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How to Build a Custom Client Portal
(In 7 Minutes)

Amna Aslam • Published on September 16, 2024 • 13 min read

Define Client Portal Requirements

This lesson introduces client portals, which let businesses securely share data with clients and employees. Clients can manage tasks, files, and invoices, while employees have additional permissions to manage projects, clients, and data. Next, the course will cover database structuring.

Structure Your Database

We're structuring our database for the client portal. Softr is front-end only, so it connects to external data sources like Airtable, HubSpot, or Google Sheets. A strong application starts with a well-structured database.

Setting Up the Database

We'll use Airtable, but any data source works. First, we create a User Table, renaming it accordingly. We then add a Company Table, since users belong to companies.


User Table Fields

Each column (or field) stores specific data. Fields have different input formats:

  1. Name (single line text)
  2. Photo (attachment)
  3. Email (email type)
  4. Phone (phone number)
  5. User Role (single select: client or admin)
  6. Skills (multi-select for relevant skills like SEO, branding, or web development)

The User Role is key—it determines what experience (client or admin) the user sees.


Company Table Fields
  1. Company Name
  2. Industry (single select: real estate, legal, etc.)
  3. Size of Company (single select: 0-50, 50-100, etc.)
Project Table & Linking Data

A Project Table connects companies to projects. Key fields include:

  1. Project Name & Description
  2. Project Status
  3. Company (linked record) – This links a project to a company, ensuring clients only see their assigned projects.
Testing the Setup

By creating a sample company and project, we can see how data links dynamically between tables. Clicking a linked record shows all related company details, streamlining project management.


This structure ensures an organized, scalable database for the client portal.

Create Your Application in Softr

In this lesson, we’ll create our first application using Softr, starting from scratch to build a client portal. While Softr offers templates and AI-generated apps, we’ll manually connect an Airtable database and customize our application step by step.

Today, we’re creating our first software application with Softr. While you can use templates or AI-generated builds, we’ll start from scratch to fully customize our client portal.


First, sign up for a free Softr account and access the dashboard. Instead of using pre-built templates, we’ll manually connect an Airtable database. After selecting our data source, Softr quickly generates the foundation of our app. Congratulations—you’ve built your first application! Now, we’re ready to start customizing in the next lesson.