no setup at all.
How the work flows
| Stage | Screen | What happens there |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | Dashboard, Today | What is due, overdue and next, built from your own records |
| Win work | Discover | Paste an enquiry; get a lead, questions to ask and research notes |
| Proposals | Draft, share the link, see opens, get it accepted; a signed proposal opens a project | |
| Deliver | Projects | Board with To do, In progress, Review and Done; comments, files, linked invoices |
| Planner, Time | Schedule the week; track and approve time | |
| Get paid | Invoices | Compose, share the link, record payments, chase overdue ones |
| Keep clients close | Clients, Client portals, Client updates | One page per client, a shared portal link, progress notes and mail |
What your clients see
Clients never need an account. Everything they see is a link that you share:
| Link | Shows | Read more |
|---|---|---|
/p/<token> |
The client's portal: project progress, invoices, proposals, updates, messages, files, requests and deliverables | Clients and client portals |
/d/<token> |
One proposal, with Accept & sign and Decline | Discover and proposals |
/i/<token> |
One invoice, with a PDF download | Invoices and payments |
/join/<token> |
A teammate invitation | Your desk |
What you need to run it
The short version, detailed on Requirements:
- Node.js 22, or Docker.
- Postgres for anything real. The embedded database is for trying it out.
- A domain with HTTPS. Sign-in cookies are
Secure, so plain HTTP only works onlocalhost. - Optional accounts, each billed by its own provider: xAI for the AI features, Stripe and/or PayPal to sell plans, a Google OAuth client for Google sign-in, and an email mailbox for sending mail.
Where to go next
- Evaluating? Read Requirements, then Known limitations and the FAQ.
- Trying it locally? Quick start runs it in a couple of minutes with no database or keys.
- Going to production? Follow Installation and deployment, then First admin and the Ops console.
- Selling it to other studios? Read Selling it as SaaS, including the licence note.